Disneyworld, Orlando and Disneyland, California.

AH! So, I'm pretty darn excited to post about this one although it was a few years ago. Disneyland/world are the loves of my life. I don't know what it is about these places, but it brings back your innocence and truly allows you to forget about the outside world for a while. There are some cons, and there are definitely some steps to take to make the best of your time, but it is definitely a place I recommend going.

In Orlando, we decided to stay within the Disney Resorts for the first time. I found this to be much more useful because the buses would pick you up from your resort and takes you to whichever park you desired. The problem that I found, though.. is that there are so many parks you'd have to stay for two weeks to get your use out of them. I didn't like how chopped up they were, and found this frustrating when your bus would come late, especially at the end of the day. We stayed at the Disney Yacht Club resort, which turned out to be quite neat and have AMAZING food, but we found it too hot to walk around on much especially with the sun beaming on the unshaded boardwalk that almost reflected the rays. Then again, we went to Florida in August so what can you really expect..

I have been to Disneyland, California a good 7-8 times. We generally stay at the Camelot Inn, or the Fairfield Inn which are five minute walks to the park. It is a very beneficial place to stay because then you don't have to worry about how to get there in the morning and take all that time just to arrive in the parks. I have made a list on youtube of my top twenty favourite rides in Disneyland, California and I will put the link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz2SK_VBRZE
OH, and little hint.. if you are into Vanilla/Raspberry/Cherry coke there is a little store at the end of the main street on the left that sells that and jalapeno cheese filled pretzels which are to die for.. it's in small print, but if you ask for it they will give it to you!

Here's some tips to get around the park that we have found useful:

1. If you decide to go in the summer, PLAN AHEAD because it is HOT in Florida. Dress light, buy water, and make sure to decide when you need to take a break! They sell neat little fans attached to spray bottles in the gift shops which sincerely help when it is 30 degrees Celsius and you are waiting in a line outside. Luckily, they are conscious of the fact it is boiling and will generally set up shade.

2. DON'T GO ON HOLIDAYS! Go on vacation.. yes, but don't go in the Christmas season or at a time when all the kids are off school and want to go to Disneyland for the week. I suggest you go at a quieter time of the year for a more enjoyable and thorough trip. I have gone a few times during the Christmas season and you are lucky if you get on 3 rides. The crowds are impossible to get through and they end up herding you like cattle. They don't set a limit to the park, and legitimately sell the tickets until they're have no more.

3. If you are able and willing, GO WHEN IT RAINS, OR JUST THERE AFTER. People ALWAYS leave when it is raining, and sometimes for good reason due to lightning where they will close down the park, but most of the time it just clears out and you get to go on rides over and over without line up. This happened to my family and I in the summer and we literally got on the Tower of Terror a good 7 times. You'd literally have no wait which hardly EVER happens in Disneyland.

4. Get Fast Passes! You've probably heard of them before, but it is a really handy way to budge the lines if you know how to use them right. I suggest going in early to get  them (can be found at the specific rides). The times will get later and later the busier the park gets. I also suggest getting them for the bigger rides such as Space Mountain or Indiana Jones, as these lines tend to be the most tedious and long. Once you have them, go to a ride close by and ride it while you wait for your time to arrive. Then, you get to walk past all the people with a smug grin on your face!  (It really sucks to be on the waiting side)

5. Make sure you get lots of sleep the night before and have a good breakfast because it's just fact that you will have to be patient throughout the day. There's really no point in going and then frustrating yourself and not enjoying your time. Understand that there will be wait times, and roll with it. You kind of have to have the mindset that you'll get to your destination when you get there and you can't make people become less ignorant.


Those are the main ones I can think of at the moment, but I may come back and add more.

The perks of DisneyWorld, Orlando:

My brother and I sincerely enjoyed "Disney Quest" which can be found in the downtown area. It's a giant building full of different games and is a very kid friendly area. There are old school pac man games on one floor, and 3d interactive games on another. The one we really liked was the Buzz Light Year game where you would drive your car much like bumper cars and shoot balls at the other teams. The top floor, I kid you not, had the most unhealthy but DELICIOUS cupcakes in the entire world. The Downtown area is very good for the adults, with House Of Blues and many other pubs to go to. One of the neater things we found, is that Cirque De Soleil had a show here, so we definitely hit that up. Easy place to spend money though, so be careful!

