Home Is a Wonderful Place to Visit
I don't know exactly how long we were awake getting home from Europe... but I do know it was over 24 hours.
By the time we finally stumbled through our front door on June 30 we were running on equal parts excitement, stubbornness and airport coffee. We were greeted by exactly what every traveller hopes for: a clean house, happy plants (thank you Kim who kept them alive!) and, perhaps most importantly, our own wonderfully comfortable bed.
We crashed. Hard.
July 1 was gloriously ordinary. We unpacked, answered emails, caught up on work, tried to remember what day it was and enjoyed one more blissful sleep in our own bed.
That should have been the sensible ending to the story.
It wasn't.
July 2 became another packing day. This time it wasn't suitcases. It was the Albino Rhino. Thank you Kim for our clean house, living plants and CLEAN CAR!!
Somewhere between doing laundry, Cotty picking ground blackberries and figuring out what countries are still left on our EU list, we looked at the weather forecast. July was looking unusually cool, we'd been talking about exploring more of BC for ages, and somehow Cotty had managed to get this fishing rotation off. We still can't quite believe how perfectly the timing worked out, with us being back just IN time for him to go ON the trip but then getting it off - oh well.
Most people would probably have stayed home after a month in Europe.
Apparently we're not most people.
So off we went.
Jet lag finally caught up with me at Duke Point Terminal. I fell asleep while parked in lane 17 waiting for the delayed ferry. Then on the ferry, I reclined my car seat… and instantly fell asleep while Cotty was talking to me. The two-hour crossing honestly felt like about two minutes. It was one of those strange, disorienting sleeps where you wake up wondering if someone has moved the Earth while you were unconscious.
We had a lovely but very sleepy visit with friends that evening. Everyone was jet lagged. Everyone voted for an early bedtime.
The next day looked like a pretty standard Vancouver marathon: errands, a visit to our favourite mechanics, a whole lot of jewellery, a quick border run to collect our new Exped megamat duo mattress from our mailbox, more visits with friends and one more early night.
Then the real adventure began.
The following morning we transformed the Albino Rhino into Expedition Mode for the very first time.
It almost all fit.
Almost.
The Blue Gnu has spoiled us. After more than 400,000 kilometres we'd perfected every little nook and cranny. Every item had a home. Every movement had become muscle memory.
The Rhino isn't there yet.
It may eventually need a rooftop carrier, but for now we seem to be winning through determination and enthusiastic rearranging.
We squeezed in a few more city errands, watched Canada's final World Cup match, discovered a tasty new lunch spot on Main Street, visited Muffy, Lee and their delightful bunnies, and waited to see if Cotty’s dad might make an appearance.
Eventually, though, Kamloops was calling.
More accurately...
Cotty's Epic Cousin Quest had officially begun.
Next stop: family.
Cotty’s EU wrap up:
• countries - UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, France = 14
• kilometres - 7100km
• ferries - SEVEN - $1256 CDN
• fuel - $1200 CDN - $43/day
• Toll - $209.08
• Flights - $2130 rtn total for both of us
• accommodation - zero $ - mostly gnu, except wisely HG, Chatou, and Weston in Heat wave
• Total trip cost for 2 people not including groceries, as everybody eats: $4795.08 CDN - there were incidentals (trains, transit, museums, parking - we didn’t eat out - and we are very happy with the cost vs enjoyment ratio.
• favourite stops - Estonia, Quedlingburg, Nurburgring
• average daily distance - 253km per day
• funny statistics - Sweden, Finland and Estonia within 20 hours - also Germany, Luxembourg, Paris in the same day
• map below - in three parts :)
