Avoiding Social Interaction While Traveling

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dan on mt gardner bowen island

I pace quickly up the hill. My feet slamming into the mud of the trail.

My heart is racing, my body sweating. Legs ache, lungs burn. I can’t stop though. There’s something in the trees behind me. Something scary. Not a bear or a monster. Much worse than that.

My housemates.

Now you may think from my last post about socialising while travelling, that I’m a lover of conversation. The truth is, I hate it. I am a level 99 ninja at avoiding it. There’s a lot I’d go through to get out of a conversation. Including climbing a mountain.

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Dealing with Bed Bugs in Vancouver, Canada

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magnified bed bug on hair

Before I moved to Canada, I wasn’t really aware that bed bugs were real. They were a foreign idea and I never considered that I could get them. My sole experience of bed bugs was that oft used phrase “Goodnight, sleep tight…don’t let the bed bugs bite.” To my mind those little insects were a fairy tale, up there with the tooth fairy and Easter bunny. [Read more…]

Travel Fear: Going Through Immigration

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The queue at an airport's immigration.

I have developed an irrational fear when traveling internationally: going through customs and immigration. I have no reason to cause suspicion, yet I can’t help but feel on edge whenever I’m about to cross a border.

My passport photo is from when I was 17, a blonde without bangs (a fringe). What if they think I am a fake? What if they believe I am using a stolen passport? It’s not my fault passports don’t expire for, like, 10 years. People change, you know?

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