SQ's travel blogs

2005-04-20T17:03:00.000-04:00

Spider Exhibit in Havana.

2005-04-20T17:02:00.000-04:00

The Capitolio Nacional in Havana.

Ian Wright - Live in Toronto!

2005-03-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

Ian Wright – Cult Figure and Regular Guy Next Door

Yesterday my buddy Arnie and I had a chance to meet one of my idols in person: Ian Wright, the most famous presenter of the Pilot Guides travel show. The event was sponsored by three great players in the Canadian adventure travel industry: Outpost Magazine – Travel for Real; Mountain Equipment Coop – one of my favourite travel equipment outfitters; and Gap Adventures, a major adventure travel company in Toronto. It was great to see Ian live for the first time.

Ian - one of the inspirations for my site.

In many ways, Ian has been an inspiration to me for creating this website. When I started this travel website, I set out to create my own “Pilot Guides” experience, of course without the TV show, without the sponsors or the syndication deals, just me setting off on my own discoveries several times a year and sharing my experiences with like-minded people on the web.

In the 11 years of hosting the show Ian has been part of 55 episodes and traveled to over 70 countries. I have watched his shows for years and his quirky humour, cute English accent and physical comedy really add a special twist to this travel program. Ian never shies away from participating in activities with the locals, and he often samples rather outrageous types of food on his travels, including cockroaches and sheep eyeballs!

What makes Ian unique is that he delves into the culture, often sleeps in hostels, celebrates with the locals and regularly hitchhikes on the back of a truck. Luxury travel this is definitely not, but its entertaining, funny and informative at the same time. What’s great is that Ian always shows great respect for the country that he travels to.

The Pilot Guides travel programs are broadcast all around the world and Ian in particular has a very enthusiastic fan base. He said that his biggest fans are in Canada, Taiwan and in Norway while he is less well-known in England, his own home country.

Canada takes a special place in Ian’s schedule because it’s the only country where he holds lecture tours and the venue, the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall, was booked almost solid with several hundred admiring fans.

My buddy Arnie, a huge fan.

We got to see a slide show and Ian shared many of his humorous travel stories, but he also told us a bit about his time growing up and how his headmaster told him at his high-school reunion that he remembers that Ian always got other people in trouble. (Ian does have that mischievous twinkle in his eye, like he’s always ready for a prank...).

He also told us about how he got a job with Pilot Guides – “the best job in the world”, and that he obviously sent a pretty hilarious demo reel to the producers. He gave us the useful advice that if we wanted to get a job like his, we’d have to pay special attention to the first 10 to 15 seconds of the demo reel since they are crucial in making an impression.

At the end Ian spent a whole extra hour fielding questions from the audience. People asked him about the strangest type of foods he has eaten on his travels (he’s actually a vegetarian), his favourite animal (camels “’cause they are so rude”), his favourite places (Mongolia, Cambodia, Greenland), places he’s never been and would like to go (Antarctica, Central America).

He also razzed my own home country a bit, saying that Vienna’s museums put him to sleep and that he enjoyed the cardboard cops that are posted in various Austrian towns to prevent people from speeding. Of course you will only find cardboard versions of cops in a really sedate and safe country like Austria….

Ian also shared a couple of personal insights, that he travels much less now that he has settled down with a family, that he hosts drama classes for teenagers and that he loves painting. As a matter of fact, when I met him today at a meet-and-greet event at Toronto’s Mountain Equipment Coop store, he gave away beautiful autographed posters of his paintings entitled “Ian Wright – Painting the World”.

Ian and me at the Mount Equipment Coop.

For me the most fascinating part of the experience was that for all intents and purposes, Ian really is a global celebrity, and he has remained just a regular guy, humble, friendly and very approachable. No wonder everybody loves him....
SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

New York City - Budget Accommodation Guide - Small Hotels

2005-03-14T13:39:00.000-05:00

New York City is obviously one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, so the demand for reasonably priced accommodation often outstrips the supply, which makes it difficult to find a reasonable priced hotel. One of the secret tricks to getting budget accommodation in New York City is to actually find a hotel room in New Jersey, just across the Hudson River, where hotel prices are substantially less expensive than in New York City, and in particular Manhattan.

