My name is Stefanie Bartlett and I am a new storyteller here at Roamancing. I grew up aspiring to be a dancer, but after a few injuries forced me out of the industry, I decided to switch tracks and am now studying Political Science and Film at The University of British Columbia.

I am so excited to be a part of this site, as I have a huge passion for exploring other cultures and places! I have been lucky enough to grow up in the multicultural environment of Vancouver, BC, as well as travel around the World. I feel these experiences have shaped my worldview, and I plan to explore this through my writing for Roamancing. You can also follow my personal adventures on twitter at @Stef_Bartlett. I can’t wait to share my stories with you!

                                                                       - Stefanie

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If this really was outside my window, just imagine the beautiful flowing summer dress I’d be wearing right now!

It wasn’t until today that I realized our entire living space was designed in the same colour family as the paintings.  It’s like the blues and browns leak right out of the paintings and into my life!  Every time we go away we feel such a change in our daily vibe and we always try to make that last as long as we can after we return back home.  I believe that travel unknowingly inspired our design this time, creating a very long lasting power.

Our travel inspired colours.

I’m always thrilled when I discover I have any talents or smarts, so when I read a post on peach.ca, a Vancouver interior design company’s site, about travel inspiring interior design, I thought “Look at me! I think the same way as the pros!”  Mehrzad Mehr, the company’s founder, wrote the post which was entitled The Book of Paris Design Inspirations.  I think in some ways, one always leads to the other in some regards.  Either you pick up something while you’re traveling because you can perfectly imagine it in one of your rooms already, or you just have to have it because it reminds you of something you love about your destination and you ultimately end up designing around it.  Knowing me, I’ll soon end up with a bedroom from Paris, my living space from Spain, and a bathroom from Greece.  Nothing like going on mini vacations within your own house!

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I had journeyed alone to other countries before, but this was different. Other times, I had met up with friends or stayed with people I knew. This time, I was travelling to Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg before meeting up with family in Zurich, which meant for the two weeks before Switzerland, I was truly alone.

I wasn’t nervous for my safety, but I was prepared for not having a travel companion. I packed several books and a travel journal, expecting to have a lot of time to myself. Instead, to my utter surprise, the exact opposite happened. I was so busy making new friends and going out that I couldn’t steal a moment to myself!

Beautiful Budapest

The small hostel I stayed at in Budapest was prime for meeting other travellers. Every day I was heading out with other travellers – English, Australian, British, and Finnish, to name a few – to sightsee and drink in the evenings. I even travelled to Austria with the Australian and met up with the Brazilians in Vienna. Meeting other people, finding things to do, and making new friends were so much easier than I had anticipated. Safe to say, I didn’t crack a single one of my books on the trip.

More recently, I took a trip to South Africa. Since I was there for a wedding, for the first half of the trip I was in a large group made up of all the Canadian guests. Afterwards, my boyfriend and I went off on our own road trip. While I enjoyed myself and had a fabulous time, it really highlighted all the things I loved about travelling by myself. The excitement of being by myself, exchanging stories with other travellers I had just met, and pretty much doing whatever I wanted were all absent. There was little unpredictability and spontaneity and I missed it.

Even so, I was glad that I was never alone on this trip and that was for my safety. Before leaving, I was very aware of South Africa’s reputation for violent crime, and my friends didn’t help by worrying and advising me not to go. I’m incredibly glad I didn’t take their advice and went anyway, but I’m also glad I wasn’t alone. As much as I am a strong, independent woman and traveller, it was reassuring to always be with someone else. While I never felt threatened, and I felt very safe in large cities such as Cape Town, the extended road trip my boyfriend and I took through rural areas could have been a lot more dangerous on my own. What if the car had broken down? What if I had been stranded? What if I had been lost in an unsafe area? Having another person, especially a male, made those travels a lot safer.