It is truly one of the most wonderful places, and I think you kind of get addicted. Hopefully you are a ride person and don't get sick easily.. but I do have to say not many of these rides include much spinning or would induce that kind of feeling. There are lots of rides that are more about the presentation (such as Pirates Of The Caribbean) than the actual thrill and adrenaline. The gift shops are wonderful to look through, and they truly do an amazing job of making the park other worldly and magical.

I hope this post was helpful! I'll be sure to post some pictures down below.

RainForest Cafe

Epcot

I'm Back!

I started this blog when I was pretty darn young. I always tend to post on my other one and forget this exists. But lately, all I've been thinking of doing is posting about my travels and experiences because I always find it interesting to hear of others and I've been many places so I can tell you what I found to be good, and not good. In the next year I am sure of the fact that I will be road tripping to Texas (May), heading to Tofino, and in 2013, going on a Europe trip with my school that will entail seeing Berlin, Amsterdam, Vimy Ridge, Paris, and London. I have already been to these places apart from Berlin, but I think it will be a whole other trip due to the fact I am going with my friends, with my school, and seeing new monuments that I have just learned of in social class. Anyways, that's definitely some blog posts to look forward to because I'll definitely share my time there.
As of now I'm going to post where I've been in the last few years. That's a lot of places, so I'm going to do my best!

Committed as of now,
Meghan

Johnston Canyon Hike (Banff).

In the summer while some friends from Amsterdam were visiting we decided we'd show them the beauty of our cold Alberta and take them on a hike to Johnston Canyon. This blog will definitely have more pictures than usual but that is because I want to convince you to visit this hike if you are visiting! It's absolutely gorgeous and very well known. I'm serious when I say it's very well known and that's the main unfortunate thing. It's very busy and people aren't very patient when it comes to taking pictures. I really recommend going on it though not only because it is gorgeous but because it's more of a walk than a hike and you won't be wiped out by the end, but you will be tired enough to treat yourself to some ice cream that they sell at the bottom.

There's also a lodge where you can get the things above^^

The boardwalk you have to go on. (let me note these are all my pictures)

One of the falls

The cave that you walk through to see the waterfall

One of the waterfalls

Top of a waterfall

The squirrels are unbelievably tame, you could almost touch them.

Warped Tour '10.

Warped Tour 2010! I would have loved to have made it in 2009, but I was away so! I decided this year would be the year. Warped tour is a large day where thousands of teens come together and see their favourite bands. Honestly it mostly consists of emo kids, metal kids and indie kids, but it's all fun. We left really early in the morning, around 10 or something. It went from 11am-11pm but to be honest, we only lasted a little more than 3 hours because it must have been at least 30 degrees. The unfortunate thing is that there is no place to cool off. No fans or anything, your stuck out in the heat, becoming hotter with everyone else's body heat, relying on water to keep you hydrated. You're not allowed to bring in bottles or bug spray of any sorts and when you enter, police men with dogs sniff around. The other thing is that there is no re-entry. We would have come back but as soon as you leave you're not allowed in again. (I find that really dumb).

SO moving on.

This ^^ is the band line up. Although you can't see it really closely here are some bands that played.
:: Mayday Parade, Emarosa, Bring me the horizon, Alesana, Attack attack, Automatic loveletter, Breathe Carolina, The casualties (whom were eating at the same restaurant as us one night!), Eyes Set To Kill, In Fear In Faith, Parkway Drive, Pierce The Veil, Riverboat Gamblers (Whom I have seen before at the No Doubt concert I believe), Sum 41, Suicide Silence, We The Kings, Whitechapel, You Me At Six, and NEVERSHOUTNEVER! who was supposed to be there but for some reason either wasn't actually scheduled for Edmonton, or just canceled which is really disappointing because they are one of the main reasons I wanted to go, I love Mr. Drew!

Alesana

Alesana Crowd Surfer

* let me note that there are a bunch of different stages you can go to and that the bands are split up. 

