Rain sheets off the drystone croft’s slate roof as my breath fogs the windowpane. The blind world loses itself in hysteric gales and gusts, its reedy voice keening through stone walls and over rooftops like a bow upon a fiddle string. In the dour absence of light we measure the passing day in pints and drams, nestled in our watery holes like shivering voles. I watch birds streak across the sky in reckless parabolas, etching clovers of flight in my sun-starved eyes. The wind does not relent. Seafingers, cold as winter rain, rake across Orkney’s rolling, barren hills, aching to add men and his works to its collection of trees and light.

Then, as the Jura runs low, a line of fire burns across the belly of the sky. My dad and I knife through the elements and skid to a halt on the flagstones in the yard. A kaleidoscope of light ricochets through the rain hanging in the air. There are standing stones and burial cairns and dark age brochs across Orkney gleaming in this blast of light. Thousands of years of Orcadian tempests have failed to undo these human birthmarks. And I think, I have been so quick to retreat inside when the fog descends and the light fades. The clouds continue spitting toward the setting sun, and my shaggy hair and clothes whip and snap like flags in the wind.

Picture This: One Moment of Orcadian Light is a post from Traveling Savage. Copyright 2012

The rocky cliffs on the west coast of Santorini. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

After you’ve spent a day at the red beach on Santorini, head over to one of the many cliffside restaurants for a sundowner and a seafood dinner. While traveling in Greece, you almost can’t find a bad place to see the sun set, or at least be ready to see the sun rise. I guess it depends if you are an early riser or a night owl. Warning, there will be a lot to tempt you to the night owl side! While having dinner with my niece one night, I caught this photo of the cliffside buildings against the sunset in the back. Enjoy this week’s Suh-Weet Shot.

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Sunset in Santorini is a post from: career break secrets: Travel video guides and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Today’s Photo Friday of Angkor Wat comes from Jannell Howell, a past Meet, Plan, Go! attendee, Basic Training member, and self-proclaimed “travel gearologist.“  Angkor Wat is just one of many items Jannell has been able to check off her bucket list while traveling around the world on her career break.

“I’ve crossed off a couple of things on my bucket list: I’ve ridden an elephant in northern Thailand, I’ve marveled at the temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, I’ve witnessed a beautiful sunrise over the Himalayan peaks in Nepal, and I’ve had my breath taken away at the Taj Mahal in India.”

Jannell writes about her travels on Traveljunkie’s World Tour.

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I first drove the Pacific Coast Highway back in 2007, after a camping trip in Redwoods National Park (which, by the way, is an amazing place to hike). Stella and I took this highway down to LA, and Emily and I subsequently took it to get back to San Francisco. Originally, I referred to this drive as Highway 1, but Ava so politely informed me that it’s a tourist thing, so here’s my attempt to sound a little more local and ‘in the know’.

If you’ve never gotten to drive a part of this scenic highway, you are missing out. It is absolutely beautiful! There are plenty of turnoffs so that you can get out of your car, take photos, and enjoy the scenery. There is also the famous Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Hearst Castle along the way. Here’s a little taste of our drive up to San Francisco:

Emily catching a nice shot of the view

So beautiful

Our 'normal' picture

And then there was Alan...

And it's hard to take a picture with him & keep a straight face...

One of the bridges on the Highway. Oh, and Emily.

Alan gets a craving for Pirate's Booty (I'm sorry but this is what happens when you travel with a bobblehead).

And why we were late for dinner with our friend's family. 3 accidents on this route.

Have you driven California’s Highway 1… err, I mean Pacific Coast Highway?

Schoenbrunn Palace - picture perfect!

Schoenbrunn Palace and Gardens in Vienna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the most popular tourist attraction in the city.  Easy to access, you are able to take the subway directly to Schoenbrunn and once you step out of the subway, the palace is hard to miss.  In the world of the Habsburgs monarchy, size does matter.  This grand summer palace has 1,441 Rococo designed rooms, and a 435 acre garden(s) – so plan to spend a whole day here if you want to wander the grounds.

The palace offers tours inside the elegantly designed Rococo rooms with an audio tour which is quite informative (but no photos allowed!).  I was really impressed with my 40 minute audio tour of the palace interior and felt like it was worth the 10.50 Euro price tag.  However I really enjoyed wandering around the expansive gardens at my own pace with my camera.  You can follow the crowds past the Neptune Fountain and up the slope to the Gloriette (arcaded structure), or you can wander off and ‘get lost’ in the woods where you’ll discover wildlife, as well as sculptures in odd places in the woods.  While I was there I saw a multitude of runners in the park as well locals taking a stroll through the more secluded areas.  It’s a wonderful place to take a picnic lunch and sit and enjoy the vast view of all of Vienna.

