Planted paradise and took away a parking spot?

I discovered this "article" some time last year, and just re-discovered it today in my "favourites"!
I think it is really, really interesting and pretty inspiring.
I am trying to live a greener lifestyle (I can admit to absolute failure so far) BUT I am determined to get there and continue to make little changes in my life (which will eventually turn into big changes)!

Here is the link: www.frankejames.com/debate/?p=98

Hopefully you will enjoy it too!

Happy trails & travels,
-- Becky <3

Go find yourself.

Well kids, school time is (basically) over...
the reports have been written...
the presentations are prepared...
the blog is being handed in (Hi Eva!)...
...and I am prepping myself for the BIG SCARY WORLD!

The plan is to have "Backpack with Becky" continue on BUT for any of you that may be leaving the blogger world, I just wanted to share with you this article that you may use as a source of travel inspiration!

Get out there and see that big and scary and beautiful world!!

Happy trails & tavels,
- Becky <3

Odd.

I came across a pretty awesome article about weird (and very cool) hostels around the world.

I would like to stay at these places.

 Kadir's Treehouse, Turkey

"Staying at Kadir’s will ensure that you do have the perfect holiday. At Kadir’s, we cater for everybody; the young to the young at heart. Live out every kid’s dream to sleep in a real treehouse, or spend a night of comfort in one of our well appointed bungalows."

Local Cave House Hotel, Turkey

The hostel is in the centre of Cappadocia: Goreme All rooms are within the CAVE!

Anak Ranch, Mongolia

"At the ranch, you can ride unfenced, wide-open steppe and taiga in the last great wilderness of the world. You might take a hunk of cheese, a stick of sausage, and a canteen and ride out to look for the horses, ranging somewhere on the open steppe or in the hills. You might ride north for a few days to spy the Russian Orthodox monastery across the border, or southwest to the lost Buddhist monastery in the hills.

You will sleep in a ger, the traditional Mongolian nomad’s home. You will eat home-grown and all-natural food, including roast meat, cheese, stew, vegetables, milk, yogurt, and airag. You will learn to drink vodka the Mongolian way, accepting a proffered glass with honor and blessing the land in the directions of the four winds."

There are SO many amazing places in this world.

I would like to see them. Soon.

Happy trails & travels,

-- Becky <3

The Essentials.

I came across this article  "18 Essential Items for a Trip Around the World" and thought I would share it with you!

Although I am not currently planning for a trip around the world (just dreaming...), I think this list covers all of the necessary bases. It may be useful for the future me (who IS travelling the world?) as I am currently dealing with the classic 'over-packer' syndrome. Yep, I am the girl that brings a huge bag to sleepovers and a massive suitcase for a weekend away. It is the worst.

Happy trails & travels,
-- Becky <3

The Big Comfy Couch

CouchSurfing -- the newest sport in the summer Olympics...

Hah. Just kidding.

CouchSurfing is an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world.
Casey Fenton, the founder, came up with the idea for CouchSurfing when he was travelling from Boston to Iceland. Rather than choosing to stay in a hostel, he randomly e-mailed 1500 students at the University of Iceland asking if he could stay with them. He got close to 100 offers of accomodation. On the flight home to Boston, he began to develop his ideas for the CouchSurfing project.

According to the website, their mission as an organization is to create inspiring experiences: cross-cultural encounters that are fun, engaging, and illuminating. These experiences take many forms. CouchSurfing's initial focus was on hosting and "surfing" (staying with a local as a guest in their home). Along with these core experiences, they now also coordinate a growing array of events across the globe.

Getting involved in CouchSurfing (as a surfer or a host) is quite simple, and free! Just create your profile (make sure it is detailed, with pictures) and get surfing! Done.

SO, my dear travel buddies, the next time you are getting ready to hit the road, be sure to check out CouchSurfing - save yourself some money, get to know the locals and participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time...

Happy trails & travels,
-- Becky <3

Mykanos.

I am a (new) big fan of the band Fleet Foxes.

They have this awesome song "Mykanos"....turns out that Mykanos is a place in Greece!
Who knew? (...I didn't - I am pretttty bad with geography).

To be honest, I always forget about Greece. When I think about the top places on my list to travel to, Greece doesn't usually come up. However, one of my best friends (Katryna) has dreams about Greece. Greece and California. Those locations are at the top of her list.

The more I think about it, Greece really would be such a wonderful place to travel. So much history, so much beauty, so many delicious meals. Yum. Perhaps her and I will have to take a trip there together when we hit 'fifty and fabulous". Haha.

Happy trails & travels,
-- Becky xo <3

One for One.

TOMS! TOMS! TOMS!

Are you guys getting sick of reading about TOMS? Hope not! I don't know if I will ever tire of talking about their awesome, awesome company!

This past Wednesday, my dearest friend Ana and I threw a fundraising event for Friends of TOMS - the non-profit partner organization of TOMS Shoes. Lots of our dearest friends, family, new friends and strangers came out to listen to some awesome music, view the "Shoes for Tomorrow" documentary and support us in our quest. It was fun and scary and exciting and inspiring and very, very heart-warming.

It has been such a personal joy for me to be able to bring the One for One movement into the Oakville community. FIVE people who attended the event have already purchased their first pair of TOMS. This excites me.

As you can see, we were put on the front page of the Sheridan Sun. Embarassing (and secretly exciting). Hah. My good pal Bryan is a journalism student and he wrote the article - it is actually pretty good. You can give it a read at the end of the post, if you so choose!

After spending my entire Thursday barefoot while taking part in 'One Day Without Shoes' (quite the experience), I spent my evening baking foot-shaped cookies for our Friends of TOMS bake sale the following day. At the bake sale, lots of people were coming up to us and mentioning that they had read the article and were inspired about the movement. The word is spreading! People are getting excited!

This week has been all about TOMS and I am a very happy, happy girl.

Happy trails & travels,
- Becky xo <3

Dear Friends

Check out our facebook event here and join us!

Looking for more information?
http://www.toms.com/
http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/
http://www.friendsoftoms.org/

You can also check out the video application I created for the TOMS Shoes internship program here -- www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Q_JQJSu00. Feel free to leave a comment on YouTube and let me know what you think!

(...a little self promotion never hurt anyone! haha)

Hope to see you on Wednesday, April 7th!

Happy trails & travels,

-- Becky xo <3