The Last Time I Saw You (Part Nine)
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
3M ago
The Last Time I Saw You is a series dedicated to those I’ve met on the road, those fellow ships passing in the night. For all of the instalments of the series, please click here. Please note that I often change details in these stories as to protect and respect the individuals mentioned. The last time I saw you, I knew it would be the last time. Isn’t that a strange feeling? To say goodbye to someone and know you’ll never see them again. “I’ll see you in a couple of months,” you said to me, your mouth pressed against my ear. We were the same height. I felt the stubble on your chin brush ..read more
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What is Grey Rocking? How to Deal with Toxic People and Narcissists
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
5M ago
Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly more interested in relationships and why they do (or don’t) work. Along the way I’ve read a lot about dealing with those who show narcissistic tendencies and emotionally abusive behaviour, and then discovered the best way to deal with such people whenever we have to interact with them: grey rocking. So what is grey rocking, and how can it help you deal with the toxic people in your life? In this article, I’ll explain what grey rocking is, when you should or shouldn’t use it, and how it can help you effectively protect yourself from people in yo ..read more
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How to Get Over a Tough Breakup
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
6M ago
Photo by Mark Pan4ratte on Unsplash It doesn’t matter if you were together for 30 years, five years, or even a few months, let’s face it: breakups are terrible. In fact, a tough breakup is often cited as one of the most stressful things you’ll ever go through in life. If you’re reading this, you might have gone through a breakup recently, or are still reeling from a previous breakup, to which I say: I know how you feel. If you take nothing else away from this article, I want you to know that you are not alone, and I want you to know that it is absolutely OK to be as confused, angry ..read more
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2022: Oh Right, I Had a Baby
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
10M ago
Oh, hi. Right. I have a blog. A blog I used to love with all my heart and post on multiple times a week and that led to my entire travel writing career and that I still rely on for a bit of ad money so that I can buy diapers. And yet… the last post I wrote was a review of 2021?! And I’m writing about a post about 2022… in June of 2023?! Maybe I’m being too hard on myself. I did, in fact, have a baby on my own, and have been a single mom since day one. I also started another business, a blog all about my home province of Manitoba, which is already flourishing and promises to grow even bigger t ..read more
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2021: The Worst… I Mean, the Best Year of My Life
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
2y ago
This image was taken by Sunny S-H Photography I’ve been meaning to write this year in review for three months now. And as the calendar is just about to flip over to April, I figured I should actually sit down to write it. And it’s quite fitting that I am writing this on my baby’s due date; I’m in bed, Dottie curled up beside me, as my nerves and excitement aren’t allowing me to sleep. I so often feel so self-indulgent writing these kinds of posts; more and more, all of my personal blog posts feel self-indulgent. Blog posts about things to do in Tirana or the definition of lovebombing feel som ..read more
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Winterlude 2022: Vote for Manitoba!
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
2y ago
Photo by Stephanie Woltman Last weekend I had the chance to do something really cool here in Winnipeg: I got to witness the Winterlude Ice Carving Championship in action! A little bit of backstory: this year, in the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, 20 ice carvers across 10 provinces were given 4500 pounds of ice (15 blocks of ice weighing 300 pounds each). Over the course of 20 hours, they had to create their masterpieces! And now, voting is open to the public. What I’m asking of you is to vote for Manitoba! Voting takes only a few seconds and is open until February 20th. You get ..read more
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The Biggest Solo Adventure I’ve Ever Been On: I’m Having a Baby
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
2y ago
I suppose the title gives it all away, and, I suppose, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll have known the news for months. But yes… I am pregnant. In just a few short months, I will be a mom. And I’m going to be a single mom. So… whew. Where to begin?! I suppose we have to go back, way back. Because for most of my life, I always assumed I would be a mother. I’ve always loved kids, and always felt a strong maternal urge. But in my 30s, shortly after moving to London, I started to believe that maybe it wouldn’t happen for me. Maybe I was destined to be single for a long time, pos ..read more
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Visiting the Canadian Museum for Human Rights: A Story of Hope
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
2y ago
“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.” I thought about this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. as I visited the Canadian Museum for Human Rights last week. Because, as we have seen time and time again throughout history, humankind has survived. We have fought for what’s right, and we have slowly made progress. We have, even through adversity and war and civil rights violations and catastrophes, maintained hope. And that’s what a visit to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is truly about: our ability to hope, to dream, and, ultimately, to triumph. The C ..read more
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Things to Do in Morden-Winkler, Manitoba
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
2y ago
Just like 2020, 2021 has been all about sticking close to home. It’s strange: I don’t even miss international travel that much, even though I haven’t left Manitoba since January of 2020. Part of the reason I’m more than happy to stay close to home is that I’ve been on a quest to see as much of Manitoba as possible, and I’ve been continuously blown away by just how much there is to do in this prairie province I call home. Missing from my previous travels? A proper visit to the neighbouring cities of Morden and Winkler. Found approximately 120 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, the two side-by-s ..read more
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How to See Beluga Whales in Churchill, Manitoba
This Battered Suitcase | Notes From the Road
by Brenna Holeman
2y ago
As a Manitoban, one of my greatest travel dreams has always been to see beluga whales in Churchill. While Churchill is often considered a polar bear destination – it’s often referred to as the “polar bear capital of the world” – Churchill is home to tens of thousands of belugas, too! And finally, earlier this month, my dream came true to see beluga whales in the wild. Churchill is a small town located on the Hudson Bay, in the far north of Manitoba. With a population of approximately 900 people, the town’s main industry is tourism, and for good reason: there are few places in the world where ..read more
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