I'm Going... Somewhere

Well, Graydyn and I decided to try our luck at last-minute vacationing.  We've booked off the last week of January, but haven't actually booked a vacation yet.  We're just going to keep our eyes on the websites of a few travel companies and see what pops up for that timeline.  Right now I'm seeing a lot of really good deals for 2-3 weeks from now, so I'm hoping that's the general trend and that we'll start seeing some cheap vacations once we get into early January.

Right now I'm making good use of Travelzoo.  For those of you who aren't familiar, www.travelzoo.ca just scours the Interwebs looking for travel deals and then compiles them into a list which they send out once a week.  I've been finding it useful already as a means of seeing what's out there in terms of other travel companies that I can keep a close eye on myself.

There's a certain amount of stress to the whole thing.  I know I need to book the vacation, but I can't yet.  I hate knowing that I need to do something, it drives me nuts.  However, shopping around for vacations can be fun in its own right, so I'm enjoying that aspect of this plan.  I've even done some more in-depth research into a few places; not with any real intent to book a trip this early, but just to get a feeling for what kind of research tools are out there.  So far I've made good use of Trip Advisor (www.tripadvisor.com) which lets people post comments about a resort that they've been to.  Seeing the comments of people who have visited your target resort can be very useful, although as with any internet-based review, you have to take some comments with a grain of salt.  I've heard tales of people giving resorts a 1 out of 5 because the weather was bad while they were there.  I'm not entirely sure how the resort is supposed to fix that.

If anyone has a particular favorite resource for trip planning please sound-off in the comments of this post.  The more tools I have for my research the happier I'll be!  I've still got at least a month before I'm likely to be booking anything, so I'm sure that you'll all hear a lot more about this in the next couple of months.  Enjoy your week everyone!

Into the Wild Blue Yonder... Just Not Very Far Into It

I was reminded this weekend of a very important fact: not all great adventure need to be one thousand miles from your home.  Not all time in the great outdoors needs to be found at the end of a plane ride, a mountain pass, or a glacial peak.  Sometimes there are great times to be had right outside your doorstep, in places you've walked thousands of times before.

I returned to my parents' home this weekend to spend some time with friends and family, with no particular plan as to how we would spend that time.  A bonfire at one friend's house led to making some new friends; friends that I would end up kayaking with the very next day.  It's been awhile since I navigated the mighty Bear Creek, and it was a really pleasure to jump behind the wheel of a kayak and race through that raging torrent.  (For those of you not familiar with the Bear Creek, it is a delightfully wide, calm stretch of water that makes for some very relaxing kayaking.) Despite being the middle of November the weather was so nice that I found myself paddling in a T-shirt, with no need of a jacket.  When the weather starts to get foul and we start getting our first taste of winter warm sunny days such as that are an unbelievable treat.

Not content with having a bit of fresh air and sunshine on Saturday another group of us went for a mountain bike ride on Sunday.  Petrolia actually offers up a wealth of backwoods trails for biking on.  Nothing of the caliber to find in mountainous regions such as B.C. or Tennessee, but fun for a novice all the same.  The ride ended up turning into an exploratory run as we started attempting to find little-accessed trails in deeper stretches of the woods.  It's been a long time since I've found myself pounding through the bush on the back of a bicycle and I found the entire experience quite refreshing.

So, a normal, non-holiday weekend.  Not doing anything exciting.  Just going home to visit the folks.  And yet, somehow I manage to spend the better part of a November weekend on the water or in the woods.  Active, adventuring, and smiling the whole time.  I've kayaked that creek dozens of times, and walked those trails more times than I'd care to count, yet it's all new and refreshing every time.  So I'll finish today with Travel Tip #327: Never forget about those great adventure destinations that you have in your own backyard.

Another Suggestion for a Driving Vacation

After I mentioned my plans to visit the Tennessee and South Carolina to drive The Dragon there's been some discussion on the concept of road trip vacations to see epic roads.  I've been on a few brief road trips before, but I've never attempted anything particularly lengthy, and I've certainly never been on a road trip where the driving was the focus of the vacation rather than just a means to an end.  I've got to say that I'm pretty fascinated by the whole concept and I'm really looking forward to our trip down to The Dragon to experience what can really be called a "driving holiday" first-hand.

