Where in the world are Jacq & Jesse?

Welcome to our blog!

The travelers!

We are getting ready to leave Toronto.... and it's a mixed bag of emotions! While we are excited to travel for the next 6 months, it also means having to say good-bye to many great friends. When we return from our travels, we'll be living in Calgary. We'd love visitors - whether its for stampede, skiing/snowboarding in Banff, etc!

We're going to use this blog to keep everyone updated on what we are doing! Please feel free to check back from time to time or even subscribe if you'd like to see all of our updates!

What's to come? So far, here is the plan!

CANADA:
We'll be leaving Toronto and heading to Calgary on October 26
Vancouver: November 1 - November 3

AUSTRALIA:
Sydney: November 3 - 15th (well techincally starting November 5, due to the length of the flight and time zones!)
Cairns to Byron Bay: November 15th - November 30th
Melbourne: November 30 - December 19

Fiji: December 19 - January 2

NEW ZEALAND:
Auckland: January 2 - 21
Christchurch: January 21 - 24
Queenstown: January 24 - February 4

HONG KONG: February 4 - February 11
MALAYSIA: February 11 - February 15
JAPAN: February 15 - March 1

Haiwaii: March 1 - April 16

Stay tuned!!

After selling most of our stuff to our friends on facebook through our famous Viritual Garage sale and leaving our jobs, Jacq and I spent the last week in Toronto pawning off the remainder of our stuff.

It was during this time that our place was transformed from a working professional's apartment to what can only be described as a campsite - fully equiped with camping chairs and blow up matresses.

I also discovered Jacqueline would actually make a pretty good salesperson as I saw her convince one of our friends to take items which I'm sure he'd never heard of but seemed convinced his girlfriend would like.

After a couple more friends stopped by leaving with about a dozen bags of stuff, we had successfully taken the first step to becoming professional travellers.

The next step - figuring out what to bring as we spend the next 6 months living out of 1 backpack.

We left Calgary on Monday, November 1 for Vancouver! We arrived around 11:30 am to some cloudy weather, but we can't complain as it had been raining cats and dogs that morning!

Our mission: to find our way to Jen's apartment, AKA Hotel Teng. After taking a bus in the wrong direction (which we realized after talking to a friendly crazy woman) we finally arrived at our destination. Jen was in class at the time we arrived and her sister and roomate, Flora, was at work, so sneakily, Jen devised a plan to hide a house key and fob in a carved pumpkin outside the side door of her apartment. Worried that some punk kid would smash the pumpkin, Jen even checked on the pumpkin between her classes!

We walked up to the apartment and walked around to the side door to find the secret pumpkin, still intact! Jesse felt like a secret agent, glancing around in both directions before carefully opening the lid to find the key and a note inside a plastic bag (and in case you are wondering, no, the pumpkin did not self-destruct!)

Inside Hotel Teng, Jen left us a cute welcome note! It included instructions on how to make ourselves at home - which we totally did, as soon Jesse was plugged into the wireless internet and Jacq laid down on the couch for a quick snooze!

A few minutes later, Flora, came home as lucky for us, she got the afternoon off and she was our amazing tour guide for the afternoon! Jesse, Jacq and Flora headed off to Granville Island for lunch. With so many options to choose from, we decided to share clam chowder pot pie soup and some perogies and borsht! We had just enough room to have pumpkin macaroons for dessert!

Granville Island

Racing Brooms

Then Jen came to meet up with us! We headed to the Granville Island Bewery to sample a few beers!

Beer tasting at Granville Island Brewery

We then decided to take a walk around the sea wall through Olympic village, through Chinatown, and Gastown and one sketchy area that we walked through quickly!

Vancouver city sky

Now famished, we jumped in a cab towards the hotel that Jen and Andy were staying at, so that we could meet up with them for dinner. We decided on Don Guacamoles... mmm Mexican food! Soon we headed back to hotel Teng’s , with our dessert (cheap Halloween candy!)

The next morning we slept in and woke up to find that Flora had printed out a map with directions to Stanley Park and bike rental places for us! Jesse made breakfast (eggs, bacon and toast!) and soon we were off to Stanley Park. We were supposed to meet Jen and Andy there for 2 pm, but didn’t get there until about 2:30 pm. On this trip we decided not to take cell phones – which now makes us wonder – how the heck do people plan things without cell phones! Needleless to say, we missed each other completely, but we still all had a great time walking around the park and then renting bicycles and cycling around the park. Here are a few highlights!

Jesse

Jesse at Stanley Park

Jacq at Stanley Park

After our bike tour, we met up with Larry for coffee, which he probably needed more than us, after working a 30 hour shift on his med school rotation!) Then we all headed back to Hotel Teng and made plans for dinner that night – sushi of course! The crew (Jesse, Jacq, Jen, Flora, Larry & Dianna and Jen & Andy) went to Zipang and it was delicious! After dinner, we decided to head to Earls for dessert, which really turned into drinks for most of us – and specifically the “Bro-llini” (the manly version of the bellini, as it was 2 oz and came in a scotch glass rather than a fruity martini!) This was also the time, where Jesse showed everyone the piece of his tooth or filling which broke off (it was a weakened tooth, which had a filling for a number of years, which also happened to have a piece break off months earlier when we went to Panama for a week).

