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As I mentioned in my previous post, I haven’t been a very good blogger lately.  One of the reasons is that we don’t have the internet at home so I am left to my lunch break or odd moments at work to blog!  But an even more exciting reason is that I went to Hong Kong for vacation!  Check out my previous post for some pictures! 

As a part of that post I asked what you wanted to know about my traveling, and so I’ve broken it down into your questions, and added a few more tips!  If you want more tips, check out my previous post on traveling. 

How do I choose accommodations? This varies depending on where we’re going.  Peter and I like to take one "exotic" international trip each year if we’re able.  While we’re brainstorming this, we usually consider who we know in other countries (we have a lot of friends all over the world!), and then narrow it down to a general list of countries.  Once we’ve done that we debate on where we’d like to go based on cost (we price out the flights on websites), and then the topic of accommodations comes up!  Of course, if we go to somewhere that we know someone, it’s much cheaper.  This worked out when we were in Europe in 2002, 2005 and 2007.  In 2002 and 2007 we stayed with friends.  In 2005 we did half and half.  We stayed with people we "knew" (either directly or through others) in Belgium and Holland.  In the case of Hong Kong, we didn’t know anyone well enough to stay with them.  Because we were going with my parents, they have timeshares with Disney and so we were able to use their timeshare to stay at Disney’s resort, which meant that we didn’t have to pay for our accommodations! 

How do we plan our sightseeing? Once we know where we’re going we like to make a list of all the major sites.  We do this by googling the city and checking out some travel websites.  Wikitravel is useful in telling us what’s a good hilight.  Then we try to make a list of the important ones that we care about.  Sometimes I’ve even gone to bookstores and bought a book that tells me about the country or city and I use their day-by-day guide to recognize how long it will take to accomplish everything.  Libraries are awesome for this because you can sign out books for a lot longer and then you can just return it and you’re not bound to it if it’s no good!   

Biggest difference between North America and China? There is no cut and dry answer to this.  I was in Hong Kong, and it’s an amazing city.  In most senses it’s far more advanced, cultural and interesting than any of the major North American cities I’ve been to (and I’ve been to most!!!).  It was exceptionally clean, their transit system was amazing, and the people were friendly and helpful.  I liked how they infused their older culture with the modernity of everything.  I did see a difference though when I went to mainland China for a day.  It wasn’t as "polished" and things were still getting updated from when things changed a while back.  I think I may have experienced more culture shock had I been to a small place in mainland China, but for the mostpart there was zero culture shock.  We loved eating the local food, but there was tons and tons of other places to eat if that wasn’t your idea of fun! 

Here are some other helpful sites for planning your trip:

Trip Advisor

Lonely Planet

Frommers

Ryan Air - amazingly CHEAP airfare for flying between European countries.  We used them to fly from London to Marrakech, and London to Belfast, and Dublin to London.  Check out their policy on luggage!  It’s never been an issue for us, but it might be for you.  And also, you don’t get assigned seats.  You’re guaranteed one, but you have to line up and rush to get on the plane to get seats together if you care!

Trek Escapes - we used this travel agency to book a really great tour with Gecko Tours when we went to Morocco.  They were excellent, and we were very happy with their services. 

Any other questions??  If so, leave them in the comment section and I’d be glad to do another post to answer them!

Where are we going next?  Our sights are set on India…but no plans are made as of yet.  I’ll keep you posted!

It’s been far too long since I blogged.  To my fans (all 2 of you…), I apologize.  Life has gotten carried away, and within that I’ve been on vacation - to Hong Kong!  It was a fantastic trip, and in the next few weeks I plan to hilight some of the travel tips I have for this particular trip as well as some sightseeing information about Hong Kong itself.  Any questions in particular you want me to address from my travel experience? 

