Raquel on Route

24/12/2023

I just love and trust this site but they are going to charge membeship starting in January. Its still free till the end of the month and you will have it free for the year of 2024. You guys know me i travel alot! Enjoy this link.

The very best hand-picked travel and entertainment deals.

10/10/2016

https://www.facebook.com/cneistat/videos/1064700470234613/

15/08/2016

Going to learn to salsa dance tonight, at a bar with a giant Charlie Chaplin painting outside!! Been on a drinking tour, 3 different bars 3 very different drinks, tried a beer at 4th bar and passed!!!

28/05/2016

http://lifehacker.com/top-10-last-minute-travel-tricks-for-a-great-getaway-1778523891?utm_campaign=socialflow_lifehacker_twitter&utm_source=lifehacker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

There’s something to be said for meticulously planning a vacation escape, picking the right place, the right time, and then going for it. There’s something else for just getting out of dodge after a long, awful week. Here are some tricks to make the latter as luxurious as possible.

28/05/2016

At the most important game in Toronto!! Let's go Raptors!!!

15/05/2016

C'mon Raptors!

11/04/2016

Country 86! Kenya and Giraffe Manor! WOW! I'm off today for a 12 day safari, I will be totally unplugged!!!

15/03/2016

These are from Choco museo in Antigua, Guatemala

15/03/2016

Guatemala is Country 85!! Cooking chocolate from scratch. I even roasted cocoa beans and peeled them, It was soooooo much fun!

10/03/2016

Check out Nicaragua-84 countries and counting!

19/02/2016

23/10/2015

BALI ZOO!!

01/10/2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/wow-air-launches-99-flights-from-canada-to-iceland-149-to-europe-1.3251746

Discount airline WOW Air has unveiled a plan to fly from Montreal or Toronto to Iceland for $99 one way and travel to numerous destinations in Europe for $149.

11/09/2015

Draco Malfoy not at all. The genuinely nice Tom Felton

10/09/2015

Fan Expo

01/09/2015

Let's go Blue Jays!!!!

31/08/2015

31/08/2015

ICELAND SO EXPENSIVE!!

I loved Iceland but wow is it expensive to buy anything there especially food. They have very little of their own resources and import everything else. They eat all their possible resources such as whale and puffins!
Yes more expensive then the British pound and the Australian dollar. They do have nice reasonably priced hotels and great tours all very good prices. Just can’t buy anything. I even flew there last minute on the cheap! The airport shops are actually cheaper than the rest of Iceland I do not know why, don’t ask!
The weather in July was amazing, hot somewhere cold somewhere else. The sky was surreal and the landscaping too. Shocking to be outside at 11pm and it’s not dark???? The especially fit persons will love Iceland so much outdoor adventure tours that really push your limits! I’m not one of those persons, I like walking and riding, not climbing trekking and camping or any other outdoor extremes activities of the likes of the great outdoorsy persons. But Iceland is really that the great outdoors! Enjoy! I did!

23/08/2015

Bon Jovi!!! Front row!!!!

23/08/2015

08/07/2015

Tunisia and Algeria……not.

100 countries before I turn 50. I wanted to see many diverse countries, not just the usual tourist spots. But with Tunisia’s situation it was deemed best I don’t go as planned there. I’ll try another time. This world is so amazing I can’t believe we don’t all live peacefully, it’s sad, really.
This trip for July is now England, Sweden, Malta and Sicily. Adding two more countries to my list is awesome! Presently in Stockholm Sweden it is ridiculously wet outside now!
Rain can really ruin a day. Heading out to see the Royal Palace of 600 rooms then the largest photography museum in Europe? That will keep me indoors for sure! Oh and the Hard Rock Café for my pin of course. I think I have 45-50 different cities now, call me a true pinhead now?
Sweden: most people speak English well, hotels everywhere and ton of waterways like Venice, Miami, Paris etc. Easy transportation from airport to Stockholm, clean and so many restaurants to choose from they even have several 2 Michelin star restaurants to check out! After my nonsuccess of finding a date in Paris for a 1 star restaurant ill pass trying that again. Making my peace with eating alone!
Slept in till noon! I guess I’m not quite in the time zone yet, I usually adjust in my first three days in London but I guess not, getting harder to change my zones with age??? NO WAY!!!!