That brings me to my topic for this week.  I was telling a friend from work about my desire to drive out to B.C. along the Canadian route, just to see a huge swath of our country.  He said that such a voyage sounded just a bit too arduous (I think it's the Prairies that seem unappealing) but he suggested a less logistically-challenging alternative: fly to Calgary, rent a car, and drive to Vancouver from there.  It's a way to see some of the country without having to take a month or two off work.  I'm pretty keen on the idea, and may join my friend on such a voyage in the near future.

If you just put Calgary to Vancouver into Google Maps it will, of course, give you the most direct route, largely following the Trans-Canada Highway.  However, Google Maps also lets you click and drag your route around, changing it up in certain sections as you see necessary.  As this would be a scenic trip the direct route defeats the purpose.  However, a few slight alterations seems to yield a more interesting path.  In the midst of Banff National Park Highway 1 branches off towards Yoho National Park and continues on to Glacier National Park.  These are two places that I'd like to hit, but I think they could be done as a side trip, with the intention of heading back to the fork in the road and taking Highway 93 North towards Jasper.  Beyond Jasper the road drops sharply to the South towards Kamloops.  Once the route hits Kamloops I alter it again, pulling it off it's Southerly course and turning it West to swing through Whistler before dropping down to Vancouver.  Of course, once in Vancouver the obvious thing to do it to grab the ferry and head over to the Island.

Now, this is where you, my loyal readership come in.  My experience with the West of our fine country has been confined to Vancouver Island and a small taste of mainland Vancouver.  I'm not familiar with the roads and mountain passes that cover the rest of Southern B.C. or any of Alberta.  So, has anyone been driving through these areas?  How does my route look?  Any suggestions for side-trips, or alterations to see and/or avoid certain regions would be very much appreciated.  Also, anyone who wants to join in the adventure is more than welcome to do so.

That's all of my trip-planning for this week.  Stay tuned, and watch the comments section of this post for any useful Western Canada travel tips.  See you next week!

Responses

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

I wanted to take the time this week to respond to a few comments, just so everyone knows that I actually do read them!  First, an apology to Jay, apparently the road we are going to drive is referred to as simple "The Dragon" and that "The Tail of the Dragon" is actually a gift shop.  There were several references on the Minis on the Dragon website to "The Tail of the Dragon" and I thought that was an official term.

On the subject of driving, Corey posted a link in a comment to last week's blog for a road in California.  Check last week's comment section, it looks excellent.  The link is to the Google Map for that section of road, and I highly recommend checking out the Street View of it.  I've actually heard that coastline from Washington State right down to California offers some phenomenal driving.  I'd really love to check it out sometime.

Switching over to our earlier discussion on currency; I got a pretty disbelieving reaction when I said that I had a hard time finding Yen in Toronto.  Believe me, I was just as surprised as everyone else.  I assumed that I'd be able to score some Yen at one of the big currency exchanges downtown, but I had no luck.  I'm just happy that I called ahead before going down there.  I have to assume that my inability to procure currency was some kind of strange fluke.  My greatest mistake there was waiting until just before I left to try finding Yen.  Which brings us to Travel Tip #1: Never Procrastinate!  If something can be done in advance, do it.  I wouldn't have thought that anyone in a major city would ever have trouble finding Yen, but there you go.  If I'd gotten on that sooner I probably wouldn't have had any issues.

Going farther back in the comments now, my diving buddy Helmut left me a message on one of the Iceland posts.  If you're still reading this Helmut, I got the message late, but I did get it.  I tried to e-mail you, but I got a delivery failure, I'll try again today.  Hope you are doing well.

Okay, that wraps up the responses that I wanted to get out.  Before I go, a little bit of personal news that does relate to travel.  On Saturday I purchased my first motorcycle!  It's a Honda CBR125R, which is a 125cc (small engine) sport bike.  I believe the official colour is Hurricane White.  I'm very excited about it!  Unfortunately I won't get the bike until Spring since the riding season here is on the verge of being over, so I just had the bike put directly into storage.  Come April though (maybe late March if I'm really lucky) I'll finally be able to get the bike out and start practicing.  There's been some talk of bringing it down to The Dragon, but I'll have to see if I'm feeling skilled enough at that point to make it worthwhile.  The happiest news in all of this is that I told my parents that I got a bike and as far as I know I haven't been officially disowned, so that was a pleasant surprise.