For now, here are a couple of pictures for you to enjoy:

Last week I began my Friday series on "A Few of My Favourite Things" by talking about some of my favourite bath products.  This week I’d like to focus on a few of my favourite travel tips and travel locations!  Both Peter and I truly love to travel, and have been blessed to be able to visit many places.  In my short lifetime I have visited these countries:

North America: The United States (Washington, Colorado, California, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida); Canada (A bit of a given since I live here!  I have been to every province and lived in 3.  I’m just missing the territories!); Mexico

Caribbean: Bahamas (Nassau, Freeport), Grand Cayman, Jamaica

Central America: Belize

Europe: England, Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic

Africa: Morocco

A few of my favourite countries have been:

1.) Morocco - It has amazing geography!  There is everything from desert, to lush gorges, to mountains!  It’s a beautiful place to visit. 

2.) Germany - I love the rolling country side, and I also love the many castles and the history and culture that it holds!

3.) Ireland - The landscape is just breathtaking in Ireland.  There is so much green, and amazing cliffs, and beautiful sunsets.  It helps that this is where my family originates from!!

A few of my favourite tips for traveling:

1.) Take clothing that is easily washed in a sink.  We use a lot of dry-fit material clothing that allows us to easily wash it in the sink at night and let it dry.  This way we don’t pack too many articles of clothing, and it really cuts down on the space.  If you have the ability to stay in nice hotels, then this doesn’t matter as much.  But if you’re using hostels, this is key.  Packing items like jeans are not so great as they take forever to dry and are bulky!  Having one pair of shoes that is versatile is also very useful.

2.) Buy something like CampSuds that allows you to wash your hair, body AND clothing with the same product!  It’s concentrated so it doesn’t require using too much.  This also saves room in the backpack or suitcase!

3.) Keep a photocopy of your passport and some key I.D. at home with a friend or family member, saved in your e-mail account, AND in the bottom of your backpack or suitcase.  In case you lose your passport these copies will come in handy!

4.) Bring a journal with you.  Journaling about each day will be an asset to labeling pictures and remembering what you’ve done on your trip.  It’s also a nice keepsake to skim through months or years down the road to remember your trip! 

5.) When thinking about buying souvenirs, consider the types of things you want to buy prior to leaving on vacation!  For us, we find that making sure we take plenty of pictures, including artistic shots, can be great for decorating your home!  Also, we send ourselves a postcard from each location we visit, which is an automatic souvenir with a picture of the location, your own sentiment, and a postage marking from that country. 

Ultimately, enjoy your trip.  Make sure you travel with someone you love, and take tons of pictures and make lots of great memories!  Vacationing is supposed to be fun, and planning it out the way you want it will make it that much better. 

This past week has been lots of fun.  We’ve had some friends pop through from Toronto.  It’s been good to hang out, and share our lives with them.  In general, it’s a fun way to spend time with people.  We love using our home to hang out with people, to host people, etc.  I think it’s what Jesus has called us to do.  In Matthew 25 he speaks of caring for those who are hungry, who have no home, who have no clothes…

Sometimes that’s a really difficult thing for us to do.  It’s hard for us to give up our space and to allow others to be served by us.  We get caught up with ourselves and our own schedules.  I’m guilty of this.  It happens to me all the time.  And then I have moments where God reminds me that the resources I have been given are just that…a gift.  They aren’t mine - they’re his. 

I am grateful for those who pass through our doors.  Sometimes people pop by for prayer.  Sometimes people come by for a cup of coffee (or tea, in our case!) and a conversation.  Others come by and end up helping to plant our garden (thanks!).  And still others send us an e-mail or give us a call and let us know they’re coming into to town, and ask if they can stay.  And, in the case of one girl, she came by in January and hasn’t left yet.    We love it!  It reminds us daily that God has given us so many resources and it is our duty to use them wisely. 

At our cell group on Thursday we were reminded of the story in Mark of the widow who gave two small copper coins.  It didn’t seem like much, but to her it was all she had.  That’s when it counts - not when we give up things that don’t matter, or give what won’t affect us - but when we give until it hurts.  God has blessed us with many fine things in this world - let’s use them to His glory!

