“I always feel like a traveller, going somewhere, toward some destination. If I sense that this destination doesn’t in fact exist, that seems to me quite reasonable and very likely true.”

 - Vincent Van Gogh, July 22, 1888

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// Shawn

ps: Image source: vggallery.com and drawn in July 1888 by Vincent Van Gogh.

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Very Likely True is a post from: Rerunaround

My main concerns about going on other people’s cash was that the trip be worthwhile. Worth their money, worth my time and money, and worth AHV giving me a spot. And I suppose to a lesser extent, if the work that AHV was offering was worth doing. So in hindsight, how did all those factors work out? Money and time (same thing) well spent?

The work that AHV had available to help flood victims was completely worth doing. With disaster response volunteering the most popular jobs are often the ones where you can see first hand who you’re helping and how. Meet the people, work with them, and help solve a problem. This project was quite good for that. Plenty of times I worked inside a family home, clearing out mountains of mud and debris. The types of work available was fairly varied for the few weeks I was there. I pretty evenly divided my time up between building temporary housing, clearing mud and debris from salvageable family homes, and constructing new homes at the Habitat For Humanity site. Plus a couple of Saturday mornings playing with the kids in the tent city. Lots of experiences, and lots of variety.

Did I do enough work to justify the donations? I think so, yes. With a 6 day work week, I think I had 3 days off in total. So for the 18 days of work I feel like I got plenty done. Plus I always had the countdown of remaining days looming over my head to make sure I put a good effort in. I never did shake the nagging guilt of having to take donations though. So I’m working hard to have money in my savings for when the next project comes around.

All things considered, my Cagayan de Oro volunteering stint was a success. On a purely personal level, it was a complete success. I had an awesome time! The Philippines is a very cool and interesting country. So many people there are very nice. Yet again I noticed that people who’ve lost everything are often the kindest.

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// Shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Philippines Volunteering (How it Went) is a post from: Rerunaround

As a Not-Canadian you’re not sure if you like this secret difference or not. Is it like a hint of cinnamon in your cocoa? Or more like a sense of arsenic in your pudding? What is it that makes Canadians so different?! Thankfully for you, I have the journalistic integrity of an otter. So let me reveal to you, the unwashed hordes of Not-Canadians just what this secret is…

Possibly the greatest use of tax dollars in Canadian history has been the National Film Board of Canada. Thanks to their unfiltered promotion of film for decades in Canada, we’ve seen some bizarre and brilliant stuff. On TV all through the 80s, before airtime was worth it’s weight in gold, they would often run Canadian made short films. Usually to fill a time gap between hockey games and the news. These were often really lovely little shorts, and that’s all fine. However, the one video that I think must have ran hundreds of times was The Big Snit. And it’s mental.

Any Canadian worth their toque has seen The Big Snit many, many times. Whether they were old enough to see it on TV over and over. Or because their parents knew the right way to raise a kid and showed it to them. Whatever the reason, most Canadians have seen The Big Snit and it’s the foundation of what makes Canadians a little bit absurd. By absurd I mean great. And by great I probably mean absurd. It’s our common absurdity though.

I now invite you to watch The Big Snit and gain a rare insight into the formative magic that makes Canadians a little bit different. I hope it’ll help you understand Canadians better.

I pretty much lose it the first time I hear the cat! Ahh solid gold that is. And if you’re Canadian and haven’t somehow seen this, you have my permission to admonish your negligent parents.

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// Shawn

ps: If you made it this far, I offer you another NFB treasure, The Log Driver’s Waltz.

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Revealing The Secret Of What Makes Canadians Different is a post from: Rerunaround

I had asked anyone making a donation to have a corresponding request so I felt like less of a freeloader. Many people had no request at all, but a few did. I got off the hook quite easily though. Here’s my task list:

• Several postcards for various people
• A few want photos of the work and my suffering. This one never gets old.
• A small local piece of art, craft or handiwork.
• An item off the ground. Not trash though.
• Some local online contractor research.