Other than a bunch of bands playing, there is a few skate parks set up and a ridiculous amount of tents set up. There are tents for the bands, and there are tents for things like bracelets and just random merchandise.

A well known campaign to end suicide and depression

<3

Stickers where if you gave them a dollar you could take as many as you could get in a handful. Some people gave him a smoke and that worked too haha.

Now here are a few pictures from warped tour. I met up with a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in forever, some I didn't even know were there! A few we ran into each other.

West Edmonton Mall.

This one may include lots of pictures (and will have a video up later) because really there's more to show then say. The drive from where I'm from to Edmonton is about 3 hours and it's a really boring drive. I don't find Edmonton the nicest place in the world but West Edmonton Mall is always fun. (Whenever it's highlighted like that, it generally means to click it, because it will direct you to their main site). The mall is huge and has almost any store you could desire including American Apparel and Forever 21. It has a skating rink, a water park (a crazy one with tons of water slides and a wave pool at that), and a themed park. You can also get "themed rooms" at this hotel like an "African room", an "Igloo room", a "railway room" and many more. We stayed in the Polynesian room.

Polynesian Room

The Tub in our room.

The only thing that you have to be careful about when staying in these rooms is that there happens to be many hookers that go here, and for some reason people think they can do drugs here. The other thing that me and my family have found is that the rooms are not all necessarily cleaned well (as any hotel). My father once had to actually change hotels because the room stank of dirtiness and febreeze. The least they could do is change the sheets.

So. Moving on now, we didn't make it to the water park this time (although I have been there millions of times, and you can search it on their website as I linked above). The water park is pretty well made. I'm not entirely sure how clean the pool although they use chlorine, so that part freaks me out a bit but it depends what does and does not bother you. You have to pay to get into the water park if you are not staying at the hotel (you get coupons for that and galaxy land if you are) and you have to pay for a locker, and a tube if you plan on getting one. It's all expensive but that's how it is. The water slides are all different levels. IF YOU'RE SCARED OF HEIGHTS you will definitely not like this. You have to climb a ridiculous amount of stairs that are slippery, and you can see through. It's honestly terrifying to climb them. I could hardly do it. The slides are really fun though once you get on. It's a really cool theme and I think that if you've never been to West Edmonton Mall you have to go at least once.

GALAXY LAND! Love this theme park. Although there's not a ridiculous amount of rides, the ones you do go on won't disappoint. The main roller coaster  is huge and if you're afraid of heights (again) I don't think you'll enjoy this one all that much. There are tons of rides though, some of which ridiculously scary. Being someone who's been to Disneyland and other places millions of times, these rides are really hxc. Fun though! There's even a new addition of a 3D ride, which is so much fun. Its located underneath the roller coaster. 

We went on the little kid train for fun ahhaa!

The other kind of cool thing about the hotel is that once all the stores close and they turn off the lights, people staying in the hotel can roam around. They don't close the restaurants till decently late either which is kind of nice. The only thing is that they are trying to clean at night. I think a huge game of Hide and Seek would be so much fun haha.

We sat in the running elevators at night (they are glass) and just relaxed. Haha! There was no one using
 them so why not!

I'm going to post about WARPED TOUR 2010 in another blog as to make it easier to read <3

Vernon, British Columbia.

   

This past summer me and my friend Kaylee made a roadtrip to Vernon, British Columbia.  It's about a 7-8 hour trip there but luckily the drive is beautiful. The only unfortunate part is that there has been an unbelievable amount of construction that may slow you down an hour or two. Anyways. Once you near Vernon, and I'm not exactly sure what town this is in, there is an excellent little flea market that me and my family have stopped at ever since I was little. There's tons and tons of vintage jewellery, records, anything you could want and it's all amazing. It's something that your eyes wont miss if you are traveling from the East. Once I find out what town it is in I'll be sure to post.

