Everybody that knows Vancouver knows it has a major drug problem. Heroin, crack, cocaine, weed, ecstasy and LSD are all openly traded and consumed on the streets. Special prescription pharmaceutical items one may desire can easily be obtained provided one has the right connections. This has resulted in colleges, high schools, and even elementary schools [...]

The locals in France laugh with disbelief when I tell them that Sushi restaurants in Vancouver are abundant, and that a standard 10 dollar sushi plate in Vancouver is the equivalent of a 50 euro plate in France. Disgusted by the high costs, folks in these parts don’t typically eat sushi, rather they opt out [...]

The benefits of a good public transportation system are numerous. It’s better for the environment, reduces energy dependence, and is a lot less stressful than driving during the rush hour commute. Several studies have concluded that people who take public transit are healthier than those who don’t; they walk much more between bus stops, metro [...]

The weather here in Bordeaux has been cold and wet the last couple of days, and the flat I am staying in isn’t much better. It’s tiny, damp, dusty, doesn’t have a television and half the room’s ceiling is less than 4 feet in height (it’s kinda like the office in Being John Malkovich). Other [...]

You may have heard of the North Pacific Gyre. According to Wikipedia, “the North Pacific Gyre (also known as North Pacific Subtropical Gyre) is a clockwise-swirling vortex of ocean currents comprising most of the northern Pacific Ocean. It is located between the equator and 50º N latitude and occupies an area of approximately ten million [...]

Although graffiti culture is alive and well in Paris, artists making their mark on the streets of Barcelona take reclaiming public space to a whole other level. Every nook and cranny of available space is caked with years of murals, wheatpastes, etchings and tags. On doorways and apartment entrances live the faded creations of yesteryear [...]

In Europe, the means by which peddlers, buskers and vagrants alike hustle for dollars on the street-level is much different than in North America. When compared, European beggars are performers, fortune tellers and musicians whereas North American bums are lazy, intoxicated narco-state drones that expect you to provision their next crack rock, smack injection, or [...]

With the euro now fluctuating between 1.6 to 1.7 CAD, traveling France is extremely pricey. For the most part, everything costs double what it would in Canada. To put it in perspective, the average pint will run you between five and nine euros, which after converting to Canadian dollars is somewhere between eight and 15 [...]

You won’t find it in Mexico, but in France, Desperados is available at every café, alimentation and grocery store. Desperados is a tequila flavored beer designed after the Mexican tradition of drinking beer with a shot of tequila. It’s 5.9%, available in regular and tallboy glass bottles, and it tastes a lot like ginger ale [...]