4 Spring Cleaning Tips for Your Bathroom

Content originally published and Shared from http://perfectbath.com

As you plan on how you'll tackle each room in your house for your annual deep clean, remember the following tips once it's time to go over the bathroom:

Photo by Jelena Ardila on Unsplash

Arrange things neatly in a clear drawer
Clear plastic drawers are the "little black dress" of organizing, says Barbara Reich, a professional organizer. Use them in every room of the house. They're great in the bathroom when used to divide and organize drawers or to make great use of space under the bathroom sink. When they get dusty, clear them of their contents and wash them in the dishwasher. Source: CountryLiving

Wipe the toilet clean
Take a few minutes to get that porcelain throne shining. Spray the toilet seat, lid, rim and base with equal parts vinegar and water. Allow to sit for a few minutes, then wipe clean with a microfiber cloth, starting with the lid and working down to the base. Sprinkle inside the toilet bowl with baking soda. Scrub with a toilet brush and flush. Source: Today

Don't overlook the ceiling
The ceiling often gets forgotten. But when you'll be sitting in the tub relaxing you'll be facing this part of the room so clean in, dust the corners and take care of any mold-related problems if there are any. Source: Homedit

Scrub the grime off the walls
Clean soap scum on shower walls and glass doors with a damp dryer sheet. For more stubborn buildup, combine equal parts hot white vinegar and liquid dish soap in a spray bottle. Spray the shower walls and let this solution stay in place for at least 4 hours — overnight is better — then wash it away with hot water. Source: HousewifeHowTos

If you think that your bathroom fixtures still don't look clean despite all your efforts to make them shine, then why not replace them with new ones? Call us!

 

Contact:
Perfect Bath
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Email: info@perfectbath.com

The post 4 Spring Cleaning Tips for Your Bathroom appeared first on Perfect Bath Canada.

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The Big Five Dive

Begun in 2015, PADI Women's Dive Day, held every July 15, has spawned 700 events in 77 countries. The Big Five Dive, held in the Great Lakes in 2016, was one such event.

PADI Women's Dive Day and the Big Five Dive

PADI Women's Dive Day began in order to strengthen and grow the female dive community. As a result of the initiative, both male and female divers take part in hundreds of events across the globe each year. Part of the second annual event in 2016, the Big Five Dive connected 14 female divers from all walks of life, intent on a mission: to dive an historic site in all five Great Lakes in less than 24 hours.

"We hope to inspire the next generation of female divers to explore both careers and recreational opportunities in our underwater world, whether it's in the Great Lakes or the ocean," says Nick Myers, Big Five Dive sponsor and owner of Michigan PADI Dive Center Great Lakes Divers.

The Big Five Dive team included a graphic designer, two underwater archaeologists, an environmental educator, and a college student. Joining this core group were eight women, all a part of the all-female Sedna Epic Expedition. Sedna plans to snorkel all 2,000 miles of the Northwest Passage to bring global attention to disappearing sea ice in the Arctic.

Choosing the Great Lakes

When putting together the dive plan, the Big Five Dive reconnaissance team reached out to Great Lakes dive networks to find suitable dive sites. With the short time frame, they needed to find locations shallow enough to allow for multiple dives and a range of abilities. By tapping into local knowledge, the team connected to different communities, all linked through the Great Lakes watershed. "We've been so impressed with how supportive the Great Lakes maritime heritage community has been," says maritime archaeologist Stephanie Gandulla.

"Whether it's shipwreck experts sharing their knowledge, or locals at each site helping out with logistics, everyone has been really interested in exploring our Great Lakes via the Big Five Dive."

Known for its rich maritime history, the Great Lakes hold thousands of shipwrecks. With all of the incredible dive spots, the Big Five Dive crew initially struggled to select historic sites. The 24-hour timeline, however, helped to narrow options. The wrecks needed to be both shore-accessible and close to major roads. The sites that the group settled on included top tourist destinations in the Great Lakes, and many community members came to support the divers throughout their journey. They began at midnight in Lake Superior.

Dive No. 1: Lake Superior

12:00 am | Pendills Creek, Michigan | Unidentified wooden shipwreck

Two minutes before midnight on the southern shore of Lake Superior, 14 women stood on the beach in scuba gear ready for the first of five dives, one in each of the Great Lakes. As they awaited the go-ahead to plunge into the dark water, they contemplated what lay before them…the largest freshwater system on earth.

Buddy teams quickly entered the dark, 46-degree water, and fin-walked for about 100 feet through crashing waves before it was deep enough to submerge. The divers swam on the surface, focusing on two kayakers with lights stationed at the shipwreck site. After just a few minutes of swimming, most teams had reached the small, unidentified wooden wreck and descended to a maximum depth of 15 feet for the first dive of the night.

Dive No. 2: Lake Michigan

2:40 am | Headlands International Dark Sky Park, Michigan | Unidentified wooden shipwreck

Lake Superior's rolling waves gave way to placid waters in Lake Michigan at the next site, an hour and 20 minutes south on the northern tip of mainland Michigan. A cloudless, starry night greeted the women at the Headlands Dark Sky Park as they geared up and gathered for a quick dive briefing before scrambling down a cobble beach to the entry point. One buddy team after another, they entered the water and set out for a lengthy surface swim. The divers navigated to the unmarked shipwreck with the aid of a full moon, and of course, their dive lights. Adding to the stress of limited visibility was the constant reminder of their timeline…the clock was ticking.

Lake Michigan's water was calm compared to the crashing waves of the first dive, and although the dive would last only 10 minutes, the women enjoyed a peaceful exploration of another unidentified wooden shipwreck, about 17 feet deep. The water was warming up as the team dove and drove their way south — Lake Michigan was a balmy 52 degrees.

Dive No. 3: Lake Huron

5:30 am | 40-mile Point, Michigan | Joseph S. Fay, wooden freighter

The sun had not yet peeked over the horizon as the divers arrived at the third dive site, 40-mile Point, a picturesque spit of land nestled in the northeast corner of Michigan's lower peninsula. The backdrop on land was as striking as the imminent sunrise: an 1896 lighthouse, a freighter's wheelhouse, a fog-signal building, and even shipwreck remains littered the beach and surrounding grounds.

Encouraged by Lake Huron's uncharacteristically calm waters, the group swam out into Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and enjoyed their dive on the largest and most intact shipwreck they would experience that day. The Joseph S. Fay went down in a gale in 1905, and is one of nearly 100 shipwrecks that the sanctuary protects. It's a stunning example of the preservation possible due to the cold, fresh water of the Great Lakes. When the divers surfaced after a 10-minute dive, the morning sun brightened and warmed their return to shore. Enthusiastic supporters cheered as they emerged from the lake and prepared for the next, and longest, leg of the journey.

Dive No. 4: Lake Erie

4:42 pm | Private residence, Ohio | Penelope, wooden tugboat

The fourth dive was the greatest challenge for the team. The women had been monitoring the weather on Lake Erie as they got close, and conditions were not looking good.  Entry to the site was generously provided by shoreline homeowners, but a storm had recently washed out the access point. The waves were fierce, and unpredictably smashed into the damaged break wall.  The team decided to go for it with some careful planning for entry and exit. Churning waters made actually seeing the shipwreck difficult, with visibility ranging from 6 inches to a few feet.

