清水寺
Kiyomizudera Kyoto

Since coming back from Canada in January, I've spent more weekends on the road than not. After my first week of work, I caught the night bus to Kansai to indulge in aimless wandering, market finds and Kobe beef.


A few weeks later, I was back on the road, this time with Greg by my side. We went to Kanagawa prefecture on what was probably the most indulgent three day holiday of my life - waiting 2 hours for a seat at Bill Granger's restaurant in Shichirigama for his famous ricotta pancakes, Indian curry feasts, pizza lunches in Yokohama's Red Brick Warehouse district. Somehow the only Japanese thing we consumed was beer. We also fulfilled my lifelong dream of riding the Cosmo Clock ferris wheel in Yokohama, which is both the world's largest clock and the most terrifying experience I've ever put myself through.

K's House Onsen,  Ito

The next week, a group of us went to our favourite guest house in Ito, Shizuoka prefecture, for a lazy onsen weekend. We used some light drizzle on Saturday as an excuse to stay in our yukatas all weekend, drifting back and forth between our oversized kotatsu and the guesthouse's own hot spring bath. 

高麗
Koma

Considering how quickly our schedules fill up, with weekends away and day trips to see our friends, it's rare that I get the chance to stop and appreciate where I live and work. I took my camera on a bike ride to work yesterday. I live in the suburbs of Hidaka - a neighbourhood of apartment complexes, houses and supermarkets - but there is a clear divide on my way to work between suburban Hidaka and the inaka (countryside) called Koma. It's rustic and unkempt, and that's what I find so beautiful about it - the tall grass, burning fields, overgrown trees and seemingly abandoned houses. You can now see all of my photos on my brand new Flickr page! www.flickr.com/chloe_rew

Vacation Staycation .

With two years having passed since my last White Christmas, I was looking for a really Canadian winter holiday. I’ve been watching my favourite movie on loop a lot lately: One Week, starring Joshua Jackson (of Dawson’s Creek fame). In a moment of existential crisis, Jackson’s character Ben Tyler buys a motorcycle and rides from Toronto to Tofino, BC, on an apparent quest for a mythical creature from his childhood (but actually, in search of answers to life's deeper questions.) Inspired by Ben’s impulsiveness and a nostalgia-inducing Canadian soundtrack, I wanted to do the same.

With only 2 weeks of holiday from work, driving across the entire country was unrealistic, so I settled for a flight to Calgary and a rental car to take me from Banff to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway — only one of the most scenic drives on Earth (according to National Geographic). I wanted to see a part of Canada that I didn’t know, wander the mountains, spy on caribou and (watch other people) ski.

SKATING ON THE RED RIVER

But the days ticked by in Winnipeg, and she just drew me in, just like she does. I wanted to go skating, and walking around the park. Hanging out with my friends watching documentaries on Netflix grew more appealing than wandering the mountains on my own, and quite frankly, I was compromising parts 2 to 4 of the coupon tour.

By midnight on the 29th, I was on the phone with Air Canada, trying to explain why someone would voluntarily check-in online for their flight, then in the middle of the night — 5 hours before departure — call in to cancel. Thankfully “I changed my mind” was an acceptable answer.

And that was that. Flight cancelled, hostels unbooked, car unrented. Without leaving the 10-km-radius comfort zone that surrounds my house, I had my true Canadian winter, and the fact that the only wildlife I saw was ornamental actually doesn’t upset me at all. 

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING AT THE ASSINIBOINE PARK

My two weeks were spent getting Christmasy with the fam; sipping spiked eggnog by an overzealous radiator with old friends, reminiscing about Mexican supermarket excursions and past lives in France. Bundling up in my full body parka and heading to the golf course for a cross-country ski around the green (white?); walking through the park in -35˚, freezing to the point of physical confusion, arriving at my café destination and removing as many items of clothing as is socially acceptable — a mere step away from the hypothermic who gets completely naked before inevitably moving on to the next life.

And that’s what winter’s all about, guys! I didn’t need to go to Banff to feel a “real” Canadian winter. I mean, let’s get serious, at -35˚, how much more real can it get?