I went during the early spring as part of the Go with Oh Blogger tour, and the buds were just starting to pop and gardeners were busy preparing the landscaping.  I can only imagine what the gardens look like in the summer – another reason to return!

More Information:

Schoenbrunn Palace and Gardens Website – www.schoenbrunn.at

Check out my other Vienna travel tips.

Spring had not yet sprung in most parts of the Palace Gardens

Upper Gardens and the Gloriette

A few flowers coming to life in the woods at the Palace Gardens

A little Figure 8!

Gardeners were out working preparing spring planting

This tree looks like it's screaming for spring!

The Gloriette had a little cafe with a lovely view

A giant bird cage in the garden

A garden walkway will be great shade in the summer

Schonbrunn Palace will dwarf you!

A litle tower marks the garden perimeter

We woke up yet again to the smell of hot breakfast thanks to our hosts Jaime and Tommy. We packed up our gear, loaded up our bikes and said our goodbyes.

It’s always so tough leaving friends, comfy beds and home cooked food behind but we have to move on.

Thankfully, the first part of our day was filled with flat roads and smiley faces along the way.

Tilamook Cheese Factory

We ended up making a quick pit stop at the Tilamook Cheese Factory to fill up on some free samples of cheese and some much needed water.

Later on we passed a farm that had a line of cows that looked like it never ended.

Entering Hebo

We spent a couple hours riding and we still had yet to come across a major town with any sort of restaurant or place to eat so we ended up stopping into this market in Hebo where we picked up some cheese burgers and some other small snacks. It was a great little break in our day and after about a half hour or so we hit the road.

Siuslaw National Forest

As soon as we entered the Siuslaw National Forest we started a three mile climb.

The only way you would ride up this monster is if you were Lance Armstrong so we decided to ride as far as we could up and then walk our bikes the rest of the way. We ended up pushing our heavy bikes at least two miles up before it started to flatten out. Knowing that we would probably be headed downhill at a fast pace, we switched on the GoPro and hit the road.

We flew down the back side of the Siuslaw Forest at a new record speed of 39.6mph! Wow, that was exhilarating!

Devil’s Lake State Park

We spun down through Lincoln City and settled into Devil’s Lake State Park for the night. Our camp spot in the hiker/biker area of the campground was our best camp location yet as it was on top of a hill with the sun shining with not one person around us. We had the whole place to ourselves!

Today’s Mileage: 58.8 mi

I don’t remember a word of what was said at my college graduation. I had been at the bar drinking Bloody Mary’s since 6 a.m., was force-feeding water to my friend passed out on my shoulder, the sun was blazing and I just wanted President Zingg to pronounce my name correctly as I walked across the stage, to have lunch with my parents and party with my friends. In a matter of weeks, I’d be celebrating my 21st in Las Vegas and then heading out for five weeks on my own in Europe. Sure, I needed a job, but the real world wasn’t quite here yet, and I was grateful for that.

Three years have passed since I received my degree. I’m not sure where I thought I’d be at this stage, but I certainly didn’t think I’d be here: living at home for a few months while I prepare myself to go visit friends I made while bartending in Nice and then cruise through Croatia and road-trip across the USA. In many ways, I’m even more clueless now than I was then. Then, I had a boyfriend who I thought would become a husband, a plan for a successful career in PR, a quiet contentment with how evenly things were playing themselves out for me. Now it seems as if my future is an open book, a diary in which I only know how things will go as I pen my summary at the end of each day.

I’m still sweetly, irresponsibly young. “You might not have career success, but you have life success,” a friend recently quipped, a zinger that I’m sure came from the right place but bitterly reminded me of my utter lack of focus in the work arena. So while I can’t offer the latest crop of grads advice on how to land a job, here’s what I’ve learned about living:

Friendships aren’t necessarily forever. If you need to break up with a toxic friend, do it. A friendship is ultimately a relationship: you are choosing to spend bits of your life with this person, and if they are bringing you down, if you realize you disagree on fundamental issues, if you are no longer proud to be associated with them: break up with them. And if you’ve made the mistake that causes the end of a friendship: accept it, strive to be better and move on. You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with, so surround yourself with encouraging, supportive, ambitious people (and be someone whom others want to be with). Make friends with people you want to be like, and cherish those friendships that absolutely nothing can touch. (Note: the photo above is my absolute best friend who thinks I’m crazy, but loves me anyway.)

End relationships with grace. You can fall out of love with someone, realize that your dreams are different–but don’t forget what made you fall in love with them in the first place. Treat them and the relationship with the respect it deserves; speak about them as you’d wish them to speak about you. Remember: you chose to date them, to bring them into your life and to keep them there for however long. A string of crazy ex’s and unhealthy relationships says just as much about you as it does about them.

