The Yacht Rona

The Yacht Rona
Rona

Friday 16 September 2011

Day 47–Scotland

I do not wish to be on the computer all that much on vacation, so stay tuned for our updates when we return

- Michelle

Thursday 15 September 2011

Day 46–Zero Days!! Naught! Nothing!! 0! Bubka!

Now we are counting down the hours, not days. So excited! Canada must know we are leaving for a cooler country today because we woke up to a frigid 7 degrees! That is so much cooler than the normal 20+ temps we have been experiencing for the past few weeks, and sometimes even much, much warmer. We are all packed and thanks to both of our forward thinking and applying all the lessons we learned from last year, we are enjoying a very relaxing few hours before the trip. Last year at this time we were racing around getting a million last minute things which is really a ridiculous way to start a vacation. It almost makes me think that I have forgotten something but I am pretty sure that I got everything covered.

One of the cool things about this trip is that we are leaving on the exact same day at the exact same time as we did last year! We left for Scotland on the 15th of September at 7:30 PM. I am even wearing the same “Grumpy” shirt as I did last year! (For those who read my previous post, yes I decided to go with the Grumpy shirt) Today, the 15th of September, we are leaving at 7:30 tonight.

To our new Friends Kevin and Brenda Thank you!! Thank you for putting up with our little zoo at home while we are gone. We must repay you my letting you have a couple of cats when we get home. Honestly, it would be our pleasure! Smile

So, our next post we will be in…..

2746 - Welcome to Scotland

2747 - Welcome to Scotland

- Will

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Day 45–One day until takeoff

  • Bags packed – check!
  • Apartment cleaned – check!
  • Pets looked after – check!
  • Airport limo booked – check!
  • Boarding passes printed – check!

2655 - In the Air

Next time you hear from me I will be in Biggleswade, England!

- Michelle

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Day 44–two days until we fly!

There are really so many fantastic things to do, see, and experience in Toronto and all of Canada for that matter and so many of these things are lost on the very people who live in them! I am no exception to this I’m afraid. It is sad really. I’m not sure what the reason for this is but perhaps its that, for example, the CN Tower is right beside us (we can see it outside our window), the Skydome (sorry, ROGERS centre) is just beside the CN Tower, Centre Island is just a short ferry ride across the lake, and countless more events and other attractions that draw people from all over the world; Toronto is a world class leader in tourist attractions and it is well deserved. And Canada? My God what a country! We are home to some of the greatest mountains, lakes, parks, and farmland. My inability to name hardly any of Toronto’s and Canada’s awesomeness makes me a little ashamed to be a Torontonian and only aids my point. Yet I find a little consolation in the fact that I know I am not alone in this. This city is filled with people who don’t even appreciate the place they live in. I also think Toronto is not alone in this; my guess is the world is filled with cities, towns, and places in general that are not fully appreciated by their own people. Who knows why? Perhaps its local marketing targeting only those who don’t live in a particular area or perhaps its the attitudes of the locals who assume they will visit any time they like as they do live so close and then, as a result, never ever do visit. Or perhaps its because it cost over $100 to go up the bloody CN Tower!!

One of my own personal piss-offs of a massive city like Toronto is how impersonal names that are given places and streets can be. Many streets are named as numbers!! More so in the States than here but are you kidding?!?! Has someone become so complacent in their job that they have deferred to a calculator rather than a dictionary when naming streets? Corporations have now gotten involved too. The once aptly-named Skydome is now blandly called the The Rogers Centre! This stuff drives me nuts. There was a proposition a few years ago to help our money strapped subway system by renaming the stations after fortune 500 corporations. I just can’t get on board (pun INtended) with a station called Coke!

So what brought this little rant about? What on earth does this have to do with moving to Shetland??

Well, for one, I’ll will put money down that after we move I will be itching to go up the CN Tower!