18/05/2015

COLOMBIA not Columbia

That’s their logo everywhere.
I have no idea what people are talking about. I loved it In Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena, Colombia. I felt safe and saw some amazing sites. My whole family and most of my friends fretted about my visit here. I followed some basic rules, no watch no camera and no night life. I had a guide in each city to show me the areas and sites.
I will say this very few people speak English. Also if I ask if they speak English they carry on in Spanish, they know I don’t understand them, but they keep trying in Spanish to help me. They are friendly people, happy to help but they don’t speak English. Even the menus are all in Spanish, in touristy areas I’m used to being able to ask for English menus, nope. A bit of a culture shock sure, but it was kinda cool too that they don’t bend to the normal thing lol. Hotel staff too, very little English. But I survived and loved it. I would highly recommend this country for a vacation to anyone interested in the off the normal vacation, and especially if you know Spanish it would be great fun!
I did go out at night in Cartagena, carried very little on me and in my purse, but on a Saturday night the whole city comes to life, Colombians love to dance and mingle about. People were every where on the streets, some were drinking but I didn’t get the drunken feel like I did on a Saturday night in Amsterdam, it was just happy to be out on a Saturday night enjoying the music played everywhere!

15/05/2015

On my way to Cartagena. See you soon.

04/05/2015

May 6th Date in Paris, France NEEDED!!!
Posted an article last week in need of a Dutch date for a very fancy restaurant in Paris. No response, makes me realize my blog isn’t reaching out like I had hoped. Tell me what I need to do to get this blog more interesting?
I’ve now done on this trip, two, 1 Michelin star restaurants on my own as they allow for single person to eat there. The food was amazing!!! Dreamy heavenly like! In Amsterdam it was fish to die for! In London it was the black truffle Risotto that made you feel like you have never eaten right in your life!! Albeit sooo expensive it was well worth eating this well a few times in your life!
Still no takers for Paris??? Guess ill fumble my way in and see what happens. I can’t believe they would kick out a single person? Maybe I should say I’m writing a review for the blog?? Anyways I’m hopeful.

01/05/2015

Amsterdam’ Kings Day!

With the amount of travelling I do I almost always miss an event in the town I’m in by a day or two that I wished I had planned for. I try to look up festivals and events before booking my trips but its a near perfect science to make it work perfectly, mostly the flights are just cheaper on the wrong days hotels costs go up on events days etc. Finally though I managed to get to Amsterdam on Kings Day. I even had a friend fly in for the day and go with me.
This is the king’s birthday, everyone wears something orange or as much orange as they want. People sell there stuff from their homes like a giant garage sale, everywhere. There are shows and street festivals. This I had to see!
Even the day before people were setting up at the major street corners. Everywhere store was selling their orange anything on sale, wigs to hats to ties and shoes and t-shirts of course.
The night before the event people do a massive drinking on the streets and general partying about. Which I did not partake in as
1. I didn’t know.
2. I don’t really drink like that, or alone.
3. I’m just trying to adjust to the time difference as I just arrived.
The day of, there are booths everywhere selling everything like a flea market except a large amount is orange. I’ve dressed up in as much Orange as I can even an orange wig. People have continued drinking from the night before or have started the morning of, it’s permissible everywhere on the streets. Many areas have stages for crazy bands and the likes. It is very loud starting at 10 am until 4am. I walked everywhere looked at all the little markets, all the main stores were closed it is a banking holiday. The floors/grounds everywhere were completely littered with party paraphernalia and drinking paraphernalia broken bottles galore!
People were happy and jovial all over, even the people selling/working the day of seemed insanely happy. Finally I got to be at an event in another country on time!

06/04/2015

Preseason Jays at the Big "O" in Montreal

06/04/2015

Finally we are in our new headquarters in Toronto. Yonge Street never looked so good!

01/04/2015

BELIZE and HONDURAS….. 64….65 COUNTRIES!!!

35 countries to go!! If I spent about $1200-$1500 per 3 countries, which is a high estimate then I’m doomed to spend at least $17,000 to just get to my 100 countries!! I don’t travel budget like Matt does www.nomadicmatt.com or use points only like www.pointsguy.com. Plus now I want to travel with friends or family, no more travelling alone. Great that will cut some costs some ways but increase costs other ways.
Group Travel. I’ve come across this idea a few times. I’ve done some group travels and I’ve enjoyed some and not liked others. Now I would like to start my own tours and invite people to travel with me. Start with small groups of maybe 4-6 people? Work my way up to about an 8-10 people. I’m not a licensed guide and or a travel agent. I know a lot more then both of those in some cases and less then a lot of them. Plus top it off with the fact I only want to travel to countries I’ve never been to until I hit 100!
Ok so here goes, anyone want to visit some safe African countries? Or go to South America? Do a concert tour and follow a band around? Like Madonna, or Def Leppard or even Rick Springfield in Europe? I’ve no idea? Any suggestions? Looking to go anywhere in JUNE, August or Ocotber? Most tours can start from NYC as its cheap place to fly out of. Maybe London UK? Contact me at [email protected]

Thanks for reading!

Hope. Fear. Excitement. Traveling for the first time provided me with wave of conflicting emotions. When I left to travel the world, I didn’t know what to expect.…

26/02/2015

Signed by Mt. Everest Climbers in Nepal