Marie-France Roy

Although Canada does cover part of the Arctic and we do have polar bears, all the large Canadian cities are located between 44 and 55 degrees latitude which means we have four distinct seasons including a cold winter and a hot summer. For someone living in downtown Toronto for example, it takes half-an-hour to an hour (depending on traffic) just to get out of the city, and close to another hour to get out of the suburbs and into natural areas. So, although people would probably prefer to stay home by a cosy log fire during winter, they still have to put on all their winter gear, shovel their driveway, scrape off the ice from their car windows, and go to work (or school), as life continues uninterrupted… unless you’re in Vancouver! Although French and English are taught in every public high school, only 17.5% of Canadians are considered bilingual (according to a government study based on 2011 data) with the largest proportions found in Quebec and New Brunswick (where 42.6% and 33.2% are bilingual respectively).

On January 9, I flew to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, my first time ever in that country. After a whole week in Rio de Janeiro, I took a bus to Paraty, several hours southwest of the city, a pretty Portuguese colonial town with rough cobblestone streets, and whitewashed buildings with colourful trims. After a few days in a hotel recovering, I took a bus to Oaxaca (my favourite winter town in Mexico) where I rented an AirBnB apartment for a whole month. After returning to Toronto, I wrote a post about top bucket list destinations, and conducted an interview with a brave (some would say reckless) friend who flew to France during the summer to be with her boyfriend.

You’ll probably realize pretty quickly that coffee shops in Australia all close by 4 pm, and in some cases even 3 PM! Keep to the left You probably already know that Australians drive on the left, like the British. Australians will also get a chuckle out of you heading for the driver’s side of the car instead of the passenger’s side. Aussies also like to shorten words and place names to two-syllable words that end in “y” or “ie(s)”: mozzies (mosquitoes), barby (barbeque), brekky (breakfast), Straddie (Stradbroke Island), Coochie (Coochiemudlo Island) and so on.

Rio de Janeiro can be a little overwhelming to the first time visitor, especially if you’re on your own and don’t speak Portuguese. The metro has different turnstiles for the different cards, so if you get an error, you’re likely using the wrong turnstile (or your card has insufficient funds). You need to wave your metro card in front of the reader on the bus to enter, and although it is not supposed to deduct a new fare, you need to have enough funds on the card for one passage! You’ll still need to add a credit card, debit card, or Paypal as an additional mode of payment unless you have a CFP (Brazilian taxpayer identification number).