November Photo Contest Honorable Mentions PT 2

We’re having a monthly photo contest every month up until December 31st.  You can win by having an awesome photo or just by a random draw…so everyone has a chance.  These are some of the honorable mentions from November.

Check out the contest here.

Full Moon Party! by Shawna Irish

Petting Tigers by Shawna Irish

The Philippines by Sheena Perndorfer

Nemo by Tuesdays Cha Cha

by Teresa Perdigao

Abandoned military vehicle by Steven Willeboordse

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand by Sarah Galloway

by Matt Cinderey

Koh Ang Thong, Thailand by Jonny Bierman

The falls at Batad, The Philippines by Jenna Valleriani

Pranang Bay by Chantelle Friesen Stobbe

Snake Wine in Vietnam by Fraser Mount

Novice Monks in Chiang Mai by Jason Bell

November Photo Contest Honorable Mentions PT 1

We’re having a monthly photo contest every month up until December 31st.  You can win by having an awesome photo or just by a random draw…so everyone has a chance.  These are some of the honorable mentions from November.

Check out the contest here.

A novice monk hanging out in Nong Kai, Thailand. by Amy Giesbrecht

Snorkelling in Indonesia. by Basia Okoniewska

River rafting in Chiang Mai by Caitlin Stewart.

Pranang Bay at Railay, Thailand by Caitlin Stewart.

Group leader, Ben, driving the longtail boatback from the full moon party. by Caroline Stern

Koh Phangnan, Thailand sunset by Chrissy May

Ayuthaya, Thailand by Chantelle Friesen Stobbe

by Jason Bell

Volcano (and ladies) in the Philippines by Jenna Valleriani

Bamboo Island, Thailand by Jenna Valleriani

The Rice Terraces of Batad, The Philippines by Jonny Bierman

It doesn’t get much more “Free and Easy” than this….Nicaragua. by Kelsey Calhoun

From the school visit on the southern Thailand trip.  by Nadine Woudstra

by Shawna Irish

The Lottery You Never Knew You Won

(by Madison Schwartz)

Whenever I meet people for the first time, the subject of travel seems to inevitably come up. Traveling is a major part of my life, I love it, and thus, I seem to always end up talking about it. People are sometimes unsure how to start planning, and saving for a trip, and a common response when I invite someone to travel with me, or to travel in general is “…Ya… when I win the lottery”. Well, here’s the thing, you’ve already won it, so pack your bags.

Think about your life. Chances are, if you’re reading this blog, you’re from a middle-class family, in the Western world. Now, I’m not a statistician, I’m not going to bombard you with numbers, but I wager you’re pretty stoked that you haven’t been born one of those people that live on less than $2 a day.  These people number approximately 2.8 billion, we number considerably less. Not everyone in the world today has the opportunity to travel, we do, and should take advantage of it. In addition, because of where we live, none of us were pressed into military service at the age of 18 (more than eighty countries worldwide still enforce some level of conscription, effectively removing the ability to backpack freely, at least for a time).

Now think about the era into which you’ve been born. Many of our grandparents, and great grandparents had the opportunity to visit Europe, or Asia, but it certainly wasn’t for pleasure (this is a reference to the World Wars, for those who are less historically inclined). We live in the freest era the world has ever seen, we’re not expected to join the army, get married, have children, or own a home by the time we’re 25, we can, but we don’t HAVE to. We’re part of what’s being dubbed the “boomerang generation”, we have a unique opportunity to have been born into a time when it is very acceptable to pursue a travelers lifestyle for a few years, and most of us still have the safety net of a home to come back to.

We live in the era of air travel. Sometimes, bleary eyed, and pissed off at the lack of movie selection on my 12 hour flight to Bangkok, I have to remind myself that only a few decades ago that same journey took several weeks, and a ship full of hearty sailors. Take advantage of this era when flight prices are at all time lows, don’t wait for that big retirement trip in forty years, the way things are going, there might be no aviation fuel left. Pretty good timing for us I’d say.

And yes, I know, even though all these things have added up to create an era where world travel is possible, it still costs a pretty penny, but here’s a clichéd idea you could try. If you’re a student like me, you drink a shitload of coffee, and odds are you buy your coffee at $5 a cup from the capitalist heathens at Starbucks. Brew your own for a year, and pocket the fivers, and next year we’ll go to this little café I know in Bangkok, and the coffees are on me. Deal? Deal.

Best photos of the October photo contest Part 2

The amazing Had Yuan, Thailand by Kimber Parker
Thailand’s seas are so perfect…. by Kimber Parker
A woman from the Long Neck tribe in Northern Thailand. by Lisha Saliani
Nothing like Railay at dusk.  by Marie-Pierre Duquette

Sunrise at the Full Moon Party in Thailand by Shawna Irish

The lagoon at Railay, Thailand by Nadine Woudstra

Some “cute” Nicaraguan kids ;) by Melissa Milakovic

Best photos of the October photo contest Part 1

Here are some of the best photos (that didn’t have the most “likes”) in our Facebook Photo contest.  Its easy to enter and there is also a “random draw” aspect….so just drop 5 pics into our contest and you might find yourself winning a trip to any of these amazing places below!  Here’s the contest.

