All roads lead to Rome

After travelling so many roads around the world, we finally made it... to Rome!  It was only a quick 3 day stopover on our way back to Montreal.  Too many things to see/do and so little time... so we just visited the major sites and will leave the rest for next time :).

As part of our "quest" to see the Wonders of the World (no, not really), we had to see the Colosseum and neighbouring Foro Romano (Roman Forum).


We also popped by to visit Pope Francis, but he wasn't home... guess we'll just have to come back!


We spent the rest of the time casually wandering the streets of Rome to see what else the city has to offer.


Oh!  Of course we can't forget the most important part of the trip.. the Gelato!  During our 3 days, we visited what the internet considers to be the best gelato places in Rome.  Miam miam.  :P

Friends in Kos

What better way to pass summer than to return to Kos for another reunion with our nomadic kitesurfing friends for a couple of weeks!  Peter's school was pretty busy this year, so Dom even helped teach some of the initial land and water lessons.


Kitesurfing and hanging out by day


BBQs and parties by night


Many friends and family were surprised that we were going to Kos this summer given that Greece was were in the middle of a Financial crisis and Kos is one of the main islands impacted by the Syrian Refugee Crisis.  

The 60euro daily ATM limit only applied to locals so we weren't technically impacted by that, but we did hear that some people had trouble because the ATMs would occasionally run out of cash.  We did bring some Euro in with us just incase, but overall, paying for stuff wasn't nearly as problematic as the media made it sound... plus most of the stores/restaurants still accepted Credit Cards.  

Kos is located only a few kilometres from Turkey, so there were a lot of refugees making the crossing while we where there.  When they arrive, they walk to and stay in camps near the centre of town.  Since we were staying about 5km east of Kos Town we pretty much never saw them.  However, the gravity of the situation was evident by the number of new life vests, inflatable boats, and tires abandoned on the kitesurf beach every morning.  According to the locals, refugees make the crossing in the dark and puncture all of the inflatable boats/tires as soon as they are near the land so that the coast guards are forced to rescue them rather than tow them back to where they came from.  Usually they cross on inflatable dinghies, but often the boats are full so they tie a bunch of plastic inflatables or scooter tires together, and tow people behind the boat on them!



Secret Cinema

During our July trip to London, we had a team building at the "Secret Cinema" in London.  

Secret Cinema is a unique interactive cinematic experience where they show an undisclosed film at an undisclosed location, which is usually some sort of warehouse that you find out a couple days before your event date.  There are elaborate sets and actors that act out scenes from the movie and interact with you as though you're part of the world.  

This year, they decided to disclose the name of the film ahead of time: Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back.  

Prior to the event, viewers were invited to begin immersing themselves into the world through an elaborate website that provides you with a "character" for dressing up, plus helpful items that you could bring for the event (dress and items are optional).  

http://www.rebelxbase.co

In addition to being immersed and participating as "extras" in various scenes of the film, you also figure out that there's also a bit of a side game going on in the world, so the more you interact with the various characters, the more tasks you accomplish to progress to stages/scenes of the film.  

It's impossible to describe how amazing and elaborate the entire setup and experience was!!  Since it was mandatory for everyone to seal their phones and cameras in electrical static-bags at the beginning of the event, we don't have any of our own pictures of the amazing sets and characters to post :(  But here are some pics that we grabbed from this article.. these are images from scenes that we actually experienced!

http://www.express.co.uk/travel/shortbreaks/586248/Review-Secret-Cinema-Star-Wars-Episode-V-The-Empire-Strikes-Back

The event is a bit expensive but it lasted 6-7 hours and all of us, including the skeptics in the group, were blown away by how well done and amazing the experience was.  The event is only ever offered for a limited time, but if you happen to be in London when a secret cinema is happening, you absolutely HAVE to go!  It was SO much fun!!  http://www.secretcinema.org

Cherry Pickers

On our road trip back to Calgary, we stopped by Vernon BC to visit our kitesurfing friends Ron & Jude, whom we met and hung out with last Christmas for almost a month and a half in Vietnam!


