Eat, love, surf?

"You have a right to your dreams, and don't be denied..."

Ben Harper

This week's sunshine fest has made it challenging not to want to spend every waking moment lapping up the Spring time's warm rays. The clear skies have even continued through the evenings, where for the past 2 nights, after I've turned my light off, and climb under the covers, what do I see peering at me with a grin on its face - but the bright white crescent moon sneaking its way through the tiny 2 inch space between the silk curtains and the window frame around them just next to my. What a serendipidous alignment of the stars...literally.

So on that note, I couldn't help but share a delightfully serendipidous find of an opportunity to combine some of my favourite things: surfing, photography, chatting with travelers, oh and did I mention it's a surf camp in Bali?

starsurfcampsbali.com

They're looking for someone to help run the camp, a Tour Assistant, for July & August, and within moments of reading the description, I applied to dear Sami, Joe & Pablo to consider my application.

Now we play the waiting game...

But until then, if you're craving some surf action, check out this head-cam video they put together...this was indeed jaw dropping...

An Arab, a Canadian and a Mexican walk into a bar...

While living in Chile, I met an odd, but seemingly kind young man name Walter. At the time I knew him, he was 25. Walter used to work in Dubai as a real estate developer, but had a inescapable awkwardness about him; perhaps due to the fact that it appeared that there was always something he was holding back from saying (not in that romantic comedy kind of way where at the end of the film he confesses his love to the "girl next door" character and blah, blah, blah. No it wasn't like that)

I got to know Walter more in my search for Chilean real estate investments, and he introduced me to another eclectic character in my growing group of contacts in Chile: Max Mills. Max was a short Chilean man who lived in a house he built, on a piece of deserted, beautiful Chilean campo. His house resided on a small cliff overlooking a gorgeous private beach of perfect surf waves, wild horses and endless miles of contemplative Pacific ocean. Max and Walter were business associates of sorts after meeting on A SMALL WORLD "ASMALLWORLD is private international community of culturally influential people who are connected by three degrees." (oooh, is that me?) It's also invite only, and one only acquires the ability to invite others by participating in the site. Needless to say, I do not have any invites to give out.

But Max did, and after a lovely, and kind of strange day together with him and my partner in business, life and experience, Adam Boszoki, at el Portillo, longest running ski resort in the America's, he must have felt I was "ready" for an invite....weeeeeeeeeee! Here`s a pic of Adam y yo at Portillo...

Now, you may be wondering - what`s all this got to do with the Arab world being transported to Toronto? Well, about a week ago, I received a message from my ASW mailbox from a young, rather dapper looking fellow from Saudi. He would be in town for a week visiting his Dr. brother whose doing his residency at St.Mikes Hospital (Queen & Victoria), and wanted to meet up with some Torontonians for drinks or what not.

Not being one to turn down a fellow solo traveller, I replied and last Friday, we met up the Yorkville pub The Pilot. Arriving in a pink dressshirt and cashmere grey sweater, he was down to earth, chatty, and great company really. His neutral-to-American accent threw me at first, as did his lighter eyes and skin, but being half serbian-half Saudi, Mo was raised in Saudi, but went to uni in Nashville, Tennessee five years ago. Now working for a an oil and gas company, his extensive travels and use of ASW to meet locals while abroad has proven a wise travel companion.

A couple glasses of red, a SteamWhistle, and Keith`s later, my new Arabian friend picks up the tab and thus begins our evening of club hopping and his re-awakening to partying with alcohol after a 6 month hiatus of being in Saudi. A fan of the convenience of cabs, I abandon my bike locked to a Toronto bike parking `lolly-pop`:

College street bound, we meet up with Amelia Velasco, my Mexican biking friend, and her friend Latoya and become the epitome of Toronto melting pot: an light skinned Arab, a tanned Mexican, caucasian me with my multi-coloured hair, and Latoya with her long dark braided black hair and dark skin - LOVE IT! Getty Images would have been all over that...stock photo heaven.

