Shocking Results a Canadian Travellers Checklist of What Needs to Come on Your Trip!

Ensure safe travel and a “surprise free trip” by taking the following actions before your departure out of Canada.


Keep a passport on you that is still valid long after your scheduled return to Canada. Keep a photocopy of the identification page separate from your actual passport in case of misplacing it or theft.


Leave a few copies of you trip itinerary, passport identification page and travel insurance with your family and/or friends.


Make sure to have any visas that are required to enter the country long before you travel.


Obtain travel insurance and health insurance for the trip.


Plan out your travel itinerary and personal budget to avoid any hidden surprises.


Anticipate what your financial needs will be and prepare accordingly: Travellers cheques, departure taxes and most importantly local currency.


Remember health needs personal and for the county of admittance: prescriptions, vaccinations, medical certificates, supplies and extra glasses if necessary.


Find out if duel citizenship is an issue for you in entering your specific country.


If you are travelling with children bring your documentation of consent in accompanying them (court order, consent letter).


Make sure to register your self online with a Canadian Government office abroad.


Receive a driving permit or licence for your international country.

Osama bin Laden's Death
Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was killed by US Navy SEALs in an intense firefight earlier this week. He was tracked down based on information first taken years ago from detainees at a secret CIA prison in Eastern Europe, officials announced Monday. When the U.S. Government confirmed the DNA match that proved Osama bin Laden dead millions of Americans celebrated and could finally give a sigh of relief.

The Obama's Opinion
"The world is safer. It's a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden," stated President Barack Obama, just hours after U.S. forces assassinated the al-Qaida leader.

After the gunfire, U.S. forces stormed bin Laden's fortified compound in Pakistan collected hundreds of hard drives, DVDs and other documents that where owned by Osama bin Laden. With the capture of Osama bin Laden's top secret documents U.S. Officials are hoping to uncover the rest of the al-Qaida leaders and take away any more potential threats.

How The Average Traveler Feels
The death of Bin Laden after a decade on the run released a world wide wave of excitement and travelers mixed with the sad remembrance for the thousands of people who died in the Sept. 11 2001, terrorist attacks.

Mike Low said "For my family and I, it's good, it's desirable, it's right," Sara Mike Low's daughter was a flight attendant on the plane that was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Centre. He spoke for many of the families who had loved ones die in 911 hen he said "It certainly brings an ending to a major quest for all of us."

Finding Bin Laden
It took four long hard years to discover the man's real name, then 5 more years before a break in the case was made. Sometime in mid-2010, a man was overheard using a phone by intelligence officials, who then located his residence. Bin Laden's specially constructed million dollar compound with walls almost 18 feet tall topped with barbed wire.

Bin Laden's death came almost 15 years after he declared war on the United States
leaving some to wonder why it took so long.

The death of Osama bin Laden has had many travellers breathing a sigh of relief. “with the leader of the al-Qaida gone I feel like travelling is safe again” said Josh Kevin.

We have all heard the horror stories about sitting at the back of the theater. The show may be great but you are constantly squinting and leaning forward to see around Mr. Tall ahead of you. I know the feeling and how to over come it getting cheaper tickets for your pocket and better seats for your eyes.

When I was in London I saw two Broadway musicals Les Miserables from the very back of the theater and Wicked a prequel to the Wizard of Oz from the best seats in the house front row. The difference was incredible and to tell you the truth it only cost 6 pounds more for front row! Hopefully these five tips will get you to the best seats for only 27 pounds and save you the 75 and upward pounds you spend on premium seats.

So whats the secret? The trick is standing in line in the morning on the day of the performance for the tickets that are in high demand. The box office only sells front row seats the day of the musical and they are usually gone really quick.

This is how you get the tickets you want:

1. Since the front row seats can only be bought the day of the musical the lines can be quite long. You can usually beat the lines by being 30-45 minutes early 30 minutes for the last pickings and 45 for the first (15 minutes makes all the difference).