Road Tripping in South Africa

Looking back, I can conclude that my travels in South Africa didn’t change my feelings on travelling alone. I still love it, and it’s still my preferred method of travel. However, I was reminded that it is important to be smart about it, and I acknowledge that some locations are safer for solo travelling than others. If I were to visit South Africa again by myself, I would stick to the large cities and I wouldn’t take a solo road trip. But I wouldn’t be afraid to go. I look forward to travelling alone again, even though I don’t know when or where it will be, and I hope everyone out there tries travelling alone too. Even if you think it’s not for you I hope you’ll try it, even just once – you never know, it might surprise you. After all, it did for me.

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For those of you that have yet to read Never Shoot A Stampede Queen, it is a humourous account of Mark’s early 20′s, as a young reporter in Williams Lake.  And funny it is!

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, as it happens, Mark is also a playwright, and Never Shoot a Stamped Queen is hitting the stage for the first time  … well … first time in Vancouver, as it is currently making its rounds in Kamloops and Duncan, BC with a great audience response.

The playbill for the Show?

Zachary Stevenson (the Arts Club’s Buddy Holly) stars in the stage adaptation of Mark Leiren-Young’s Never Shoot A Stampede Queen — winner of the Leacock Medal for humour. This all-new solo show follows the adventures of a big city (Vancouver) boy who arrives in the crime capital of BC (Williams Lake) and discovers stranger news, quirkier characters, and better friends than he ever could have imagined. Directed and dramaturged by TJ Dawe (hot off his acclaimed solo show Medicine), and adapted for the stage by Leiren-Young (known to Arts Club audiences for Easy Money and The Year in Revue). For more info visit http://stampedequeen.ca/.

So … !!!  Mark has given me a pair of tickets to giveaway to the Preview Night in Vancouver, Thursday May 9th, 2013 at 8 pm on the Granville Island Stage in Vancouver, BC.

To enter to win, simply comment below with a favourite author or genre of books that you love to read while travelling, by Sunday May 5th at midnight. I will randomly pull the name of a winner from the entries Monday morning, May 6th.

For a second, third and fourth entry into the contest, share this contest on twitter, facebook, and google+ by sharing something like:

Win tickets to Thursday’s Preview of #StampedeQueen in #Vancouver on @Roamancing  ~ http://ht.ly/kGlPG

Main thing for the social media entries to be valid, you must hashtag #StampedeQueen, include the link to this post, and use our handle to link us into the conversation (so that we see your entry).

Looking forward to your responses!  This should be a fun Show!

Kisses,

Emme  xoxo

PS And if you don’t win our tickets, you can still catch the Show on the Granville Island Stage from May 9th – 25th.  I’ll be sure to tell you all about it on my personal site, as soon as I see it.

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This is the third post in a series of posts by Brie Mason on her mini vacation to Phoenix with her two kids. Read her first two posts on Overcoming Fears Road Tripping to Phoenix Arizona & Our Phoenix Oasis at the Marriott Canyon Villas in Desert Ridge by clicking on the links.

Now, while we loved our time relaxing at the Marriott Canyon Villas, our mini vacation would not be complete without exploring Phoenix.  We only had to travel about 5 minutes from the hotel to discover what was to be one of the highlights of our trip to Phoenix – The MIM (Musical Instrument Museum). Now, my kids are not the museum going type, but when they heard about this one, they were actually excited for me to take them. I have to say, this place changed their whole opinion of museums! For starters, we were all issued headphones and a sound pack to wear as we roamed around. Pretty much every single display had a television monitor that played the music from a particular region of the world along with videos of the instruments being played, often with dancing too. As soon as you walked up to a display, the music would automatically begin to play in your headphones and when you walked away it would stop. This is a great high tech way to appeal to the youth of today, and allow everyone to really enjoy the music without having to hear all kinds of sounds going on at once. We also broke through the barriers of ‘stuffy museums’ here by busting out some of our own dance moves when the music moved us!

Amazing ancient instruments blended with a modern high tech headphone tour.

There is a whole room dedicated to the instruments of famous people. While I was blown away by John Lennon‘s piano, the kids were in awe of the Taylor Swift collection. Just imagining these artists using the instruments, made you feel so close to them!

John Lennon’s Piano!

You can totally picture Taylor Swift wearing those boots, rockin’ out to country on that guitar!