Ron & Jude took us out to Peter’s Orchard near Vernon, where Dom & I picked 23 pounds of delicious tree-ripened cherries to bring back home!


We also stopped by Kamloops for a couple of days to work and visit our friends Sheena and Oliver :)

Congratulations Rob & Sonia!

Prior to heading to Vancouver for Dom's cousin's wedding, Charlotte flew to Calgary to for a quick visit.  We didn't spend much time site seeing since she's been to Calgary before, but Charlotte did get to meet some extended family on Jen's dad's side and spent lots of time visiting Jen's parents.  Charlotte was also lucky enough to experience Calgary's wonderful hail storms :)


Next on the agenda was a road trip out to Squamish for an impromptu family reunion prior to the wedding.  Thanks again Mark and Tamara for your wonderful hospitality!!

When we arrived in Vancouver, there were major forest fires in the area.  There was very little wind, which meant the smoke was thick and lingering.. it also meant no Squamish Kitesurfing for Dom :( !  

Luckily, a light breeze cleared out the smoke on the day of Robert and Sonia's Wedding.  The ceremony was lovely and a little bit of blue sky even snuck out for a while in the afternoon.   

The Banquet was at the Stanley Park Pavillion.  Since Sonia's family is Italian and Robert's family is (half) French, the banquet menu featured incredibly delicious items from both cultures, including poutine (of course!).  The particularly memorable dishes for us were the ravioli (probably the best we've ever had!) and a pistachio canelli dessert!

Also very special and memorable were the wonderful tributes made to Robert's late mother (Dom's aunt) in both the ceremony and the banquet that left us all feeling teary-eyed and especially appreciative of the special day that we spent today, surrounded by family.



Mt Kidd

After returning to Calgary, Jen's parents invited us to go camping for a couple of days.  We introduced Dom to "luxury" camping at Mt. Kidd where there's electrical plug ins, flush toilets, running water, hot showers, a pool/hot tub, satellite TV...

... and internet!  What better place to get a bit of work done than under the warm sun with fresh mountain air and no distractions!


Jen's dad also took us for a really great 44km bike ride along the Legacy trail that runs from Canmore to Banff.  It's a fully-paved bike trail with amazing views of the mountains.. we highly recommend it!!




Enjoying the Tenerife Sun

Before returning to London, we decided to spend our last 2 weeks in Tenerife, Spain.  We found a great little apartment overlooking the main plaza and the beach, for only 35euro/night.  It has been definitely one of our best "offices" so far! ;)


The town we stayed in is called El Medano.. and of course we picked that location because it has a kite surfing beach!  After a good day at the office, Dom rented a board to go kiting while Jen "relaxed" with the relatively inexpensive (and much-needed) massage therapist who helped fix some of the aches and strains that we've accumulated from working all day in not-so-ergonomic conditions over the past months.


El Medano is a cute, quiet little town.  We really enjoyed our stay and hope to come back one day!

Gaudi

The last time we were in Barcelona, we didn't have enough time to visit the famous Sagrada Familia, so this time we made sure to check out some of the Antoni Gaudí sites.  Antoni Gaudí is a famous Catalonian architect with a unique "organic" style based on natural forms.  However, if you ask Dom, he is an Architect that really like Ice Cream Sundaes - as that's what his works kinda look like.

Sagrada Familia
The Sagrada Familia is probably the most known work by Gaudi.  In 1882, he started building this church that he knew would take over a hundred years to complete.  When asked about the fact that he would never see his greatest work completed, he allegedly responded that his client (God) is in no hurry.  Gaudi sketched and modelled the church's design so that future generations could complete the construction.  Unfortunately, during the civil war, many of those drawings, maquettes, and parts of the church where destroyed, so we will never see his final work the way he originally envisioned it... but it will be grandiose none the less!