When the dive was over, the homeowners and other supporters formed a "bucket-brigade" line to receive tanks, BCDs, and fins from divers before they helped haul them out of the water onto the break wall. After everyone survived, the women knew they could make it to Lake Ontario and complete their final dive in time.

Dive No. 5: Lake Ontario

10:17 pm | Niagara County Krull Park | dock remains at the site of the Olcott Beach Hotel

Dangerously close to the 24-hour deadline, the divers were anxious to don their gear one last time at the final site in Lake Ontario. Nervously glancing at dive watches, the women quickly entered warm, shallow waters along a sandy beach in downtown Olcott, New York. The site was the former location of a historic hotel and docks. Some divers searched the lake bottom looking for artifacts from the 19^th-century hotel, and spectators on shore saw what seemed to be a mysterious freshwater bioluminescence as 14 softly glowing lights crisscrossed the shallows in search of Great Lakes historic treasures.

Award-winning filmmakers Mad Law Media followed the divers to document the adventure. The film will premiere at the Thunder Bay International Film Festival in January 2018 in Alpena, Michigan. Click here for more information about the film. NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries' Earth Is Blue Campaign also highlighted the Big Five Dive. Watch the video here:

The Big Five Dive brought together divers with varied experiences and backgrounds, many of them meeting for the first time. During the surface intervals — 993 miles on the road — they shared life stories and genuinely connected. Pushing one another outside of comfort zones, the divers not only saw new dive sites, but also experienced cold and exhaustion. They learned not only about themselves but gained a new diving network as well.

Great Lakes Divers, a PADI Dive Center in Alpena, Michigan, sponsored the Big Five Dive.

By guest authors Stephanie Gandulla, Meaghan Gass and Sarah Waters

The post The Big Five Dive appeared first on Scuba Diver Life.

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The Big Five Dive

Begun in 2015, PADI Women’s Dive Day, held every July 15, has spawned 700 events in 77 countries. The Big Five Dive, held in the Great Lakes in 2016, was one such event.

PADI Women’s Dive Day and the Big Five Dive

PADI Women’s Dive Day began in order to strengthen and grow the female dive community. As a result of the initiative, both male and female divers take part in hundreds of events across the globe each year. Part of the second annual event in 2016, the Big Five Dive connected 14 female divers from all walks of life, intent on a mission: to dive an historic site in all five Great Lakes in less than 24 hours.

“We hope to inspire the next generation of female divers to explore both careers and recreational opportunities in our underwater world, whether it’s in the Great Lakes or the ocean,” says Nick Myers, Big Five Dive sponsor and owner of Michigan PADI Dive Center Great Lakes Divers.

The Big Five Dive team included a graphic designer, two underwater archaeologists, an environmental educator, and a college student. Joining this core group were eight women, all a part of the all-female Sedna Epic Expedition. Sedna plans to snorkel all 2,000 miles of the Northwest Passage to bring global attention to disappearing sea ice in the Arctic.

Choosing the Great Lakes

When putting together the dive plan, the Big Five Dive reconnaissance team reached out to Great Lakes dive networks to find suitable dive sites. With the short time frame, they needed to find locations shallow enough to allow for multiple dives and a range of abilities. By tapping into local knowledge, the team connected to different communities, all linked through the Great Lakes watershed. “We’ve been so impressed with how supportive the Great Lakes maritime heritage community has been,” says maritime archaeologist Stephanie Gandulla.

“Whether it’s shipwreck experts sharing their knowledge, or locals at each site helping out with logistics, everyone has been really interested in exploring our Great Lakes via the Big Five Dive.”

Known for its rich maritime history, the Great Lakes hold thousands of shipwrecks. With all of the incredible dive spots, the Big Five Dive crew initially struggled to select historic sites. The 24-hour timeline, however, helped to narrow options. The wrecks needed to be both shore-accessible and close to major roads. The sites that the group settled on included top tourist destinations in the Great Lakes, and many community members came to support the divers throughout their journey. They began at midnight in Lake Superior.

Dive No. 1: Lake Superior

12:00 am | Pendills Creek, Michigan | Unidentified wooden shipwreck

Two minutes before midnight on the southern shore of Lake Superior, 14 women stood on the beach in scuba gear ready for the first of five dives, one in each of the Great Lakes. As they awaited the go-ahead to plunge into the dark water, they contemplated what lay before them…the largest freshwater system on earth.

Buddy teams quickly entered the dark, 46-degree water, and fin-walked for about 100 feet through crashing waves before it was deep enough to submerge. The divers swam on the surface, focusing on two kayakers with lights stationed at the shipwreck site. After just a few minutes of swimming, most teams had reached the small, unidentified wooden wreck and descended to a maximum depth of 15 feet for the first dive of the night.

Dive No. 2: Lake Michigan

2:40 am | Headlands International Dark Sky Park, Michigan | Unidentified wooden shipwreck

Lake Superior’s rolling waves gave way to placid waters in Lake Michigan at the next site, an hour and 20 minutes south on the northern tip of mainland Michigan. A cloudless, starry night greeted the women at the Headlands Dark Sky Park as they geared up and gathered for a quick dive briefing before scrambling down a cobble beach to the entry point. One buddy team after another, they entered the water and set out for a lengthy surface swim. The divers navigated to the unmarked shipwreck with the aid of a full moon, and of course, their dive lights. Adding to the stress of limited visibility was the constant reminder of their timeline…the clock was ticking.

Lake Michigan’s water was calm compared to the crashing waves of the first dive, and although the dive would last only 10 minutes, the women enjoyed a peaceful exploration of another unidentified wooden shipwreck, about 17 feet deep. The water was warming up as the team dove and drove their way south — Lake Michigan was a balmy 52 degrees.

Dive No. 3: Lake Huron

5:30 am | 40-mile Point, Michigan | Joseph S. Fay, wooden freighter

The sun had not yet peeked over the horizon as the divers arrived at the third dive site, 40-mile Point, a picturesque spit of land nestled in the northeast corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The backdrop on land was as striking as the imminent sunrise: an 1896 lighthouse, a freighter’s wheelhouse, a fog-signal building, and even shipwreck remains littered the beach and surrounding grounds.

Encouraged by Lake Huron’s uncharacteristically calm waters, the group swam out into Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and enjoyed their dive on the largest and most intact shipwreck they would experience that day. The Joseph S. Fay went down in a gale in 1905, and is one of nearly 100 shipwrecks that the sanctuary protects. It’s a stunning example of the preservation possible due to the cold, fresh water of the Great Lakes. When the divers surfaced after a 10-minute dive, the morning sun brightened and warmed their return to shore. Enthusiastic supporters cheered as they emerged from the lake and prepared for the next, and longest, leg of the journey.