When we got back to Jen’s place, we had a couple of laptops googgling dentist’s offices that might take Jesse early the next morning to fix the tooth before our flight out the next day. We had a list of options and a game plan, in which Jesse had to get up at 7 am and start calling those that were open. After calling several offices, he finally found one that would take him at 10:30 am. We hoped that it would take an hour or less, so that we’d still be able to get to the airport on time. Thankfully, it was quick and we were out of there around 11:30 am and we arrived at the airport just after 12 for our 2:20 pm flight to Hong Kong (13 hours), where we’d take another flight getting us to Sydney, Australia (9 hours)!

We had an amazing time in Vancouver! Thanks again Jen and Flora for our stay at the "Hotel Teng!"

Hotel Teng owners and amazing tour operators!

More pictures can be found in our Photo Gallery!

We survived the 12 and ½ hour flight to Hong Kong. We were in the first row of a new segment of the 747 airplane, which meant we had lots of leg room! But then we realized there was an unruly passenger sitting across the aisle from us. Yep, a two year old boy that started screaming and didn’t look like he was ever going to stop! We looked at each other and thought, “oh dear this is going to be a long flight!” However, soon enough he quieted down and was somewhat behaved for the rest of the flight!

We landed in Hong Kong just after 7 pm local time (which felt like 3 am for us!) Of course, as soon as we got off the plane, Jesse saw a friend he knew from Calgary, Jeremy Yeon. Yes, not surprisingly Jesse knows someone everywhere we go, including Hong Kong!

We had 2 hours until our next leg to Sydney, in which most of us took a bit of a snooze or did some stretching/yoga in the airport.

Jen and Andy sleeping on the floor at the airport

Sleepy at the Hong Kong airport

A little after 9 pm local time, we boarded the flight for Sydney, Australia. We are to arrive at 9 am in Sydney, so our game plan is to sleep as much as possible on the flight. All set with our neck pillows and eye masks we try to get some sleep. At about 6:30 am local time we can’t sleep anymore so we watch the movie “the Hangover” which seems even funnier on lack of sleep! Soon the sun is rising over the Australian coastline and we are landing in Sydney!

View of the coastline from the air

Sunrise in Australia

Sydney from the air

Jacq is suffering from a bit of a headcold, so after landing she can’t hear a thing! Going through customs and when asked if we have any food, etc, she would look with a blank stare and asking loudly, “PARDON ME?” Jesse had to be her ears until they finally became unplugged hours later!

After grabbing our luggage, we grab a cab to Star City Apartments. Jesse goes to jump in the front seat and just before he jumps in – he realizes he’s going in on the wrong side! Jesse forgot that the steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car!

Soon we are at the apartment in Star City where we meet up with the rest of the Schultz fam (Mom, Dad, Jaime and Addison and Sydney).

The apartment has a great view of darling harbour and we spent the first day exploring the attractions in the area including the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife World.

Koala's at Wildlife World

Kangeroos

Jesse and a great white

Over the next few days we spent our time exploring all the City has to offer (we’ve been doing so much all of the days seem to blur together!) We’ve found there are a lot of cool markets here including Paddy’s and the Market by the Rocks. We also did some shopping and checked out the casino.

Shopping at Paddy's Market

Hanging out at Darling Harbour

On Sunday we hopped on the Ferry and made a day trip up to an area along the coast called Manly which has one of the area’s nicest beaches. We also went to “Oceanworld” while we were there, as we got a pass so we could go there for free. Good thing because our nick name for the place is “ghetto world” (it’s got nothing on the Sydney Aquarium).

Relaxing at Manly Beach

On Monday we went whale watching in the morning and spotted a pod of humpback whales and a group of curious dolphins that swam up to our boat. The whole experience was pretty intense, however we would not recommend it for those with a weak stomach (There were a few guys puking towards the end.)

In the afternoon, we hit up the Sydney Fish Market!! There was so much fresh seafood there, Jesse had a hard time leaving and deciding what to get. In the end we picked up 2 dozen freshly shucked oysters, a half kilo of fresh tiger prawns and a couple bottles of white for dinner. Jen, Andy, Jacq and Jesse cooked dinner and it was amazing! We decided to name our restaurant for the evening “Fishie Bizness” and we are still looking for payment! (aka the $1 billion bill we left for our guests! lol)

Oysters from the Sydney Fish Market

Sydney Fish Market

Yesterday we walked around the Royal Botanical Gardens and then went up the Sydney Tower for some great views of the city. Later that evening we went out to dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant and then Jen, Andy, Jacq and Jesse went out for a few drinks. All day Jesse had been practising his Australia accent and by now he had the lines “sorry guys” and “are you guys getting excited?” down pat. The only thing is he keeps saying them over... and over... and over! Later that night we went back to the casino and were asked how old we were, he responded “26” with his new accent! Inside the casino, we went to conquer “Big Red” – a slot machine with a kangaroo on it. However, it was the other way around as we lost $15 rather quickly.... so we decided to call it a night!

We have 4 days left in Sydney before we head out for our trip down the Gold coast. Today we are going to Bondi Beach. We plan to go to the Rocks Market and Museum of Contemporary Art on Friday ... and we’ll see what else we’ll stumble upon in our last few days in Sydney!