Somewhere between Yellowknife and Edmonton my favourite newish keen hiking shoes have acquired a squeak.....walking through the airport with heads turning to see where the horrible noise is coming from....and there is me embarrassed with every step! It is starting to drive me mad and perhaps buying new pair of shoes is on the agenda for my first day in Peru! I am hoping that the difference in temperature and humidity will make it go away, however that is likely w...

Welcome to my next adventure! I have dreamt about visiting Machu Picchu in Peru for a long time and it feels quite surreal right now that I am on my way! The thing about living in the north is it usually adds an extra day of travel to your adventure. Trying to get to a major city in time for connections leaves you flying in the day or night before. As I am doing this trip on my two weeks off I booked a flight out on my Tuesday home day and was lucky enough to fly...

And so the journey home begins. Ferg took the train with me to Kyoto. We had time for coffee as we arrived at the station a little early. I had booked a seat on the left side of the train in hopes in of seeing Mt Fuji. I had a great weekend with Ferg, he was so generous and we had a great time! I headed out to find my train. I rode the bullet train which took about 2.5 hrs. I was worried about seeing Mt Fuji as it was getting pretty cloudy. I had a great view of ...

I woke this morning to birds chirping and the sunrise peaking through the trees on the rice paper sliding doors. I slept in the tatimi mat room under Fergs beautiful painting of the Irish Famine Road. We had morning coffee and great a great chat. We took our time getting ready for the day. I am temple and shrines out so we decided to just experience the city and see what the day brought. Ferg showed me around the university (Kansai Gaidai) where he is a professor...

I am writing this blog Saturday morning sitting on the couch in Fergs lovely apt. The sun is shining in on my face and the birds are chirping outside. On with the blog.... As I really did not have any plans for the day other than getting to Osaka by early evening I took my time getting up and ready for the day. I went down the street and got a coffee then headed over to the river and sat by the river next to the A Bomb Dome. I sat there for about half an hour, mo...