Calgary Festivals

I am a huge fan of the blog pinterest I often spend hours searching on their travel search bar. I often fall in love with getaway destinations that offer rich cultural festivals. I always have a proverbial bucket list for travel, all the things I want to do and see. I forget that I've seen a lot of amazing things, and experienced some thoughtful cultural connections in my own city: Calgary.

Im a huge fan of lists, especially if they are itemized. So here it is my suggestions for Calgary's Top 5 festivals.

1. Globalfest
Globalfest has happened for the last ten years in Calgary, every August. This a true cultural connection for calgarians. The festival consists of a firework competition nightly with competing countries from all around the world. There are community centres throughout the city that hold cultural engagements. I get particularly excited because the competition is always at the end of August, and so is my birthday I celebrate almost every year with fireworks. There is a cultural pavilion at the park where the firework shows are hosted, and every country has different performances prior to the lights in the sky.

Personal Photo: Global Fest Fireworks

2. Taste of Calgary
This summer was the first time I partook in the festivities that are The Taste of Calgary. At this festival calgarian restaurants/venues host booths with samples of their products. You can buy tickets for samples at a $1/ticket, and most samples range between $2-$5. They have a beer gardens which have creative menu options, like grapefruit beer. The event was hosted at Eau Claire Market, and the weather was perfect. This event is a perfect opportunity to try partake in the variables that are Calgary.

Personal Photo: My bestfriend sampling something delicious

3. Calgary Stampede
If you have never been to the Calgary Stampede I don't think I can do justice to how extensive of a celebration it is in just a few sentences. I'll focus on my two favourite components: Coca Cola Stage, and the Midway. This year I got to see my favourite band Our Lady Peace for the cost of admission (less than $20) at the Coca Cola stage [this is also the second time that I've seen them at the 'Coke Stage']. My second draw to the Calgary Stampede is the midway, the rides are almost the same every year but they hold a nostalgia that I cant get enough of.

Personal Photo: Mini Horse Chuckwagon on the midway.

4. Chinese Cultural Festival
In early August this year, Calgary hosted the Chinese Cultural Festival. This was a smaller festival hosted in China Town. The streets were lined with vendors, and their was a stage with musical, and martial art demonstrations. Their was a small alley that lead to an out door art exhibit (called the Back Alley Art Cafe, with varied exposures to local artists.

Personal Photo: Art in the Back Alley Cafe

5. Lilac Festival 
The Calgary Lilac Festival is Calgary's largest street festival. The main component of this festival is access to street vendors. There are city blocks, upon blocks lined with vendors. The vendors vary between Calgary shops, services, restaurants, and entertainment. This is the place to see all of what Calgary has to offer. The highlight of the Lilac Festival is the presence of the YYC food truck sensation. This festival happens in May, this year we were lucky to have sunshiny weather!

Staycation

I appreciate Travel Alberta's aims at getting people to take in local attractions and events. Backyard getaways if you will, they type of travel where the adventure is only a daytrip away. I have blogged about Lake Louise as a local gem. I believe that staycations are an accessible way to get in a mini adventure. The good thing about local adventure is that planning is minimal, and travel to destiatnion can be usually organized quite easily.

There is an increase for adventure oppurtunities through deal sites such as Team Buy or Groupon which benefit to the consumer for taking advantage of great savings.
Last Christmas I was searching through the groupon deals of the week, and I found a great deal on Icefield helicopter tours. For my Dad, Sister, and I was able to to get a cheap snowshoe, and helicopter package. I'm a student, so you can imagine how literally I use the word cheap.

Personal Photo: Taken in January with Pilot

In January we booked our excursion, and we made a day trip to drive just west of Rocky Mountain House  for our adventure at Cline River. The tour consisted of a 1 hour round trip, and a 1 hour guided snowshoe through back country snow trails. The weather was clear and made for an enjoyable escape. I was surprised by how loud helicopters are, and we flew right in between the mountains; sights I had never saw so close before.

Personal Photo: View in flight.

I know that a fun component of travelling abroad is to meet new people from different places, but its nice to meet locals too. We got to know some Canadian locals, and everyone has a story so it shouldn't matter where they're from.

Personal Photo: Group Snowshoeing in backcountry.

 There are a lot of backyard adventures in Alberta, and taking the time for adventure is only a thought away.