Also very impressive was an Olympic drum used in the Beijing Opening Ceremonies during the number where there appeared to be thousands of drummers all performing in sync.

There’s no way I would have noticed all the detail on this drum while watching the Opening Ceremonies on the TV.

The best part of this museum though, is the room where you are encouraged to use the instruments yourself! This is not just for kids … I got right in there! Unfortunately, the headphones don’t allow others to tune you out!

Music to ‘my’ ears.

Our stay in Phoenix was not that long, but we managed to make it into downtown as well. We enjoyed an afternoon at the Arizona Centre, which is an open area with some shopping and great dining choices. We ate a delicious lunch at the Canyon Cafe, because we wanted to enjoy some southwestern cuisine. I love the uniqueness that comes from dining out of your state! For example, even though we got the typical complimentary nachos and salsa as a pre snack, they were anything but typical! The nachos were puffed up and coated with a wicked seasoning. The winner meal of the day went to young Master Mason, who ordered a tortellini dish that was an amazing fusion of tex-mex spicy cheesy flavours!

See what I mean? These nachos are killer!

Tortellini moves beyond red sauce and butter.

The weather in Phoenix at this time of year was absolutely perfect, so just being able to eat outdoors and feel the sun kissing my cheeks was glorious. I could have just walked around all day, but later after walking around our hotel grounds some more we spotted this sign about the local wildlife.

Bobcat’s Live Here Too!

Knowing my luck with critters and creatures of all sorts, I figured we better call it a night. After all, the kids did spot a scorpion while roasting marshmallows in a fire pit the night before! I was a good strong mom though, and let them revel in amazement while I kept my panic to myself on the inside.

Our trip to Phoenix was only a few days long, but it’s unbelievable how much we were able to enjoy ourselves. We didn’t really want to leave, but knowing it’s just a road trip away gave us hope that we’d be back again. There’s still so much we would like to do. We already have things picked out for next time! We’d like to eat at Rustler’s Roost, see one of the old ghost towns like Rawhide, and perhaps take a mini side trip to Sedona.

Perhaps the greatest reason to return is that we’re leaving here with my daughter as the reigning champion of Bocce Ball AND Shuffle Board. This must be challenged!

The Courtyard at the Mariott Canyon Villas

PS. In Full Disclosure: As always, the opinions and thoughts shared here are our own and honest ones. We are bought out by no one. In the spirit of disclosure, it should be noted that Phoenix Tourism treated Brie and her kids to lunch and gave them complimentary passes to The MIM.

The post Exploring Phoenix appeared first on Roamancing.

This is the second post in a series of posts by Brie Mason on her mini vacation to Phoenix with her two kids. Read her first post on Overcoming Fears Road Tripping to Phoenix Arizona by clicking on this link.

I felt right at home exploring in Phoenix, yet it was different enough for me to feel like it was a true vacation getaway.  With the kids, of course, and I’ll admit, myself too, the first thing to explore is always the hotel! We routinely drop our luggage and run around the room, bouncing on the beds, scoping out the bathroom, checking out our view, the TV, and any other fun features that might be there.  Next, the kids have to locate the ice machine and fill the bucket, even if we don’t have anything to put in it!  On this particular trip, we stayed at the Marriott Canyon Villas in Desert Ridge.  It’s an incredible place and I fear the kids may have been spoiled for any of our future trips!

This Marriott is really like a self-contained little resort.  There are several pool areas, with one being a splash pad for young ones, another a quiet pool for adults and a main pool area that includes a waterfall, volleyball net, basketball hoop, and at least two hot tubs! We also had free access to the JW Marriott Desert Ridge, which was adjacent to us, and boasted a long lazy river.

The Marriott Canyon Villas Main Pool Waterfall

The JW Marriott’s Lazy River

To add to the resort element, there were also activities going on all day.  There were the typical ping pong tournaments, and water aerobics classes, but it was some of the other listed events that had me intrigued.  Imagine racing on giant blow-up alligators, for example, or joining in a real cowboy sing-a-long!  The one that interested my teen son the most was making survival bracelets.  He was really impressed with the idea that he could make something that he’s been seeing in the stores.