2. Ask when the box office opens and what the lines are like in the morning normally 30 minutes should be okay but better safe then sorry.

3. Make sure the theater dose this. The theater beside Victoria Station in London selling tickets to the musical Wicked dose and I am sure others must do the same but call ahead or go to the office the day before (going there can also help you find it the next morning when you are tired and half awake).

4. They only sell two tickets per person so if you have a group bring some friends along to help you stand in line.

5. They only have thirty front row seats so you better be there early if you don't want a seat off to the side (trust me you don't) and if you have a really big group... some one gets the back!

So there you have it I hope these tips have been useful and the best of luck at finding the perfect seat!

First Day at a Guatemala Orphanage


The warm sun shone through the hostel's curtains and onto my face as I woke up reminding me I wasn't in Canada anymore. The night before we had arrived in Rio Dulce at about 10 o'clock after a 5 hour bus ride. My gut tightened with anticipation as I wondered what the first day of volunteering at Casa Guatemala would be like. After packing up and grabbing a quick bite to eat at Hotel Backpackers, the hostel we were staying at, we got into the small motorboat that was going to take us to the orphanage.

Climbing aboard I thought I saw something glinting on the captain's belt. Looking closer I noticed to my shock that it was a silver handgun. The only things on the boat were a cooler of food and a couple of luggage bags. But in Guatemala you can never be too careful and everything needs protection. (I learned this earlier in the week after walking by not only banks but also small and big businesses and seeing several armed gaurds inside)


After a couple of tries the boat driver got the engine going and started backing up. We had to hold our breath as we backed up through the exhaust fumes but they soon cleared as we took off. About 20 minutes later we arrived and after greeting the volunteers who were there to meet us. One of them took us on a detailed 3 hour tour of the orphanages farm and the buildings the children lived and schooled in.


We were then given some free time to play some games and get to know the kids. Before we knew it, it was time to go. After saying our goodbye's we got on the boat and headed back to our hotel.

Magma Hike

Today our work in a nearby orphanage was canceled, so we decided to take an excursion to a volcano. When we signed up we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. So that morning we started out walking to the bus pickup spot, completely unprepared. Looking back I realized that out of the three of us doing the four hour hike, I was probably the least prepared. I was only equipped with a small lunch and flipflops which I would not recommend.

After a 90 minute shuttle ride we reached the base of the mountain. As we stepped out of the shuttles we were instantly surrounded by kids selling everything from marshmallows you could roast on the lava to wooden walking sticks and horses to ride. In spite of our determination not to buy anything unnecessary, the novelty of riding a horse got to me. I convinced Alyssa to chip in to the very inexpensive price I had bartered for and we split a 4 kilometer ride for 30 Quetzales each or $3.60 US. We would both be able to ride for 2 kilometers.

When we had finally trekked about 4 kilometers, the horse could not go any further because it was too trecharous. We dismounted and decided to walk the rest. But first our guide gave us a little pep talk which I had no idea what he had said because it was all in Spanish. A Spanish tourist in broken English, later translated it for me. It went something like this, “We all need to stay close together and go really slow because the hike can be very dangerous.”

From then on the trail turned into an uphill pile of loose sand and rock which was very bad for my flip flops because rocks went in the top and did not come out the back. I was constantly having to shake them out. When we finally got to the last leg of the hike uphill, the air became warmer and occasionally we would walk over a heat vent that spewed hot air. As we trudged around a corner. The scene in front of us stopped us dead in our tracks.

Winding its way around a bend not more than 10 feet in front of us was a billowing hot magma stream. Its steam bubbled and liquified all rocks it came in contact with. Looking up the flow of lava a bit, I could see the more adventurous tourists putting their sticks into the molten rock and watching it burst into flames for a photo. Quickly I got my sister Alyssa to stand ready to take a photo as I ran down some rocks and picked up a stick. But as it turned out, I got more than I bargained for. After a skin melting photo my feet began to get warm. Looking down at the bottom of my flip flops, I found pieces of black lava rock, embedded in the melting soles. It didn't take more than a second for me to realize I had to get onto cooler ground.