If you are looking for hotel accommodation in NYC proper, here is a listing of properties, some of which could be classified as boutique hotels, that as of March of 2005 have rooms starting at below or close to US$100 per night (be careful though, their rates for single and double rooms are often different):

Amsterdam Inn: www.amsterdaminn.com
Broadway Inn: www.broadwayinn.com
Carlton Arms Hotel: www.carltonarms.com
Hotel 17: www.hotel17ny.com
Habitat Hotel: www.habitatny.com
Harlem Flophouse: www.harlemflophouse.com
Herald Square Hotel: www.heraldsquarehotel.com
Hotel 31: www.hotel31.com
Larchmont Hotel: www.larchmonthotel.com
Murray Hill Inn: www.murrayhillinn.com
Off-Soho Suites Hotel: www.offsoho.com
Pickwick Arms: www.pickwickarms.com
Union Square Inn: www.unionsquareinn.com

Staying in New York City shouldn't break the bank, hopefully these places will help you contain your travel budget.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

New York City - Budget Accommodation Guide - Bed & Breakfasts

2005-03-14T13:05:00.000-05:00

In my experience, bed and breakfasts are one of the best ways of experiencing a new place. In many cases the rates can be quite reasonable although there is an increasing number of high end luxury bed and breakfasts and inns, many of whom may end up charging several hundred dollars per night as well. At some of the more budget-oriented B&Bs you can get a simple, yet usually comfortable room, often with unique décor. Sometimes bathrooms are shared which will result in lower prices, so if utmost privacy is important to you check whether your B&B accommodation offers private bathrooms.

B&B stands for “bed and breakfast”, now obviously we have discussed the “bed” portion of the equation. As far as the “breakfast” portion is concerned, there are also a range of choices available. Some B&Bs will offer full breakfasts, some even with home-made ingredients, jams, preserves or various gourmet breakfast dishes etc. while others may only offer a simple continental style breakfast. In larger cities B&Bs may even exclude the breakfast option altogether, so if a nice meal in the morning is important to you, make sure you check whether your desired accommodation actually includes breakfast or not.

One additional advantage of B&Bs is that generally these places are owned by private individuals or couples who enjoy hosting people from all over the world. Quite often the hosts end up being quite entertaining and they can become your built-in local travel expert for the area. At any rate, be prepared for a rather personal experience since often the hosts share the house with the guests. Inns are usually larger and take on an atmosphere of a small historic hotel, so there the atmosphere will be less personal.

Here is a listing of websites that specialize in bed and breakfast accommodation for New York City:

www.citylightsnewyork.com
This website offers hosted bed and breakfasts in a range from US$ 80 to US$130. Unhosted bed and breakfasts go for between US$ 130 and US$ 300.

www.athomeny.com
At the time of writing this article, this website offered single occupancy rooms for US$75 and up while most double occupancy rooms ranged between US$125 and US$175 (and higher).

www.nyhabitat.com
This website specializes in apartment rentals and has a variety of different types of apartments available. As of March 2005 their rates were as follows:

Studio
$85 to $165
One Bedroom
$135 to $225
Two Bedrooms
$200 to $375
Special Apartments
$250 to $500

The following websites specialize in bed and breakfasts and most have search engines or pull-down menus that allow you to search for accommodation by location.

Through www.bnbfinder.com:
This website offers several properties in New York City ranging from US$40 and up:

Stay The Night (New York, NY), $60-$125
1291 Bed & Breakfast Accommodations (New York, NY), $40-$150
Regina's New York B&B in Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY - 5 miles), $75-$150
Honey's Home (Brooklyn, NY - 10 miles), $75-$150
Berry Preserve Bed and Breakfast (Asbury, NJ - 54 miles), $95-$130

Through www.bedandbreakfast.com:
This website offers quite a few bed and breakfasts that start below US$100 per night and their listings are divided between Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. I have picked out the ones that come in at the lower end of the scale although you will find a lot more properties that offer rates in the range from US$100 and up.