Dive No. 4: Lake Erie

4:42 pm | Private residence, Ohio | Penelope, wooden tugboat

The fourth dive was the greatest challenge for the team. The women had been monitoring the weather on Lake Erie as they got close, and conditions were not looking good.  Entry to the site was generously provided by shoreline homeowners, but a storm had recently washed out the access point. The waves were fierce, and unpredictably smashed into the damaged break wall.  The team decided to go for it with some careful planning for entry and exit. Churning waters made actually seeing the shipwreck difficult, with visibility ranging from 6 inches to a few feet.

When the dive was over, the homeowners and other supporters formed a “bucket-brigade” line to receive tanks, BCDs, and fins from divers before they helped haul them out of the water onto the break wall. After everyone survived, the women knew they could make it to Lake Ontario and complete their final dive in time.

Dive No. 5: Lake Ontario

10:17 pm | Niagara County Krull Park | dock remains at the site of the Olcott Beach Hotel

Dangerously close to the 24-hour deadline, the divers were anxious to don their gear one last time at the final site in Lake Ontario. Nervously glancing at dive watches, the women quickly entered warm, shallow waters along a sandy beach in downtown Olcott, New York. The site was the former location of a historic hotel and docks. Some divers searched the lake bottom looking for artifacts from the 19^th-century hotel, and spectators on shore saw what seemed to be a mysterious freshwater bioluminescence as 14 softly glowing lights crisscrossed the shallows in search of Great Lakes historic treasures.

Award-winning filmmakers Mad Law Media followed the divers to document the adventure. The film will premiere at the Thunder Bay International Film Festival in January 2018 in Alpena, Michigan. Click here for more information about the film. NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries’ Earth Is Blue Campaign also highlighted the Big Five Dive. Watch the video here:

The Big Five Dive brought together divers with varied experiences and backgrounds, many of them meeting for the first time. During the surface intervals — 993 miles on the road — they shared life stories and genuinely connected. Pushing one another outside of comfort zones, the divers not only saw new dive sites, but also experienced cold and exhaustion. They learned not only about themselves but gained a new diving network as well.

Great Lakes Divers, a PADI Dive Center in Alpena, Michigan, sponsored the Big Five Dive.

By guest authors Stephanie Gandulla, Meaghan Gass and Sarah Waters

The post The Big Five Dive appeared first on Scuba Diver Life.

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Is Google Flights the next KAYAK?

The travel market has long been dominated by two key players; Booking Holdings and Expedia. But now, Google has been flying under the radar and gaining momentum in the industry.

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Why TripAdvisor and Trivago could be in trouble

Analyst Guggenheim's Jake Fuller takes a look at the industry, warning that travel metasearch could be under threat this year, as Booking Holdings and Expedia are expected to shift their budgets toward Google and TV campaigns.

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Savings is corporate travel’s false god

Among the things travel buyers care about, savings is arguably the most essential, the most visible, the most measured. Yet, there is a much brighter future ahead for anyone who can increase the effectiveness of a program's trips.

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Trivago Industry Insights: United Kingdom

With the aim to give UK hoteliers in-depth information on and actionable insights into traveller preferences and behaviours, Trivago has compiled detailed trend reports for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and all regions in England.

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A leaner vacation-rental market

Under the threat of huge penalties, Airbnb, HomeAway, FlipKey and others have jettisoned hosts who ignored the city's registration requirement for short-term rentals.

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How to capitalize on the full travel planning journey to increase direct bookings

As travel planners encounter more digital distractions and more research happens throughout the traveler's customer journey, being there for the most important digital micro-moments is crucial to capturing the attention of potential guests and nurturing them through the path to a direct booking.

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A masterclass in lookalike & similar audience marketing

Similar Audience and Lookalike Marketing on AdWords and Facebook is all about expanding your audience and bringing in new customers who are not aware of your brand, but meet similar characteristics.

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Booking Holdings reports Q4 room nights growth of 17%

Booking Holdings, formerly known as Priceline Group, reported higher-than-expected sales in its latest quarter as the online travel company got a boost from a rise in bookings and strong performance at its international operations.

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Burnouts, breakdowns and that pesky work/life balance

Last year I bit off more than I could chew with travel. I said yes to too much. In fact, I said yes to almost everything, because isn't that what we are told we are supposed to be like?

If I had a few days break in my calendar, I'd take on more work. If I had a few weeks, I'd book a trip somewhere. In 2017 I took almost 100 flights around the world. Sometimes I would literally go to a different country, do a job, fly back to New Zealand, come home for a day, and then fly off again somewhere else. It doesn't take a genius to say that's not exactly a sustainable lifestyle, and here I am eight years into this blogging thing acting like it's year one.

We live in a world that idolizes being busy, that you can always being doing more, and I fucking can't stand it. I'm over it. I want time for myself again.

Is that so selfish?

Don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful for this world I've built for myself as a professional travel blogger, but I finally realized a few months ago that I couldn't keep up with my own life.

My situation had become unbalanced. Travel didn't excite me anymore. Stress was my constant companion. The pressure to be successful, to be creative all the time, and stay ahead of the game had been eating me alive.

Without even being aware of it, I quickly was slipping into deep unhappiness, along with some very unhealthy routines. By the end of September, I was just really unpleasant to be around. The littlest things would set me off, I'd get really nervous about normal things like flights or meetings, and I'd freak out over stuff that didn't matter. Change upset me.

I was becoming bitter and negative. And just plain grumpy. Instead of responding to with excitement to things, I would only see the downsides. I used to always hate people who would react negatively to things or focusing on what could go wrong, and I had gone and become one of them!

A routine trip in October sent me spiraling rapidly towards a total breakdown, something I didn't realize at the time. And then I stopped sleeping. Like I went 3 and half weeks with no sleep. Yes, it's possible and yes, it's literally the worst thing ever.

I'll preface this by saying I've always been a really shitty sleeper. I am not quite sure how I got that way, but I imagine my crazy lifestyle of sleeping in different beds all the time, constantly changing timezones, with crazy work hours and an insane caffeine addiction thrown in for good measure over several years might have had something to do with it. I could fall asleep straight away but would wake up after a few hours and never get back to sleep.

On my travels it was getting harder and harder to get up in the morning. Until that point, I literally couldn't remember the last time I slept a whole night straight without waking up. Unless I was heavily drugged.

About mid-way through last year I started to see different doctors about my sleep issues, usually resulting in being subscribed some kind of strong sleeping pill that I would invariably quickly become addicted to and would knock me out so hard that I would be sluggish for days afterwards, not even being able to drive.

I tried everything, from lavender baths, lavender sprays, melatonin, herbal shit, tons of exercise, yoga, massage, vitamins, less coffee, among many others.

Then I started working on a sleep routine, going to bed at the same time every night, stopping looking at screens hours before bed, finally making up my bed every day (seriously, who has time for that?), changing my diet, cutting out bad stuff like sugar and eating better, having several hours of dedicated "winding down" time before bed. If I woke up, I'd get up, read for a while in the other room, and then try to start the "going to bed" process over again.

Did it work? Nope.

Then I went from sleeping badly to not sleeping at all.

