 travel full-time in an RV and usually that means that I'm staying in beautiful places in the forest or in the desert but I want to see a lot of things in my travels and that includes things in cities where it's really hard to find some overnight spots so today I'm going to tell you guys about a recent trip I took to Toronto and where I stayed in a safe free spot for two nights so that I could do something that I've been planning and wanting to do for ten years happy Sunday birdwatchers it's Robin with creativity RV I hope you're all doing well out there if you're a regular viewer of my channel you know that recently I went up the East Coast and over into Canada to visit my best friend who has a little lake house in the country but I wanted to go with her into the city of Toronto where she lives normally so that we could attend a party and then I could do something really special to me that I'll tell you about in just a minute but first I want to talk to you about the options for camping in cities because it can be really tough especially in a city as densely populated and crowded as Toronto with all of the traffic and buildings now I looked at every app that I had and I'll tell you there was really not in our v park or campground or a rest area or a truck stop near to where I was going but there were three options in downtown Toronto to stay with Boondockers welcome if Boondockers welcome is new to you it's kind of new to me too I've just been using it recently when I went up the East Coast and was looking for more camping options I have it as part of my harvest host membership but you can also get it on your own but basically what it is is a network of RVers that open up their properties for other RVers to stay overnight for free and when I got to Toronto there were no other options except Boondockers welcome and I found three of them right downtown and one of them in particular was like a ten minute drive from the party we were going to and the other thing that I needed to do and look at this great house I got to stay in front of the hosts were amazing and the driveway was actually circular which was great to get in and out of I felt completely safe and my stay was free and what's really nice about Boondockers welcome is that you can sometimes stay for longer than one night it's up to the host the Boondockers welcome rules say that you can stay up to five days depending on the host and the host that I stayed at allowed three days and it was really easy I went into the Boondockers welcome site you can see it here I found the host I saw that they allow three days I went into the reservation system and asked to stay and the host got right back to me inside of the messaging system inside of Boondockers welcome and said I was welcome to stay I wrote them back and asked if they would mind if I stayed for an extra night and they had no problem with that which was great if I didn't have Boondockers welcome as an option I probably would have had to stay 40 45 minutes away with the Toronto traffic and I probably wouldn't even have gone to the party I definitely wouldn't have done the thing that I did the next day which I'm going to tell you about right now some of you may be wondering why I opened up this video saying hello birdwatchers well some of my regular viewers call themselves birdwatchers I didn't start it they did after I told them that my family calls me bird and some of you have asked me what's hanging on the hook back here next to my door I don't wear jewelry but it's a necklace with a bird that is sitting outside of a cage and I want to tell you guys about that because when I got that necklace is when I decided to do the thing that I did in Toronto I got that necklace to remind me that I was a bird that could be set free but at that time I didn't feel that way I had some things in my life that I was always trying to fix or get over like all of us do and I decided that once I accomplished that I was going to get a tattoo on my arm that says bird set free and that's what I did in Toronto and I'm going to tell you about that experience today what I realized in this experience is that not everything has to be perfect for me to be set free I choose how I live my life and I choose how I interpret events that happen to me and how I put myself out into the world and when I realized that I realized it was time and that was during my trip to Toronto so my best friend and I thanks to my stay in Poom-Dockers welcome were able to go downtown and I got a tattoo right here on my arm I don't know if you guys can see it I'll show you some pictures of it it's very fine and it says bird set free and the way that I had it put on my arm is so that when I'm holding a steering wheel I can see it and it's pointing right to the road or when I'm writing I can see it and it's pointing towards my keyboard getting this tattoo has honestly been really invigorating I didn't think my nomadic life could get better but right after I got this and I was holding the steering wheel and driving for hours and hours I was like yeah this is good I did this and I am set free now the only thing I was worried about I'll tell you was my mom seeing it and my dad because they don't like tattoos and finally when I went to go visit them last month for the first time I just showed them and I explained to them why I got it and I'm so lucky to have the parents I do because they got it and I'll tell you what now when I'm making a decision or something's going on each of them have said to me individually well remember what's on your arm what's on your arm just keep that in mind met somebody the other day that I didn't know and they saw my tattoo and they said what set you free and I thought about it for a second and I said myself and the guy said that's amazing and I was thinking yeah you know what it's not bad so I did that I would not get a tattoo for no reason I'm all about them they're fine they're great but for me I only want to have things on my body that remind me of what I want out of my life and things that are positive so if I go to a great desert I might put some desert stars on there some forest or you know some other text I don't know but I'm excited to see what happens now if any of you are wanting a tattoo I can tell you this did not hurt it really didn't it's tiny and the needle was skinny because it's script so I think it depends on what you're getting done where it is on your body but tattoos have come a long way in the last 20 years and I was surprised that I wasn't more uncomfortable during the tattoo and afterwards it really didn't hurt at all and my bestie and I got to go to a local cafe and we had a drink to say goodbye to each other and then I went on my way and came back down to the States and as always if you guys are wanting to do something in your life that's such you free do it I can tell you that it's worth it I will see you guys next Sunday with an all-new video until then everybody out there have happy travels and be free