Chelsea Lodge - Manhattan, NY, Rooms: 20 Rates Per Night: $95 - $110
Bed and Breakfast NYC - Manhattan, NY Rooms: 5 Rates Per Night: $95 - $225
1291 Bed & Breakfast Accommodation - Manhattan, NY, Rooms: 23 Rates Per Night: $65 - $85
Rooms in Soho Loft - Manhattan, NY, Rooms: 2 Rates Per Night: $90 - $110
Bed and Breakfast Mont Morris - Manhattan, NY
Efuru Guest House - Manhattan, NY, Rooms: 4 Rates Per Night: $60 - $125
Room in East Village - new york, NY, Rooms: 1 Rates Per Night: $80 - $100
The Harlem Flophouse - Manhattan, NY, Rooms: 4 Rates Per Night: $75 - $100
Bibi's Garden - Brooklyn, NY, Rooms: 5 Rates Per Night: $65 - $125
Angelique Bed and Breakfast - Brooklyn, NY, Rooms: 6 Rates Per Night: $75 - $150
Eve's B&B - Brooklyn, NY, Rooms: 0 Rates Per Night: $70 - $125
Astoria B&B - Queens, NY, Rooms: 1 Rates Per Night: $50 - $70
The Harbor House - Staten Island, NY, Rooms: 11 Rates Per Night: $59 - $150
Victorian Manor Inn - Staten Island, NY, Rooms: 7 Rates Per Night: $75 - $120
Victorian Bed And Breakfast Of Staten Island - Staten Island, NY, Rooms: 4 Rates Per Night: $75 - $105
Victorian Villa - Staten Island, NY, Rooms: 3 Rates Per Night: $79 - $98
Hartshorne House - Staten Island, NY, Rooms: 2 Rates Per Night: $55 - $95

Other bed and breakfast directory websites that you may want to check include the following:
www.bbdirectory.com
www.bestinns.com
www.bbonline.com
www.ibbp.com
www.iloveinns.com
www.newyorkbedandbreakfast.us

If you have never tried b&b-ing, check out this way of travelling. You might like it too....

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
http://www.textronics.com/

New York City - Budget Accommodation Guide - Hostels

2005-03-14T12:59:00.000-05:00

Hostels generally offer dormitory no-frill style accommodation, separated by gender, with shared bathrooms. Most hostels offer real budget type of accommodation with only the very basics. Some hostels do offer private rooms, however, and occasionally these rooms may even have a private bathroom. Many hostels offer shared kitchens and living areas and some also have Internet access on site. Hostelling is a popular way for students and young people to travel, but most hostels nowadays don’t have age restrictions any longer which means even middle aged individuals and seniors are welcome to stay. It’s a bare bones way of traveling, but one of the benefits is that it does offer the opportunity to connect with other like-minded travelers. Often the atmosphere at hostels is very informal, casual and friendly, so even when traveling as a single person it should be quite easy to make new friends.

Some of the hostel websites also offer message boards, travel stories and various travel-related services such as travel insurance, rail passes, adventure tours, flights & car rentals. One very nice feature of some of the hostel websites is that they offer ratings of hostel properties that were completed by previous travelers, providing some insight into the quality of the property in question. Hostel websites generally allow you to search for availability by date and to make a reservation online.

As of March 2005, dorm-style accommodation in NYC hostels can go for as low as US$ 25.00 per night, with most of the properties charging between US$30.00 to $40.00 per night. Private rooms range from about US$27.50 and up per person, with most of the properties coming in between US$35.00 and to US$ 70.00 per night per person.