I don't need to tell you guys that getting no sleep over long periods of time is just terrible. And even when I was so tired I couldn't see straight, I STILL couldn't sleep. It was the worst.

It didn't take long for me to go slip towards the unhinged and have a bit of a breakdown. And no, not like a Britney-style-shave-my-head-in-public kind of breakdown, mine was far less exciting and boring in comparison. I was deep in a some burnouts.

The lack of sleep caused me so much stress that I couldn't even brush my hair because my scalp and skin hurt so much from tension,  and I would get multiple migraines a week that only remedial physio and massage could alleviate. My body physically was in pain constantly from the stress of everything. Somedays I wouldn't be able to move my head and I'd lose feeling in my feet or hands and my stomach constantly hurt.

Day in and out, I almost stopped being able to function, slipping into a zombie-like state for most of the day. I would have panic attacks and feel like I was going to faint; I'd cry uncontrollably at night after hours of trying to get to sleep unsuccessfully shifting between being hot and cold. I'd even start to drift to sleep and jerk awake frozen in a panic convinced someone was in my house to kill me. I wouldn't be able to nap during the day but couldn't get my eyes to focus on anything or even read. I snapped at everyone and was a huge bitch. I'd pick fights with my best friends for no reason.

Who was this person I had become?

After weeks and weeks of trying to convince myself that tonight would be the night I'd get some sleep and then failing, I finally found a different doctor who I connected with and who was interested in actually finding the cause of my insomnia. She was great, quickly diagnosing me with severe anxiety, among other goodies. My sleep was also being impacted my a shoulder injury from earlier last year along with some delightful nose problems I've been ignoring since college, a perfect cocktail for insomnia and sleep apnea.

But until she uttered the word "anxiety" it hadn't even occurred to me that this might be an issue with me.

I was a really problematic kid and was forced into a lot of therapy that I hated as a preteen, and since I've grown up, I've really worked hard and prided myself on just generally keeping my shit together and being in charge. I've had ups and downs over the years like everyone. To spiral like this was really new for me and after failing to pull myself together, I realized I did, in fact, need some help.

I polled in on Instagram Stories to see who else had sleep problems, and thousands of you guys replied with the results being an even fifty – fifty. Obviously it goes without saying that I hate all of you who sleep all night long anywhere without any issue. WHAT'S IT LIKE?! But also it was some weird kind of solace to know that I am not alone in this, that a lot of us are in the same boat.

Not to mention a surprising number of you replied telling me to smoke weed. I feel like we are closer, and I know you all better than ever haha.

Forgoing heavy duty sleeping pills for anxiety meds, I've been working hard to get my sleep issues back under control. Whether my anxiety caused my insomnia or vice-versa, or a bit of both, who knows.

I'm not a psychiatrist or anything but I do know myself better than anyone else, and I think if anything last year taught me that I had very easily let myself be overwhelmed with stress and become unbalanced with my work and blogging. Obviously, not a good place to be, and not a place I wanted to be in ever again.

I didn't quit my job to blog and travel full time to hate it or be unhappy. I suppose in some ways subconsciously I was feeling like I need to say yes to all the trips and events, worried that one day things might be different or feeling a need to feel grateful for this life all the time. Like I had to take advantage while I could or something. But the reality was that I was doing too much.

I was burnt out on my own dreams.

I couldn't sustain the life I had been living, it was too intense with too much stress for one person to manage. I was overwhelmed. I needed to find time for myself again, time away from computers, work, photography and even traveling, in a way.

I needed to find some balance in my life again.

The scales had become to far tipped in one direction, only focusing on work and success, while personal happiness, and the little things we do for ourselves, even my friends and family, had taken a back-burner in importance. Not cool, Liz.

I never put a hold on or checked my stress, rather just telling myself, yup, you can do this, taking on more and more and more, never stopping, never breathing. By the time I stopped sleeping, I felt like I was drowning. While I could pull myself together publicly when I needed to, it was getting harder and harder.

In some ways I often wonder if my very profound insomnia was my body screaming at me to pay attention and get my shit together. Along with seeing sleep specialists (who, to be honest, I'm still really cynical about) and being on anxiety meds, I've also have been focusing my energy on establishing routine and balance back into my life.

I used to never have proper work/life boundaries; I basically never stopped working, ever.

Now I wake up, put on a podcast, and spend half an hour or so making coffee, waking up, sitting outside, ect before beginning my day. I stop working at normal hours, like 5 or 6 in the afternoon, making time to meet up with friends, go for long runs or hikes, swim in the lake, and have a few hours decompressing before bed. No more working til 2am.

I bought Netflix for the first time, and I'll start watching TV or episodes, something I literally never did before. It sounds stupid to write this all down but for me, I needed to establish a normal routine again. I get facials and manicures just for the hell of it, and reminder to look after myself and a little pampering makes you feel good.

I've also been making some big changes on the blog that you might not have noticed yet. I'm still figuring it all out but I've finally accepted that I can't keep doing everything myself, and to be honest, I don't want to. I'm exhausted in more ways than one.

I've been working on building a team of my badass women friends to help me run the blog moving forward and to take some of the weight off my back, in all sorts of ways, for helping with partnerships to boring admin tasks, to taking on expert guest writers in areas that I really want more content on. I'm even going to cut back on how much travel I do moving forward, focusing on only a few major trips that excite me,  in the hopes of freeing up more time for me to work on more creative ventures, charities here, and on projects on here that I really want to do that I just haven't had time for. Oh, and finish my first book!

Oh, and I also want FREE TIME TO DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! There, I admit it – I'm shouting it for the world to hear. I want time all to myself to just be lazy and not be busy with stuff. To think about things again and also think about sweet fuck all.

It's like Liz 2.0.

It's been a hard lesson to learn but I've realized rather painfully that I've got to look after myself first and foremost, and being constantly busy isn't good for you, no matter what people say.

It's been a few months now since everything crashed for me, and I really struggled with publicly admitting my anxiety on here for the first time, feeling like its a real weakness or afraid of being judged. I know that other people are probably in the same boat, especially women, and I know there are a lot of people out there dealing with far worse shit than my anxieties, another reason I've held back from sharing this.

But I can't be the only one that feels there's a real stigma still around mental health these days, and admitting something like crippling anxiety feels like somehow I wasn't strong anymore or even worse, that I was a failure. But really, what's so wrong with NOT being able to do it all?

Perhaps one of the most important things I've changed is working on just being a little bit nicer to myself. Instead of focusing on what I could be doing better, focusing on staying positive and being proud of what I've already done. I think we could all do with a little more kindness, don't you?

The road uphill hasn't been easy, and I've slipped off the bandwagon more than once, like having a week of no sleep a few weeks in to the occasional midnight Dominos pizza and wine binge (I mean seriously, there are only so many green smoothies a girl can fucking take). And while my sleep schedule isn't perfect, it's definitely a very big step up from where it was a few months ago.

