We are slowly but surely getting ready for this trip. The reality of it all is setting in.
We have:
- Completed our immunizations (all that needed to be done before we leave North America. We still need to take the Cholera vaccine just before we leave North America).
- Completed our Servas interviews. We have our signed and stamped letters of introduction. We are awaiting host lists, so that we can begin connecting the people we hope to meet throughout our trip.
- Rented our house for July 15th.
- Began packing up the house, giving things away, and moving things into our storage locker.
- Sold my car.
- Reserved the ferry from Natashquan to Blanc-Sablon, Quebec for July 24th.
- Reserved the ferry from Argentia Newfoundland to North Sydney Nova Scotia for August 26th.
Our bikes shipped from Germany on Monday (May 5th). This is a little later than we had hoped, so it it doesn’t look like we will be going to pick them up this weekend. We are crossing our fingers in hope that they arrive in time to pick them up on Wednesday or Thursday next week.
Our current plan is to leave Ottawa on June 2nd for a trip around Lake Ontario. We are now heading towards Niagara first. We plan to visit my extended family around June 7-8, and then make our way to Alfred Station, NY for a bicycle tune up on either June 11 or 12. We also wish to visit some folks in Rochester NY on our way home. We need to be home by June 22, which means we might need to take a train from Kingston to get back to Ottawa in time (although, it might be just as easy to ride!).
Have you got your passage to Europe yet? Do you need any kind of visa’s for travel ?
The count down is on. I really like reading your blog. The writing is pretty good. How is your Postcards for Charity working? I have given your blog address to a few people who were interested when I talked to them but I don’t know how much further it went.
Hi Mom,
We have not yet booked passage to Europe. I got confirmation this morning that the boat we where hoping to take from Montreal is no longer on that route. There are no longer any freighter cruises leaving from eastern Canada (with the company we are talking to). So, we are now looking into plan B, which is a freighter out of Savannah Georgia.
We will need a Visa for Syria, which we must get in Ottawa. We’ll likely be asking a friend to bring our passports in, as we are leaving too early to get the visa (ideally, we want to visa to be issued in August).
Postcards for charity is moving along slowly. I haven’t seen anyone from Kitimat make a request yet. We are starting to do more advertising about it at church, so hopefully that will start to pick up. We are also promoting Servas and telling people about being Servas hosts – which we plan to do when we return.
Things are all coming together. We had our first yoga lesson yesterday. A friend of ours is giving us a short yoga routing to help us keep stretched and spiritually centered on our trip. It is wonderful :).
Love,
Becky