One of our first stops is to my Uncle’s. I am really excited because I don’t get to see him much and I have only met his wife and two kids once and very briefly. Michelle and I get to finally see where they live. And where do they live I hear you asking? Biggleswade. BIGGLESWADE!! It sounds like a place in which a Hobbit would live. If there were a town called Biggleswade here, it would be converted to Rogersville in a heartbeat! Ok, perhaps I exaggerate just a little and if anyone thinks even a little that this actually plays into any part of any one of my hundreds of reasons why I want to move to Scotland, I will call you Rogers. And believe me that is as bad a swear word where I come from (my apologies to anyone out there named Roger). To be clear, Biggleswade is in England not Scotland, but the entire UK is filled with cute little places with similarly cute names.

This blog was brought to you by Rogers; sucking the originality out of the world one name at a time.

- Will

Monday 12 September 2011

Day 43–London

I am sure London is a place that we will visit a couple times when living in Scotland but for right now it is so exciting to me knowing I get to go there for a day next week!! We will actually be staying with family outside of London for a couple days but we will spend one day in the heart of the city doing the touristy kind of things. Cameras and a map in hand we would really like to see these places..

Buckingham Palace (yes, I even hope to see the furry hat men! I was so disappointed to not see them last year at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh)

Westminster Abbey

London Bridge

Trafalgar Square

Big Ben

The London Eye

And finally, I would LOVE to find Abbey Road…

Stay tuned until next week to see how many of these we get to see and our first hand pictures! Smile

- Michelle

Sunday 11 September 2011

Day 42–four Days until we fly!!

And there is a small part of me that is a tad nervous. Today marks the tenth year anniversary of the twin towers attack in New York and we fly in four days! The actual event ten years ago has been permanently turned into one of those “Where were you when…” stories and I have heard some interesting ones. Although the story of where I was when it all went down (poor choice of words I suppose) isn’t all that interesting (waking up and making coffee in my apartment), where I was six hours before I think was; I was on a plane coming back from Cuba. I could still smell the recirculated air and I still had the taste of cheap airline food in my mouth when I turned on the TV to those horrific images. Very surreal.

Security is probably going to be the most fun at the airport. I am sure its going to be a little tighter than it was even last year. I was stunned when Michelle and I went through security and the man in front of us was allowed to go through with climbing equipment in his carry-on which included spikes and a pick-axe! And here I was worried about my good pen thinking that they might construe it as a weapon! We plan on being at the airport 3 1/2 to 4 hours early just to be sure. I am going to assume that security will be slow.

Michelle in Pearson

Smiling at Pearson

Will and Michelle at Pearson

2615 - Will and Michelle waiting to board

That will be us in a couple of days, off to see our new future home. I think I may wear my grumpy shirt again. Or maybe not. Oh, I don’t know. You will just have to wait and see. The excitement of it all.

- Will

Saturday 10 September 2011

Day 41–It’s my birthday!

Just wanted to start by saying that I am excited it is my birthday! The big 2-4! We are just having a relaxing day at home after going for a delicious breakfast. We are going to save the celebrations and fun for my birthday until we get to Scotland.

We I am sure will have a couple nights out at the pub, The Lounge, in Lerwick but my favourite nights for sure are the nights drinking and having a great time on Rona. The taxi drivers that would be lined up on the Victoria Pier every morning would get a good chuckle at our expense every single morning. As Will would carry the empty bottles of wine and scotch up to the skips to recycle, he would be greeted with smiles, probably wondering how so much alcohol was consumed each night for about a week and a half straight. What no one knows it the amazing memories that those nights created.

From the reminiscing between Will and his father about Will’s childhood, to the funny times that they again two nights later reminisced about the exact same things. Even just the good laughs we had and the talks of getting to know each other that we found out just how much Becky and I have in common! Each night was crazy and different and usually involved a lot of eating also.

At the end of our time on Rona, Jim and Becky happily let us know that we were the longest staying guests on Rona. Let’s hope this year is just as much and more fun and that we make a lot more memories.

- Michelle

Friday 9 September 2011

Day 40–Six Days!!!

Ya, I am really surprised that Michelle did not get sea sick on the ferry ride up to Lerwick. Apparently on the calmest of days it can still be a little rocky and to make things even funner (real word – look it up) we were stationed at the bow (front for those land lubbers out there and that pretty much exhausts my nautical vocabulary) where the bobbing of the ship is felt the most by those she carries. And that was where Michelle was sleeping when the Hrossey (the name of the ferry) hit a particularly forceful wave that rocked the ship so much, it quite literally fell so fast that Michelle was left up above the floor for a moment or two before gravity took over and shocked her awake when she rudely reconnected with the thinly carpeted floor. I know Michelle already talked about this in the last post, but I thought that it was worth another mention.