But it's only really in the past few weeks I've noticed that my personality is getting back to normal, where something that used to stress me out doesn't even bother me anymore, and I that I'm back to being much more relaxed and laid back, and that I'm happier. I've just come home from a month traveling again and didn't fly off the rails. Not to mention I've had more than one random acquaintance even say to me that I'm shiny and glowing once again, whatever the hell that means. Disclosure – I'm NOT pregnant.

So what's the point with all my rambling here? I dunno actually. I suppose to just share with all that life is messy and complicated, and don't be afraid to not be busy and ask for help when you really need it. I'd like to think there's strength in admitting your problems in an effort to become stronger down the road.

And I'm really looking forward to being really inspired again!

What do you think? Share below!

The post Burnouts, breakdowns and that pesky work/life balance appeared first on Young Adventuress.

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Burnouts, breakdowns and that pesky work/life balance

Last year I bit off more than I could chew with travel. I said yes to too much. In fact, I said yes to almost everything, because isn’t that what we are told we are supposed to be like?

If I had a few days break in my calendar, I’d take on more work. If I had a few weeks, I’d book a trip somewhere. In 2017 I took almost 100 flights around the world. Sometimes I would literally go to a different country, do a job, fly back to New Zealand, come home for a day, and then fly off again somewhere else. It doesn’t take a genius to say that’s not exactly a sustainable lifestyle, and here I am eight years into this blogging thing acting like it’s year one.

We live in a world that idolizes being busy, that you can always being doing more, and I fucking can’t stand it. I’m over it. I want time for myself again.

Is that so selfish?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m so grateful for this world I’ve built for myself as a professional travel blogger, but I finally realized a few months ago that I couldn’t keep up with my own life.

My situation had become unbalanced. Travel didn’t excite me anymore. Stress was my constant companion. The pressure to be successful, to be creative all the time, and stay ahead of the game had been eating me alive.

Without even being aware of it, I quickly was slipping into deep unhappiness, along with some very unhealthy routines. By the end of September, I was just really unpleasant to be around. The littlest things would set me off, I’d get really nervous about normal things like flights or meetings, and I’d freak out over stuff that didn’t matter. Change upset me.

I was becoming bitter and negative. And just plain grumpy. Instead of responding to with excitement to things, I would only see the downsides. I used to always hate people who would react negatively to things or focusing on what could go wrong, and I had gone and become one of them!

A routine trip in October sent me spiraling rapidly towards a total breakdown, something I didn’t realize at the time. And then I stopped sleeping. Like I went 3 and half weeks with no sleep. Yes, it’s possible and yes, it’s literally the worst thing ever.

I’ll preface this by saying I’ve always been a really shitty sleeper. I am not quite sure how I got that way, but I imagine my crazy lifestyle of sleeping in different beds all the time, constantly changing timezones, with crazy work hours and an insane caffeine addiction thrown in for good measure over several years might have had something to do with it. I could fall asleep straight away but would wake up after a few hours and never get back to sleep.

On my travels it was getting harder and harder to get up in the morning. Until that point, I literally couldn’t remember the last time I slept a whole night straight without waking up. Unless I was heavily drugged.

About mid-way through last year I started to see different doctors about my sleep issues, usually resulting in being subscribed some kind of strong sleeping pill that I would invariably quickly become addicted to and would knock me out so hard that I would be sluggish for days afterwards, not even being able to drive.

I tried everything, from lavender baths, lavender sprays, melatonin, herbal shit, tons of exercise, yoga, massage, vitamins, less coffee, among many others.

Then I started working on a sleep routine, going to bed at the same time every night, stopping looking at screens hours before bed, finally making up my bed every day (seriously, who has time for that?), changing my diet, cutting out bad stuff like sugar and eating better, having several hours of dedicated “winding down” time before bed. If I woke up, I’d get up, read for a while in the other room, and then try to start the “going to bed” process over again.

Did it work? Nope.

Then I went from sleeping badly to not sleeping at all.

I don’t need to tell you guys that getting no sleep over long periods of time is just terrible. And even when I was so tired I couldn’t see straight, I STILL couldn’t sleep. It was the worst.

It didn’t take long for me to go slip towards the unhinged and have a bit of a breakdown. And no, not like a Britney-style-shave-my-head-in-public kind of breakdown, mine was far less exciting and boring in comparison. I was deep in a some burnouts.

The lack of sleep caused me so much stress that I couldn’t even brush my hair because my scalp and skin hurt so much from tension,  and I would get multiple migraines a week that only remedial physio and massage could alleviate. My body physically was in pain constantly from the stress of everything. Somedays I wouldn’t be able to move my head and I’d lose feeling in my feet or hands and my stomach constantly hurt.

Day in and out, I almost stopped being able to function, slipping into a zombie-like state for most of the day. I would have panic attacks and feel like I was going to faint; I’d cry uncontrollably at night after hours of trying to get to sleep unsuccessfully shifting between being hot and cold. I’d even start to drift to sleep and jerk awake frozen in a panic convinced someone was in my house to kill me. I wouldn’t be able to nap during the day but couldn’t get my eyes to focus on anything or even read. I snapped at everyone and was a huge bitch. I’d pick fights with my best friends for no reason.

Who was this person I had become?

After weeks and weeks of trying to convince myself that tonight would be the night I’d get some sleep and then failing, I finally found a different doctor who I connected with and who was interested in actually finding the cause of my insomnia. She was great, quickly diagnosing me with severe anxiety, among other goodies. My sleep was also being impacted my a shoulder injury from earlier last year along with some delightful nose problems I’ve been ignoring since college, a perfect cocktail for insomnia and sleep apnea.

But until she uttered the word “anxiety” it hadn’t even occurred to me that this might be an issue with me.

I was a really problematic kid and was forced into a lot of therapy that I hated as a preteen, and since I’ve grown up, I’ve really worked hard and prided myself on just generally keeping my shit together and being in charge. I’ve had ups and downs over the years like everyone. To spiral like this was really new for me and after failing to pull myself together, I realized I did, in fact, need some help.

I polled in on Instagram Stories to see who else had sleep problems, and thousands of you guys replied with the results being an even fifty – fifty. Obviously it goes without saying that I hate all of you who sleep all night long anywhere without any issue. WHAT’S IT LIKE?! But also it was some weird kind of solace to know that I am not alone in this, that a lot of us are in the same boat.

Not to mention a surprising number of you replied telling me to smoke weed. I feel like we are closer, and I know you all better than ever haha.

Forgoing heavy duty sleeping pills for anxiety meds, I’ve been working hard to get my sleep issues back under control. Whether my anxiety caused my insomnia or vice-versa, or a bit of both, who knows.

I’m not a psychiatrist or anything but I do know myself better than anyone else, and I think if anything last year taught me that I had very easily let myself be overwhelmed with stress and become unbalanced with my work and blogging. Obviously, not a good place to be, and not a place I wanted to be in ever again.

I didn’t quit my job to blog and travel full time to hate it or be unhappy. I suppose in some ways subconsciously I was feeling like I need to say yes to all the trips and events, worried that one day things might be different or feeling a need to feel grateful for this life all the time. Like I had to take advantage while I could or something. But the reality was that I was doing too much.

