Saturday, June 18, 2016

Capilano - Face Your Fears

Have you ever done something because it just looked so amazing from pictures and then proceeded to hate your decision after you did it?
Oh.. yeah me neither..


Anyways, a couple weekends ago, I had some friends visiting from different states and while my itinerary list was very long with possibilities, I had my eye set on one thing in particular, after we decided that going up to Canada would be a fun day trip (they both had never been).
The Capilano suspension bridges, while seemingly nerve wracking, were something I had been wanting to go and see for awhile, to experience them.
With a 3 hour drive up from my hometown in WA, we would spend the whole day up in Vancouver, having fun, progressively getting lost on the way back, and finding something new to enjoy together, in a way.


All of us in our right minds, didn't necessarily know what to expect from the sight we'd only seen pictures of. A place for tourists from many areas waiting to cross the threshold from nervous to terrified in a matter of a few steps. Let's just say, I was a little bit more scared than I had initially thought I would be.
I am afraid of heights and while I knew, trust me I knew, we would be walking across a very high bridge stretched between two cliffs, I guess I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.
The entire walk of fright was spent halfheartedly trying to take pictures of myself, of my friends, of the scenery, with my hand grasping the side of the bridge for moral and physical support.



I'm a scaredy cat. I have no shame in admitting that, but I know while I threw a smile onto my face, every person I walked by could see the terrified look I had in my eyes, especially as everyone passing asked me if I was ok...
The bridge itself looked very stable and that was not the most terrifying part, it was the fact that it swayed under every step, children ran on it when they were not supposed to. It really made it all worse.
Not my finest moment, but definitely worth a laugh afterwards. My friends did fine, although one was for sure in the same boat as me.



We walked across twice, did the treetop adventure, took in all of the sights, saw the predatory birds for show, and walked on the cliff walk bridge as well (also scary).
We spent a good amount of time here and saw everything we could.
We spent the rest of our day driving through Vancouver and getting a late lunch before heading home, after going the wrong way and circling through the airport.

Despite the terror, visiting Vancouver with my friends was so much fun. It was a new experience I got to have with some great people. Driving through the city and just chatting about nonsense, that's what it's all about!

Cheers and safe travels everyone!

Thursday, June 2, 2016

For the Girls - Lunette Cup Review

Let's be honest here, things are about to get a little personal. Sorry, a lot.
I have been shying away from using this product because I was afraid it wouldn't work out in my lifestyle, although being a seemingly convenient choice for travel, I'm also not a big fan of change in these areas of my life.

So let's get to it. I'm referring to the menstrual cup, or in my case, the cup I bought from Lunette.
Now again, let me state that changing ways in the process of shoving things up my hoohaw every month wasn't on my top priority list, but because I have some big trips coming up, I thought I would give it a chance beforehand.

This is the first week I have ever used this product or any of them, so my opinion is completely unbiased.
I have been an avid tampon user since high school and while I don't like to talk about my bodily functions, this seems like a pretty critical subject for any lady out there who's a part of the traveling game.



The Lunette cup I bought was just the standard model 1 in blue (since it is my favorite color).
The directions of use are pretty easy to follow and also not difficult to understand.
The cup itself isn't as big as what your mind tends to think it will be (at least from what I thought).
It is made out of silicone and is very comfortable once inserted, much more than any tampon, and it definitely doesn't have the same instinctual pain when you're inserting it either.
I don't know how many times I just couldn't relax enough before shoving a tampon in there and it hurt so bad I wanted to cry.
Not with this cup, the silicone is a plus because it doesn't hurt at all and you can hardly feel it when it's in there.
Guiding it up into the right place and making sure it's open all the way can be hard to tell sometimes, but I never had any problems with it not working. And while you can leave it in for up to 12 hours, I would only suggest that at nighttime, but I did only empty it maybe twice during the day.

Now, let's get to the more personal, kind of gross, aspect of this. This is a cup, made for catching your blood, so taking it out and emptying it, isn't going to be the most pleasant thing in the world. It's actually quite gross having to put your fingers up there, grab it and pull it out as it's still trying to do its job. Emptying it into your toilet or where ever you are is going to look like something way worse is going on and having to wipe that slimy, bloody, kind of gooey thing off before you shove it back up there, it's not so cool. Messier than a tampon, but more eco friendly, so I think it still wins on that.

The recommendations for cleaning are to rinse it off with water every time you take it out, but that's just not convenient when using a public restroom at work, so I took some watered down paper towels to wipe it off, good and clean, before using again.
At home, I definitely rinse it with hot water and if you have a mild soap that won't cause irritation, I would use that too.

Overall though, I didn't have any leaks throughout this whole week process and while somewhat gross, it's very easy to use. The cleaning aspect is a little bit inconvenient at times, but it's doable.
For travel, it's way better and space effective than carrying around a billion tampons, although a pad or two might come in handy just in case. The do have wipes that would be good for on the go, which I'm saving for my actual trip.

Would I recommend this product? For sure. Will I use it again? Most definitely when traveling, maybe sometimes while at home. While convenient, it's tricky in an office setting at times.

Cheers and safe travels everyone!