I dream of Europe

Ever since I was little, I've wanted to go to Europe! It all started with my Grandmother. She is from Germany and lived there up until she was eighteen. Since then she has gone back a few times to visit. There are a few different reasons why I want to go there. The one is that Europe is a part of my heritage and  I really want to see what it is like over there. Especially Germany since that is where my Grandmother is from. Another main reason I want to go there is because of how close everything is. My grandmother always says that in a few hours you can be somewhere completely new!

My grandmother was alive during the second world war, so she has stories of everything that went on. My grandmother, her mother, and sister at one point had to travel across Europe in train cars and my grandmother tells me that it was a very sad experience, since everyone was malnourished and sick, people had to do their business on the floor of the train. Then she also tells me that her mother experience a concentration camp. Stories like these have always fascinated me and over the years I've watched many movies and read many books on the second world war.

This is another reason I want to go, I want to see all the different museums in Germany and visit the Auschwitz Camp.

Aside from the doom and gloomy part, I want to visit the German pubs and experience Germany's night life.

Then there are my grandmother stories about the Red Light District in Amsterdam! These stories also fascinate me! We have sex shops here in Calgary, but she says that there are literally live girls in the windows like manikins doing advertising. I want to visit this area because I think it would be a really moving experience since I have never seen anything like it before.

Everything else is just a hop-skip-away! I would love to take like two months and just travel through Europe! France, Spain, Italy Those are the destinations that I some day want to be able to go to!

New Years Getaway

This year my roommates and I want to get away some time just after news years. We chose just after New Years because there isn't many free days between exams and Christmas and trying to book a hotel for New Years is not only extremely difficult if you haven't done it by now, but it's also extremely expensive.

Since we want to go somewhere out of Alberta, but want to be able to go skiing, we chose to make the trip to Kicking Horse BC. Next we picked the dates that we wanted to go. We decided on January 3rd-6th because the price goes back down to a normal out of season rate since it is after the holidays.

There is only one catch for me to this trip! My roommates consist of two boys! I don't really snowboard ( I've gone twice and am not very good yet) and all the girls I have asked to come so far are un able to. So potentially the trip may turn into me with four other smelly dudes for the entire trip! Hopefully I can find another girl to accompany me otherwise there isn't much point in going seeing as all the boys will be out skiing all day and I will be in a giant lodge by myself!

The lodges we were looking at had full kitchens and a private hot tub which is pretty sweet. I'm very excited for this trip because it will be the only trip that I do over the Christmas break, and the trip I took to Fernie was amazing so this trip will be like that but better. It will be better because there won't be any parents and little kids with us. Just a bun of twenty year olds in a ski lodge.

Has anyone done this sort of trip before? Do you have some suggestions in terms of a good place to look when booking lodges?

Canada's Gems Cont....

For me this blog post is close to the heart. It's about my home town of Vancouver. If any of you haven't been I highly, highly recommend going. It has the most natural beauty I have ever seen surrounding a large city. 

Everyone knows Vancouver is surrounded by the ocean but I don't think people quite grasp how beautiful the inlet is there. The area I'm from is called Deep Cove and it has wonderful touristy things all on its own. The small town of Deep Cove used to be a vacation spot so it's full of cottages and the strip of shops still had the old town feel to it.

Deep Cove

In the photo above I'm standing at the yacht club in Deep Cove and behind is the bottom of Seymour Mountain. In the bottom there is a great hiking spot with some of the most amazing views you will ever see so close to the city.

Quarry Rock

Just a short hike from Deep Cove and you'll come across this breathtaking view. Below many people do boating activities and one of the more popular things is Kayaking. It's crazy to think I live on the water and on the bottom of a mountain at the same time. Not many people get the best of both those worlds and I feel so lucky I get to call that home!

So please if you have never been you seriously need to consider making a trip! Especially if you love sushi because we have the best and the cheapest sushi in all of Canada!!

The Move

Do you ever feel like you want to be in another place and just stay there for good? What is the reason behind it? Do you think you might love the people and enjoy your whole experience there? Is it for the reason that you are running away from something or you think you might get the opportunity to a better life? There are many answers for these questions and it depends on every person you are going to ask. For me, the thought of moving in another place somewhat gives me mixed emotions. A quarter excited and the rest, frightened. 

Scared Ghost photo by Scr47chy on Flickr
http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-148867629

When I learned that we are moving here in Canada maybe 2 years back, I went blank, it is like nothing is in my head. It took me some time to process what my parents told me. I never really saw myself in another place but the Philippines. I grew up there, went to school there, had many friends and many memories that I will forever remember. I was actually unhappy about the thought of moving here or anywhere else. I love travelling, I really do but staying there for good is another story. I have shared on my recent post that we first went to Australia but that it didn't last for long, my brother and I went back to the Philippines to finish our study and my parents stayed in Australia because of their work.