After that I started picking rocks out of my shoes. Maybe I would stay farther away next time... or maybe not.

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After waking up at 7:00 and getting a ride with a local taxi to the bus station we started the first day of are Guatemalan Adventure.

The day was warm and humid as we weaved our way through hawkers trying to sell their wares in the open air bus station. Spotting a waiting area up ahead we quickened our pace trying not to run into the small kids polishing shoes.

Just moments earlier after reaching the bus station we had discovered that the bus we where supposed to take had been sold out. We decided we where just going to have to sit down and wait it out. I guess sitting down gave the impression that we where not going anywhere soon. Because it didn't take long for the local hawkers to notice that they had a captive audience and start advertising their hand-held wares.

After telling them repeatedly that we where not interested in their black market DVD movies and other products, most of them left. Only one dark man with a pronounced Spanish accent selling sun glasses stayed. His vigilance payed off as soon as my dad (a sucker for sunglasses) heard that he could buy Ray Bans for both of us for just $1.50 each!

Seeing us buy the sunglasses gave the other hawkers fresh courage and pretty soon we where surrounded by determined sellers showing us their stuff. Some with bright hair clips and belts others with shiny key chains. Luckily for us our taxi driver had heard about us not getting on the bus and came back for us just in time to save us.

After that we realized that it would be 2 and a half hours before the next bus so we decided to take our guide up on his offer to go on a tour of the city. Inside the cab I took a closer look at the Ray Ban glasses we got. I quickly realized that the serial number was the same on both pairs of glasses and that the “Ray Ban Made In Italy” logo was crooked on one of them. I guess one good lesson I can learn is that if a deal in Guatemala is too good to be true it probably is... but I am not complaining, I got glasses for $1.50.

Right now we have just returned from one of the most exciting adventures of all time. CAVING!


After walking on some old forest trails in the scorching sun for about 5-10 minutes with Baymount Outdoor Adventure we stopped to take a break and put on a layer of light pants and a wind breaker to keep our clothes underneath clean. Even if this made it quite a bit hotter at least it stopped us from doing so much mosquito slapping. Quickly after that we started the last 2 minutes of are journey which ended up taking 5 because some people in are group did not like going down steep hills but at last we were there.
As we walked up to the mouth of the cave we could already feel the cool air drifting out. After a few minutes of photos we finally got started on our first cave.

Walking inside the cave was like walking inside a giant freezer and was a welcomed temperature compared to the scorching sun outside. We soon where crawling and walking through rock passage ways. This first cave was used mostly for are guide to see what we could do.

On are second cave of the day we did much more walking but we still did some crawling. We also went much further into the cave. At the very farthest point in the cave where no light could reach, our guide told us all to turn off our lights and try not to talk or make a sound for one minute. This to us seemed like forever. As the lights from everyone's head lamps slowly flickered off, the cave became absolutely dark.
It was very eerie. The cool dark cave the only sound was the water dripping from the ceiling above. Luckily for us the guide said we could all turn them back on then he told us a story about a boy who asked the question: “What if the lights stopped working and turned out in the cave?” The guide's first response was that he had extra flashlights and batteries so that was impossible, but the boy said “just imagine what would we do?”
After half a second the guide said “Well we would have to crawl out in the dark.” Then the boy asked:
“Can we do that?”
“Are you crazy?” said the guide, but then after a bit of thought said “Well, I guess you can”.
So, ever since then he has given his tour the chance to do it in the dark. Well, most of are tour quickly excused themselves and used the lights. A couple of minutes later, we were the only ones left. It was sort of cool but reassuring because the guide was always there in front.
It was only about 2 or 3 minutes but it was still worth it after that we said are good byes and headed off to the MOHO.

