Another adventure coming up!

About two months ago, we signed up for a trip to Turkmenistan. But I haven't talked about it very much because we had to apply for visa approval in advance, and Turkmenistan has a totalitarian regime that doesn't care about tourism, so many visa applications are rejected without any apparent reason.

We woke up this morning to an email... visas approved!

Decision made!

Well, I made a decision on the new smartphone, and I'm actually going to order it here in Canada rather than waiting until we get to Asia. It's the Honor Magic5 Pro 12GB/512GB.

Spent a ton of time yesterday perusing reviews and learning about all of the different characteristics of these high end smartphones. Two things are important to mention. First, when comparing the high end phones, they are all really good. And second, none of them (sorry iPhone fans) are perfect.

What a deal!

We were out and about for a few hours yesterday afternoon. It was pretty warm. The thermometer in the car said it was 35C (95F) which is definitely warm for this area at time of year. But, we had the windows down and didn't put the air conditioning on. I didn't think it felt that bad. Felt like a nice warm summer day to me. 

But then this is the first real warm day we've had in a long time! I wouldn't want to live in a place where it's like that every day, but I sure don't mind it for a couple of days.

I want to buy a very expensive smartphone!

Our current cell phone is over three years old. Almost an antique! 

Considering it was just an inexpensive Motorola phone, it's been great and it has totally served our purposes. We paid under $200 for it, and at the time I wrote "If I get three years out of it the way we did with my much more expensive Samsung, I'll be totally happy."

Future travel plans

We are headed to SE Asia this coming winter. 

Although we have made absolutely zero firm plans, and done very little research on what we want to see or do, we want to visit Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam over a period of about six months. And knowing us, that won't be nearly enough time. 

Our first grocery shop back in Canada

Jet lag has never really bothered us that much because we think it's important to adapt to the new time zone as quickly as possible. So when arriving in a new country we try and immediately put ourselves into the new time. That means forcing ourselves to stay awake until at least 10pm even if we're really tired..

Of course our sleep schedules are a little off though. The first night, I woke up at about 3am and ended up getting up at 4:30am. Last night was a little better and I woke up at 4:30am and got up at 5:30am. A couple more nights and we should be back on track. Ruth slept a little better, but still up very early.

August Expenses - an expensive month, with a big bonus at the end!

At the end of July, I had mentioned that we were expecting an expensive month in August, with a forecast budget of $4,500 CAD ($3,400 USD).

We ended up coming in only slightly higher than forecast, which is pretty good because there were a lot of variables in my original guess. But then, right at the end of the month we received a big bonus which dropped us well below budget!

Finally, back in Ottawa!

We originally planned on three legs to this trip back to Ottawa. Leg 1 from Dulmen to Dusseldorf, leg 2 from Dusseldorf to Paris, and leg 3 from Paris to Ottawa.

But leg 4 turned up when we volunteered to be bumped from our original Paris to Ottawa flight.

Well that was an eventful and profitable travel day!

We caught our shuttle bus from our hotel to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport Thursday morning at 9:30am right on schedule. 

What a maze CDG airport is! We have never flown in or out of there, so had no experience. There are three terminals, and each terminal has several mini terminals that in themselves are large. Glad we didn't send grandson Cameron off on his own into this airport. We had a hard time figuring out parts of it ourselves!

Welcome back to France!

Yesterday was leg two of our journey back to Ottawa. We had to make our way from Dusseldorf, Germany to Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) near Paris, France.

I had researched all the ways to make this happen, and decided on a BlaBlaCars private shared ride.

Leg number one of our trip back to Ottawa

Pretty hectic morning yesterday as we felt a bit rushed trying to make the 12:20pm train from Dulmen.

And we did actually make it to the train station in time, but only because our motorhome dealer offered to drive us. Normally we walk because it's only about twenty minutes away.

Our last evening with Max

We were up at 6:00am yesterday morning to make our way to the nearby laundromat that opened at that hour. A nice laundromat, with decent enough prices, however they didn't take credit cards. The last few laundries we've used in Germany were all fully automated with credit card paying.

We were lucky we had enough cash! We've purposely been using up our euros knowing that we're going back to Canada for six weeks.

On the way back, the skies really opened up.

Not a very exciting day yesterday, other than when the skies opened up on us! 

We did the drive north to Dortmund area. Lots of construction zones where lanes were closed and they were rebuilding bridges. Because it was a Sunday there was hardly any truck traffic, so it didn't really slow us down too much.

A pretty hectic end of the month!

We will be flying direct from Paris, France to Ottawa, Canada  on August 31st, only four days from now.

Our home town of Ottawa kind of gets left out when it comes to international flights. Despite the fact that it is the capital of Canada, and home to over a million people, almost all international flights depart from either Toronto or Montreal. So you normally have to connect in either one of those cities.

One of the most beautiful castles in Germany

When I originally started researching some of the things we wanted to see during our European travels, I came across the fairytale setting of the magnificent Eltz Castle.

And besides the architecture, the actual story is fascinating. Eltz Castle is privately owned, and has been in the same family for over 900 years. The castle and surrounding estate is currently in the hands of the 34th generation of uninterrupted lineage since the mid 12th century.