Our application for migrating here in Canada has been processed for more than 10 years. As long as I can remember, my mom and dad always talk about Canada. They really want to stay here for good. When my mom and dad received a letter from the Government of Canada telling that we are approved for migrating here in Canada, my parents did not waste any more time. They processed another set of papers, went to Philippines to get me and my brother, and then here we are. Things happened so fast, I didn't get to prepare myself physically and emotionally.  

My first month here was a horrible feeling. I was sad all day, felt home sick and always cried myself to sleep. It was like I have been in the most horrible break up ever. I'm showing signs of depression which is more frightening. I was aware that what I am doing is not healthy that is why I helped myself to fight against it. I did everything I can by diverting my attention away from missing my life in the Philippines and keeping myself busy by studying and working hard. I can say that what I did somehow helped me move on. Eventually, I came to the realization that my life is different now. I accepted the fact that there is something better for me here. Everything has its reason and someday I'll know why here. 

For now, the answer to the question above is still unclear, but one day if someone asks me what I love about Canada, hopefully I get to answer "I love the people, I enjoy my life there and it was the opportunity for my family and I to have a better life."  

    

 

Canada's Gems Cont...

The next destination I'm going to talk about is Osoyoos BC. Canada's only true desert is a summer hot spot with wineries and unlimited water activities. The town is a lot smaller than Kelowna for example so it's more of a small town get away full of tourists. Most of the people you run into when you're up  there in the summer are tourists it's rare you meet to locals. 

The lake has two sides to it connected by a little stream under a bridge. The lake is also really cool because it's very shallow so it gets really warm in the summer. It gets deep enough so you can't touch but still shallow so the sun can really heat up the lake. You can honestly hang out in the water for hours without getting cold.

Osoyoos 

In the photo above you can see the little strip attaching the two sides of the lake. That strip is there all the main hotels and beaches are. It's basically a tourist strip that's very busy and popular during the summer months.

If you enjoy time away from the city and sunny hot lake get away's then Osoyoos is for you!

Traveling Through the Snow

So people who live in Calgary must have accepted that it snows 3 out of 4 seasons a year. Last year being my first year living here I saw snow in May for the first time! My friend from home had messaged me in the morning saying she heard we had a blizzard over night. I looked out my window and sure enough everything was covered in snow. I thought it was insane May is for Spring and the beginning of hot weather... well not in this town.

Moving on to the point of this story I don't quite understand Calgary drivers in the snow. This doesn't apply to all drivers but I noticed two the other day that were worth mentioning. I drive a jeep so I feel pretty safe on the roads in the snow with my 4x4 and coming from Vancouver we may get a LOT less snow but when it does snow it makes it difficult to drive since there are so many steep hills everywhere you go since I live on the bottom of the mountains. So driving in Calgary I find relatively easy since the roads are mostly flat. I guess not all drivers feel that way. Sunday I was driving and I get behind a Yaris going 35 in a 60 zone... I realize the roads conditions aren't great but if your little Yaris can't drive in the snow maybe you shouldn't be out on the road in those conditions. On my way home that night another small car cuts in front of me from a side street so I have to slam on my breaks and I started skidding. Was able to get everything under control but the driver never sped up over 30 km. Just because it's snowing does not mean you can drive half the speed limit. 

At the end of the day drivers who are uncomfortable driving in the snow or don't have proper cars to do so put the rest of us drivers at risk. 

Airmiles

If anyone collects Airmiles you know it's a great way to us your points to buy cool items, gifts, or flights for cheap. One thing I learned the hard way is to be very careful when booking your flight and to always triple check your flight reservation.

This past August I had booked my ticket home to Vancouver for Thanksgiving long in advance so I'd get a good flight time. I booked online like I had done many times before, paid for the taxes on the flight and thought it was all good. Boy was I wrong...

Two days before I was supposed to fly home to Vancouver I was looking up my flight details to confirm my flight number and the time of the flight. Only to find that there was no flight record. In a panic I call up Westjet to see if they have any record of me being on the flight; I would have called Airmiles but they are closed on Sundays. After speaking to Westjet they had no record for me being on the flight to Vancouver. The next morning I wait on hold for Airmiles for over an hour and a half and once I finally get through I find out that they claim I booked the flights for September and not October. I really didn't think I could have made that mistake but even so I had no way of proving anything. So according to them I had missed my flight a month ago. Annoying part is I never got an email saying anything about missing my flight, the flight reservation just disappeared. The lady on the phone said she could reinstate my flight back to Calgary for free but I'd have to purchase a flight to Vancouver so 300 dollars later I had my ticket and was on my way.

