Life

En route to our 7th country in the last 27 days, you start to notice several similarities despite the miles that separate each nation: food & drink, community, social problems, daily routines, and technology, just to name a few. We are all experiencing similar lives: getting groceries, connecting with people, eating well, laughing together over drinks, walking past the homeless and using our phones as our distractors. Instead of driving to work, Europeans use the metro; instead of drinking in pubs, they drink (and smoke) in the park; instead of getting supper together, they have picnics in public spaces. They are probably doing this for a few reasons but it would be bloody expensive to go out for food and drink often, so it’s cheaper to buy in advance and just meet up (you can literally drink and smoke anywhere in the countries we’ve seen) and they are way more connected to the outdoors (maybe it’s because they smoke like chimneys).

I think sometimes we fantasize about these cities: London, NY, Paris, etc. but everyone is going through the same struggles, maybe more so in these bigger cities and not really taking in all these sites we adore from far.

Take for example, home (Regina). When was the last time you saw the largest T-rex in the world? or walked through North America’s largest park (Wascana)? or was guided down the infamous tunnels in MJ? No different than the London Eye in London or the Guinness Storefront in Dublin, or Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh or Brandenburg Gates in Berlin, the locals do not view them as these magical attractions, but as places to avoid (I could not imagine living in a tourist city; I understand why Europeans cities are cracking down). We are all living very normal lives: working, connecting with small groups of people, hustling our kids from one thing to the next, shopping (primarily groceries), and going out occasionally.