Don’t let your life revolve around weekends. If you do, you’ll only be living 28% of your life. If you are dragging yourself from Monday through Friday just to drink into oblivion on the weekend: rethink things. Live your life so that every day matters, so that every day is worth remembering. If that means finding a job you care about, start searching. If that means traveling the world, start saving. Just do something: apathy will lead you nowhere.

Sleep under the stars. Spend time in nature: away from the internet, away from your iPhone, away from the noise of everyday life. Go for a hike, watch a butterfly, swim in a creek. Pay attention to the details that are lost in a world of concrete: the whisper of a breeze through the trees, the constant motion of a field of grass. The sun rises and sets every day: when’s the last time you truly appreciated one?

Don’t spend money you don’t have. “I am happy as long as I’m healthy, and rich as long as I don’t have debt,” a hippie on the beach in Vietnam once told me. Stop buying rounds of drinks and start paying off your loans and credit cards. Spend your money on memories that will last a lifetime, not a designer bag that will be out of fashion next season. Do the math, and don’t live beyond your means.

Be realistic about worst-case scenarios. I’ve moved halfway across the world twice, and each time, I’ve calmed my nerves by stating the obvious: if this doesn’t work out, I can go home. I have a credit card, planes leave every single day, my parents have a futon. Do I want that to happen? Absolutely not. But that’s my worst-case scenario, and honestly, it’s not that bad–which leaves me open and ready to take a risk.

Buy stamps. Send thank-you notes: paper-in-envelope, handwritten, throw-it-in-a-blue-mailbox thank-you notes. Say thank you for a gift, for lunch, for being a good friend. Send birthday cards so that they arrive before the actual birthday, proof that you can still remember important days without Facebook. Send postcards, even if you haven’t left your hometown. Be thoughtful, and practice your penmanship. Give and you shall receive–save the snail mail you collect: punch a hole in a corner, and snap it onto a binder ring for easy organization.

 Vacation time is there for a reason. Stop feeling guilty and use it. Trust other people and realize that you are not indispensable, especially when your entry-level responsibilities consist of things a monkey could do. Understand that your mental and physical well-being is just as–if not more than–important as your job, that your commitments to friends, family and significant others are just as serious as your work responsibilities. Do not shirk your friendship duties for work duties.

Fear less, hope more. Eat less, chew more. Whine less, breathe more. Talk less, say more. Love more, and all good things will be yours. A Swedish proverb that pretty much sums it up.

What’s the most important life lesson you’ve learned lately?

I’ve learned that when a city is proclaimed as a country’s cultural capital, it usually means it’s cold. True to form, Hue (pronounced h-way) features gray-hued skies, a chilly wind drafting over the river and squat buildings crowding the winding streets.

The Imperial City of Hue is a walled complex of temples, pagodas and extraordinary art: the area within the moat is the most-visited site in the city. You don’t need more than a couple of days in Hue, but it’s worth a stop between Hoi An and Phong Nha Farmstay.

Act like a local at the night market: I snatched up a kiddie-size plastic chair near the woman with a voice like a bulldog, hollering out orders and handing out steaming dishes of noodles covered in beef and gravy. Surrounded by the Vietnamese voices of businesswomen, mothers, vendors–I balanced my bowl and chopsticks on my knees and marveled at how utterly far I was yet how at home I felt.

Visit the Citadel: I wandered around the walled city for hours, completely in awe of each mosaic of porcelain, jewel-toned pagodas, golden-hued temples. Once the political center of Vietnam, American bombs have left the sprawling grounds overgrown with weeds. However, an ambiance of perfect imperfection fills the grounds.

Eat in style: A short walk from the Citadel, Les Jardins de Carambole has recently opened its beautiful doors. Featuring a sunshine-filled patio and balcony, the personable French owner has filled the space with vintage drawings and antique finds. The service is excellent; many of the Vietnamese waitresses take classes during the day to perfect their English or French. The perfect spot for a luxe lunch after exploring the walled city.

Relax on the grass: Huddled in groups on the lawn or cuddling close on a bench, the riverfront park fills up with students and young couples as dark falls. Vendors spill onto the sidewalk, selling hot popcorn dripping with butter, vanilla soft serve cones and artfully-sliced pineapple. Filled with sculptures and palm trees, it’s the perfect spot to rest your feet after a long day of walking.

Get Frenchified: The canard a l’orange at La Carambole is simply divine, a melt-in-your-mouth dish that is delicious from the first whiff to the very last bite. Don’t let the translated-into-three-languages menu (I usually refuse to eat in those restaurants) turn you off: the food is delicious, the service warm and friendly. Owned by a French-Vietnamese couple, it marries the best of both worlds.