I was burnt out on my own dreams.

I couldn’t sustain the life I had been living, it was too intense with too much stress for one person to manage. I was overwhelmed. I needed to find time for myself again, time away from computers, work, photography and even traveling, in a way.

I needed to find some balance in my life again.

The scales had become to far tipped in one direction, only focusing on work and success, while personal happiness, and the little things we do for ourselves, even my friends and family, had taken a back-burner in importance. Not cool, Liz.

I never put a hold on or checked my stress, rather just telling myself, yup, you can do this, taking on more and more and more, never stopping, never breathing. By the time I stopped sleeping, I felt like I was drowning. While I could pull myself together publicly when I needed to, it was getting harder and harder.

In some ways I often wonder if my very profound insomnia was my body screaming at me to pay attention and get my shit together. Along with seeing sleep specialists (who, to be honest, I’m still really cynical about) and being on anxiety meds, I’ve also have been focusing my energy on establishing routine and balance back into my life.

I used to never have proper work/life boundaries; I basically never stopped working, ever.

Now I wake up, put on a podcast, and spend half an hour or so making coffee, waking up, sitting outside, ect before beginning my day. I stop working at normal hours, like 5 or 6 in the afternoon, making time to meet up with friends, go for long runs or hikes, swim in the lake, and have a few hours decompressing before bed. No more working til 2am.

I bought Netflix for the first time, and I’ll start watching TV or episodes, something I literally never did before. It sounds stupid to write this all down but for me, I needed to establish a normal routine again. I get facials and manicures just for the hell of it, and reminder to look after myself and a little pampering makes you feel good.

I’ve also been making some big changes on the blog that you might not have noticed yet. I’m still figuring it all out but I’ve finally accepted that I can’t keep doing everything myself, and to be honest, I don’t want to. I’m exhausted in more ways than one.

I’ve been working on building a team of my badass women friends to help me run the blog moving forward and to take some of the weight off my back, in all sorts of ways, for helping with partnerships to boring admin tasks, to taking on expert guest writers in areas that I really want more content on. I’m even going to cut back on how much travel I do moving forward, focusing on only a few major trips that excite me,  in the hopes of freeing up more time for me to work on more creative ventures, charities here, and on projects on here that I really want to do that I just haven’t had time for. Oh, and finish my first book!

Oh, and I also want FREE TIME TO DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! There, I admit it – I’m shouting it for the world to hear. I want time all to myself to just be lazy and not be busy with stuff. To think about things again and also think about sweet fuck all.

It’s like Liz 2.0.

It’s been a hard lesson to learn but I’ve realized rather painfully that I’ve got to look after myself first and foremost, and being constantly busy isn’t good for you, no matter what people say.

It’s been a few months now since everything crashed for me, and I really struggled with publicly admitting my anxiety on here for the first time, feeling like its a real weakness or afraid of being judged. I know that other people are probably in the same boat, especially women, and I know there are a lot of people out there dealing with far worse shit than my anxieties, another reason I’ve held back from sharing this.

But I can’t be the only one that feels there’s a real stigma still around mental health these days, and admitting something like crippling anxiety feels like somehow I wasn’t strong anymore or even worse, that I was a failure. But really, what’s so wrong with NOT being able to do it all?

Perhaps one of the most important things I’ve changed is working on just being a little bit nicer to myself. Instead of focusing on what I could be doing better, focusing on staying positive and being proud of what I’ve already done. I think we could all do with a little more kindness, don’t you?

The road uphill hasn’t been easy, and I’ve slipped off the bandwagon more than once, like having a week of no sleep a few weeks in to the occasional midnight Dominos pizza and wine binge (I mean seriously, there are only so many green smoothies a girl can fucking take). And while my sleep schedule isn’t perfect, it’s definitely a very big step up from where it was a few months ago.

But it’s only really in the past few weeks I’ve noticed that my personality is getting back to normal, where something that used to stress me out doesn’t even bother me anymore, and I that I’m back to being much more relaxed and laid back, and that I’m happier. I’ve just come home from a month traveling again and didn’t fly off the rails. Not to mention I’ve had more than one random acquaintance even say to me that I’m shiny and glowing once again, whatever the hell that means. Disclosure – I’m NOT pregnant.

So what’s the point with all my rambling here? I dunno actually. I suppose to just share with all that life is messy and complicated, and don’t be afraid to not be busy and ask for help when you really need it. I’d like to think there’s strength in admitting your problems in an effort to become stronger down the road.

And I’m really looking forward to being really inspired again!

What do you think? Share below!

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1021 Burnaby Street in Downtown Vancouver

1021 Burnaby Street by Francl Architecture is a new 5-storey concrete building located in the West End at 1021 Burnaby. This project will offer 21 one- and two- bedroom condominiums. The site is near the gateway to Davie Village. Your daily needs are easily met by the neighbourhood's stores and professional services.  With gyms, the False Creek-Stanley Park Seawall, the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, and English Bay, leisure options are close at hand.

The post 1021 Burnaby Street in Downtown Vancouver appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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1021 Burnaby Street in Downtown Vancouver

1021 Burnaby Street by Francl Architecture is a new 5-storey concrete building located in the West End at 1021 Burnaby. This project will offer 21 one- and two- bedroom condominiums. The site is near the gateway to Davie Village. Your daily needs are easily met by the neighbourhood’s stores and professional services.  With gyms, the False Creek-Stanley Park Seawall, the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, and English Bay, leisure options are close at hand.

The post 1021 Burnaby Street in Downtown Vancouver appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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Seychelles Islands Create Two New Marine Parks

The small nation of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean is creating two new marine parks with the Nature Conservancy’s help. In the first debt-swap deal of its kind, the Conservancy will pay off $21 million USD of the nation’s estimated $500 million debt in exchange for the marine-park designation. The deal will therefore cut the Seychelles’ debt load by around 4 percent.

The two parks will cover around 81,000 square miles (210,000 square kilometers), around the country’s Aldabra and Amirantes island groups. The government plans to heavily curtail both tourism and fishing within the area, which represents around 16 percent of the nation’s ocean territory. Even more promising, they plan to double the protected area by 2021. The protected total will ultimately include around 30 percent of the Seychelles ocean territory.

Seychelles Islands reefs facing environmental pressures 

The issues in the Seychelles are the same facing oceans and coral reefs across the world. Bleaching, warming waters, overfishing, marine debris and lack of conservation all plague the small country. The coral reef fringing Curieuse Island, once a leper colony and now a national park, suffered from severe bleaching in 2016 according to The Guardian.

David Rowat, a marine scientist and dive-school owner for 30 years says storms and bleaching events are becoming more frequent. “The biggest changes are climate change,” he told The Guardian.

“The ‘nemos’ all went,” he says. As the reef recovered, the 2016 bleaching was a “kick in the teeth.”