The surrounding area of Angkor Wat in Cambodia by Antony Martens

Temple in Seoul….while Seoul isn’t officially a Free & Easy destination, many of our flights have a layover long enough to get out and check stuff like this out!photo by Brynn Nicholson
photo by Caitlin Stewart
sunrise at Angor Wat by Chrissy May
Elephants are cool!  by Chrissy May
Boating through Halong Bay by Fraser Mount
For many people these are their favorite parts of Indonesia.  by Graeme Haunholter
Group leader, Colin Ward, getting ready for tubing. by Janelle Lane
Our little private piece of paradise in the Philippines by Kaitlyn Izsak
The “unofficial” Free and Easy mascot “Sim the Monkey” by Kelsey Hammond

Reading Week For Less - RevelSTOKED

Leaving on February 25th, Free & Easy will pack two buses departing from each of Edmonton andCalgary and one more from Vancouver and will head to the winter wonderland of Revelstoke for two full days of riding and 2 nights of good times. The price for this sick beauty is 315$*. Fill out an online registration and make a 100$ trip deposit before November 30th to get early bird prices of 300$

Included in the price of 315$*:
2 Days riding at Revelstoke Mountain Resort
2 Nights accommodations in Revelstoke**
Transportation to and from Revelstoke***
And, a whole lot of fun

* STUDENT PRICING is available for 315$ (make sure you let us know you are a Student and have your Student ID handy for proof). Regular cost of the trip will be 330$.

Click here to fill out a registration and make your deposit or contact us for more details!

Reading Week For Less - 10 Days in Nicaragua

Forget the Mexico all-inclusive for Reading Week, and instead embark on a true travel adventure to the beautiful, exotic, friendly, inexpensive, and truly awesome Nicaragua! Imagine spending your Reading Week lying on a gorgeous beach, or surfing smooth waves, and having an easy-going group of friends to celebrate all the good living with! We’ll visit 3 destinations, and have surf days for up to a week of the 10-days! You’ll be watching glorious sunsets, and sipping delicious (& cheap!) Flor de Cana rum, and be a world away from the thought of school or stress! Life is great in Nicaragua, and we’ll make sure you have the best trip imaginable!

You can leave home in the morning, and that night you will be at a beach house hearing the sound of waves crash. Nicaragua is still somewhat unknown, but that makes it all the more special to travel in. It isn’t
overdeveloped, or sanitized for tourists, and provides that authentic feeling of traveling….Take 10 days this February and live Tranquilo!!

Reading Week Surftown Getaway:

Feb. 19th - Feb. 28th

Make a $200 deposit to secure your spot. Then follow our payment schedule to make monthly payments.

Early Bird pricing till Nov. 15th only:
$1940 CAD (flight & taxes included**)
$940 CAD Land Only (all taxes included)

**Prices are based on departures from Vancouver/LAX.

USE THE CODE TO SAVE YOUR $150: nicareadingweek.

REGISTER HERE!

Who said travel days had to be boring?

(by Jeff Emmett)

One would think that since the word ‘travel’ implies moving from place to place, then travellers would be accustomed to such a thing.  Some more than others do enjoy the thrill of heading somewhere new and unknown, but I have seen more than a little dread cross someone’s face when they look at the endless kilometres that must be traversed to their next fun destination.  

Although the saying “It’s not the destination but the journey that matters” is true in the larger sense of your life long journey, try quoting that to a haggard soul who has been on a train for 36 hours and they might tell you different.  Travel in most people’s experience involves seeing new places and experiencing new things, not just passing them by at 80 km/hour.  And so the oft-dreaded ‘travel day’ is born.  Luckily, Free & Easy has a solution to that.

Travel with Free & Easy is not comparable to anything I have ever experienced.  What might have been a long, lonely, iPOD filled ride (better hope that battery doesn’t run out!) if you were travelling solo or with a friend has the potential to turn into a massively mobile party on wheels.  You are never alone without someone to share a conversation with when you are in a group of 20+ happy, friendly people travelling the same direction without a care in the world except when is the next bathroom break (or beer stop!).  Whether it is chillaxing on a ferry from one paradise island to the next, playing games at the pier waiting for a transfer, or enjoying the wind whip your hair into a frenzy in the back of a truck, Free & Easy travel days are anything but boring!