Sleep in peace: Located across the street from the popular Hue Backpackers Hostel, the DMZ Hotel offers clean, spacious rooms for roughly the same price of a dorm bed at the hostel. It’s easy to slink into the hostel to make friends, but get a decent sleep with a bit of privacy at the hotel. Bonus: front-desk workers are super helpful!

Note: La Carambole generously offered me a complimentary meal and a pre-opening tour of Les Jardins de la Carambole (ride on the back of a motorbike with the French-speaking owner included), while DMZ Hotel gave me a discount on my room. However, all opinions are my own, and I highly recommend both restaurants and the hotel. 

We awoke to the smell of pancakes, eggs and fresh maple syrup. This is when life on the road is at it’s best! Friends, food and fun times.

Our hosts Jaime and Tommy fed us well and once we finished we suited up and headed out for a walk on Rockaway Beach.

We took some kites along with us and coincidentally enough we ended up stumbling upon the annual Rockaway Beach Kite Festival.

Rockaway Beach Kite Festival

We stood there watching the professional kite flyers in amazement. Click here to see a video of the professional stunt kite team named Team iQuad.

It was time to get our kite on. Will, Jaime and Tommy flew their kites while good ol’ Libby dug in the sand.

It was really cool to see all of the different kites in the sky. There was a bat, a giant dragon, a guitar and an assortment of other giant kites that looked like they probably cost an absolute fortune.

Tilamook Cheese Factory

Next up on the itinerary was the Tilamook Cheese Factory in Tilamook, OR. We took a quick walk around the factory before heading straight for the free samples. We all grabbed a few toothpicks and dug in to all the free samples we could handle.

Afterwards we bought ourselves a well deserved Tilamook ice cream. I went with a 2-scoop waffle cone of the Udderly Chocolate and the Grammas Cake Batter. The Tilamook ice cream was some of the best ice cream I’ve had in a long time.

Once we filled our bellies with cheese and ice cream, it was time to move on to the local bike shop in Tilamook. We picked up a few new spokes for my back wheel and headed back home so that Tommy could give our bikes some much needed tuneups.

Tune up time!

Tommy isn’t bike mechanic by trade, but he knows a hell of a lot more than we do about bikes. He slapped our bikes up on the stand and got to work. Tommy installed a new spoke and trued my rim. He also tuned up Will’s bike and raised his seat to the proper height so that he could avoid knee issues later on in the trip.

Jaime cooked us up some delicious burritos for dinner and we called it a night. Tomorrow we plan on riding from Rockaway Beach to Lincoln City, OR but that will all depend on the weather, the headwinds, and my knees.

When I was laid off in 2010, I immediately sought refuge in Nova Scotia. Why not? I could be unemployed in St. John’s, or I could be unemployed in Halifax.

I went on bit of a life binge, a free-for-all for six weeks. Tossed money around with disregard to the consequences, and partied every night of the week.

I had a freaking blast.

I applied for jobs in the city, willing to give up St. John’s for a new home. Wanted a different lifestyle, a change of scenery. After too much rejection, I sulked my way back to St. John’s and resumed my normal life.

But man, I loved that city. I went back for 10 days last May. And just a few months ago, I went back for a third time, for a whole month to see Cailin before she went off to Australia and to spend time with my best friend Joanne and her new baby.

Suddenly I didn’t fit into Halifax anymore. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Did I outgrow the city? Were its quirks and charms worn off on me? I was horrified by how much money it cost to have a good night out.

Time for a lifestyle change?

Many of my friends were also no longer around, having moved on to bigger futures. The remaining group of friends I DID have in the city, of course, were amazing. Chauffeured me around and fed me and took good care of me. But as all 20-somethings do, the majority of us had grown up. Sorta.

After Cailin left, I happily spent most of my time at Joanne’s house outside the city. We went for walks in the evenings, and I fell in love with Baby Frances. We spent a night at their cabin in Mahone Bay, cut off from the world but completely happy. No toilets. No cell phone reception. No problems.

True love

One afternoon, I met up with Yelp community manager Ben Boudreau who took me to The Smiling Goat, an organic espresso bar where the server whipped me up his signature drink. We moved on to Indochine, where I had my first Korean taco. I spent hours working at Paper Chase Cafe & Newsstand, a coffee shop where I stood out among gothic garb, spiky hairdos and tattooed faces. The girl next to me was studying Nietzsche. I admired her handwriting in her sketchbook.

I walked home with the sunshine beating on my face and felt something like a city slicker in a small city. I was happy. Proud of myself, for something.

Had the city changed, or had I?

I suppose that’s always the risk for travellers, right? What if you find that happy spot, that one place in the world where you just GET it? You vow to return years later. When you do, it’s not the same place.

Let’s see how Montreal stacks up.