The Brel Chronicles

The Brel Adventure may be over, but the blog-writing isn’t. Brendan has been posting his version of our adventures as PlanetEye’s “Global Nomad.” PlanetEye is a cool travel planning website, with city guides, local experts, reviews, photos and interactive maps where all content is geotagged. Check it out.

 As the Global Nomad blog’s focus is more on practical information for travellers (reviews, etc.), and less about being in accurate real time…he’s still posting about Argentina. There’s lots more content to come!

 Come visit the Global Nomad blog here, or see all the best pictures on an interactive world map here.

As avid Brel Chronicles readers, you probably already know that Mel had surgery 2 weeks ago in Athens. Well things have not gone as planned, and we’ve been dealing with some serious post-surgery complications in Santorini, with daily doctor visits and a lot of drugs. Unfortunately, the prognosis, while good, will require months of rest and recovery.

While Greece and the rest of Europe are beautiful places to visit, it’s tough to recover without the support of friends and family and the comfort of home. And while Nurse Powell has been amazing, he probably wouldn’t mind some help from the Canadian medical system.

And so we have made the extremely difficult decision to end our trip and return to Canada.

This journey has been incredible: we’ve seen great places, met wonderful people and experienced life to the fullest. And yes, we found the perfect beach, drank great espresso and consumed our body weights in wine.

Who knew that the Brel match wasn’t really Vacation vs. Travel. It was Life vs. Travel, and in the end, they became the same thing.

Final Score:

Life: 1 Travel: 1

It´s hard to believe, but the Brel Adventure is half over. Seems as good a time as any to take a look back: Random Stats

• Countries visited: 7
• Cities visited: about 30
• New passport stamps: 23
• Favourite countries: Costa Rica and Argentina
• Favourite city: Buenos Aires
• Number ... [Continue reading this entry]

  By the Numbers

• Number of check-ins during our Quito hotel tour: 7
• Number of pounds Mel shed in a desperate bid to not return to Toronto at her all-time highest weight: 7ish
• Days of consecutive sobriety after all that wine ... [Continue reading this entry]

  Moments We´d Rather Forget...

• How much we made everyone worry that we were too close to the erupting volcano
• The sticker shock - especially after a month in Argentina
• How North American it all seemed...

Highlights...

• The views in the Chilean Lake ... [Continue reading this entry]

  By The Numbers

• Number of Purchases:
  • Leather purses: 7
  • Leather jackets: 5
  • Shoes and boots: 7
• Number of animals who gave their lives for our purchases (including a guanaco): uh, not really sure we want to know this
• Number of days ... [Continue reading this entry]

We spent a quick four days exploring some of the highlights of Uruguay. While not enough time to do it justice, we were able to get a flavour. By the Numbers • # of bottles consumed of medio y medio (a fantastic ... [Continue reading this entry]

 

By the Numbers

• Number of chicken bones swallowed: 1
• Number of times Brendan talked about his chicken bone: 42
• Number of ... [Continue reading this entry]

By the Numbers • Number of sweet rum drinks consumed: innumerable • Greatest number of bug bites on Mel at any one time: 85 • Number of books read since beginning our adventure: Mel: 10; Brendan: 1 • Average ... [Continue reading this entry]

    By the Numbers… • Number of identified birds in Operation Bird Discovery – 47 • Pounds of gallo pinto (rice and beans) consumed – 6 • Number of monkey photos taken by Monkey Photographer BP – 1,000+ • Percentage ... [Continue reading this entry]