In this video, you might be able to hear a few rumbles. Well, in reality, they were waves crashing against the ship so hard that the entire structure shook and vibrated. It was like a crazy-ass roller coaster ride at Canada’s Wonderland that just wouldn’t stop!

In just over a week, we will be on it again. Cross your fingers that another storm comes our way!! Smile

 

This was a SMALL taste of what what the waves were like going from Aberdeen to Lerwick

- Will

Thursday 8 September 2011

Day 39–SEVEN DAYS!!!

ONE WEEK LEFT!!!

I am sure this has come up already from one of us but last year was a big test as to how I could handle boats and if I got seasickness. I had only ever been on boats at the cottage, in small contained waters.  Not at all something to write home about. So last year was the true test for me and of course in true Will and Michelle style it was anything but ordinary!

The day we landed in Glasgow we took a train to Aberdeen and from the train station made our way to the Northlink Ferry terminal in town to check-in. Upon arrival the terminal was very empty and we were informed at the front desk that there was a gale force storm out in the ocean and if either of us were not comfortable going out in this or had seasickness we could rebook another day for no fee. Well being the very broke and curious (maybe a little stupid mixed in there too) we checked into the ferry and considered it an adventure! (As a side note we are glad we didn’t postpone until the next day because that sailing was cancelled due to the condition of the seas!!) I have attached the picture of the cleaning log for the ship that Will took when we sailed back to Aberdeen a couple weeks later. Note that on the 16th it says "No sailing", real proof that it didn't sail the day after us!

So we got onboard, explored the amazing ship and had some dinner. Considering the excitement and amount of travel in the last day or so I curled up on the floor of the foot passenger room in my sleeping bag and fell into a deep sleep while Will enjoyed a couple pints in the lounge. I had no idea what this storm would entail when we were out at sea but a rude awakening showed me VERY quickly! I was woken up when I literally (and I mean, literally) was lifted off the ground and slammed back down. No Will was not drunk and trying to be funny! It was a wave! A little scared I went to find Will and it took holding onto walls and railings to not fall over as I walked. After talking for a couple minutes Will had a eureka moment, he exclaimed pretty loudly out of nowhere “WAIT! You don’t feel sick at all do you?!?!” From that point on, as the ship was crashing through 10 to 15 meter waves and no reaction from me other than excitement, we knew I could handle being on a boat!
It was one of the most amazing, alive feelings to be in a storm like this and walk around the boat having to hold onto railings to keep upright!





Once we arrived in Lerwick I was so excited to get on Rona and go out for a sail now that I knew I could handle it. Smile So here is my happy self doing what I am pretty sure was one of the most fun and amazing experiences I have ever had.



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So as much as I am obviously looking forward to going to England for a couple days when we land, I can’t wait to get back onto Rona and the Northlink Ferry one more time.
- Michelle

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Day 38–Eight Days!!

