Ganesha - The Remover of Obstacles

Ganesha is Lord of new beginnings in that he clears paths. Ganesha consciousness binds all fragmentations....he binds people & beings together to form an integrated whole community. He is the force behind cooperation, collaboration and cohesion. Ganesha melts barriers by interweaving pure sweetness in our moment-to-moment experiences. He is also the strength & fierceness we call upon to cross new thresholds and gain new perspective. Ganesha is everywhere in Bali. There isn't a home without a statute of him. When you see what he represents it makes sense that you would want him in your home. May 2015 bring all the things that Ganesha represents into your life!

How do you do it Vanessa? - the question I get asked the most about travelling

When I started blogging I did it as an outlet for ideas and opinions, and to keep people up to date on my travels. I have kind of dropped off the radar as I go back and forth on whether there is any value in this exercise in expressing my feelings for the whole wide internet to read. But as the title of my blog entails.. I should listen to my intuition. Plus I read so many online articles and know especially in my travels that I may create value to those looking to do something similar in the future as I search out and research my next adventure to Bali.

The question I get the most is how do you get to travel so much? Well like a fine art, I have crafted the art of my own experiences and making available to me the things I really want to do in life. Life is to short to do the things you don't want to do for very long. Most peoples resistances stop right there, they just can't get more time off of work. But do you want to live to work, or work to live, or just live? But what happens when you tell work "I'm going". I've only had one job tell me that means I won't have a job when I came back, and really it was a blessing to be released from that job though it was one of my hardest decisions of my life it also made me who I am today and opened me to a whole other world of opportunity and experiences.. and 4 AMAZING months in South America.

So work.. in Canada we are restricted to two weeks a year which means you basically get to do an exhausting trip somewhere far, or some short local trips. To me that isn't even worth it if you can't get a month in a place. I recommend when taking a new job to negotiate your holiday time to include more. Everyone in Europe gets at least four weeks and what is it in our culture that says we don't deserve the same? If you are a hard worker, and you are worth it they will give it to you. If they don't give it to you I would think you may need to find a better fit, and believe me the better fit is out there.  What Canadian companies have not caught on to is that you actually being happy means you will work harder and actually deliver more on your projects. Of course this doesn't apply to all work, especially if you are just starting out in your career, or working in bureaucratic positions with no grey areas.
The best work is the flexible, contract work where you often work for short periods and often can take space between these contracts. The reality of many jobs now don't need you to even be in an office anymore and by slowly introducing a work from home option to your employer it will often lead to extended holidays where you can work from the beach rather than home. That means taking your computer with you on holiday but it means enjoying your stay in a different culture a bit longer, it's worth it in my eyes. Flexibility is key. Knowing when it's a good time to take a holiday for yourself and your company/organization is also a way of showing the people around you that you care enough to not take off during the busy time.
Timing is everything. I tend not to travel in high season in order to save on high season accommodation, though some of the best times to have extended holidays are over Christmas and New Years as a lot of peoples work slow down so just go when you can go.