Being home in Vancouver was great but Monday rolled around and it came time to go back to Calgary.My dad drops me off at the airport and I go to check in. They have no record for me being on that flight, instead the lady from Airmiles booked me on the Wednesday night flight for some reason. Once again I had to purchase a flight and this one cost 400 dollars. So approximately 850 dollars later for a 4 days trip to Vancouver I learned the hard way to double and triple check my reservations. 

Abroad?

Is it cool to say that I can't wait to visit the Philippines.?

My family was planning to go back next Decemeber... it would have been 6 years since i've been back to the Phillipines.

In my previous blogs I have talked about the many things Philippines has to offer and I have ecplained some of my experinces.

I really want to go back because ever since I was younger... I have always been interested in the showbiz life. And my major in school is Broadcasting... one day I feel if I ever do go back to the Philippines, I would want to go and try my luck in trying to get into the entertainment industry.

In general, my goal is to travel abroad and work in a different place. I feel doing that would make my work profile just seem so much more great.? (Losing some of the words I would like to say... I think this is what happens when you write blogs past 12am.. haha)

But really to travel abroad for work... espcically in the choice of a career path I have chosen to go through would be pretty cool. Who knows... I mean the States would be cool.. or even the UK.. but I personally think that the Philippines would be very cool... because for one it is my home country and two it would still be easier to communicate.. that and I am always upadted on the showbiz world in the Philippines. It just goes to show that I think it would be pretty fun to go abroad. (:

A Nice Walk

So I forgot my house keys one day when getting off the bus from highschool.

Not fun?

So I had two choices... to wait till my family came home and to sit outside the house for  long period of time.... OR to walk to my aunts house from Mckenzie Lake till New Brighton.

Obviously I chose the second option... I was not going to wait outside for who knows how long just for my family to show up. I guess I can agree that I needed to workout or stay fit.. and a nice walk wouldn't hurt.

It was a very nice walk actually... I hadn't done that in the longest time. So it really got my blood pumping.. literally. Why? Well because I had my 10 pound backpack on... but also another 5 pounds of textbooks that I was carrying in my arms. So not only a walk but definitely working on those muscles.

The walk took roughly... 15mins?

Who knew it was that easy. I think after that walk I was more motivated to workout and to stay fit... (well until university hit... haha) but it had given me a healthy lifestyle for a while and I guess I could say that it worked for me. Walking helped me to become motivated in being active. (:

Winter and School DO NOT Mix

One thing I know for sure that I am not fond of is traveling to school. Travelling to school in general is a very big pain. I live in the deep SE and MRU feels like it's all the way on the other side of the world. It is already bad that I have to travel there during normal road conditions... but through winter... oh. my. goodness. IT IS BRUTAL!

My only roads of transportation is Deerfoot basically.

Well that was the case until I finally had learned the back roads.

But my goodness.. everytime snow or not... Deerfoot is ALWAYS backed up. ALWAYS. I wish I could change that... but it's Calgary I guess.

I am so thankful that I have finally learned the back roads.

I found a way to avoid traffic... it may take a little longer because there are alot of roads... BUT its certainly still alot faster than sitting through Deerfoot for an hour or even hour and a half. From where I live.. going through Douglasdale and Riverbend has become my best friend. It gets me onto Glenmore and I avoid traffic. I can still drive to school and get there in just over half an hour.

Yay for learning the back roads! (:

Edmonton!!

I remember my trip to Edmonton.

I had snuck onto Justin Bieber's tour bus and had rode on the bus with him about midway to Red Deer.. yes it is a little creepy I know... but I gotta do what I gotta do when it comes to getting something signed just for my younger sister.

Totally.

Just.

Kidding.

haha.

I guess it would be every girls dream to sneak onto the Biebs tour bus.

However...it is true I do remember my pretty epic trip to Edmonton.
It happened about 2 years ago.

It was during one of my cousins birthday that my family and I (extended included) had randomly decided to go just... go to Edmonton. May I just say that we had decided this at roughly 10pm at night.

We literally decided at my cousins house... all went back home to pack up for the night and following day... and was Edmonton bound at 11pm. The journey was actually pretty wicked.