Finished product. There’s a special spot to push and all the rope will unravel giving you 7 feet of rope to use for survival purposes.

Since our return home, every time I look at the computer screen, it’s on images of paracord for sale.  I think it left a lasting impression on him! From what I hear, all the kids at school are asking him to make them one.  At least we know his class will be prepared if they ever end up stranded needing emergency rope that’s all compacted on their wrists!

Although we could have spent all our hours at the hotel, Phoenix with it’s beautiful desert landscape was calling! Stay tuned to more of our Phoenix adventure, as we strayed out of our hotel oasis to explore!

Until I came here, I didn’t realize a cactus could be so beautiful!

The post Our Phoenix Oasis at the Marriott Canyon Villas in Desert Ridge appeared first on Roamancing.

For our cheetah experience, we took a tour of the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre near Pretoria. The centre was started in 1971 to breed and rehabilitate cheetahs. Since then, they have taken in other animals and endangered species, like hyenas and wild dogs. On the tour, the guides explained that sometimes the centre ended up with animals unexpectedly. People would bring in injured animals they found or sometimes people would take in wild baby animals as pets, only to be unable to care for them when they grew bigger. As a result, the centre has grown beyond cheetahs.

Cheetah!

We were at the Cheetah Centre bright and early on a Sunday morning to watch the cheetah run and to take a three hour tour of the farm. The cheetah run, where they take the cheetahs out to run for exercise, only happens a few times a week since they want to keep it interesting for the cheetahs. We stood in a fenced off pen while the cheetah centre’s guides brought out one cheetah at a time for their run. I couldn’t believe how fast the cheetahs were. I mean, I knew cheetahs were fast, but seeing it with my own eyes was incredible. They were just a blur as they ran by.

Ready to run!

The guides brought out only female cheetahs to run, explaining that the females are solitary hunters, while the males hunt in packs, meaning they take turns to hunt and don’t run as much as the females. Wanting to mimic the wild, they therefore don’t exercise the males as much. However, that day they decided to run one of the males, Shaka, but warned us that lately he had been getting too distracted by the nearby females to run. They brought him out and started his run but sure enough, after a few feet, he turned and ran off to one of the female cheetahs. Ironically, the one he got distracted by was his sister.

We visited a few of the cheetahs in pens near the reception office before embarking on our tour of the farm. We headed off in a truck, and went to visit even more cheetahs and a myriad of other animals. We stopped to visit some king cheetahs, who had bigger spots and stripes running down their back. Once thought to be a subspecies of cheetahs, the centre had determined in the 80s that it was in fact a recessive gene that caused the different pattern.

Our guide.

A king cheetah on the right.

Then our guide took us to see “the most dangerous animal on the farm.” This turned out to be… the honey badger. Looking at them, they appeared perfectly harmless but according to the guides, they were absolutely vicious. They had no natural enemies or predators and they were even known to attack lions. Their cages at the centre even had a separate section for feeding so that the centre staff were never in the same cage as the honey badgers.

After the honey badgers, we visited the meerkats. There had originally only been two, but they had accidentally bred so now there were four. They were quite cute and much friendlier than the honey badgrs. Our guide even stuck her finger into the cage to scratch one of the meerkat’s head.

An albino honey badger & Timon the meerkat.

Next, we saw vultures and hyenas. Vultures are an important part of nature; by cleaning up the carcasses of dead animals they help prevent the spread of disease. However, vultures are vulnerable to extinction because of loss of habitat and electrocution and collision with powerlines.

I was particularly excited to see hyenas, since we hadn’t been able to find them on any of our safaris, and you can’t properly re-enact The Lion King in your head without seeing hyenas. Unfortunately these hyenas weren’t quite up to marching around, preferring instead to sleep.

Vultures!

One sleepy hyena.

We then went to visit the wild dogs. Wild dogs are endangered due to human persecution. Widely regarded as pests, wild dogs have been poisoned and snared for decades. Now, there are less than 5,000 wild dogs left in the wild. These dogs at the centre were scrappy little animals, eating every bit of food in the trough before running off and looking for more.