This post is linked to Amy’s Finer Things.

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Have you joined the h2O challenge?

Read here to find out more about joining in the h2O challenge! 

I have SO much to be thankful for these days!  Where do I even begin??  I’ll do a point-form list…

1. The weather lately has been AMAZING.  Bright sunshine, and clear blue skies!  Gorgeous!

2. Being able to visit friends and family on vacation and being a part of two weddings.  

3. Gardening - getting SO many raised beds done (future blog post…), and planting vegetables with friends, and making our backyard into a "community garden" of sorts!  Peas, carrots, spinach, broccoli, onions, tomatoes, strawberries, chives, parsley…and more to come!!

4. Having a wonderful husband who does so much for me!

5. A great friend who gave me a punch bowl!!  I’ve been wanting one for 3 years, and could never find one…God bless her for thinking of me and surprising me!!

6. Being able to write all my blogs for you lovely people to read.  

What are you thankful for??  To find out what other people are thankful for, check out this link. 

Another Monday has arrived, and with it another set of recipes! We are leaving town again later this week, so my menu will be shortened. But never fear - I have a set of blogs all ready to go even while I’m away! Stay tuned for post about the benefits of spinach (and recipes!), how to organize your jewellery and more!

And now, for the menu…

Monday: Homemade Lasagna

Tuesday: Baked Curried Lentils, Salad, Homemade biscuits

Wednesday: Meatballs, Rice, Veggies

Thursday: Adios!!

Homemade Lasagna:

8 oz. lasagna

1 pkg. flavoured cream cheese

1 lb. ground beef (or turkey/chicken)

1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

28 oz. pasta sauce

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

4 cups spinach, ripped

2 cups shredded cheese

Cook lasagna according to package directions. Drain, immerse in cold water, and drain again. Cook ground beef until browned. Drain. Add vinegar to the pan. Stir over high heat just until mixture is hot. Remove pan from heat and stir in pasta sauce, nutmeg and parmesan cheese. Spread each noodle on one side with cream cheese mixture. In a 9x13 baking pan layer the pasta sauce, noodles cream-cheese side up, and sprinkle with spinach and shredded cheese. Repeat until the final layer is complete. Top with more shredded cheese. Bake uncovered at 375F until pasta is hot in the centre (30-35 mins.). Let cool for 10 mins. Makes 8 servings.

Baked Curried Lentils:

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 large onions,

chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 tbsp. curry powder

5 cups chicken broth

1 lb. lentils

1 cup shredded cheese

Heat oil in 5-6 quart pan over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add onions and garlic; cook, stirring until onions are tinged with brown. Stir in curry powder. Add broth and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, sort and discard debris from lentils. Rinse lentils, drain, and add to broth. Cover and simmer until lentils are tender to bite (30-35 mins.). If mixture is soupy, boil uncovered until liquid is just below surface of lentils; stir often. Pour lentils into a shallow 2 1/2-3 quart casserole (At this point you can choose to cool, cover and chill up to 1 day). Bake, covered, in a 350F oven until lentils absorb most of the liquid (about 30 mins.; if chilled, 1 to 1 1/4 hours). Uncover and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until cheese melts (about 5 mins.). Makes 8-10 servings.

Meatballs:

2 lbs. ground hamburger meat

1 envelope onion soup mix

2 cups bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

Meatballs:

Mix all together, roll in small balls and place in a square dish.

Sauce:

1 3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cups white vinegar

1 tbsp. dry mustard

Mix sugar, vinegar and mustard. Pour over meatballs. Bake 30 mins. at 350F.

Homemade Biscuits:

2 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

6 tbsp. oil

2/3 cup water

Mix all ingredients together. Add enough flour to knead easily. Knead on floured board about 30 seconds. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with small cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 450F for 10-12 mins. Makes 6 biscuits.

Let me know if you try any of the recipes!