Here is a list of some of the main hostelling websites:

www.hostels.com
The Hostels.com website indicates that it features the most comprehensive selection of hostels on the internet with almost 7,000 hostels listed.

www.hostelsclub.com
Hostelsclub refers to itself as a young and dynamic company providing the budget traveler with an online booking engine for destinations all over the world: Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. Hostelsclub offers a wide range of accommodation choices for all budget travelers.

www.hiahy.org
Hostelling International (HI) operates a network of more than 4,000 hostels in over 60 countries. Their website indicates that the USA they offer the largest network of quality hostels.

www.hostelweb.com
Hostelweb specializes in the Western United States with over 67 hostels in 11 western states. Obviously not a choice for NYC, but certainly a good reference for western US travel plans.

www.hostelworld.com
Hostelworld.com provides online bookings at thousands of hostels worldwide. You can check out their hostel reviews, view photographs and read detailed descriptions of all their hostels. You can confirm reservations at a selection of youth hostels, independent hostels and international hostels in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Oceania.

Happy hostelling....

SQ.
www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Hello from Quebec (Magog) - 2

2005-03-13T23:44:00.000-05:00

So I am cheating a little, I am already back in Toronto, writing this little summary of the second half of our trip to Quebec. While we didn’t ski on Wednesday because it was too friggen cold, we did have a beautiful day of sunshine on Thursday, albeit a little on the cool side (about minus 15 Celsius…).

La Cathedrale de Sherbrooke.

Well, it was certainly a perfect day to go skiing on Thursday and we chose to go to Jay Peak in Vermont, just south of the Quebec border. It took us about an hour to drive to Jay Peak from Magog and getting through the US border was very quick. And the US border officials were very friendly and even cracked some jokes with us.

Jay Peak is the largest ski resort in the area. We had skied Mount Orford (1770 feet vertical drop), Owl’s Head (1770 feet vertical drop as well) earlier in the week, but Jay Peak clocks in at 2153 feet in vertical drop. It feels like a real mountain, with the rocky outcrop on the highest peak and an aerial tram (or gondola) that ferries skiers up to the highest point.

But we did notice Jay Peak was a fair bit pricier than the ski resorts in Quebec. We had paid Can$34 for a half day at Orford, Can$15 (!) at Owl’s Head (the Tuesday and Wednesday full-day special, regular half-day rates are Can$26). Jay Peak came in at US$42 for a half day or US$56 for a full day. Good thing was they were willing to accept Canadian dollars at par as long as we paid in cash, but even so the price differential was substantial.

On the other hand, Jay Peak offers by far the highest elevation as well as the largest number of runs with 75 trails. We had a great day at Jay, we truly enjoyed all the blue and single black diamond runs although we are not daring to touch the double black diamond runs yet. It was a fabulous day and we had a gorgeous view over the Appalachian mountains set against a brilliant blue sky.

Friday morning was the second time we saw sun and I decided to drive to Sherbrooke and do a little photo safari. Sherbrooke is a rather picturesque city of about 100,000 people or so and it has a beautiful cathedral, city hall and various other rather amazing architectural jewels. Driving back on Highway 10 I came over a hill and at one point I was able to see all 3 major ski mountains (Mt. Orford, Owl’s Nest and Jay Peak) at the same time, even though the latter two were about 30 or even 50 kilometers away. That panorama was amazing.

Sherbrooke's City Hall.

Of course the snow drifted back in in the afternoon and rather than to go skiing we decided to play a late afternoon game of tennis at the Centre Sportif de Memphremagog. In the evening we had a beautiful dinner at a great little Italian spot on the main street of Magog: “La Piazetta” where we both had one of the best meals in a long time.

Architecture in Sherbrooke.

Despite my self-professed bent of adventure, I am admittedly a culinary wuss and on Friday I decided to be daring and order escargot (okay, snails) with garlic, camembert and basil. It was truly one of the must succulently delicious meals I ever had, despite ingesting a slightly chewy rendition of mollusks.

Saturday we got our stuff ready and started the drive home, naturally surrounded by snowfall, as we had experienced most of the week. Funny enough, just after the Quebec/Ontario border the clouds started to clear up and we had a clear blue sky all the way home. It took us 7 hours door to door and 657 kilometers. And it was worth every minute. This was a really nice, relaxing vacation.

SQ.

http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Crying like a baby: The Motorcycle Diaries...