Money. If you have never learned how to save or pay off your debts, I would probably start there. Don't take a holiday until you have learned that skill. That being said sometimes opportunities are dropped in your lap at the last moment and saying No isn't just isn't an option. The one article I read about what you think about on your death bed isn't about the money, but the amazing time you had on a holiday. Look at the big picture always.  If you need 5 star accommodations, then lucky you or unlucky you has you are at risk of having little exposure to the cultures outside your compound. Sometimes that is what people need and I respect that. If you can afford it or have awesome friends who hook you with friends discounts do that because what goes around comes around. Share the wealth if you got it, what's the point of having a benefit if you can't share it? Often one night in a 5 star can pay for a whole week in Thailand, Ecuador, Spain or Turkey. Thanks to the internet there are so many options available now. My favourites are often guest houses, casa's, or any place where you can interact with the locals or meet other people from around the world. Find a place maybe that has free bike tours, group dinners, or great reviews. The choice is yours where you want to stay and spend your money. But don't go into debt to go on a holiday, but I am ok with going into debt to extend a holiday. Last minute decisions to stay in a place are often some of the best decisions I have ever had to make because who knows if you will ever get to that place on the earth again. Getting to a place sometimes takes work, and money and backtracking or going another time will cost you more in the long run. More debt isn't what you need to relax, and to me that just creates more stress. It is not something that is taught in school and it is one of the biggest issues I see in friends who want to travel but can't. Living cheaply doesn't mean you are cheap, it just means you may so no to some stuff that isn't logical. One of the biggest expenses in a city like Vancouver is rent, and a vehicle. If you can get rid of your car you can save an upwards of $7000/ year (yes do the math because it's true).
I have always rented out my home when I went away travelling, even before the days of Airbnb. Craigslist has allowed me to not increase my expenses while away and allowed someone else the comfort of my home. My home is simple, comfortable, and is in Vancouver so there is always a demand. I don't charge people more than it's worth as I want to attract the right person that is worthy of staying in my place. I have been fortunate to have dozens of different people stay in my home and have never had any issues. Airbnb makes this easier as well now with insurance and checking of people's IDs. I have always taken copies of peoples IDs just so I know exactly who is in my space. I have always trust my intuition when it comes to someone staying in my home. If something doesn't feel right just say No. And that goes with all of lifes situations really.

I don't have a big income but I am very happy with life and lifestyle, but I am able to save even with a vehicle. If you have attachments over having a stranger have sex in your bed, you aren't going to want to share your home. But imagine how many people have had sex in the bed you are sleeping in on holiday. If you want to travel you have to let go of some things. It is all possible if you want it to be possible. It sounds like a lot of work but it work and for me it isn't that much of hassle when I am saving a couple thousand dollars on holiday expenses. I've been to Prince George, Montreal x2, Boston, NYC, Seattle, Cuba, Ottawa, London, Paris, Turkey, and Desolation Sound this year and am heading to Bali next week for a month. Get a travel credit card and charge everything to it (if you pay off your debt immediately!).  I travel somewhere once a year on points.  Life is what you make it, you create your own obstacles, and set your own goals. Sometimes things don't happen but that doesn't mean it won't happen. If you really want to get out and see the world you can do it. I'll even help you. 

What I will miss about London

day off in Hyde park, originally uploaded by veggy.

Halloumi
Early closing pubs
Hamstead Heath, Victoria Park, Hyde Park
Zombies on the tube
So much ART! and appreciation of Art.
Amazing cafes (mainly owned by Aussies&Kiwis)
Southbank & Barbican & The Tate
The different hoods
Cycling on the Canals
Drinking outside and it's not a crime
V&A cafe
Cheap flights to everywhere! (almost)
So many people having layover here

Ok you get the point. I will miss this place and I will most likely be back soon. ox

To be a Moroccan

morrocanlady, originally uploaded by veggy.

In'shallah or god willing is thrown around more then amount of sugar that is added to the mint tea in Morocco. It was only up till a few days ago that I realized why I wasn't sleeping well, because they actually add macha green tea to their mint tea, shipped directly from China.. where else! Overdosed on caffeine.

Traveling in Morocco is like traveling back in time. The horse and buggy are still popular modes of transport even within the cities, and I don't think they will go out of style either as they are effective, and non polluting, compared to the thousands of scooters that rip in around the medina of Marrakech.
Traveling in Morocco has not been easy as women, or cheap. It actually has been more expensive then both Spain and Portugal, and this is staying in low budget riads and hostels and eating vegetarian food. There are prices for tourists and prices for locals, and if anyone is going to make some money it is the Moroccan. The women here tend to do all the backbreaking work, mind their children and husband. While the men sip tea and try to hustle tourists once in awhile and are often considered lazy by the modern arab women. To be an arab man in a arab world. What a different place to grow up where men learn as children that women (including their moms,sisters, aunts, friends) are second class citizens, dogs, or even prostitutes when this could be farther from the truth. The Koran is full of contradictions (as are most religious doctrines), but it often says to honor your wife and your female children, and if you are lucky enough to have three female children you will go to heaven..guaranteed!