Well, more on my motorcycling adventures later.  Right now I need to go to work so that I can afford to get my bike insured.  Be well everyone!

What's Up Next

This morning begins with a sigh, as most mornings do when I realize that I don't really have any trips planned in the near future.  For me the planning of a trip can be nearly as much fun as the actual execution, and it can keep me entertained for a very long time.  Unfortunately I don't really have anything on my radar at the moment.  I'm considering booking some time off around the end of January and trying to get one of these last-minute deals where you don't know where you're going until a few weeks from departure time.  It's apparently a very cheap way to go south in the winter, and I could certainly use a nice week in the sunny Caribbean by the time January rolls around each year.  The only downside to that is that it doesn't give me a plan to drool over for the next three months.  Oh well, sometimes cost considerations have to be made.

Given that I have no concrete plan for a winter getaway the only trip that I've got definitively planned is around the end of April when I'll be heading down with Jay, Graydyn, Susan, and perhaps others to attend the Minis on the Dragon event.  They've got a website (http://minisonthedragon.info/index.html) setup if you'd like the full story, but I'll try to summarize here.  The Tail of the Dragon, or simply the Dragon is a stretch of Highway 129 that crosses the Tennessee/North Carolina state line and in 11 miles manages to curve 318 times.  This makes it a mecca for motorcycle and sports car enthusiasts.  Every spring Mini enthusiasts converge on the Dragon to experience the epic driving and enjoy the company of fellow Mini fanatics.  For any of you that know Jay, you know he looks forward to this all year.

For me the trip will be less about the driving and more about the epic countryside of rolling mountains and dense forest that surround the area.  I'm hoping to get in some really excellent hiking, and may even camp for a night at some point.  Of course, as a licensed motorcycle driver I will be tempted to rent a bike and see what I'm made of on The Dragon, but I have a sneaking suspicion that what I'm made of isn't sufficient to emerge from the The Dragon with all my limbs intact.  Maybe I'll try to get some practice next summer and leave those 318 curves for 2011.

Of Mice and Money

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I was inspired for this week's post by some comments that my friend Corey tried unsuccessfully to make on an earlier post.  He e-mailed me his thoughts on the matters of carrying cash, and exchanging currency, and I'd like to share them with you:

"If you are in a part of the world that might be considered ‘dodgy’ and need to exchange currency, make sure that you have crisp, brand new US Dollars.  They have to be the ones with the seemingly large head of Andrew Jackson (if $20’s), the new 2004 format, and not creased in any way – you’ll get a better exchange rate and the bills are much less likely to be refused.  I’ve had crumpled bills rejected in China and Central/South America, and I got a better rate in Russia.  Actually, speaking of Russia, I got a better rate from the security guard at the hotel than the Exchange Booth – of course, caution is required when changing money on the street, both in ensuring that you get real currency and only exposing what you want to exchange.  There tends to be a group of 3 or 4 guys looking to change currency, and if you open your money belt with 100’s of US Dollars and only want to exchange $40, someone’s gonna be keeping an eye on you.

It’s something that people don’t think of before they travel – the bank tellers in Canada don’t really understand when you’re asking for crisp US bills and assume you’re going to use it for sniffing cocaine."  --Corey

I really thought that was an interesting point about the crispness of the bills.  If you plan on exchanging cash when you arrive at your destination it's well worth getting a few strange looks from the bank tellers to ask for fresh money.  I've found that having your cash exchange at your destination is sometimes the only option.  We tried to get some Yen in Canada before heading to Japan and were met with VERY limited success.  I really thought that Yen would be easy to come by, but I was mistaken.  You can imagine my luck trying to find Icelandic Krona before leaving.