To follow suit with Michelle’s previous post, EIGHT DAYS until we take off. I have people telling me to “take off” all the time (or variations of that such as f*** off, that sort of thing), but this time its all for real. To say we are 'excited' is an unfair understatement and am running the huge risk of using the, in this case, massively euphemistic said word. Not only are we going back to see my father and his wife, we are going to check out new future home! THAT is exciting!!
I’m sure Michelle and I will highlight some of the things we did last year while we were there and while we are there we will talk about all the new adventures we will embark upon. Even though we are going to the same place at the same time of year and staying on the same yacht with the same people, we are probably going to have a completely different experience. To say the wedding wasn’t the highlight of our last trip would not only be a lie but would probably eject me from my marriage prematurely; and no one likes anything ejecting prematurely! But there were so many other amazing things that we did and that happened, the wedding was on the top of our ‘amazing’ list but not by much!
I think that two of the funniest things for me were completely unrelated incidences that I soon tried to connect in an attempt to deflect blame, but that ultimately failed miserably; apparently these family members of mine are just not a gullible as I had hoped.
Incident the first (Packing):
At the time of preparing for this trip nearly a year ago, I had overlook, misread, or simply scoffed at and disregarded a rather vital part of my father’s email to us. In this email he described the inside of the boat as big enough to support four people comfortably but as space is an important and valuable thing, he warned both Michelle and I that we should pack appropriately; pack only what we need keeping in mind the physical limitations of the boat. He assumed, and rightly so, that as I had been on his yacht a number of times in the past that this warning was not a necessary thing to issue to me but he thought that he should err on the side of caution and issue the warning anyway. I will use the excuse that we did have a wedding to pack for which does take up a fair amount of luggage space, but that really held no water whatsoever. As the saying goes, A picture says a thousand words, I will let the following explain my father’s reaction to our packing prowess:
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And I’m sorry to say that what you see above was not all our bags. Moving on…
And then of course I responded in a mature fashion:
3683 Meal Beach

Incident the second (Bob):
Michelle and I thought that we had travelled to Scotland alone. We took great pains to ensure that we had not feline stowaways in our bags. Our efforts inevitably failed us miserably but to my great delight I now had someone to, ahem, ‘pin’ (you should get the pun soon) the whole packing fiasco on. I went onto great lengths explaining how our packing a tad heavy was all Bob’s fault. I really didn’t think he would go for it but then! The unthinkable happened! One day, Michelle and I went our for one of our little strolls through Lerwick and we returned to a gory scene inside the boat. I don’t know how the pier wasn’t teeming with Bobbies (Bahahahah – no pun intended actually! Bobbies is the British slang word for police officer. Hee Hee, Bobbies investigating the death of….). Bob was brutally and horrifically murdered!! I am not sure what took his life, the hanging of the knife in the chest, but either way, Bob is no longer with us! *sigh*
R0028236
Ok, well Bob is really in fact fine, despite the obvious identity issues: Is he a bunny or a bear? My father still blames me for the horrendous packing but this time I shall show him that is young man is still able to learn!
This time we are armed with knapsacks!
Shall Bob return to the horrific crime scene?
Stay tuned!
Dun, dun, dun!
- Will

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Day 37–Nine days!!

Nine days from RIGHT NOW (7:30pm) we will be walking on a plane at Pearson International Airport. Nine days from now I will be probably crying out of excitement, while my Grandma warns me on the phone that red eyes look really bad going through security and that I need to breathe. Nine days from now I will be jumping up and down in excitement when I see our plane waiting at the gate. Nine days from now we will be going down the runway and take off into the gorgeous nighttime sky!

Ten days from now we will be in Scotland!

So many little odds and ends to patch up before we go away but the most important things are already taken care of. Just a couple things to pick up from the store in the next week. I remember back to when our countdown started at 186 days and can’t believe that we are now getting so close! I have a couple fears and many many exciting things to look forward to on this trip! We will spend a day in Cambridge, England, a day in London, England and then head back up to Shetland for two weeks. Many day trips will be had with Will’s dad and step mom, Becky. Hopefully we will get out for a sail or two on Rona! Maybe a nighttime anchor out somewhere gorgeous! (We were going to do this last year but the weather wasn’t right for it) We will also celebrate our one year wedding anniversary while up in Shetland! I can’t wait to revisit the cave that we got married in, may I add too that we are the only people ever to get married in that cave!

My one big nervous fear though is that we will be telling Will’s dad and Becky about moving. Neither of us have any clue how they will respond. We hope that Becky will be excited for us as she had an inkling last year that we were considering a move. Will is convinced his dad will be happy deep down and might at first show the strong, questioning, concerned dad side and make sure we are not making a rash decision. Either way I think I might feel really nauseous when this topic of conversation comes up!!

It all starts in NINE DAYS….

2746 - Welcome to Scotland

- Michelle

Monday 5 September 2011

Day 36–A forum for… um… me?

Ok, I have breached the wall of blogs and run at top speed into the wall of forums. I have no bloody clue what I am doing on the web (until this newly discovered world, I was convinced porn was the only thing of any real value!) and thought I would even better attempt to express my great and far-reaching ignorance by starting a forum, which I have now done. And amazingly I already have one member!! Yay! Granted its my wife, but still! YAY for me!!