Well, thank you very much to all you donators! I very much appreciate your help, and I’ll do my damnedest to get you your moneys worth out of this three weeks. I’ll post some updates here, and you should also check out the project and follow along on the All Hands site. Thanks!

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// Shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- This News Just in: People Are Quite Nice! is a post from: Rerunaround

The catch here, and where you become involved, is that I can’t actually afford to go do this. What I’d like to do is offer my services to you in order to help me raise the money I need. Here’s the scenario and what I hope I can offer.

The Problem: I am planning to be volunteering in the Philippines for 3 weeks in March (3/2 – 3/20) with All Hands Volunteers (the same group I went to Haiti with!). A really short time unfortunately. The catch is that I’m also coincidentally unemployed as of the end of February. So I have no income with which to fund this. Granted, this should mean I don’t go. I figure though that I now have the spare time. And air miles covers the vast majority of the expense. Plus, it’s not like the thousands of people made homeless by the flooding are terribly convenienced by it all either. If I can cover the remaining expenses, then get some work as soon as I get home, I can pull this off. I’m totally up for the challenge if you are. By my math, I need about $600 to bridge the gap. This is for airline tariffs, taxes, medical insurance fees, and ferry tickets. All the unavoidable junk.

My Offer: While in the Philippines, I am offering to meet any request you have. Maybe you want to know something about the area, people, local food, etc? Maybe you just want a postcard? Or a picture of a cat? A poem about rice? I don’t care what it is really. I don’t like just asking for money for free, so I prefer to offer something in exchange. Whatever you think is a fair exchange for your donation. While I’m there I’ll also be working my ass off clearing mud out of houses, demolishing ruined houses and hopefully constructing some new ones.

You! Can simply chip in to make this thing work out and make a request. Most people seem to prefer PayPal, but if you don’t then just email me and we’ll figure something out. Any amount you want to give is fantastic! I’ll post lots of pics and info here of course. Plus any requests I get will be posted here. Any questions? Just ask! Please make sure to give me your email address with your request so I can let you know when it’s posted or ask follow up questions. Donate some money via PayPal here!

Thank you all very much! This idea of asking other people to help me go help some other people feels a bit awkward to me. I’m pretty excited to make it work though. Thanks!

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// Shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Help Me Help You to Help Someone Else in the Philippines! is a post from: Rerunaround

When people ask me why I like horror movies or traveling I respond with such informative feedback as, “It’s cool and junk” but there’s perhaps a smidge more to it than that. There is a common element between the two for me, which I hadn’t considered until now. And no, the common element is not screaming people or giant bats. Well, maybe yea, it is those things too, but that’s not my point here. Bear with me here and tell me if my logic sounds legit.

In order for a horror movie to be really successful, the viewer needs to empathize with the characters. As the viewer, you need to not only be worried about the situation, but you must also be engaging in decisions along with the characters. When they run up the stairs you get annoyed because you would have gone out the front door. You were thinking about it though, and putting yourself into the situation, which is the key. There’s a certain unspoken enjoyment from this dress rehearsal. You got to be chased by a chainsaw murderer and you got the satisfaction of learning that your decision to run out the front door was a good one. Should a real chainsaw massacre go down at your next slumber party, you’re prepared. It’s all sub-conscious, emotional and junk, but it is the magic behind the curtain that makes the film rewarding. Or you just love chainsaws so much. We’re all different I guess, but I’m talking from my own perspective here. You should start a chainsaw blog if you’re that into them.

My most rewarding trips and experiences have been ones where I’ve felt like I understood a little of what those coming before me felt. And those coming after me too. I got a sense of what it’s like in that town, and how the people who live there probably frown at the bottom of the same hill that I’m frowning at. I empathized with all the unknown people who also at some point stood at the train station and pondered why the signs were seemingly organized by drunk kittens. I’m a junior Magellan as I deftly locate the hotel bar. And in a dark corner of my brain I am satisfied that were I a great explorer in times long past, I would totally be able to find those ancient, unmapped, hotel bars.