The resort we stayed at was The Strand which is by far the best place to stay. I loved it there. The rooms are huge. We had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a balcony, two bathrooms. It was awesome. We also had a fridge that we later went and stocked with all our favorites. I've stayed at this resort twice and it's absolutely amazing. There is a pool, a hot tub, and the lake right behind the hotel. There is also a dock that lights up at night which is really beautiful. Me and Kaylee would go out every night and sit there for hours. You can see the city lights, the stars, and the moonlight on the lake. The only downfall about this is that there are spiders EVERYWHERE. It was really hard for me to accept because of my huge fear, but you get used to it considering the spiders stay inside the lamps on the dock. It's just terrifying because they are really really large.

A look at the hotel from the dock

View from our room, the pool.

The whole week we were sort of lazy, relaxing in the room. We slept, ate and played video games a lot. We also went shopping, went sea-dooing, go-karting, boating, tubing, went to the arcade, kayaking, layed on the beach, and swam. We also went to see Inception while it was in theatres, which is just in town. This movie theatre is totally awesome. I have a past in Vernon though, because me and my family used to attend the french camp BCFFC (or so i believe it's called) and we'd go Earl's for dinner than this movie theatre as a tradition.

Go-karting. I believe this was just outside of Kelowna. Click Here

Kal Beach (one of the more well known beaches)

Boating. It's unbelievably hard to actually rent a boat in Vernon. We have a guy that just rents his to us, because it's so hard to find one. Sea-doos = easy. Boats = near impossible.

Tubing. This was the worst tube of all time. Here's a tip. DO NOT GET A FLAT TUBE. You have no where for your feet to hold onto so your legs fly off, which makes you fly off! worst and most painful tube I have ever been on.


I want to post about this awesome hemp store we went to, but it's not letting me post pictures so i'm just gonna tell you about it. You'll notice this shop in downtown Kelowna because it has a huge hippie van in front of it. Here it smells like Jasmine and I bought wrap skirts, headbands, a hippie bag, feather earrings, rings, money pouches, hemp bracelets. It was my heaven. Definitely go to this shop! I tried to find out what it's called but I just can't remember.


OKAY so, I'll post the videos that I took as soon as I put them all together. I've been meaning to do this but I just haven't gotten to it yet, so wait up for this because it's a mash of some things we did! A vlog :)


Hope you enjoyed! <3

Banff Springs Hotel.

Just recently, me and my mom decided to peace right out of our town, and spend a lovely weekend at the Banff Springs Hotel. Now I'm going to warn you right now, if you're expecting to stay at the castle, you better be expecting to pull out a wad of money and be around (some) snobby, wealthy people.
This place is truly amazing, but since it is so expensive we just stayed over for a night, and in the morning went to the spa and returned home.
Some history about this castle may suggest that it is haunted, and I heard that sometimes when you enter the elevator, you may be greeted by a bellboy who turns out to not truly be there, or a ghost of a bride walking down the stairs (who had tripped and fallen to her death). Who knows?

The Lobby

Then there's Sam, the former bellman, who swore he would come back to haunt the place. Shortly after his death, a mysterious bellman fitting Sam's description and dressed in an old-style uniform, suddenly arrived to rescue two elderly ladies who were locked out of their room.


There've been many famous people to grace the Banff Springs Hotel halls, including the beautiful Marilyn Monroe, when she stayed there to shooting a movie.

Then there was the time in the early 1950s when Marilyn Monroe twisted her ankle while filming River of No Return.

"The bellmen would flip a coin to see who would be the lucky one to push her around in her wheelchair," Moberg says.

There are 770 rooms, 12 eateries, four lounges, a spa, tennis courts and a 27-hole golf course

The Spa Lounge

The mineral pools at the spa.

I definitely recommend staying here if you are traveling from far away. Its worth it considering how breath taking this building is, but it's not crucial to stay here because Banff is gorgeous by itself.

If you go to lunch in the hotel, make sure you order the salad with goat cheese, grapes and nuts. It's the best thing i've ever eaten! 

Enjoy :)

The Traveling Blogger.

My name is Meghan and I'm from a small town in Alberta, Canada. I want to write about places I travel to (because I like to get out of this freezing place as often as I can), post pictures, write about what I did and didn't like, and give you some serious spots to hit.
That's that.

Upcoming Blogs
-My trip to the banff springs hotel
-Vegas in December
-Vancouver, if I can dish up the money.
-Disneyland in February

Myself.