Hey Aaron hows it going?

Right now I am in Ontario, a super fun province. Earlier this week we picked up a really nice hitchhiker named Patrick, he was on the side of the road as we were exiting the Terry Fox memorial. He plays guitar and has a French accent because he grew up in Montreal. He can speak English because lived in Toronto for a few years.

So what are you guys doing over in B.C.? Is it still cold because if it is hot and sunny I am going to be so jealous!! Over here it has been raining with tons of wind (so cold!) and because it was hot in BC when we left I thought that was how the rest of Canada was. Just imagine me in shirt, shorts and flip flops in the rain. so I went to Value Village and got a sweater and some jeans. It seemed that as soon as I had everything to get warm the weather changed and was warm again but it wasn't too bad.

Later our whole family went with Whirlpool Jet Boats on a yellow 1500 horse power boat and went on the river that comes off Niagara falls, and to top that off the Capitan driving the boat did donuts in the rapids, it was so much fun. I had to put a huge poncho on because waves where coming over the boat but lucky for me it was so sunny that in between each rapid run I would dry off a bit it was pretty cool!

Later in the day we finally got to see Niagara Falls up close! As we walked by the big drop where water and air meet we saw thousands of gallons thundering down to the rocky floor below. At the same time big gusts of misty rain started to pore down onto the grass and walking path around us. We all wished we had brought our previously purchased coats. After taking cover and deciding that we would all just have to run through it. We quickly noticed that it was not rain but mist from the falls coming up from a current of wind but I look on the positive side, I bet the people around there never have to water their lawn.

See you later, Jaeden

June 2 Tuesday 2009 Day: 4 Jaeden Schafer


Look Out!!
Today we have went back 65,000,000 years to a time when the world was one Continent and rulers where twice the size of a school bus DINOSAURS!
Today l woke up exited for are big adventure at The Royal Tyrell Museum.
But first we took a little stop at the bull riding hall of fame.

After waking up in our cousins drive way and discovering that they where coming with us on are dinosaur adventure we decided to get going right away but as always when you have cousins there is lots of trading seat in the cars but at last we got going.

About half an hour later after we had started driving dad pulled in to the gravel parking lot of an old restaurant and excitedly announced “hear we are at the bull riding hall of fame!” quickly we all piled out and walked inside after looking around a bit we realized that instead of a restaurant it was actually a bar! Lucky for us it was not open so quickly mom said OK kids look over hear as we turned around we saw a huge mechanical bull with a big red blow up rink around it. Instantly there where line ups of kids all wanting to go on. After every one went on and we had all left we started are MOHO and started the next part of are journey.


Weaving our way down the valley through the ancient formations of layered rock on are way to The Royal Tyrell Museum I couldn't help but thinking this could be home to some of the world greatest dinosaurs of all time.

As I stared off into the town below us I could almost see the Albertasaurus,
T-Rex, and Edmontonsaurus on the move. But as I looked closer I noticed that although they did not move they where actually there! Huge clay and cement Dinosaurs painted like some thing from a IMAX or Hollywood movie some of them towering over the buildings and shops making the experience in a very realistically scary way real. After that welcome I could not wait to see what the museum was like.


Just as are GPS we got from GPScentral.ca said “approaching destination in 5 km” and are cheers of joy where over Dad noticed that are gas gage read empty. So we all decided we had to slow down and get gas. And if thats not bad once we got to the gas station I had to go and wash the windows. (Not a fun job to do Because on the way down we had hit about 50 Billion Bugs that where now splattered against the window and they took a lot of scrubbing to get off)


With luck we pulled out of the gas station in ten minutes we are going to work on are speed next gas up stop.
Finally we arrived at the museum! It was way cooler then I had expected with rooms full of bones weird experiments and glass floors with dinosaur sea life underneath. There was one room that I and most of my siblings agree on that was the best! The Ball room a great big green room with a entrance that turned in a swirl so no balls could escape into the rest of the museum inside this room there were huge ball canons and air blowing tubes that if a ball went over they would make them float.