2005-03-13T23:02:00.000-05:00

It has been an emotional evening tonight. In my earlier blog of today I indicated that I just heard news tonight that my friend Neil passed away, something that is going through my head as we speak.

Before I heard these news I had actually been watching the movie “Motorcycle Diaries” which has just been released on DVD. I have been meaning to see this movie for a while now, obviously because it would show great footage of Latin America, because it is about a long road trip, a true adventure - something that a travel nut like me would obviously enjoy.

But as the movie moved on to portray significant scenes of Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Alberto Granado in the workers’ selection at the mine, their visit to Macchu Picchu, their stay in the leper colony; you could really see the transformation of the characters. A transformation from a simple travelogue, coming-of-age story of two young men to their (and particularly Ernesto’s) spiritual and political awakening, planting the seed for his future philosophies and actions.

I admit I do not know much about Ernesto “Che” Guevara other than that he was a critical figure in the Cuban revolution and in Latin American politics in general. Of course I now feel I am going to have to educate myself a little better to really get to know who this famous figure might have been.

What did move me in the movie though was the portrayal of people’s hardships, the workers, the indigenous people, the outcasts in the lepers colony and that Ernesto reached out to them. And I was touched by the actor Gabriel Garcia Bernal’s extremely skillful portrayal of a sensitive young man who is just experiencing a political and spiritual awakening. A man who obviously came from the privileged class in Buenos Aires, an aspiring doctor, who dedicated himself to the cause of social justice, who didn’t shy away from refusing gloves when touching and interacting with lepers, who gave away most of the little money he had on this long road trip to a poor peasant couple who had been thrown off their land.

I found the movie extremely emotional. To be honest, I ended up balling like a baby at the end of it, I was so moved. To me the movie perfectly personifies the human condition, all the good and all the bad that we are capable of as a human race.

In light of my upcoming trip to Cuba I’ll spend some time in the next little while to educate myself about Che Guevara. Given that his name has a very strong ideological connotation, I’ll try to investigate his persona from many different angles to give myself a more well-rounded picture of this fascinating individual.

Let the world change you…..
and you can change the world.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

In memoriam: My buddy Neil

2005-03-13T22:37:00.000-05:00

Neil and I met through mutual friends about 6 or so years ago. A whole group of us used to go golfing together on occasion and I took a liking to him since he was a humorous, light-hearted kind of guy. As a matter of fact, despite being in his late fifties, when I first met him, he came across almost like a teenager, a little immature, impetuous, not very serious about living an adult life….

Neil got a bit upset with me over the last year and a half because I had been focusing so much on work that I really didn’t have time to go out and play golf. Close to 60 years old, he was already living a semi-retired lifestyle and he liked spending time with younger, sports-minded people. As I said, he was really very young at heart.

On the other hand, my life had changed substantially. My business was growing, my husband and I had bought a house and were preparing for our big move, and I was a little stressed out with all the things on my plate. And so I didn’t spend enough time with Neil….

So we had a bit of a fight about a year ago when it became apparent that Neil was upset with me that our casual friendship and our occasional golf games had dwindled. So we didn’t talk to each other for a long time…..

Until I heard from him again in the middle of February. He called me to tell me he had been diagnosed with a terminal illness: amyloidosis. Indeed a very rare disease where the body produces proteins that don’t dissolve, but rather get deposited in various organs such as the heart, the liver, the kidneys. He also told me that he was sorry for the silly misunderstanding that we had had and that he wanted to set things straight between us. I was glad he called.

Unfortunately, Neil’s disease was first misdiagnosed as a heart problem and the correct diagnosis came too late after the disease had already wreaked too much havoc in his body. When I met him in the hospital in February, he was very ill, had lost 50 pounds while his limbs were swollen with the liquid that is produced by the disease.

All he wanted to do is get well enough to hop on a plane to fly out to the West Coast to spend his last few months (or as it turned out, weeks) with his mom, nursing him in the last few weeks of his life.