Two protected areas

The to-be-protected Aldabra atoll is one of the world’s most biodiverse marine environments, as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The islands and waters are home to spinner dolphins, mantas and humpback whales. Nurse, lemon and tiger sharks, as well as hawksbill and green turtles and endangered dugongs also share the waters. Around 100,000 rare giant tortoises roam the land of the atoll. The largest of the two protected areas will center on this island group, encompassing 28,500 square miles (74,000 square kilometers). It will prohibit all extractive uses, from fishing to oil exploitation and exploration.

The second protected area, much larger at almost 52,000 square miles (134,000 square kilometers) will center on the main island of Mahe. The government will allow controlled activities in this area, but will ban “fish aggregating devices,” which concentrate fish but increase bycatch.

How the deal works

These two new marine parks are the result of a deal wherein The Nature Conservancy purchased around $21 million of debt owed to the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Italy at a discount. Conservancy donors also raised an additional $5 million to pay off part of the debt. The money raised will help cut the interest rate the Seychelles government is paying on the outstanding loan. Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation also donated $1 million to the debt swap. Because of this, $12 million has been freed up over the next 20 years to help execute the new marine-park plan.

“The Seychelles is positioning itself as a world leader in ocean governance,” said environment minister, Didier Dogley to The Guardian. “But we are not doing this because we have such a great ego but because we truly believe these initiatives will create prosperity for our people, conserve critical biodiversity and build resilience against climate change.”

Other nations potentially following suit

Many conservationists will be anxiously watching the Seychelles deal take shape, hoping to replicate the effects in other island nations. Rob Weary of the Nature Conservancy spearheaded the deal. He hopes to close a $60 million debt-swap deal with Grenada this year, as well as others in the Caribbean. Mauritius could make a similar deal, reports The Guardian.

“In the next three to five years we could potentially do a billion dollars of these deals,” he said to The Guardian. “We have a sight line to that.”

The post Seychelles Islands Create Two New Marine Parks appeared first on Scuba Diver Life.

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Seychelles Islands Create Two New Marine Parks

The small nation of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean is creating two new marine parks with the Nature Conservancy's help. In the first debt-swap deal of its kind, the Conservancy will pay off $21 million USD of the nation's estimated $500 million debt in exchange for the marine-park designation. The deal will therefore cut the Seychelles' debt load by around 4 percent.

The two parks will cover around 81,000 square miles (210,000 square kilometers), around the country's Aldabra and Amirantes island groups. The government plans to heavily curtail both tourism and fishing within the area, which represents around 16 percent of the nation's ocean territory. Even more promising, they plan to double the protected area by 2021. The protected total will ultimately include around 30 percent of the Seychelles ocean territory.

Seychelles Islands reefs facing environmental pressures 

The issues in the Seychelles are the same facing oceans and coral reefs across the world. Bleaching, warming waters, overfishing, marine debris and lack of conservation all plague the small country. The coral reef fringing Curieuse Island, once a leper colony and now a national park, suffered from severe bleaching in 2016 according to The Guardian.

David Rowat, a marine scientist and dive-school owner for 30 years says storms and bleaching events are becoming more frequent. "The biggest changes are climate change," he told The Guardian.

"The 'nemos' all went," he says. As the reef recovered, the 2016 bleaching was a "kick in the teeth."

Two protected areas

The to-be-protected Aldabra atoll is one of the world's most biodiverse marine environments, as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The islands and waters are home to spinner dolphins, mantas and humpback whales. Nurse, lemon and tiger sharks, as well as hawksbill and green turtles and endangered dugongs also share the waters. Around 100,000 rare giant tortoises roam the land of the atoll. The largest of the two protected areas will center on this island group, encompassing 28,500 square miles (74,000 square kilometers). It will prohibit all extractive uses, from fishing to oil exploitation and exploration.

The second protected area, much larger at almost 52,000 square miles (134,000 square kilometers) will center on the main island of Mahe. The government will allow controlled activities in this area, but will ban "fish aggregating devices," which concentrate fish but increase bycatch.

How the deal works

These two new marine parks are the result of a deal wherein The Nature Conservancy purchased around $21 million of debt owed to the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Italy at a discount. Conservancy donors also raised an additional $5 million to pay off part of the debt. The money raised will help cut the interest rate the Seychelles government is paying on the outstanding loan. Leonardo DiCaprio's foundation also donated $1 million to the debt swap. Because of this, $12 million has been freed up over the next 20 years to help execute the new marine-park plan.

"The Seychelles is positioning itself as a world leader in ocean governance," said environment minister, Didier Dogley to The Guardian. "But we are not doing this because we have such a great ego but because we truly believe these initiatives will create prosperity for our people, conserve critical biodiversity and build resilience against climate change."

Other nations potentially following suit

Many conservationists will be anxiously watching the Seychelles deal take shape, hoping to replicate the effects in other island nations. Rob Weary of the Nature Conservancy spearheaded the deal. He hopes to close a $60 million debt-swap deal with Grenada this year, as well as others in the Caribbean. Mauritius could make a similar deal, reports The Guardian.

"In the next three to five years we could potentially do a billion dollars of these deals," he said to The Guardian. "We have a sight line to that."

The post Seychelles Islands Create Two New Marine Parks appeared first on Scuba Diver Life.

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Why your hotel’s mobile traffic is not converting into bookings

Visits to hotel websites from smartphones in many cases now represent more than 50% of total traffic. However, bookings made on these devices, although growing strongly, "only" just reached about 20% in 2017.

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Booking.com: 68% of total site traffic came from mobile in 2017

Booking.com managed to increase their mobile traffic by implementing a highly sophisticated keyword strategy that optimized terms like cheap, hotels, motels near me, and las vegas.

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Booking.com first as Google rates UK travel sites on mobile friendliness

Google has rated Booking.com, followed by Kayak, eDreams and Lastminute, as the most mobile-friendly travel sites in the UK.

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Hoping for better customer service, travelers turn to Facebook’s Messenger

Companies are quietly allocating customer-service resources to handling queries received via Facebook, and it may offer a shortcut to better service.

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Younger travelers rely on search engines, recall ads more often

How much do images and videos - as well as phrases in search ads describing lush tropical climates that serve up to residents living in snowy cold climates - actually influence purchase decisions? Much more than some might think.

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Unique ways hotels are using Twitter

Most every brand uses social media to entice and engage, but when it comes to connecting via Twitter, the platform's truncated format can create unique challenges for marketing teams. Some hotels, however, are crafting unique campaigns for the platform.

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If visitors to your hotel website were 100 people…

Are you out-converting the competition - or are you falling behind? Are you turning lookers into bookers - or letting potential guests slip through the net?

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Simple Booking world’s first Booking Engine to accept payments in Bitcoin

The team at Simple Booking, the innovative online hotel booking, has successfully launched Bitcoin payments for online hotel bookings.

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The Granville by Aoyuan Property on Vancouver’s Westside

The Granville by Aoyuan Property is a new 8-storey mixed-use concrete development located at the corner of Granville and West 7th. This project will offer four retail units and 41 one-, two-, and three-bedroom condominiums. The project is set within a well-developed community and a prosperous commercial environment. It is only a 10-minute walk to Granville Island, a popular hotspot for sightseeing and entertainment with a thriving art scene. The Granville will be 5-minute walk from the extension of the Millennium Line Skytrain upon completion.