If the women of Morocco went on strike boy would the men be screwed. As a tourist this makes it almost impossible to even engage in conversation with men even out of friendship or curiosity over their culture because the assumption is that you are a prostitute, and supposedly there is a market for gigalos in the beach towns which really doesn't help any ridiculous stigmas because I am sure many men use prostitutes. One of my hosts told me that they had to open a brothel in his town in order to decrease the amounts of rapes that were happening in his village, and he said it seems to be working. It obviously is a deep rooted problem, and most men's first experiences are with each other, which doesn't seem to be frowned upon. So the experience here becomes about keeping your head down and ignoring the mostly inappropriate and sometimes humorous comments by young children to senior citizens that come from just going out for a walk .
You have to be on guard all the time sadly. A Moroccan won't steal from your pocket (they will gladly take your items if you drop it though), but they will lie through their teeth to get you to buy something that is almost all the time not genuine materials at prices that you could easily scoff at. I had a juice seller try and take 30 durham extra (3$ euros) and wouldn't give me my change and held up a whole different sign with different prices on it even though every single person in the square has the exact same prices. I had to yell at him to get my money back. Who likes yelling for anything, but he was hoping I would just give up and walk away. Not very zen I know, but its the principal, and its not right, and I am will not be taken advantage of.

Bargaining is part of the 'game' which is tough when you don't know where to start and people have been swindled into buying all sort of 'stuff', mainly rugs. The markets in Morocco here are full of 'stuff' or I would like to call crap. Even the many kind hosts I have stayed with think it's insane how much tourist items there are here overflowing at every corner. It is really hard to get a decent price and most items can be found cheaper at home and are probably better quality.

One nice thing was that Morocco seems to be a family destination with many people traveling with children of all ages. This isn't something that I would have imagined but why not I say, even though if they were looking for a bargain it isn't going to happen. Riads (Morrocan designed home with the open courtyard and terrace that keeps the heat out) range in price and often work well with families. They tend to be taken over by Europeans and managed by Morrocans. All our experiences with our hosts have been lovely. Most of the time they would meet us out of taxi and escort us to the Riad, sometimes they would drive us 10+km out of the Todra Gorge (from Auberge de Festival = amazing place), and most of the time they gave us the best and most honest advice which is a contrast what you find outside the Riad in the streets where people want 2 Euros for pointing the way back to the square.

As a women who loves to travel and loves to intermingle with other cultures, Morroco is a tough one, and is sadly not my favorite place even though in my last 24 hours I am feeling slightly nostalgic. I like to travel to places where at least you can make friends and not be considered a prostitute. Life is to short to be on guard that much, and it has really made me grateful for my home. I have always wanted to come to Morocco and I am glad I got to see it but my experience isn't something that should push you away from traveling here, but the reality of it was much less romantic and more emotionally challenging then I envisioned.


Everyone I have met when I told them from Vancouver would almost automatically say "Oh I love Vancouver", and I would ask "Oh have you been?" Most people would say yes, but many would say No, but I really want to go, I hear it is beautiful. I have never in my life had so many people tell me how much they love Vancouver (they don't know about the overpriced condo market ;)). In Vancouver you have fresh air, space, cleanliness, efficiency, and people that care, and some really nice people. I didn't realize how respected Canadians were till I went on this trip (and I have been all over the world). It makes me proud that we are so nice, and I look forward to the easiness that comes with being home in a few weeks.
Much love from Africa. xo

Everything is new

Spiced Lentil and Kale Soup, originally uploaded by veggy.

