Marriage Counseling: Using Games to Reduce TensionTrouble at home? Play an easy game and watch married strife disappear.
Travel Guide - ChicagoChicago is one of the great cities of the world and one of my favourite destinations for long weekend getaways. Here you will find some useful information about this city that will enable you to plan your own escape to Chicago.
Hello from Chicago - A Personal Tour of the Chicago Cultural CenterYesterday, after our lovely Austrian breakfast we went downtown to the Chicago Cultural Center, the main downtown information hub for tourists, to ask some questions about the Pullman Historic District, a planned industrial community, built in the 1880s by industrial magnate George Pullman, creator of the famous Pullman sleeper cars. We figured this would be an interesting place to visit since it
Hello from Chicago - Multiple Austrian ConnectionsSo the two of us expatriate Austrians are staying at the Arlington House Hostel, in itself an exciting experience, to be immersed in this environment of young (and older) travellers from all over the world.
Hello from Chicago - First ImpressionsSo here I am again, on another short excursion away from home. I've been awake for an hour already and decided the best thing is to get up and put my first impressions on paper. Since there is only a one hour time difference between Toronto and Chicago I decided yesterday I wasn't even going to change my watch over. So when I came down this morning to use the free computer at the Arlington Youth H
Hello from Chicago - What a Fabulously Photogenic CityI walked through the quiet Lincoln Park neighbourhood all the way to the Lake Michigan Shoreline where the cool wind was just howling off the lake. Joggers, bicyclists and power walkers were already out in full force. I strolled around for about 15 minutes, but when the wind got too strong I decided to take a bus and head south to a neighbourhood called 'Old Town', near North Street and N. Wells S
Hello from Chicago - A Visit to the Pullman Historic DistrictAfter being appropriately prepped as a result of our visit to the Chicago Cultural Center we decided to head off yesterday to visit the Pullman Historic District, a planned industrial and residential community dating back to the 1880s, on Chicago's South Side.
Hello from Chicago - Chinatown and Second CityAfter thoroughly exploring the Pullman Historic District, we decided to check out Chinatown, one of the many ethnic neighbourhoods that Chicago has to offer. The weather had turned from cool and grey with the occasional peek of sunshine to dark, rainy and cold, so rather than walking around we decided to have an early dinner at a Chinatown restaurant called the Lobster King.
Hello from Chicago - The Field Museum and Pompeii - Stories from an EruptionYesterday I got up early again and typed up my travel reports on the free computer at the Arlington House. Then my friend Linda and I made our way to one of our favourite Chicago hangouts for breakfast: the 'Bourgeois Pig Cafe' is located close to the intersection of Fullerton and Halsted/Lincoln and is a 2 story cozy cafe with a small sitting area and patio downstairs, and a beautiful converted l
Hello from Caledon, Elora and Guelph: Fall Colours, Ghosts, and GhoulsFall is one of the most beautiful seasons in Ontario, and after last weeks early fall colour tour through the Kawarthas east of Toronto, it was time yesterday to check out the areas west of Toronto. My husband and I set off on the highway, left the 401 at Mississauga Road and drove north into rolling agricultural farmland. Our first interesting village along the way was Glen Williams, a little ham
Hello from Toronto - A Culinary Tour of St. Lawrence Market and An Exploration of St. Lawrence HallLife works in really strange and wonderful ways. At the beginning of this week I talked to my brother in Austria on the phone, and he said he'd been reading this German travel magazine and there was a big write-up about a Toronto-based tour guide who provides culinary tours of the St. Lawrence Market, one of my brother's favourite places that he discovered on his recent trip to Toronto.
Presenting: BARBARA WINTERWell, I am really excited to be able to present to you my first interview: Barbara Winter, best-selling author and creative entrepreneur extraordinaire. I am always fascinated by people who manage to combine their artistic and creative talents with being a successful entrepreneur. In the end that's what I am aspiring to achieve.
Cultural Insights - Karla Darocas Talks About Spain - Men, Women, Family, Church, Even PetsOf course you know by now that I have a true fascination for Spanish language and culture and Spain continues to one of my favourite destinations. Spain is a fascinating country, a modern Western European country, anchored in a long history that was shaped by many different cultures, first and foremost the Ancient Romans and the Moors.