Wild dogs!

After feeding the wild dogs, we went to feed a few cheetahs. As they noticed the food coming, they started hissing and their fur stood straight up! I was so nervous, but the farm worker coolly poured their food into a trough, taking no notice of their menacing stance. Once he was back on the truck, the three cheetahs surrounded the trough, all threats gone.

Hiss!

Happily eating!

After the tour, we had the chance to pet a cheetah. The guides brought out Byron, one of their Education Ambassadors. Byron is often used at schools and with children during educational talks. They led him onto a table and we were allowed to approach him from behind to stroke his soft fur. I was so happy to finally be touching a cheetah – it felt like I had been waiting the whole trip for that moment. I could even feel his body vibrating as he purred.

After petting Byron, we left the centre very happy. I couldn’t help saying, “We touched a cheetah!” again and again as I thought about it. I didn’t even mind that we were leaving South Africa the next day.

Byron the Education Ambassador

Disclaimer: This post was not sponsored by the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre. My opinions are my own.

The post Roamancing South Africa – I Touched a Cheetah! appeared first on Roamancing.

Thanks to my GPS, and amazingly chill kids, I was able to be a smooth rider and conquer the trek.  For a while it felt like a party on the road, because we kept passing ‘Carpoolchella’ painted cars.  Droves of people were on their way to the Coachella Music Festival and they were flashing each other peace signs.  I have to admit I enjoyed sneaking peaks at the hairdos and outfits!  On the whole trip I only felt uneasy twice. The first was when we passed a whole field of wind turbines.  I don’t know if this is true for anyone else, but I find these to be really ominous.  I immediately get chills and feel like I’m in a horror movie.  This little video clip was taken by young Master Mason in the back seat.

The second time I got worried was after we had been driving through a really long stretch of desert towards and through a place called Desert Center.  I was watching my gas go down and down, and I could see nothing up ahead, except for more desert.  My mind was formulating a plan.  I saw Call Boxes every mile on the highway so I thought if I ran out of gas we might just have to walk to one of those.  I pictured myself waving down a truck, because I know they can be helpful, but also saw that going very wrong.  Just when I was trying to come to terms with my options, a gas station finally popped up!  Everyone there was freaking out at the close call and some were expressing anger that there weren’t any signs warning you to fill up before beginning the long stretch.

Not even a mirage of a gas station in sight!

The station itself was really creepy, with quite the characters working inside and a sign for ‘Massage’ beside the restrooms.  The kids got the vibe and hustled in and out extremely fast.  We all busted a gut once we got back in the car, because just a mile further up the road a whole wonderful looking little town appeared.  The creepy gas station would only get us this once, because if we return again, we will no longer be amateurs to this road!

At the end of the trip I drove into Phoenix feeling like some kind of great achiever.  I felt empowered, and the next morning I woke up inspired, wondering where else we could drive to. The old me would have even been afraid to drive around an unknown town, but necessity forced me to change my attitude and I was greatly rewarded for it.

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While in South Africa, I stayed at a farm, quite literally in the middle of nowhere. It was unlike anywhere I’d ever been before. In Canada, the average farm is about a hundred acres. This one was eight thousand acres and was surrounded by neighbouring farms, making it seem like the land stretched on endlessly. There was no cell service, the next farm was 9 km down the road and the nearest hospital was two hours away. In a big old farmhouse, with skeleton keys for every door, and a lack of communication with the outside world, it was like stepping back in time.

Farmland stretching on.

But there was another reason it felt like we had time-travelled. The farms we visited were staffed with black servants, while the owners and our group of visiting Canadians were white (minus myself; I am Chinese). At breakfast, when the other guests and I went to clear the table after breakfast, we were told, “The maids will get it.” When the boys asked for an iron to iron their dress shirts (we were going to a wedding), they were told, “The maids can do it.” It was quite a culture shock. All of us guests, from modest homes in Canada, were unused to having staff around to help out with any household chore. And because the maids were black, dressed in traditional attire, and lived on the farm in separate, inferior housing with the male farmhands, it felt like we had stepped back in time.