Indeed, they have perfected the recipe for group travel over the past decade, and even provide the Thailand trip with the ultimate travel vehicle:  the PARTY bus!  Equipped with a devastating sound system, indoor siren lights, and a leather couch at the back, the party bus is an explosion waiting to happen like a chemical reaction.  Take a group of fun loving people, add costumes, a few road pops (that’s allowed in Thailand, and for that matter pretty much anywhere outside of the western world), some sweet tunes and maybe a rainbow coloured wig, enclose for 3 hours, shake it up with some on bus crowd surfing and a bumpy road and BOOM!  Party time!  You are at your destination in no time, and kind of sad to be getting off the bus!

Even when things go wrong on a Free & Easy travel day, there is always a silver lining hidden in the clouds.  While travelling from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang on the LTC, my group experienced quite heavy traffic due to excessive mud on the road caused by recent landslides. At first we were expecting a few hour delay and grabbed some snacks and beers from local roadside villagers, but as we edged our way around some clifftop roads and the tires slipped closer to the edge with every tap of the brakes, we knew something was up.  As time wore on we realized we were in this for the long haul…it looked like we were going to be delayed over 15 hours and would have to spend the night on the bus!  Not to be discouraged, we made friends with some of the locals to ferry a few crates of beverages to and from the bus for us to enjoy, and after a few hours of hanging out on the bus we decided to go and explore the local cliffside village.  

The locals were excited to see us, as they don’t have much exposure to foreigners except in the odd roadside stop.  The women of the village graciously offered us food for free as we were quite hungry and stranded with no dinner, but we understood the plight they were in living in such poor conditions so we offered them a fair price of a dollar or two for corn and rice to tide us over until we reached our destination.The children came out and wanted to play games with us, resulting in endless rounds of Stella Ella Olla for the girls and catching cicadas (a noisy but harmless bug about the size of half your palm) and giant bat-sized moths (honestly, it was as big as your hand!) for the boys.  I have never seen a child so happy as the boy who had a cicada in each fist - it was like Christmas morning!  Who needs that expensive plastic Tonka truck when you’ve got perfectly good bugs to put in your pockets? 

We also discovered that a 4 year old Laos child was much better at catching the cicadas than we were - they had no hesitation to get in there and grab it by the wings or thorax, where a lot of us foreigners would hesitate or recoil because we thought it was gross.  It reminded me of how some people hesitate to take the reins on their life and idly watch it pass by from the sidelines - while Free & Easy shows us that it is okay to grab life by the horns and enjoy every minute of it.  Even on a travel day!

Best photos of the September photo contest

Here is a selection of some of the best entries into the September photo contest and random draw.  They didn’t get the most likes but they are awesome nonetheless!

Each month 2 people get chosen to be in our final draw on Dec 31.  One is chosen by the most “likes” on Facebook and the other by random draw.  So get your travel pics in and you might win!  Enter here.

September Winner with the most “likes” by Marissa Ann

Lotus Flower by Asia Basinski

Sea Turtle by Chantelle Stobbe

Pranang Bay, Thailand by Chantelle Stobbe

Thailand by Christine Smith

Maderas Beach, Nicaragua by David Jol

Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua by David Jol

by Ellen Keith

Northern Thailand by Fraser Mount

by Graeme Haunholter

The entrance to Bayon, Cambodia by Janelle Lane

by Len Langevin

Greece….the birthplace of F&E….and the future??   by Nadine Woudstra

Full Moon Party Carnage by Sara Jade Gooding

by Sara Galloway

The floating bungalows, Thailand by Shawn Bench

by Amy Giesbrecht

Survivor Nicaragua…on our Free & Easy Beach!!!

The first Survivor Nicaragua is already 2 episodes in!!! And to make things even more surreal, the recently purchased Free & Easy beach front property is being used as part of the set for this!!! Actually, if you have been watching, the ‘Young’ tribe is actually staying on our beach!!!  After Survivor is done taping, this beach will be the site of The Free & Easy Surf Camp and Bungalows coming in January 2011.  This beach is secluded, breath-taking, and it has beautiful waves perfect for surfing…and we would love you all to experience it with us!!!

 Our Nicaragua Adventures are going into it’s second year and after such a stellar first year, we decided to add more departures for both the 10 Day and 20 Day Trips.  During this trip, you will get the chance to live life tranquilo; whether that means you decide to hike up a volcano, catch some surf, scuba dive on pristine reefs or just swing in a hammock enjoying the view.  Nicaragua has something for everyone.  Check out our upcoming departures to Nicaragua…we would love to see you there!!!

• Jan. 9th – Jan 29th
• Mar. 3rd - Mar. 23rd
• Mar. 27th - Apr. 16th
• May 1st – May 21st
• May 23rd – June 12th
• Nov. 25th – Dec. 15th

2011 Nicaragua 10-day trip dates:

• Dec 28th - Jan 7th New Years!!!
• Feb. 12th – Feb. 21st (Western Canada Reading Break)
• Feb. 19th - Feb. 28th (Eastern Canada Reading Break)
• July 7th – July 17th
• Nov. 13th – Nov. 23rd

For more information about this adventure or go secure your spot to Nicaragua, please click here.