Not really.. but lets just say it was 3 full cars of Filipinos going to Edmonton just becasue they felt like it. So I guess from this point I can say that the car ride was like your typical roadtrip. Boring. Except for one part... when we all needed a "break" get this.. it was already 1am in the morning and all the gas stations had already closed, so the only way we could use a washroom was a late night pub. Sadly, my siblings and I were still underaged and the owners of the pub would not let us use the washroom... even if we were ready to burst our bladders.

Finally after some much talking and maybe a small arguement... my dad had used the excuse of "if you don't let my children use the washroom, I will just let them do their thing outside your building." And sure enough they had given us the chance. Like come on... let us be, we all gotta go at some point.

From then till we got to Edmonton... we had gotten to our realatives house.. who somehow just knew were all coming. So many filipinos in one house was crazy at 2am.. but we got there and basically a party happened. Let's just say... the karaoke machine was brought out.

Weekend in Banff

This last weekend I traveled over to Banff for the weekend.
It was my boyfriend's companies Christmas party and they hosted it at the Banff Rocky Mountain Resort. It was also our three year anniversary so we decided to combine the two events into one weekend in Banff.

My boyfriend and I at the Christmas party

We have never stayed over night in Banff before so we just expected to have a normal boring hotel room. However this was not the case! This resort has little outside condos that you get instead of boring hotel rooms in a multi-level building. When we got to our little condo, we were presented with a full kitchen and wolf themed everything! It also had two TV's (one in the living room and one in our bedroom) as well as a wood burning fireplace!

Panorama view of our hotel

Our first day there was Friday and it was pretty mundane because all the young couples were just hanging out and going for supper before getting together later. We made our way down town and had supper at my favorite simple place, The Old Spaghetti Factory! Then we went back to our room for some TV in bed before heading out to the hotels bar to drink.

After we closed out the hotel bar, we took the party back to our place. It was a wonderful night of endless laughs! The oldest guy who came back to party with us is a forty some year old ex military sniper who is now working as an engineer. Listening to his stories were so entertaining, and they finally ended at an early 3AM.

Saturday was the real party because this was the night of the Christmas Party. We went early to help set things up. Once everyone was there and the speeches ended, it was time to eat. The food was presented in a way that I've never seen before but it all tasted extremely good!

This was the appy. It was raspberry sorbet in a melted cheese bowl

This was my main dish-Chicken

This was the best part- Rum Cheesecake!

Saturday night was filled with drinks, dancing and good company. The night lasted again until about 3AM and it caused a late morning for Sunday which consisted of Phil's for breakfast followed by a long (two hours!) and scary (the weather was terrible, with accidents everywhere) drive home.


What are some other memorable experiences people have had in Banff?

Fernie-Winter Adventure!

I have never been a winter person!

I prefer the warm summer weather that leaves you hot and sweaty compared to the cold and snowy winter season. Unfortunately, when you live in Alberta, it is impossible to pretend that winter isn't here. I believe the reason that I don't like winter is because I don't do anything. I do not snowboard or ski. I do skate, however no one ever wants to go skating!

Last winter I went on a trip that helped me to start to embrace the winter season. I went with two families to Fernie BC for a week. We rented a five bedroom house at the bottom of the ski hill and all 11 of us crammed into the house for the entire week. 

Fernie was beautiful and snowy the entire time, and we ended up dividing the boys and girls for most activities. The four boys went snow boarding everyday while we were there, while the rest of us girls relaxed in the cabin and did girl stuff like painting our nails. 

The back of the house was on a lake, so one day all the girls went onto this lake with shovels and we shoveled different things into the snow, that you could see from the windows of the house. This was a lot of fun which was surprising because usually I hate the cold!!

Down town Fernie is similar to Banff except it is less commercialized. So we spent quite a bit of time going to the different shops down town. We ended up doing a big scavenger hunt that the Mom's set up for us. 

All of us at the Fernie train station for the scavenger hunt

One morning all of the girls piled into a van to the Ying Yang Yoga studio in Fernie. This was the first time that I had tried yoga in a studio situation. It was a lot of fun and a great way to start the morning! Later that night us us three couples that were 18+ went out to The Brickhouse for supper and drinks, which was a lot of fun because it was our little night on the town, even if it wasn't that eventful.

This trip was the beginning of me trying to accept winter and getting through it by finding fun things to do that are specifically for winter. What does everyone else do during the winter season that helps pass the long cold days?!