Charlottetown   |   Accommodations: HI Charlottetown Backpacker’s Inn, 60 Hillsborough St, Charlottetown, PE

I wake at 5:30 after a very good sleep! I flop around, happily lazy without the need to get the day started early. I am the first in the hostel to get out of bed, and in doing so I enjoy a full, rejuvenating shower. I then write for close to an hour in the kitchen, enjoying tea and a cool breeze entering from the backyard-facing window. As hostel guests slowly wake over the course of the morning I enter into and exit out of numerous interesting conversations. A few of the guests who had read the entry I wrote in the hostel guestbook produced some interesting questions, garnering further conversations about what I am doing and why. Matthew was a young man who I had seen yesterday around the hostel. He had presented a paper at a conference in the city of Halifax a few days ago and had been touring the east coast before returning his rental car. He asked about the motivation behind my decision to carry out this walk. We talked about passions and creative, ridiculous forms of dreaming. His research into indigenous water resources perked my interest, and we talked about where his research was leading him. He left for Halifax after breakfast, and I wished him good travels to which he returned the sentiment. I also enjoyed another interesting conversation with the owner of the hostel named Sharron about writing, education, and practice. By 9:30 I am out into the day, exploring the area called “Victoria Park” and continuing to walk around “Charlottetown Harbour”. I then walk up to the “T3 Transit” bus terminal to inquire about bus tickets. I want to see if a ticket can be purchased that will transport me to where the ferry would have let me off in Nova Scotia (the towns of “Caribou” / “Pictou” / “New Glasgow” located across the water). The bus line is able to provide me with a ticket to the town of “New Glasgow” which is next to perfect, solving the issue of having to backtrack due to the inoperable ferry. I would still prefer to have ridden the ferry, but this is the next best alternative. On the walk returning to the hostel, I stop to look over the menu of an Indian restaurant. As I am looking a man exiting with take-out hands me a discount coupon to be used for a meal at the restaurant. I enjoy the butter chicken. I pick up pints on the walk returning to the hostel, enjoying them over a few hours of focussed work transcribing notes, editing images, and uploading everything to the blog. Eventually, guests return and check into the building, and I find myself enjoying numerous conversations. 5:30 I power down the laptop, and explore the “Black and White Convenience” store one block away from the hostel for an order of shawarma and tabouli. As I wait for my meal, one of the owners approaches from the open kitchen, and we begin talking about the restaurant. I ask about the wall behind the cash register showcasing shelf upon shelf of wooden carvings in the form of human figures, animals, and sailing ships. The man—his name is Razeen—tells me that they are the collection of his brother who is his business partner. He was wondering why I am walking, understanding why I would be interested in such a massive challenge. I talk to Razeen for over ten minutes, and it became very clear that he loved what he was doing and loved the business that he had worked hard to help build. I eat, and then walk a block to a Vietnamese restaurant—“Saigon Cuisine”—that I had spotted during yesterday’s walk. A calming, minimal, quiet space and very tasty food are enjoyed, followed by some downtime in the empty hostel common room. I prepare for sleep, climbing into bed sometime around 9:30. I have been moved to another room due to reservations, with which I have no issue. The room I am now occupying is on the third and top floor, featuring skylights offering views of the sky and a cooling, calming air conditioner.

Today’s distance walked: 14.18 km (city walking)    |    Total distance walked: 2,035.91 km