Sketches


When we walked around the Sagrada Familia 2 years ago, we thought we were viewing the facades of the front and the back of the church.  After the tour, we discovered that those elaborate facades are actually just the sides of the church with temporary entrances!  There's still plenty of work to be done on the church as 1 of the the remaining sides will eventually become the grand entrance... hopefully we'll get to return to see the finished work, which they're estimating will be completed around 2028!


As crazy as the church's exterior is, the most interesting part is definitely the inside structures and stained glass - it’s breathtakingly beautiful!



Gingerbread and Ice Cream!
Gaudi was famous for architecting several buildings in Barcelona.  We visited a few other Gaudi creations and learned about his unique approach to architecture.  

Looking at these 2 pictures you must admit that Gaudi's creations look like ice cream sundae and gingerbread houses!  


In brief, his style mimics shapes and forms found in nature because God created nature, and nature is therefore perfect.  According to Gaudi, there are no straight lines in nature, so you will rarely see any straight lines in any of his works (hence the melting-ice cream appearance :)).  


Final Port: Barcelona

We've been to Barcelona before, but only for a couple of days, so we were looking forward to spending more time exploring our final port.  In particular, Jen was excited to shop at her new favourite store, Desigual.  She isn't exactly a shopaholic, but we've probably visited at least one Desigual in every European city we've been to since our gap year!  We rarely buy anything because it's a bit expensive, but since Barcelona is where the store originated the prices are significantly cheaper here!  ...we finally purchased a few items for Jen :)

We were working during the week but on the weekends we did a bike tour, checked out the beach, and most importantly: drank sangria! ;) 


We also happened upon a festival where local "Castellers" where doing human pyramid performances.. it was really amazing to watch, especially because some of the little kids climbing to the top were so young! 


Lastly, we stayed at a really cute B&B called Ally's Guest House.  The room we were staying in had red furniture and decor.. we left for lunch one afternoon, and when we returned in the evening the entire room had changed to blue including all of the furniture, the decorative pillows/bedding, and even the paintings&frames!  We had a good laugh as it was quite the surprise.

Working on a cruise

It's been on our wish list since we began our digital nomad lifestyle - working on a cruise ship.  

Until recently, the internet on cruise ships was so painfully slow that it was impossible for us to even consider.  Last year, Royal Caribbean came out with a new ship boasting internet speeds fast enough to stream Netflix.  With a little help and convincing from Jen's mom, we decided to book our tickets and put the new ship to the test.

Here is the Quantum of the Seas, the most technologically advanced boat on the seas today:

Robot bartenders:

80 inch virtual balconies:


We flew to Newark, NJ and spent the next 11 nights floating toward Barcelona, Spain.

..but hey, wait.. weren't you already just in Spain?  

Right.. yes we sure were, but since Jen’s parents and their friends were taking the cruise and celebrating their 65th birthdays, we decided to join in on the fun :)

Dom had done 1 cruise in the past and found it fairly... boring.  Taking a cruise while working at the same time was quite a bit more hectic with trying to juggle everything in around work hours...

Activities: Bumper cars, ping pong, napkin folding class, iFly, FlowRider, volleyball, the shows (Mamma Mia, the Beatlemaniacs, Star Water, Sonic Odyssey, and Claire Vinkesteijn).


Plus 3 ports: Ponta Delgada, Portugal

Cartagena, Spain

Mallorca, Spain


And lastly all of the food, drinks, and socializing


It made for quite the busy trip, but overall we really enjoyed ourselves.

So, did the internet speeds stand up to the challenge?  Sadly, no... it seems the technology is still new and they've still got a LOT of bugs to work out of their system.  The internet wasn't anywhere close to what they claim - we think they must have tested Netflix when there was only 1 person on the ship!.  If you just need to surf the internet and you have patience, it is much better in comparison to other cruise ships out there.  However don't expect to be able to do any kind of streaming or have decent Skype calls.. we got lucky once or twice and managed to connect our calls, but often times we could barely even sign in.