October | 2010 |

How alcohol can help you win friends and influence people when you travel

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A tribute to the “Angel’s Share”. That’s the quantity of whisky lost through evaporation… (©MRandin)

I should remember Scotland for being ruggedly beautiful even in god awful weather. But a fortuitous encounter with three old men and a conversation that opened with the line, “So, is your toy boy a man of few words or is he just plain stupid?” will forever be etched in my memory. Not a question you expect to hear from a total stranger, especially when the “toy boy” in question is your husband.
Continue reading →

Sent. (Not forwarded)

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Okay, so this is a a really corny way of introducing the town called ‘Sent’. It’s located in the Swiss canton of Grison not too far away from the haunted hotel that I wrote about in my last post.

To me, the canton of Grison combines the prettiness and exactness of the German part of Switzerland with the craziness of the Italian part of the country.

I got a bit trigger happy with the camera as we walked around the town with its many entertaining and charming building facades. Can you blame me?

©MRandin©MRandin©MRandin

©MRandin

Spend the night in a haunted hotel. Check.

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M. made me walk through the forest at 11:00pm to take this picture. The things we do for this blog… (©MRandin)

And now for something completely different…

A few weekends ago M. and I were part of a small group that headed over to Val Sinestra in the Swiss canton of Grison to spend a night in a haunted hotel. I’m all for trying new things and places. But the possibility of coming face-to-face with a ghost, however friendly, has never scored high on my bucket list. Continue reading →

The 500 ‘likes’ challenge and the “End Polio Now” campaign!

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In 2000 my life took a couple of interesting turns.

The first happened when I received a phone call from the selection committee for the Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship. The scholarship allowed me to study for a one year Master’s degree at a university of my choice, anywhere in the world. A few months later I received an acceptance letter from Lancaster University to read for a Masters in International Relations and Strategic Studies for the 2001 – 2002 academic year.

And what a year it was!

I started the course a few weeks after the 11 September attacks in New York. In academic terms this monumental event changed the course of international relations history. Everyone was still coming to terms with what it meant and the future looked anything but bright. The scholarship gave me the possibility to hear, first hand, the thoughts of some of the leading analysts in the field.

I also got to know some incredible Rotarians both in Canada and the UK through the scholarship. At university my path crossed the paths of many people who I would have never met without Rotary.

The Ambassadorial Scholarship is only one of Rotary’s many initiatives to help individuals around the world.

Another is the End Polio Now campaign, which supports polio immunization in developing countries. Polio is a disease that continues to infect and paralyze children. India is one of the countries affected by the virus and which the campaign helps

The Chickstravelflicks 500 ’likes’ challenge is intended to benefit this Rotary initiative.

Please help me get to 500 ‘likes’ on the Chickstravelflicks Facebook page before the end of 2010. When I do, I will donate CDN$100 to the Rotary Foundation’s End Polio Now campaign.

Rotary is an international movement. Travel, as a means of promoting cross cultural understanding, features prominently in its many programmes. So it seems only natural that I use this travel blog as a platform to help a foundation, cause and country that are important to me.

If you are reading this and would like to lend your support please:

Click here and show me how much you “like” Chickstravelflicks!
Encourage your friends to show their support either through your Facebook account, by Twitter or email.

P.S. If you’re wondering about the second interesting turn in my life – the year 2000 was the first time I met M.!