The trip from Halifax to St. John's was about 30 hours. It consisted of a bus from Halifax to North Sydney where I then caught the ferry to Port Aux Basques. The ferry ride was at night, but I did get to catch some scenery in the morning as I caught a beautiful sunrise. There were some girls at the bar that tried to talk to me... I said tried because I couldn't understand a word they said! I went back to my magazine and overheard them chatting to themselves that they should come sit with me only...

Finally, I have reached the end of the line. So far 6119 km traveled by train from Vancouver to Halifax and I still have a week left to go. The train arrived early by about 25 minutes so I decided to walk around the block. I saw Pier 21 as the train entered the terminal so I thought I could kill some time by walking there. Unfortunately my time estimation was way off and I left Mark waiting and wondering where the heck I was for about 20 minutes. Sorry about that Mark! I got introduced to Jack who...

It's a very short trip from Montreal to Quebec City. Before I know it, I'm being greeted by Uncle Grant, Aunty Yvonne, and their two kids Jason and newborn Emily. My time in Quebec City was limited to just over 5 hours so Grant planned a condensed tour for me. He's sort of a history buff so I knew that we would cover a lot in the short time that I had Right from the beginning Grant was telling me little historic facts. We passed by the old Quebec Bridge which is nearly 100 years old and rusts as...

Upon my arrival in Montreal I was greeted with the oncoming threat of rain and cold weather. It was beautiful out when I arrived, but after peaking outside when I woke the next morning I saw a bleak gray concrete landscape. It's as if I had never left Vancouver! The Devteach conference that I am attending starts at 8:00AM every morning and ends at around 5:00PM. Pretty much soaking up most of the time that I could have used wandering the city. The terrible weather was almost a good thing because...

Ahh, finally in Ottawa, the halfway point of my trip. With the help of Natalee and Connor I manage to get off the bus at the correct stop. A girl approaches me saying she was overhearing our conversation about the Canadian Dictionary research. She thought it was a cool idea and wanted to add the word shawarma to the list. I was puzzled because we have that in Vancouver and it's quite popular. After a bit of walking I noticed that shawarma is like Tim Hortons here. They seem to be a bit obsessed about...

Now all my train rides will be rather short. This portion of the trip is only 4 hours long. The time flew by due to a wonderful girl named Natalee that I met upon entering the train. As a fan of structure and order I moved my way to my assigned seat when a girl across the aisle informed me that it really doesn't matter. I asked if she was traveling alone and when she said yes I invited myself to sit next to her. We instantly clicked and started talking right way. We never even introduced our names...

The train was supposed to arrive in Toronto at 8PM but it ended up being 3 hours delayed. I was pretty tired so instead of hanging out downtown I headed straight to Donna's where I would be staying for the next couple days. After catching the subway and a cab I get there at midnight and head to bed. Donna has been generous enough to give me free reign of the house. She's a nurse and works an early morning shift so she doesn't get home until 4PM. I used the morning to catch up with this blog and upload...

For this leg I figured it would be a nice relaxing trip where I could finish the book I am reading. That hope soon faded shortly after dinner. Scott Muc, CBC Rock Star I decided to have dinner at the dining cart again and was set to enjoy a couple beers and the Canadian Pot Roast dinner. I was seated with an elderly couple (surprised?) who were very friendly and open to some conversation. The typical dialog followed where we exchanged destinations and hometowns, and then eventually they found out...

The trains stops in Capreol and I head out the door. For this stop I am meeting my great Uncle Jacob who I have never met. He's my grandmas brother on my dad's side if you're wondering. The only thing I've heard about him is that he has a mustache that leaves an impression. I spot him as soon as I get off the train. I shake his hand and see who I assume is my Aunty Fran and give her a hug. That's what I love about Ukrainians; they are such welcoming people. All they know about me is that I'm the...

I've never been east of Winnipeg except for the 3 days I spent in Toronto for Uncle Grant's wedding. I was looking forward to seeing scenery that would be much different than the west coast and the prairies. After a couple hours I got that wish fulfilled as I watch countless little lakes and boreal forest for the next 24 hours. I took some pictures, of Lake of the Woods and some other random areas. I didn't meet any crazy people on this leg of the journey but I did have a couple interesting chats...