I have a feeling I am Yaying alone here. 

Its a forum for those who are thinking about moving, who have moved, or are moved by movers to talk about their experiences. I think it’s a great idea but here’s my problem: no one in my life knows about this move my wife and I are going to do! The best starting place to get sign up for your forum are with your friends and family or through social outlets such as facebook. Well, how the hell am I supposed to do that when I don’t yet want my friends or family to know about it?!?! I am NOT going to waste my time as I have read so many other have done, by creating a whole bunch of fake usernames and start having fake conversations with themselves just to make it look like there is some exciting action on my forum! I look stupid enough when I argue with myself out loud, I might run the risk of looking even goofier doing it on a forum.

This in itself is an interesting topic I think as I’m sure there is a stage in everyone’s lives who make a decision to move abroad where no one in their lives really knows of their intended move. But I again ask, how does one get people to their forum when one cannot advertise to one’s friends or family? The answer might be very, very simple and that is I’m screwed. If so, so be it. Well, here’s one way, join my forum please! If there’s no one else there, talk to me! Or my wife. Or yourself like I sometimes do. 

- Will

Sunday 4 September 2011

Day 35–“isms”

With our upcoming trip back to Scotland in just over a week I thought I could use a refresher on “Brit-isms” so as not to embarass myself with any words that have different meaning over there.

Some of these I got a good laugh out of last year as I would use the “Canadian” word I am used to and it would result in a very confused look on the face of the Scottish person I was speaking to.

Let me see what I can remember…

1. “Pants” – contrary to what Canadians deem pants, if you travel to Scotland without learning their meaning to this word you WILL end up in a very embarassing conversation. Pants in Scotland means underwear.

2. “Trousers” – what Canadians call pants.

3. “Chips” – these are french fries in Scotland. Hence fish and chips!

4. “Crisps” – as a follow-up to chips, crisps are what Canadians know as potato chips. (Side story: We saw some Americans make total asses out of themselves by asking for chips at a little shop. What they really wanted was crisps and the one tourist made a comment “THEY call them crisps here not chips” in such a cold and bizarre tone that you would have thought the locals were test subjects in an experiment being discussed)

5. “Sweets” – this is candy. I went into the corner store and asked for candy and the shopkeeper had no clue what I was asking for.

6. “Toilet” – this is the word used for what we Canadians call the washroom. (Side story: I learned quickly on our trip last year to ask where the toilet was instead of asking for the washroom. Once on the ferry to Shetland I asked where the toilet was and the bartender looked at me a little funny and said “Oh, you mean the washroom?”. All I could do was say yes, shake my head and follow his directions to the toilet”)

I am sure I will face some more embarassing situations this coming year as I probably have forgotten some words. As long as I remember the difference between pants and trousers I should be just fine though!

- Michelle

Saturday 3 September 2011

Day 34–Holidays??

Please forgive me for a little rant….
I don’t mean vacation holidays, I mean holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, etc. Even before our lovely government deemed it necessary to force businesses to open on Sundays back in the early 90s, all us Canadians could always look forward to such inevitable and much anticipated days off such as those mentioned above. Even other holidays that are much more specific to Canada such as Labour Day (which is in two days), or even specific to Ontario such as Family Day are so very special to everyone here. I think holidays such as these are vital to a country that houses people who carry two, even three jobs to make their ends meet. Its sad that we are in a world where we live to work. Ass-backwards if you ask me and I am just as guilty of it as so many others are.
Well to make things even worse, Toronto has allocated certain areas of the city as “Tourist Areas”. These designated areas have to stay open on all holidays, no matter which one. Yup, that means Christmas, New Years and even the newly created Family Day in February! What is the logic in creating a day off called “Family Day”, intended for all of us to, you guessed it, spend with our family, and then make it mandatory to work it in certain areas of the city? I personally am not affected yet, but in my opinion it is only a matter of time before these “Tourist areas” spread and as the population becomes numb to the concept of working on holidays, everyone will have to do it. It may take five years, it may take fifty. I can see where this is going and I simply don’t want to  be there when it gets there.
And then there is Lerwick which pretty much rolls up the sidewalk at 5:00 or 6:00 PM each evening and is a quite little community of people enjoying each other and the day each and every Sunday. Its not to say people don’t work on Sunday, but the attitude about it seems so much more relaxed.
If you are interested, here is a list of Canadian Holidays:
Canada

