Homesick for Canada

Marie and I arrived safely in Boston, checked in with our lovely host, Matt, who's offered us his couch for a couple of days. We made excellent time on the 9-hour drive until we got off the highway in Boston. We decided on a new driving rule: Melissa is not allowed to drive in cities. At all. It took us 45 minutes to go about 11 kilometres. Hmm. It's a good rule, I think.

Marie and I then embarked on an adventure that took us to see the Red Sox play at Fenway Park. It took us about an hour (and several unhelpful passersby) to find the place and almost two to get back. First we got lost. Then we got lost again. And again. We asked about a dozen people to help us find the streetcar (called a Trolley, which I like).

Marie and I have started rating Americans on a scale from 1-10 in terms of politeness. 1 being a hand-in-face refusal to help us find our way and 10 being an offer to walk us two blocks to the subway station so we wouldn't miss it. We got one 10. From Canadians. Perfect ten to the Vancouver couple who walked us to the station and gave us fool-proof directions to get home. Bonus points to Matt who waited to make sure we got back safe even though we arrived an hour after we'd planned.

Being a gluton for punishment, I looked up the distance from Matt's house to Fenway Park. It would have taken us 40 minutes to walk it. I wish I hadn't done that.

Pictures tomorrow, perhaps.

An update from our Kitten Bureau: "The kitten was lonely today because we had to leave for my competition and we didn't get back until after six, but she got a lot of attention when we got back. I may have given her two treats, but it was because she was a good girl... and I felt guilty for leaving her alone."

There's a 5:30 in the morning now?

It's first thing in the morning and we are about to leave (hopefully, if we can figure out how to pack the cooler) for our trip! First stop, a Titanic Museum in Massachusetts. Only 7.5 hours away.

It's supposed to rain all day all the way to Boston. I'm driving the first leg. Wish me luck.

And finally, a word from our foreign correspondent, Krystal (my sister) on the kitten's vacation.

The kitten bit me, so I put her to bed, then felt bad so I played with her for a bit before settling her in her laundry basket. Right now she's sleeping, which I should be too, but I thought I'd give you an update.

Before she went to bed she was playing with a spider she found on the fireplace mantle. So don't worry, she's making friends.

On the Road

So, it's May. I'm three quarters through my education, I managed to get through my exams in one piece (I hope) and I came out of third-year with very some very respectable journalism grades. Seems like I should be in a pretty good spot, except--oh yeah, we're in the middle of a recession. Like eight (nine?) percent of the rest of the Ontario work force, I haven't been able to find any sort of paying employment (save for a couple days' work painting swimming pools in the hot sun--a drop in the tuition bucket for a greater chance of skin cancer). My resume is pretty awesome, too. I can fold clothes and check facts like nobody's business.

So there it is. My good friend Marie (also unemployed) and I have decided to find a silver-living in our dark rainclouds of debt and embark on a vacation. I know I was at first unfamiliar with the term, so for any other country-starved, stressed out students/workaholics out there, here's the OED definition.

VACATION
noun
a. Freedom, release, or rest from some occupation, business, or activity.
b. Without const. Freedom or respite from work, etc.; time of rest or leisure.
c. Leisure for, or devoted to, some special purpose; hence, occupation, business. Obs.
d. Absence from duty or from some usual post; also, a sum paid for absence or exemption.

Oh yeah. It's been years since I've had a vacation, or even left the city for that matter, and I'm going a little stir crazy. Regardless, Marie and I are doing the world's cheapest vacation: Road Trip! It will involve a lot of nutella sandwiches and sour keys and sleeping on strangers' couches. We're heading first to Boston, then to New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, Charleston, Savannah and finally to Gainesville, Florida, where we'll spend the bulk of our trip.

As part of my poor New Year's resolution to start blogging more, I will be chronicling the trip here, right in your own backyard internet browser. Check back here as often as you suspect I might have access to free Wifi. And if anyone's got any suggestions of Can't Misses along this route, please let me know!

You can also follow my Twitter updates @mawilson.

I'll leave you off with a picture of my kitten, Apple, who will be having her own little vacation at grandma's house in Burlington. Currently, she is sleeping in my old bedroom closet, which is something she wouldn't be allowed to do at my apartment in Toronto. So begins what I imagine will be two weeks of spoilage. I have been in Burlington visiting for just a few days now and already my mom has removed the lemon juice from her Bad Cat Bottle (because it was too mean), changed the setting on the bottle from "squirt" to "mist" (because it would hurt her otherwise, apparently) and given her something in the neighbourhood of six kitten treats per day (because they're small...Newsflash Mom, she's a small kitten. Normally she gets one, if she's lucky).

I suspect Apple will have a better time than I will.