I only had a chance to meet Neil very briefly, for about an hour, in the hospital, while days later he checked himself out and boarded a plane to British Columbia. He was in reasonably good spirits and even cracked jokes, as he always had. I told him I found it amazing that he was able to accept his situation, which he referred to as a “reverse lottery”, a disease so rare that only one in more than a million ever catches it. A disease that could have been treated, stopped and reversed, had it been diagnosed early enough.

Neil explained that he wasn’t religious and that sometimes “sh…. just happens”. He had completely resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have a very short time to live. And from what I could tell, he had few emotional dilemmas over it, at least by the time I met him. At that point he probably had had a few months to come to grips with his disease.

Well, at 9:27 pm tonight I got a call from his daughter, letting me know that Neil had passed away yesterday. She had been trying get out to British Columbia for 3 days, but due to the Jetsgo (a Canadian budget airline) bankruptcy she hasn’t been able to get a ticket and she was unable to see him before he passed away, two weeks earlier than expected.

Neil, we knew each other only for a relatively brief period of time and there were some bumps in the road……. But I hope you have a chance to play many rounds of golf where you are now. Farewell, my friend.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Hello from Quebec (Magog)

2005-03-09T14:39:00.000-05:00

So I am sitting here at the Club Vacances Magog with the wind howling outside at 45+ km per hour and temperatures of about -15 to -20 degrees Celsius, windchill factor not included.

We drove up from Toronto last Saturday and it only took us about 6 hours to get to the town of Magog in Quebec's Eastern Townships. This area, l'Estrie, is located about 1 hour southeast of Montreal and very close to the Quebec - Vermont border. There are several fairly large lakes in the area: Lake Memphremagog being the largest, there is Lake Magog and there is also Lake Massawippi.

We had a pretty nice dinner Saturday night at a local restaurant in Magog called Jacko's. Sunday we took a nice drive around to places like North Hatley (a picturesque pioneer village), Lennoxville and we took a quick drive through the major city of the area, Sherbrooke.

North Hatley, Quebec.

Monday we went skiing at Mount Orford which is just outside the town of Magog. It is the largest one of the ski mountains in the area with an altitude of 986 meters and a vertical drop of 1770 feet. It was quite a nice mountain to ski on, but the top was covered in fog the whole day and it was very windy. We had to retreat mid-afternoonish because it got too cold.

Architecture in Sherbrooke.

Yesterday we went skiing at Owl's Head, towards the southern end of Lake Mephremagog. It also has a vertical of 1770 feet. Actually we enjoyed Owl's Head better than Orford and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays they offer incredible deals: $15 (Canadian!) for a whole day of skiing, apparently the best value for skiing in Eastern North America.

No skiing today though. It is simply too darn cold. The wind is howling and snow occasionally blows horizontally across the landscape. I had romantic notions of driving into Montreal today, but the cold weather would have ruined such an outing.

Mural in Sherbrooke.

So we hope to catch a bit more skiing and maybe some sightseeing in the next 3 days. Winter arrived late here in the Eastern Townships of Quebec this year, but it arrived with a vengeance.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Upcoming trips: skiing in Quebec, learning Spanish in Cuba and exploring New York City!

2005-02-27T19:45:00.000-05:00

So what’s coming up for me travel-wise in the next few months?

Well, I am getting excited since there are a few things on the calendar over the next 2 months! It feels like I have been in town too long and I definitely have a bit of cabin fever right now. The fact that it’s deep winter around here isn’t helping….

The first thing on my plate is a ski week in the Eastern Townships in Quebec. My husband and I are going to go to a lovely condo at Club Vacances Magog near Lake Mephremagog in South-Eastern Quebec. From there we’ll have easy access to 4 decent ski areas: Mount Orford, Bromont, Owl’s Head and Jay Peak in Vermont on the US side of the border. I am really looking forward to skiing since we haven’t skied in a couple of years and this area offers quite a bit of choice. In addition, the Eastern townships are supposed to be very scenic, with historic Quebecois villages, excellent cuisine and a variety of activities. Naturally I will file reports from my ski vacation.