The Traveller Next Door: My Friend Carol - Expert on Turkey and GreeceCarol has been travelling since the 1970s, and she has forged some amazing connections with 2 countries: Turkey and Greece. She lived in Turkey for close to 8 years and has made life-long friends in what she calls her 'second country'. And she's also developed some close ties with people in a special little village in Greece. Here's her story:
'Doors Open' - Toronto's Architectural Festival - Free of Charge!You may have figured out by now that I am bit of an architecture buff. Well, the great thing is, since 2000 Toronto has its very own free-access architecture weekend where you can get access to more than 140 interesting buildings, many of which are usually closed to the public.
One of Toronto's Biggest Festivals: Pride TorontoJust recently I had a chance to sit down with Natasha Garda, Co-Chair, and Leon Mar, Media Coordinator of Pride Toronto. Pride Week is the fun and fabulous arts and culture festival that happens in the last week of June each year in Toronto. Pride Week celebrates our diverse sexual and gender identities, histories, cultures, families, friends and lives and has become one of Toronto's biggest festi
Presenting: CARIBANA - Toronto's Huge Caribbean Cultural FestivalI had a chance to talk with John Kam, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors, about one of Toronto's greatest special events and tourist attractions: Caribana, the city's hugely popular and internationally renowned festival of Caribbean culture which is scheduled this year for July 15 to August 1, 2005.
Interview: Dr. Arya Goes Trekks Through Nepal - His Most Intense Travel Experience EverI have written about my dentist before who is a really cool guy. Not only is he a dentist, but he is also a practicing lawyer. More than that he is also a world traveller and an active global volunteer. Dr. Arya recently did a treek through Nepal, which he described as his most challenging travel experience ever, physically and mentally. Read here about his adventure in Nepal
An Interview with Gary Dunn, Publisher of the Caretaker GazetteI am always on the lookout for innovative, unconventional, and first and foremost, cost-saving ways to travel. I recently came across the concept of 'caretaking', i.e. looking after other people's (often beautiful) properties and estates, as a way of procuring rent-free living opportunities in interesting places. Read about this innovative concept in this interview with Gary Dunn, expert on 'caret
Presenting: Pier 21: Canada's 'Front Door' to Millions of ImmigrantsI am fascinated by human stories and by intercultural connections. The immigrant experience combines both these elements. On the continuum of intercultural experiences from tourist to traveller to long-term visitor / expatriate to becoming a permanent resident in a new country, the immigrant experience involves the most extreme and intense form of cultural interchange, and often confrontation. As
Doctors Without Borders - A Global Volunteer Organization Helping People In Crisis RegionsDoctors Without Borders first caught my attention during the Tsunami Crisis. It is an organization that provides important medical relief to people in disaster-stricken areas. I felt compelled to find out more about this organization, about its philosophies and its recent missions. Here is my interview with Isabelle Jeanson, National Press Officer Toronto with Doctors Without Borders.
Martina and Jennifer's Mother-Daughter Bonding Trip - Cycling 1400 KmOriginally from Germany, Martina is a very active Toronto real estate professional, probably in somewhere in her 40s, and Martina's daughter Jennefer just finished her university studies and is off as we speak on another biking trip in Sweden. In the fall she'll start another 5 years of academic studies in the Czech Republic.
Grouse Mountain - the Peak of Vancouver - A Four-Season DestinationVirtually all my favourite travel spots in the world combine mountains and water and Vancouver just has it all. Located on the edge of the Pacific, surrounded by the Coastal Mountain Range, Vancouver is a scenic dream. Just about 15 minutes from downtown Vancouver you can enjoy wonderful vistas over the city all the way south to the Olympic Mountains in Washington State - Grouse Mountain is the 'P
Krista Scott: A Spunky Spirit, Snow Boarder, Surfer Girl, Australian Harvest WorkerI first met Krista 2 days ago on a whitewater kayaking weekend where she accompanied our group to do our first kayaking lessons on the Ottawa River. In the van she told us that she recently did a 13 month trip to Australia where she did all sorts of harvest work in different locations. She also mentioned that she completed an ESL program at the university and is heading off for her first teaching
An Interview with Helga Smith: Servas Traveller, Marathon Runner and Conqueror of Mount KilimanjaroI had a chance to meet Helga recently at the Servas Conference that I covered in Vancouver. Once you read Helga's story you'll realize why she has been included in a recent book called 'Women Who Rock', featuring the stories of women who have made outstanding contributions to business, sports or community endeavours.
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