the stories that I'm telling.

Tag: road trip

  • Roadtrip Day 1: We went to the edge of continental Europe!

    Roadtrip Day 1: We went to the edge of continental Europe!

    A quick post today before we head out to the beach. This post is a bit late coming, but Kevin’s best friend Mark is currently visiting, so we’ve been out and about (we also drove to Lisbon to pick him up 2 days in a row, because the first day we drove up we were a day too early).

    Anyways, when Tyler was here, our post-Lisbon road trip began with a drive to Cabo da Roca, a lighthouse at the westernmost point of continental Europe. Perhaps not the coolest claim to fame of all time, but it was gorgeous nonetheless.

    The western coast of Portugal is dotted with gorgeous cliffs, and Cabo da Roca is no exception. It’s a popular tourist attraction in the picturesque Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, and was the first of many beautiful spots that we saw in Sintra that day. Because it was March, we were 3 of maybe 8 people there that day. Being along the cliffs, with the beautiful green fields behind us felt magical. It was a great to start to an excellent day.

    See below for the photos!

     

  • Did you know that Tyler came to visit?

    Did you know that Tyler came to visit?

    While Kevin and I were in Cambodia, my brothers trekked halfway around the globe to visit us for a 10 day extravaganza.

    We managed to convince Tyler to come on a similar adventure, this time in Portugal. Kevin put weeks of planning into a road trip that took us all around Portugal, where we saw some incredible sites, ate some incredible food, and laughed incredibly hard.

    He came to visit us for 10 days in the middle of April. We started with nights out in Lisbon, followed by a 3 day roadtrip that was cut short by illness. We then spent the rest of the trip in the Algarve, where we showed him this sites, relaxed among the orange trees, and convinced him to eat all kinds of amazing seafood.

    Inspired by our former roommate, Dragan, the motto of the entire trip was “turn down for what” (really, inspired by this most amazing music video), and Tyler did his very best to turn up all the time.

    We did it up pretty big, which is to say that we spared no expense and never said ‘no’ to anything.

    As a result, there are lots of photos and videos and stories to share. I expect they’ll take up the next 2 weeks worth of posts (including a couple written by Tyler himself!), so be sure to check the blog often!

    Below are a few photos of what’s to come – enjoy!

    siblings at a non-existent archeological monument
    approaching piodao from the cloudy mountains
    cows on the roadside, just normal stuff
    meta photos on an aqueduct in Tomar
    siblings in Lisbon
    siblings in Belem (part of Lisbon, really)
    slow down – goats on the road!
  • Roadtripping to Lisbon

    Roadtripping to Lisbon

    There’s an efficient way of driving to Lisbon, and then there’s the Heather-and-Kevin way of driving to Lisbon.

    The drive to Lisbon takes around 3 hours. Or 6 hours. You know, whatever. Here’s the map of the route we took (you can see the direct highway on the right, going straight up to Lisbon at reasonable speeds):

    Cabo_Sardão_-_Google_Maps

    Anyways, our route included missed turns due to my inability to read maps, gorgeous cliffs, lunch, a ferry ride, and a drive across Lisbon’s answer to the Golden Gate Bridge.

    The highlight of the trip was cliffs at Cabo Sardao, featured in our photos below. They were about a zillion times more beautiful and impressive in person, as with most natural sites caught on a cell phone camera. The cliffs were sheer, and Kevin was quite worried that I’d trip and fall over the edge. In every photo of me, he’s cautioning me to be careful, then grabbing my hand as soon as the photo is taken. Usually I’m the one who’s acting safety-crazed, so I got quite a laugh out of it all.

    Fun fact about Cabo Sardao: it was constructed 180 degrees differently than intended. The front door is supposed to face the road but instead it faces the sea. Apparently the guy in charge of construction read the papers wrong. And at a location that remote, you don’t exactly send out any random inspection crews.

    After Cabo Sardao, we drove to Sines, where I leveraged TripAdvisor to find us a true local hangout for lunch. The food (frango – bbq’d chicken) wasn’t amazing, but it was pretty darn good, at a laid back restaurant called Adega de Sines. We then took a short walk around Sines, and got back in the car. On a normal trip, we’d have been in Lisbon by now.

    Next, we drove to a ferry stop just south of Lisbon. I’d never taken a ferry with a car, and it was a pretty neat experience. Pretty darn windy, but interesting to experience being in a car-on-a-boat-crossing-a-harbour. After we left the ferry, we were just a quick drive away from Lisbon. Before long, we crossed the 25th of April Bridge, and were in Lisbon.

