Retiree Road Trip

Last time, I lived on a boat and now I am homeless again, but most of the time I stay at other people's homes.
This is what it looks like when I write a blog and ask poor waitresses to take a photo of me:

I wrote the last blog post in Quebec City. Quebec City is the capital of the state of Quebec and basically like Bavaria. No one can understand the language and they would prefer to declare independence from Canada, but unfortunately they are almost in the middle. So at the end of June, I stayed there for a few days and Quebec City was actually the place I liked the least so far. I have been told here several times that Canada only has 2 seasons: winter and construction work. You could clearly see that in Quebec City. There were construction sites everywhere, the city is completely congested with traffic, and there are a few small cute alleys, but they are filled with tourists.

My experience was clouded by getting an unpleasant cough when I was there, and everything only got better when I was no longer in Quebec City. Since July 1st is 'Canada Day' and there are parades and festivities in every major city, I was advised not to spend July 1st in Quebec. No one here celebrates Canada Day because the French Canadians somehow don't want to be part of Canada. To ensure that no one in Quebec gets the idea to celebrate 'Canada Day', most rental agreements here end on July 1st and everyone has to move and doesn't have time to be patriotic. The same goes for the Couchsurfer I stayed with. So on June 29th at 11:55 pm, I took the bus to Halifax and arrived there on June 30th at 5:30 pm. The 17-hour bus ride was really great. Especially the stop in Rivière-du-Loup at 2 am was awesome. We had to wait there in a neon-lit hall for the next bus, which was supposed to arrive at 4:30 am. The older Lebanese woman next to me didn't find it very nice. Since she was cold, I gave her my jacket and in return, she showed me photos of her 10 grandchildren :) Because I always have so much luck with bus rides, after sitting there for 10 minutes, a man with a drum came into the room and started having conversations with himself in French and accompanying them with his drum. I would have liked to insult him loudly, but I didn't want to upset the Lebanese grandmother. Those were very exhausting 2 hours...

Arriving in Halifax, I was picked up by my Couchsurfer Chris - in his Japanese car with the steering wheel on the wrong side. He said it's popular with women. But while we were driving around, only old men talked to him about it :D Chris then took me to his parents' 40th wedding anniversary and only told me about it on the way there. Since I looked like I had just been beaten up after the bus ride and was wearing my pajamas, he kindly stopped at a gas station so I could change clothes.

The next day, we went hiking near Elmsdale and to the delight of my father, we found orchids.

Chris, the epitome of joyfulness. In his Couchsurfing reference for me, he writes: 'Just beware she might request you to become a nourishment program for blood-sucking insects on a hiking trip..lol..'

We were also here:

In the evening, there was a 'Canada Day Party' at his sister's place with all the people I had already met the day before at the barbecue. The party was great! There was a pool, a lot of weed was smoked, there was a fireworks display, and when everyone started talking about their job at Halifax Airport, I went to bed. Halifax Airport is the major employer in the region, and there were several mechanics, air traffic controllers, and service personnel at the party. So I was kind of at a smaller company party :D

The next day, Chris drove me to Truro. Before I got back on the bus, we went to Victoria Park in Truro. One of the most beautiful parks I have seen in Canada so far. We sweated a lot and the mosquitoes are not my friends.

Then I took the bus to Sydney. Yes, the Europeans were really not the most creative in naming places. I was picked up at the bus stop by Brenda, the owner of 'Brenda's Place'. Brenda calls it a hostel, but she actually has 2 rooms in her house with several beds. But that's actually good because there are hardly any other hostels in Cape Breton and everything is very expensive. Brenda is a lovely older woman with an eccentric cat who likes to watch fortune tellers on Youtube.

Brenda has character and I have grown to love her very much. In Brenda's hostel, Greg also stayed overnight and we quickly realized that we have roughly the same travel route, except that I don't have a car and Greg has no emotions :D His enthusiasm for fantastic views like this:

was simply: Yes, nice.
Together with Greg, I drove along the Cabot Trail and the landscape reminded me a bit of the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand. Lots of hills and then the Atlantic :) We also visited Louisburg and visited one of the oldest castle complexes in Canada. The actors there who were supposed to play the people from the 17th century were more or less in their roles. In some houses, we were greeted kindly and questions about the history of the house and its former inhabitants were answered, and in other houses, we felt like we had just walked uninvited into someone's kitchen 😶.

Yes, this is a church and yes, this guy owns the church. The hostel has only been around for a year and Bryson financed it with beer. He traveled around with his bus for several years to promote downhill skateboarding and was usually the moderator at these events as well. The downhill skateboarding community also financed this hostel, which will soon also have a museum about downhill skateboarding in the church tower. I write downhill skateboarding so often because I still don't believe the story, and because Bryson also has the nicest girlfriend in the world and 2 little children who all live in the church.
Now comes the part that vegetarian eaters should skip. I ate the animal that people here in Cape Breton make their living from:

We also went hiking and unfortunately didn't see any larger animals, even though we found bear droppings. Otherwise, we were like a married couple in their late 60s. Greg drove and had a huge camera with him because he is a sports journalist, and I always made sure we had sunscreen. When I got granola bars for us at the visitor center and said to Greg at the checkout that he likes peanut butter, the cashier said, 'Aww, she knows you.' Greg and I are getting a divorce now. I don't even know Greg's last name :D

After the hike, we watched whales. We mainly saw pilot whales and a few seal heads popping out of the water from time to time. On the return journey, I fell asleep sitting on the boat. Greg is very impressed with my ability to fall asleep anywhere, especially since he himself has sleep disorders.

There's also a video of the whales :)

Right now, I'm on Prince Edward Island and staying with Dale, a Couchsurfer in Charlottetown. It's so suburban here, the only sounds are lawnmowers and children playing. I wouldn't last long here. I mainly explored the eastern part of Prince Edward Island with Dale, and since Dale knows a lot about his chosen home, I saw a lot. Prince Edward Island is so safe and everyone is so nice that I'm almost surprised that no one has gone crazy in this retiree paradise. There are souvenir shops everywhere, the entire coast is lined with cottages, and if you want, you can drive past potato fields for hours. I recommend Prince Edward Island to chronically stressed people and optimists ;) The secret star of our trip was Lou, the dog. Everyone wanted to pet the dog, and there was always squealing when we got out somewhere. Dale is solid. He has a house, a car, a dog, an ex-wife, a cuckoo clock from his grandmother from the Black Forest, and he likes to have a beer in the evening :)

On Monday, I will make my way towards Matane on the St. Lawrence River. There I will spend the next 2 weeks with a French family and probably not understand anything. To get there, I will travel through the province of New Brunswick, which has nothing to offer and is lovingly called 'No Funswick' ;)

That's it again

See you soon

Lea :)

*Bonus material*