The post The Granville by Aoyuan Property on Vancouver’s Westside appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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The Granville by Aoyuan Property on Vancouver’s Westside

The Granville by Aoyuan Property is a new 8-storey mixed-use concrete development located at the corner of Granville and West 7th. This project will offer four retail units and 41 one-, two-, and three-bedroom condominiums. The project is set within a well-developed community and a prosperous commercial environment. It is only a 10-minute walk to Granville Island, a popular hotspot for sightseeing and entertainment with a thriving art scene. The Granville will be 5-minute walk from the extension of the Millennium Line Skytrain upon completion.

The post The Granville by Aoyuan Property on Vancouver's Westside appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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Alma & 10th on Vancouver’s Westside

Alma & 10th by Landa Global is a new four-story mixed-use concrete development located at the corner of Alma & West 10th Ave.  Contemporary form transitions into traditional charm to enhance this upscale neighborhood. This classically-inspired project will offer seven retail units and 32 two and three-bedroom condominiums. The Broadway commercial district, top-rated schools, Almond Park, fitness centre and more are just steps away.

The post Alma & 10th on Vancouver's Westside appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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Alma & 10th on Vancouver’s Westside

Alma & 10th by Landa Global is a new four-story mixed-use concrete development located at the corner of Alma & West 10th Ave.  Contemporary form transitions into traditional charm to enhance this upscale neighborhood. This classically-inspired project will offer seven retail units and 32 two and three-bedroom condominiums. The Broadway commercial district, top-rated schools, Almond Park, fitness centre and more are just steps away.

The post Alma & 10th on Vancouver’s Westside appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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Dive Site: B-17F Black Jack Bomber Wreck, Papua New Guinea

Lying undisturbed in the deep water just off the fringing reef from the remote village of Boga Boga on the tip of Cape Vogel is one of the best aircraft wrecks in Papua New Guinea — and possibly the world. The wreck is the B-17F "Black Jack," serial number 41-24521. It was one of the first B-17F Flying Fortress bombers built by Boeing during WWII, delivered to the U.S. Army in July 1942 for $314,109. These days, the Black Jack bomber makes for an incredible dive site.

Black Jack history

The Black Jack bomber arrived in Australia in September of 1942 to join the war efforts in Port Moresby under Captain Kenneth McCullar and his crew of nine. Avid gambler McCullar christened the plane "Black Jack," based on the last two digits of its serial number – 21.

Captain McCullar was quite a pilot who, at the controls of Black Jack, developed the potentially dangerous but devastating technique of "skip bombing," that sank the Japanese Kagero Class destroyer Hayashio in November 1942.

That attack left Black Jack so badly damaged that it was out of action for two months. When it returned to service, it was eventually assigned to its next — and what would turn out to be its last pilot — Lieutenant Ralph De Loach.

The final flight

Black Jack's final flight was on July 10^th, 1943. That night, it left Port Moresby just before midnight on a mission to bomb the heavily fortified Japanese airfields at Rabaul in New Britain. Problems with both of the right-wing engines developed on the flight, but De Loach and his crew of nine reached Rabaul successfully and delivered their bombs on target.

On the way back to Port Moresby, De Loach ran into a violent storm, a situation he later described the situation as "the blackest of black nights…the worst flying weather I'd ever seen in my life."

With two engines badly malfunctioning, it was impossible to hold the plane on course for Port Moresby. So, the captain turned the Black Jack southeast down the coast toward Milne Bay. They made it as far as Cape Vogel where, with virtually no fuel left, they decided to ditch Black Jack on the shallow reef that runs parallel to the sandy beach at Boga Boga.

DeLoach gave the controls to his co-pilot Joseph Moore, who had ditched a plane before. He managed to put the plane down but over-shot the reef flat, ending up over the deep water. The plane floated briefly before sinking to the seabed 164 feet (50 m) below.

There was just enough time for the 10-man crew to get out before Black Jack sank. They all managed to get to shore with the aid of local villagers, who had seen the plane come down.

An Australian Coastwatcher saw the crash landing and informed air-sea rescue to dispatch an RAAF seaplane to evacuate the wounded. A PT boat arrived two days later to take the uninjured crew to Goodenough Island and on to Port Moresby.

Both DeLoach and Moore received Silver Star medals, and other crew members received commendation as well for their parts in the overall mission and getting the plane down. Black Jack, however, lay largely forgotten on the sea floor and remained undisturbed there for another 43 years.

The discovery

Three Australians — Rodney Pearce, Bruce Johnson and David Pennefather — stumbled on the wreck almost by accident in late December 1986.

Pennefather had visited the Cape Vogel area earlier in 1986 and had heard from the villagers that a plane had crashed near their reef in WWII. Subsequently, he organized a Christmas dive trip with Pearce and Johnson to find what they believed was an Australian Beaufort A9.

Boga Boga villagers guided the three divers to the general location where the plane had gone down. When they entered the water, they planned to spread out and cover as much area as possible to try and find it.

Pearce found the wreck first, spotting the large tail-plane as he conducted his search. Over the next few days they dived the wreck as much as its depth of nearly 164 feet (50 m) would allow, entering the inside of the plane and finding the Radio Call Plate with the 24521-serial number. This later helped them positively identify it as the famous Black Jack.

Diving the Black Jack

Sitting as it does, nearly intact on the sandy seabed in clear, blue waters, makes diving the Black Jack almost like diving a set from a Hollywood movie. The nose is badly crumpled from the crash landing and the propellers on the four engines are somewhat twisted. But the rest of the plane is basically intact, which is quite remarkable after nearly 70 years underwater. Visibility on the site can easily exceed 130 feet (40 m).

According to the crew, the plane sank within 45 seconds of stopping and the crew only just had time to scramble out with the three wounded members. Apart from two waist guns and the radio transmitters, jettisoned prior to ditching, Black Jack took all its contents with it to the seafloor.

Pearce, Johnson and Pennefather found machine guns still in their turrets with hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the tracks. They were still able to move the twin tail guns freely in their mounts.

The main catch when it comes to diving the Black Jack bomber is depth. At nearly 164 feet (50 m), it is beyond the limits of recreational diving. Although it's a straightforward dive in every other regard, decompression and bottom time are critical to a safe overall experience. There is a permanent guideline from the shallow reef that leads you down the slope. At around 49 feet (15 m) you will be able to see the wreck below you. The line goes all the way down and ends near the wreck's huge tail. From there, head to the front of the plane to take in its full size.

How to visit the Black Jack bomber

Given Cape Vogel's remote location, options are limited. Tufi Dive Resort will visit the wreck on special request, however. The trip involves a two-hour boat ride across Collingwood Bay from Cape Nelson to Boga Boga, but you need good weather to visit.

The Golden Dawn liveaboard includes Black Jack as part of its Milne Bay itinerary at certain times of the year as well.

Don Silcock is an Australian based in Bali who has dived many of the best locations across the Indo-Pacific. If you are interested in learning more about Black Jack, check out the complete guide on his website.

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