In Iceland I was able to exchange some Canadian money right at the airport to get me started.  If you're dealing with an airport currency exchange you're not likely to run into any issues with Canadian money, but elsewhere Corey's point about carrying US dollars can't be overstated.  In a lot of places you can just pay in USD and not have to worry about exchanging your money at all.  It's a widely accepted, and sometimes widely sought after currency, and it's probably worth taking the hit on exchanging your money twice just for the security of having such a universal form of cash.

Generally speaking I would try to avoid situations like what Corey described where you're exchanging money at the hotel lobby.  The rate at the currency exchange may be highway robbery, but it's much preferable to being robbed.  That said, if you are in a comfortable situation and feel like you can change money securely it may end up being a major cost-savings for you.  You have to know Corey to realize that situations like that just tend to work out for him.  Which leads us to travel tip #510: "Carry a horseshoe securely in your rectum."

My approach has been to bring a bit of cash to exchange at the airport and then rely on ATMs to get cash as I need it.  This avoids the always unpleasant act of carrying huge amounts of cash around.  This approach is not without it's risks however.  For any new readers I'll quickly go over my well documented ATM debacle in Japan.  At the time I had a 6-digit PIN number, which is perfectly acceptable in Canada.  Having read the Japanese ATMs worked with Canadian cards I just took as much Yen as I could muster and decided to rely on the ATM system.  My first attempt to do so was, fortunately, very early in the trip and was done more as a test than anything.  The Japanese ATM system (and apparently this goes for most ATM systems the world over) will only accept a 4-digit PIN and was unprepared for the 6-digits that I entered.  The theory is that, expecting a mere 4 digits the machine just sent the first 4 digits of my PIN to my bank for verification.  Upon receiving an incorrect PIN from a foreign country my bank did me the favour of cancelling my card.  So let that be a lesson to everyone!  You can't always count on the ATMs, and if you'd like to make use of them ensure that you have a 4-digit PIN.

Unfortunately my mishap in Japan happened despite the fact that I'd called my bank to let them know I'd be out of the country.  Still, I don't in anyway look down upon this practice and in fact I strongly encourage it.  My bank has actually taken to warning people about the 4-digit PIN situation when they call about leaving the country, so obviously I wasn't the only person to stumble over that little technicality.  There are also certain security protocols, put in place for our protection, that they will set aside given the appropriate warning.  Another fun anecdote comes from a friend of mine who's parents were travelling through Europe without having warned their bank in advance.  Apparently they were in an area where many countries were intersecting and managed to use their credit card in three different countries over the course of one day.  You can imagine what kind of alarm bells that raises with the good people at Visa!  So, for good reason, they cancelled the card.  Had they been warned in advance this situation would not have come up.  This is particularly important because, as I found out in Japan, once a card has been cancelled there's nothing to be done about it until you return home.  A few simple precautions can prevent you from being stranded with a non-functioning card.

Well, all this talk of money reminds me that I should probably go to work and earn some of it.  Any other suggestions for safely accessing your money while abroad are always welcome in the comments section.  See you all next Tuesday!

Pictures From Killarney

Okay, I was home this weekend for Thanksgiving and was able to steal my Dad's pictures from our Killarney trip. I've posted a selection of them here for your viewing enjoyment. The long weekend sort of threw me off my usual routine, so I'm afraid that this Tuesday's posting is going to be a little light. I've started compiling something for next week though. For now, enjoy the pics:

This one's from Graydyn. He got a shot of Dad by the waterfalls flowing from Killarney Lake down to Freeland.

This one's from Dad, it's looking generally North-West from the banks of our camp. I love the colour and clarity of the water in this shot.

Here's another one from Dad on our first morning at camp. It's a similar point on the shore from the previous shot, just looking more North.

I don't normally post pics of myself on here, but I thought I'd throw in this one of Jay and I (and Gray, but he's almost perfectly behind me) just so you can see my awesome new hat.

I actually took this one from up on the Crack. I think it really clearly shows why they call this place the Crack.

Another one of mine. I don't normally like the composition on my photos, but I was quite pleased with how this turned out. Also from up on the Crack.

One last one from my Dad. These are some Mergansers (spelling? I don't know. They're ducks) that were hanging around our camp.

Okay, sorry about the short post, but it's already getting late and I don't want to keep you all waiting. See you next Tuesday!