So you see, the commonality between horror and travel is this Whitman’s sampler of empathic challenges. By placing myself in the moments I get to see how I would cope. The more I crave these little tastes of confidence, the more I put myself out there.

That’s how I see it anyways. Are you similar? Or am I making crap up just to hear the clackity-clack of my keyboard? I think this is mostly obvious stuff, but I wanted to talk about it some anyways.

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//shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Horror Movies Make Me Travel. Sort of. is a post from: Rerunaround

Spooning cereal into my mouth like a sugar starved automaton, I consider why I construct routines in most aspects of my life. More specifically, why I have routines at all, and why I always seem to have them. Even when I’m only in a place or situation for a couple days, I quickly fall into little repeated patterns and habits. Fortunately, research has shown that most of us are quite habitual, so I don’t feel too bonkers.

For example, earlier this year I was spending a week in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Nothing fancy, just a week of downtime to relax and look around. In that short week, I had established several routines without even thinking about it. Like clockwork — More imported plastic clockwork than anything Swiss or precision — I would get my breakfast nice and early. Then I had my usual coffee shop that I liked to hit. Followed by a short walk around town. The seagulls down on the old fort walls that overlooked the ocean probably saw me consistently enough that they set their little gull watches by me. We’re not going to talk about which part of my routine involved Ben & Jerry’s either.

Photo by Gregory Kowalski

I suppose I learn a lot about places I visit by having a routine. Seeing specific places each day gives me a context to notice how things change day in and day out. I remember being the only person in my usual San Juan cafe that knew there was going to be a parade that day. I had spotted the change in traffic patterns and the extra civil workers while making my usual walk around town en route to the cafe. Granted my OCD might have helped with that more than the routine. Which now leads me to wonder, are there anti-routine people? Are there people that go out of their way, consciously or otherwise, to not establish routines? I don’t mean anarchists per se, but just people who are disinclined to repeat daily patterns like that.

In thinking about it now, this topic reminds me to get on with my day. I click around, reading the occasional piece of fiction or blog online. Inevitably, this leads me to consider writing something, and I start putting together this post. I’m off now to continue with my daily routine. Which involves a little lunch and a bit of a walk. I presume we take comfort from the safety of a routine. So in search of that comfort we put together routines at any given opportunity. Either way, I’m off to comfort myself with the usual lunch. I’ll see you all at the awards ceremony for most predictable senior citizen in 2038.

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//shawn

ps: What kind of spell check doesn’t know what Puerto Rico is? Does it really think the USA territory is called Puberty Rico? Really?

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Moving My Routine From Place To Place is a post from: Rerunaround

Were I making this decision right this minute, I would buy an Android tablet and use Google’s eBookstore. I wouldn’t buy any of the eReader products (Kindle, Nook, etc) as they are too single purpose. A tablet device will let you read ebooks, but also let you use full colour web browsing, photo viewing, use a zillion apps, and all that other crap you expect to be able to do on a great phone or netbook. Plus the all important maps. When a guide book isn’t available you can at least use the browser on a tablet to search for the info and maps you need. Whereas with an e-reader you’re just stuck.

The selection of available guide books on the Google store is about the same as Kindle. The same publishers are too thick to offer all of their titles universally on all platforms — looking at you Lonely Planet. Feature wise, Google’s store is quite cool. Unlimited storage (not like this is realistically a problem for anyone) and you can access your books from anywhere and any device. Launching at 3 million titles, there’s plenty to read. Plus they have the option to search for free books, which is fantastic. There are heaps of classic books that are available for free thanks to expired copyrights. For the budget traveler this is a gold mine of saved cash. The key parts though are the universal accessibility, and the ease of use/access from it being Google.

Why Android and not an iPad? When traveling in unpredictable situations you need as much flexibility in your electronics as possible. Apple products are very restrictive when it comes to their control of content on your product and accessing more content. Android is the most used mobile platform, is universally accessible and grants much more freedom to the user.