We party our tushes off at College Street Bar as the beverages kept flowing, compliments of Saudi hospitality - aka Mo. After an hour of maning the dance floor, we bid adieu to Latoya as she caught the street car East, and Amelia, Mo & I grabbed a cab once more to head to the Bay Street Crowd`s retreat of Brant House. The Arab prince paid for the cabs, the drinks and the cover, and I was beginning to feel like an Arab princess...would this what living in Dubai would be like? mmmmmmm

Arriving at around 1 am, the customary end-of-the-night meat market was in full swing, as the guys who haven`t pick up yet were on the prowl.; an attractive attribute...really. BUT the dance floor was semi-empty, leaving us plenty of space to shake our bon-bons....and we did `til 3am. Awesome night team...

Now, how does this experience work with the Year of Passion? Well, seeing as this is my first experience:

a) meeting someone from ASW

b) hanging out with someone from Saudi

c) discovering a new helpful travel nugget (aka intl friend finder of ASW)

I thought it worthy of the YOP - Torontonian style.

And to tie us over until the official YOP journey begins in mid June, I`ll make this blog a `best of`` travel blog from past experiences from around the globe, complete with some of my fav pics and characters from The Book of Job, I mean Vanessa.

Thanks for tuning in...

xoxo

V

To rabbit hole...

"Would be nice if something made sense for a change"

-Alice

It's a sunny Sunday morning, no more than 10:30 am, and am sure the neighbours are waking from their Saturday night slumbers. My mind is a bit foggy at the moment, and not just from the one-too- many cocktails last night at a house party in the "up and came" Leslieville. As I sit cross-legged on the couch in the living room, I look around at the room. It's a not-so-organized chaos; odds and sods of second hand furniture, random art and wall hangings, even a velvet sitting chair of an unfortunate shade of mustard sitting ready at the kitchen table. The counter is askew with remnants from the housemates' late night, post-bar, gorge-fest...even the blender is making a cameo. Sipping peppermint tea in an attempt to neutralize the gluttony of food and drink from last night, I find myself "rabbit holing" for the catalyst for starting the Year of Passion (YOP).

to rabbit hole [rab-it hohl]: The active art of internet exploration, where one follows an unknown path of links and Google searches to uncover new sites, people, places and organizations doing noteworthy activities

Origin: Alice in Wonderland

The fruits of this search are emerging slowly, but am struggling with deciding on the criteria for the search. Where should I start? What should I do when I'm there? How much should I budget? Should I budget? Should I plan this, that, anything, everything, nothing? OR have the effects of a highly regimented, organized, planning-obsessed life complete with the 9-5 job stunted my ability and inclination to wing it more or less? mmmmm...

In any case, here are some of the contenders or sources for what the YOP catalyst could look or feel like:

a) WOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms): "WOOF is a world wide network - It started in the UK in 1971and has since become an international movement that is helping people share more sustainable ways of living. In return for volunteer help, WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles

For the NZ branch, there are over 1,200 host listings and some include working at a surf camp on the south island, running a small B&B or backpackers, and of course, quite a collection of sheep farm work.

b) Idealist: This was a whopping product of rabbit holing. I came across this super helpful international job/intership resource (which has strong social cause twist) as a result from a really shoddy, barebones, out-dated library of adventure travel jobs links library. Essentially, "Idealist is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives

c) CIDA internships: International internships for graduates of uni in Canada - some super interesting opportunities such as this one: Eco-Tourism and Environmental Specialist / Spécialiste de l’écotourisme et de l’environnement in Peru: which I would be all over like rice on beans IF it didn't require "strong oral and written spanish" Somehow I feel my conversation Spanish wouldn't cut the la mostaza

d) Travel industry- Under this beautiful umbrella, there's working for the facilitator (Butterfield and Robinson, GAP Adventure Tours, TREK, etc) or travel photography or travel reporting or a beautiful mix of all of the above: Flight Centre's The Best Travel Job Ever...which of course made this short list.

GAH! And the search continues...