Then after we had all looked at the last bones and are long day at the museum was over we decided to drive couple of miles and get some sleep or as they say over here in Alberta hit the hay.

May 30, 2009 Day: 1 Jaeden Schafer
Today is like no other before why? because we are going to cram 8 people into one big RV and start our 9,000 km trek across the great north CANADA.

Today we are going to try to put a few km in between us and point zero Victoria British Columbia.

This morning we all woke up excited about the big day when we would start off. In reality it was not until 5:00pm that we were putting the last few things in the RV. We did not make it out the drive way until 6:00pm. Even with all this going on I still learned that those first few km are always the hardest. Just before we ran out the door my ipod went through the wash. My ipod that I just spent six months saving up for.

We are all having to adjust to the RV. (Or as Dad is starting to call it “Our MOHO”) One big thing I have discovered is that the first day is the most annoying time to remember all the things I forgot at home! Books CD'S etc.

After driving around Vancouver for a couple of hours we decided to stop and settle down for the night in a relatively deserted Wal-mart parking lot. Boy was that ever a mistake (at least that is what my mom thought).
About an hour after we had parked and were about to go off to sleep we where awakened by the sound of screeching tires.
Thinking some thing must be wrong I ran to the window to get a better look. I quickly realized that it was just some crazy driver taking an old car for a spin.
It did not look that serious until it started going full speed uncontrollably towards our RV and about 5 seconds before hitting us it swerved away leaving oil black skid marks behind it.

While my mom looked like she was going to pass out and kept on saying that the car was going to kill us all I just sat back and enjoyed the show. (Being from Victoria I don't get to see a lot of the smoking screeching tire stuff)

After flooring it to the other side of the parking lot it started the first of 12 major donuts creating enough smoke to engulf the huge parking lot for 4 min. Luckily and to the relief of us all security came and the car took off pretty fast!

One misty day while looking for some tourist attractions in tahiti we ended up some where out of the city.

While trying to retrace our route to the main road over looking the ocean we stumbled upon an old park with very few people in it. The park seamed to be used mostly by the locals and very out of the way of things.

We thought it would be a nice place to stop fore lunch and to stretch out our legs.

We all unloaded out of the big red truck we had borrowed from some friends we where staying with and started walking down some of the trails. Just then the rain started to drip off the big canvas leafs overhead so we tried to speed up our pace.

After walking for a little while we discovered an old cave with lush green moss growing all around it. We where all eager to get a closer look at the old cave but it was roped off so we started down the trail looking for another cave. As we looked at the caves we saw one with a small clear waterfall flowing into it. It was small and was also roped of but after we walking for one or two minutes we finally got to a cave that was not roped of. It was a huge cave with a pool of water in it. The pool of water was about 100 feet long and 80 to 90 feet wide I don't know how deep it was no one has been to the bottom yet but my best guess would be 200 or 300 feet deep at least.

After sizing up the caves we ran back to the truck to grab the boogie boards then ran back to the cave to start swimming. When I got in the cool water of the cave I started to swim. The water was dark and at first and there was a little mist so I could not tell where the end was but after I after I got closer I started to see it. About half way to the end of the cave when I was stopping for breath I looked up and what I saw was breathtaking almost 100 feet in the air the roof of the cave was a huge dome soaring above me the huge rock dome was probably carved out by thousands of years of water running over it. It was amazing.

Soon I was swimming again and when I got to the end of the cave I had one more rest to look around. It was kind of spooky with the mist as I could not see where I had come from. The water was all black around me and all I could hear was the drip, drip, drip of ancient rock. I quickly swam to the other end of the cave without looking back. It was the best of the caves I have seen and I was glad we found it.