    We were in town for a few days, crashing at our friend Soledad’s gorgeous apartment while she was out of town. Our fun roadtrip was a sign of things to come, as we had a total blast exploring Lisbon together. Those stories are coming soon. For now, enjoy the photos from our roadtrip to Libson.

     

    At the Cabo Sordao cliffs!
    a bit too close to the edge for Kevin’s liking
    OMG Kevin did not like this one.
    even this he thought was too close. Behind me is the backwards lighthouse. The tower shouldn’t be on the far side from the ocean!
    lunch!
    a funny poster in the restaurant. In the Alentejo province, everything takes forever and people are happy to wait!
    outside our lunch spot
    Yes, Aunt Elaine and Nana Ev, those are cannons!
    the ferry arriving
    on the ferry!
    Kevin’s truck enjoying the ride (I’m inside the truck at this point)
    my wind-free view
    crossing the bridge
    jesus christ, we’re on a bridge!
  • Cycling Phnom Penh to Siem Reap – motorcycling, that is.

    Cycling Phnom Penh to Siem Reap – motorcycling, that is.

    In November of last year, Tyler and Kevin took a motorcycling course to get their formal M2 license for riding a motorcycle in Canada. After a long hiatus, they decided to put those skills into action in Cambodia. Riding here is not at all like riding in a parking lot in Scarborough, and they’ve got the photos to prove it. (Disclaimer: Kevin has been riding a motorcycle since he was approx 15, so he was the experienced safety captain of this operation – leading, worrying, and teaching Tyler the ropes of countryside riding).

    My brothers were visiting us here for 10 days, which encapsulated only one proper weekend. We spent that weekend in Siem Reap, visiting the various incredible temples and history of Angkor (more to come on that). To get there, Kristopher and I hopped on a 6 hour air-conditioned van ride. Meanwhile, Tyler and Kevin rented motorcycles for the weekend, and they met us Siem Reap after a 7 hour trek through the countryside traffic of Cambodia (in 37 degree heat!).

    I asked Kevin to tell me what the riding was like and he said this:

    After riding motorcycles on three different continents, I can say that our Cambodia trip was the dustiest and hottest that I’ve yet to contend. When there was a road surface it was slippery, and when there wasn’t a road, the scene was littered with massive potholes and the dust gave close to zero visibility. No gas bar service stations to be seen! While I was a bit nervous taking Tyler out at rush hour, there’s nothing better for learning than being thrown into the frying pan like that. This is an experience that couldn’t be replicated in North America or Europe. Tyler performed well and I’m looking forward to our next road trip.

    The great thing about them riding motorcycles to Siem Reap was that the 4 of us were then able to motorcycle all around the Angkor temples together. With me giving directions à la Kevin’s cell phone, we were able to get around and remain independent. I was also able to capture a couple of videos of my brothers doing some very cool things. This, for example:

    After two days of driving KP and I all around, Kevin and Tyler rode back to Phnom Penh on Monday morning.

    Of course, while KP and I spent our trips there and back watching the Simpsons on my laptop, their trip was much more eventful. It included buying gas out of glass bottles from a woman sitting on the side of the road, getting completely covered in red clay from the unpaved roads, dealing with Cambodian traffic (re: left hand turners driving in the oncoming lane to reach their destination), chickens on motorcycles, kids and adults alike staring at them and wishing them “good luck”, and a little bit of rain. At one point they met some kids when they stopped to eat their snacks. They offered some cookies to the kids, who then walked away with the whole box – cookie bandits!

    The end result of all this? Some good stories to tell, and approx 1000 more kilometres of motorcycling experience under their belts.

    Check out the photos of their bad-assery below:

     

    Tyler, leaving the city at rush hour
    Buying roadside gas – 1 USD per litre.
    “What did you make me do Kevin”
    “Let’s call Heather to pick us up, er no phone service”
    “This bike is way too tall for me, beggars can’t be choosers”
    Leathers aren’t cool here…
    I wish I had leathers.
    Not the regional roads of Ontario
    Buying roadside snacks – these kids took their cookies!
    Locals stop and stare
    The guy working at the gas station gave them free bottled water and wished them good luck.
    Approaching the chicken man
    Sporting a breathing mask to keep out dust
    250cc Honda is all I need
    We also saw the chicken guy in Phnom Penh – here’s a close up of what Tyler and Kevin also saw from the road.