Here is a list of holidays in Britain:
Scotland

- Ready to enjoy my Labour Day off…..for now, Will

Friday 2 September 2011

Day 33 - Averages

So today is September 2nd and in Mississauga, Ontario it was 32 degrees Celsius, with humidity it felt like 40!! To say that is way too hot for this time of year (or any time of year) would be an understatement. We are beyond tired of it and so in a moment of curiosity I decided to look up the average temperature in Lerwick compared to Toronto.

This is what I found for Lerwick:
- Jan: 3.3 C
- Feb: 3.2 C
- Mar: 4.0 C
- Apr: 5.3 C
- May: 7.6 C
- Jun: 10.0 C
- Jul: 11.7 C
- Aug: 11.9 C
- Sept: 10.4 C
- Oct: 8.3 C
- Nov: 5.7 C
- Dec: 4.3 C

Toronto:
- Jan: -6.4 C
- Feb: -5.6 C
- Mar: -0.8 C
- Apr: 6.3 C
- May: 12.3 C
- Jun: 17.6 C
- Jul: 20.7 C
- Aug: 19.7 C
- Sept: 15.4 C
- Oct: 9.1 C
- Nov: 3.2 C
- Dec: -3.3 C

So with all these averages I can tell that obviously I won't get the hot hot days that sometimes in Toronto we crave when having a deeply cold winter, however in Lerwick we won't get those icy cold winters that will have us craving the heat so much. Lerwick never seems to dip below the freezing mark as they are located on the ocean. Toronto on the other hand goes from very low temperatures under freezing to extreme highs in which heat alerts have to be issued.

Now my question. I know which of the two I prefer, which place would you like better based on temperature??

- Michelle

Thursday 1 September 2011

Day 32–Two can play this game…

For those of you who know me, I may surprise you by trying my fingers at a rather silly post; much to the objection of my own personal character traits.

Ok, so Michelle wants to lay claim to my yacht?! HA! As the title of this blog not only expects but DEMANDS, two can play this game!

If I might be allowed for a moment to refer to one of her posts dating back to the 27th of September we will be reminded of her claim to the achoos! Yes, as her title suggests, she was achooing (and still is for that matter) incessantly and her claim to the ragweed allergy is but unfair and untrue. Who is she to stake command of such an ailment when there are others just as deserving? 

And who might else might be deserving of this, you ask? Why, me of course! ME! There are others in this world who might want what you hold so close especially the other who is supposed to be significant. But NO, hold onto that precious achoo and let no one who might wish to try get any closer than the postings of these blogs!

And what do they say (whoever they might be)? Be careful what you wish for? Well perhaps my beloved heard my silent objections to her post (as most men’s wives tend to have the ability to do). I awoke one morning to an odd sensation ticking the innards of my nasal passages. A tightening effect within the same area made breathing a little more difficult. I rose from my bed and before I could lay feet to the floor, I let out a violent achoo of my very own. For the briefest of moments, I was elated as I had stolen the very element of that which my wife had bragged about not long ago.

And then my heart sank as I realized what had descended upon me. I was infected with the very same achoos!

I might also add my objection to her infecting me with the allergy condition as up until last year, I was immune and no other reasonable conclusion can be drawn! Perhaps kissing on the cheek in the future will have to suffice as I fear for what other conditions might be passed my way. The incessant-babbling, shoe-and-purse-talk, furry-leg-obsession, and so may others that I cannot even begin to dream of and yet I fear them all! I fear for my future, people.

If my achoos take me because of the infection that my wife has passed onto me, I hope these last words allow warning to those other men out there who have wives who try to STEAL THEIR BLOODY YACHT!

Ha, I’m sure I put my wife in her place. Let no repercussions come from this post!

- A dead man typing, Will