Why not a netbook? Really there isn’t anything wrong with just using a good little netbook. I just like the form and function of tablets. They’re comfy to hold for reading, they pack nicely, and you look like an intergalactic scientist while using one.

The downsides to using a tablet instead of an e-reader? Mostly just battery life. There is no way that any tablet can come even close to the battery life of a Kindle. Tablets are also a little heavier, and the screens aren’t as easy on the eye for a prolonged reading time as the Kindle. I used a Kindle for a year and looked at how well they replace guide books here.

When giving up precious space in your backpack it’s important to consider how many purposes an item serves. The more multi-purpose an item is, the more likely it is to be worth the space in your pack. Which is the premise that got me to this whole guide book replacement theme in the first place. Whatever you ultimately choose, just consider if it’s as much like a Swiss army knife as it can be.

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//shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Can A Tablet Replace Travel Guide Books? is a post from: Rerunaround

Here are the three main questions I got about using the Kindle as a guide book. These are definitely the most practical considerations:

Q1: Does the free 3G access to buy and download new books work in lots of places?

A1: Amazingly well all over the place. Better than advertised.

Q2: Are the maps usable?

A2: Meh, usable but not great.

Q3: Were there lots of guides available in the Kindle store?

A3: Hit and miss. Which perhaps isn’t quite good enough.

Everything else about the Kindle was above and beyond exceptional. The battery lasts forever, it’s ridiculously lightweight, and it’s very comfortable to read. There’s a ton of great books (even many free titles!) available, so for novels it’s quite good. It’s just not completely solid for guide books. It’s damn close though.

Were I shopping  for a digital guide book option today — which I always am — what would I buy?I would buy an Android tablet and use Google’s eBookstore, and here’s why.

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//shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Can A Kindle Replace Travel Guide Books? Part 2 of 2 is a post from: Rerunaround

Over the years, I’ve learned that I have some exceptional skills. Some may seem negative at first, but as countless legitimate comic books have shown us, even crappy powers have their useful situations. And yea, one would definitely think that some powers would cancel one another out. Go figure. That said, here are my traveling super powers. Plus a few I just wish I had. Do you have any of these?

My Travel Super Powers

1. Mojave Mouth: I never even realized this until years ago a friend mentioned that he was always thirsty. I then realized that I couldn’t recall ever not being thirsty.
2. Whale’s Bladder: Yea, I can sit on a 14 hour train/bus/plane ride and not have to pee once. I have also never gotten up during a movie. Okay, once maybe.
3. Time Bandit: I am a chronological simpleton. Tell me what time it is, and my body thinks it’s that time. I never have a problem with jet lag. Power #4 helps too.
4. Somnambulator: I can sleep at any time. I may have just slept for 14 hours, but if I need to sleep again right away, no problemo.
5. Amelia’s Ear & Heart: I do very well at not getting lost. Once in a while, if I’m not paying attention, I can get off track temporarily. In general though, I don’t get lost.
6. Day Dream Weaver: I can keep myself entertained in my own head for ages. Ideal for long lines or delayed flights. Perhaps it comes from being an only child, or from being a bit simple.

I think those are all I have. Six isn’t too shabby though, yea? Especially considering what an absurd topic this is. Here are a few I wish I had, but unfortunately do not.

My Super Powers Wish List

1. Martyr Sauce: The ability to tolerate tourists in any quantity. (I almost immediately lose all patience at the site of them.)
2. Cunning Linguist: The ability to pick up or understand seemingly any language. (I can’t even truly master my one language, English.)
3. Garborator: The stomach and versatility to eat anything and any amount at any time. (I’m bit of a picky eater, and too full at odd times and too hungry at others.)
4. Energizer: Run around all day long then still have limitless energy. (I’m a napper by nature.)

How about yourself? What traveling super powers do you possess? Or just wish you had?

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//shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- What if… there were traveler super powers?! is a post from: Rerunaround