I've been blogging for 17 years and I'm not planning to stop anytime soon. Masochism? Nope.
French woman in English Canada.
Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating pretty much anything sent my way, and writing stories and books that may or may not get attention.
Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.
I've been blogging for 17 years and I'm not planning to stop anytime soon. Masochism? Nope.
Two red lines, two red lines, and one red line—one, two, three we are a weird COVID-mystery family.
The other day, I almost started crying between the produce department and the dairy aisle.
For a culture where "how are you?" is merely a greeting ritual and not actually a question, people in Ottawa have no filter.
It wasn’t a storm or a tornado but a rare “derecho”. Never underestimate weather conditions in Canada, a land of extreme weather.
The Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa is one of these yearly seasonal events I was taking for granted.
Half of the hacks to cut your grocery bill seem to involve budget-friendly recipes starring rice—hello, Chinese household here, tell me something I don't know...
This is what parenting books don’t tell you—talking about sex with your kid isn’t a rehearsed thirty-minute speech but a fun, ongoing conversation.
We went from walk-ins and cash payments to hotel booking websites like Expedia, Airbnb, and Booking.com. You’ll probably end up using them too, but should you?
The atmosphere is grim. Ottawa is a ghost town with federal employees still working from home. The inflation rate is out of control. Oh, and COVID, of course.
My last Paulista moment was the insane rush-hour traffic all the way to the international airport in Guarulhos.
São Paulo has to be the best city on earth for urban exploration. It’s endless, it’s bustling with energy, it never really sleeps, it’s surprising and heartwarming.
The world started falling apart during my one-and-only stay in Santos two years ago. I can assure you both events are, however, completely unrelated.
Is it the calm before the storm or after the storm? I never know. Well, now I’ll remember.
I signed up for Ilhabela after reading all the fine print. I don’t mind getting out of my comfort zone, especially for just a few days, especially at the end of a trip, when it’s on the way.
I didn’t have much info on Ilhabela. It’s an island, a big one, a popular one in São Paulo state. I figured I’d spend four days exploring it, why not, it was on the way.
São Sebastião felt cozier and less wild than last-frontier-Ubatuba, a very subjective statement considering I lived with ants and lizards and there were giant sea turtles swimming between piers.
My next stop should have been Caraguatatuba, and not just because it’s etymologically close to Ubatuba—it’s literally the next city on the Rio-Santos highway.
Ubatuba wasn’t what I expected, and for that, it was worth it.
Turning 39 in Ubatuba wasn’t on my bucket list but I suppose I had to turn 39 somewhere and I knew it wouldn’t be in Canada when I changed my return date.