It wasn’t just at the farm, either. The segregation of race and class was evident everywhere we travelled in South Africa, from the farms to the big cities to the townships we passed on the road. It was hard not to be reminded of apartheid, the political system that ruled South Africa from 1948 – 1991. Apartheid, in case you don’t know, was a system that institutionalized racial segregation. It enforced racial hierarchy, giving preferential treatment to white South Africans. (You can read more about the timeline of apartheid here.)

But though it was everywhere, at the farm the segregation felt the most apparent because we experienced the segregation in race and class firsthand. At the wedding, when speaking with a South African guest about this culture shock, he laughed and confirmed he had never ironed his own clothes – and never would.

On the road in South Africa.

It’s been weeks since I’ve returned from South Africa but I haven’t stopped thinking about this segregation. My thoughts on this are confusing, because while the wages are low and it feels like this system is enforcing racial segregation, the staff of these farms are still in a much better position than others. With a high level of poverty and unemployment in South Africa, they are relatively fortunate to be employed on these farms. And it’s not as if all the black people we saw were farmhands and maids. There were educated, wealthy black South Africans as well. Furthermore, I’m not trying to say that white South Africans are bad, racist people. It’s not my intention to bad mouth the farm owners who so kindly let us stay with them, and as a sidenote, were absolutely lovely. After all, they have employed their staff and they pay them wages. It’s not exactly unfair.

And I know it’s not just South Africa. I have relatives in Hong Kong who grew up with Filipina maids, which is very common in Hong Kong because labour from the Philippines is cheap. Similarly, in Vancouver, I see Filipina nannies taking care of white children every day. And while we have not had apartheid, Canada has had its own racist laws and policies in the past, such as residential schools.

So why did South Africa feel different? From the start it had felt like we had stepped back in time. I know I wasn’t alone on these thoughts, because other Canadian guests voiced the same opinion. Perhaps it’s because the segregation was just so much more widespread, and because the system of apartheid really was not that long ago. Or maybe it was the combination of the segregation and being in the middle of nowhere in an old farmhouse. Either way, it’s something I haven’t been able to stop thinking and wondering about since. Even though apartheid was abolished twenty-two years ago, its legacy was still evident everywhere we went in South Africa.

The post On Racial Segregation and Culture Shock in South Africa appeared first on Roamancing.

I have two secret parks. Both are walking distance from my house and are recent discoveries. My secret parks are special for a couple reasons. First, they’re concealed. Since these parks are very small patches of green in the city, they’re rather difficult to simply “come across”. Second of all, both parks feature spectacular views looking out towards downtown. And lastly, they’re quiet. Because of their small sizes and relative concealment, they’re not crowded and almost always empty. They’re the perfect place to relax with a picnic while enjoying the view.

My first secret park is not so much of a secret, I guess, since I found out about it on Yelp. You have to walk down a lane to reach it (how’s that for hidden?), and for a while it seems like the alleyway is going nowhere. But suddenly, it opens up to a small triangle of grass and the best view of downtown. The nearby street of ice cream shops, Indian food, diners and pizza places make it the perfect place to come for a picnic.

Secret Park No. 1

My second secret park I first found walking home from school when I was younger. Over the years I forgot about it, until walking by it again last year. It’s a small patch of grass with benches under cherry blossom trees that look lovely in the spring. But to tell the truth, the park is a bit of a red herring. When I visit this park, I almost always head for a little lane off of it that ends at a staircase going down a hill. Right there, at the top of the staircase, is a fantastic view looking out towards downtown. So you can’t enjoy the view from my second secret park, but it’s still a great place to sit under the cherry blossoms after you’ve admired the view.

The view from the top of the staircase.

Admittedly, the pictures don’t do the views justice and they really have to be seen in person. Can you figure out where my secret parks are? And do you have any secrets from your neck of the woods?  If so, share them with the #OurNeckOfTheWoods hashtag.  We’d love to hear about them.

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