Coming back to London felt like I was coming back home, which is odd for me to say because I have always considered Vancouver to be my home but after living in London for 7 months it has become my home. When you live like a Camino pilgrim with two pairs of pants (ugly ones), a few tops, hiking boots and flip flops, no hair brush, minimal toiletries, that all easily fits into a 40 liter carry on bag coming back to some more things can be very rewarding. Everything is new. I even loved my Costa soy latte! Blow drying my hair.. what a luxury. I wore make up last night for the first time in months. I have been buying groceries, the first of course was hummus and spelt crackers (something that doesn't exist in spain even though they have a ton of garbanzo beans). I am wearing different clothes, and even taking some photos with my camera which makes me appreciate it so much more. What is even nicer is seeing my friends again. I have to thank Josie for her unending hospitality and dealing with my stupid mail (UK mail has managed to lose very expensive postal packages of mine, I don't trust them anymore). Lesley for storing my massive bag, Swati for storing my bicycle. I am hanging onto the idea of staying in London but I have some more traveling left as it seems cheaper to travel in Spain then live in London, I am heading to Andalusia and Morocco to avoid the western consumer holidays. After that I may head home home for a west coast visit, but I am very tempted to come back to London.
Oh and someone had wrote a book on how I live my life, it's called Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. People wonder how I do it, but it's pretty much documented in this book. Of course I will give you tips if you want them, but until them I am still for two weeks in London making organic soups and enjoying the unending amounts of free photography exhibits, markets, music, and friends.

Ucluelet

I watched the sunset and the sunrise.. all from our ocean front home in Ucluelet. I am so lucky to have met such great friends that would want to share such a place with me. Within 3 minutes of arriving in Ucluelet, just off the highway, we had a baby boy deer jump in front of our car and have it bounce off and run a little way. It got maybe 10 metres and it tried to get up and it couldn't move. I knew it wasn't good, and i had no idea what to do. Seeing any being in pain is heart wrenching. Within a minute a lady stopped, swooped in and covered the deer with a thick blanket. She started talking to the deer, and caressing it. The deer was completely calm. I have never seen a deer that calm.. and i see a lot of them on Bowen Island. We called the RCMP, and attempted to call one of her friends who knew what to do. She was convinced the deer was going to be ok. The deer tried to get up one more time, and she asked me to hold it down. I did very lightly touch the deer, but i was not holding it down. If the deer could get up i wanted it to get up and go and be in nature, not around humans. As i had my hand on my deer, i felt the breathing which was very fast, stop. At that point she thought the deer was going to be ok, but i said he stopped breathing.. but then he gave his last couple of kicks, and passed on.

She said the deer was the crest of her family and that she would give it the proper burial. I was grateful that she was there even though i don't know if touching a deer like that is ok, but it seemed ok. The RCMP finally came (wearing jeans.. cool!), and assessed the deer but it was already dead. It would seem that he has experience in animals as i am sure this happpens often. It was nice to know if the deer had survived he could figure out if it had broken bones or lost movement. I don't know what they would do with the deer though.

They boy in the gas station said his uncle would skin it, but the deer whisperer lady said she wanted it, so the RCMP put it in her trunk.

The beauty of life and death. We all are born.. we are all going to die and that is the nature of life. Whether it's an accident in our fast moving world, or naturally at home in bed. Life goes on, as one breath comes in, and the next breath may be our last for now.

Ten Rules for Being Human

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”

4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

6. “There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”

7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

life = risk

Self-acceptance

Self-acceptance (365/342), originally uploaded by JenniPenni.

It's funny when we look outside of ourself for inside affirmation. We do not need anyone's acceptance but our own yet some of us spend our whole lives trying to be accepted by other people, whether it be spouses, parents, coworkers, or random strangers. The energy that is wasted caring what other people think and trying to fill some hole that was created by what we learned from our parents or others in our formative years.
To release that hole and be able to accept yourself as the best thing you can be is wonderful. You can smile in the face of someone that is miserable and who wants your life to be miserable, because it's not about you. You can realize that most issues in your world are not really issues if you just be the best person you can be and let everyone else's storms brew around you.
But that doesn't mean we don't fall back into that messy slippery slope. It is so ingrained in our culture that it takes a constant awareness and self love to free yourself from it.
It is amazing to become an observer, refrain from judgment and stereotypes, be a good friend, and love, love, love.