I am also making good strides on my trip to Cuba. Those of you that have read my blogs know that I love the Spanish language and that I have been planning a Cuba trip for a while. As it looks right now I will be flying out to Havana on April 1 with a return date of April 17. I’ll be studying Spanish half-days from Monday to Friday for 2 weeks at the University of La Habana. The even greater thing is that I will have the afternoons and 2 weekends to explore the city and surrounding countryside. I am definitely planning to spend one weekend in Pinar del Rio province in the Valle of Vinales which supposedly has outstanding physical beauty. I am thinking of either bringing along an old bike or renting one cheap in Havana so I can boot around locally and get a bit exercise while I am at it.

In May, my husband and I will hopefully make it for a few days to New York City. I am very excited about this since I haven’t been to NYC in about 10 years. New York City is just such a cosmopolitan hub with vibrancy and excitement pumping through its urban veins. It’s probably the epitomy of the urban metropolis and I have been dreaming for a long time to make it back to good old New York. I am juggling a few things on the schedule right now, but I really hope we can squeeze in 4 or 5 days in New York City some time in May, which will be a perfect time.

Spring time in New York. I can’t wait.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Feeling like a kid again!!!

2005-02-27T19:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a fabulous day. My good friend Leslie and I decided to go to the Outdoor Adventure Show, “Canada’s Largest Outdoor Adventure and Travel Marketplace”. There were over 300 exhibitors, presenting outdoor gear and travel experiences. Adventure travel operators in the fields of trekking, kayaking and canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, scuba diving, gliding and other outdoor activities were represented.

In addition, there were representatives from travel companies and organizations from all over Canada (Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia), the United States (Vermont, Virginia and other places) and international destinations (Spain, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago. Greece, the Virgin Islands and many other locations). Naturally there were several adventure travel tour companies that offer guided tours to all these and many more destinations all across the world.

I even bumped into people from two companies I had already done interviews with: Tannis from Verge Magazine and Chris from Trekk Holidays. It was great connecting with people that I already knew from my work on the website!

I picked up lots of brochures which are me giving tons of food for thought for future travels. I must have been like a hyper-excited little puppy that is discovering there is a whole big world out there.

In the end I also ended up buying a new mountain bike (since my old one croaked last year) and Leslie and I booked ourselves in for a “learn-how-to-kayak” weekend on the Ottawa River. It was an awesome day!

SQ.

http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

So, where is the website going?

2005-02-27T18:40:00.000-05:00

I have spent a huge amount of time on my website in the last 2 months. And what am I going to do now? I am going to completely reorganize, redesign and even rename it!

Why, you ask. Well, as I started writing articles for my website I realized that my focus was no longer going to be just on budget travel, but that I was really much more interested in travel as a form of discovery, adventure, exploration and learning. I truly view travel as a way of expanding one’s horizon. All this of course stems from my own life journey and my realization that I need to stretch the envelope of my own life.

So I decided I had to rename the website. The new site is going to be called www.travelandtransitions.com and it will have a completely new look and feel to it. Of course I have to get all my content from the existing, template-built site into the new site which will actually no longer built with a online template-based site builder, but with a real web design program. That’s a huge challenge for someone like me, who has no web design background whatsoever.

In addition, this new website is really what I want to dedicate most of my time and effort to in the long run. Of course I am still actively involved in running my full-time business, but over the last couple of years I have brought competent people on board that help me run my company which will increasingly allow me to spend more time on my new website.

Naturally becoming a webmaster doesn’t happen overnight. I am going to have to learn lots of new things in different areas: web page creation, search engine optimization, online publicity and marketing, newsletter creation and related webmastering skills. It feels a little overwhelming right now, but I am thinking I am making good strides. Over the last week alone I have been plugging through a pretty heft book on search engine optimization (not as dry as you might think) and I have a much better theoretical understanding of this baffling topic now.

My web designer and I sat down and in a few hours she taught me the basics of web page creation. I still want to do the bulk of the work myself, simply because I feel I need the knowledge, then later on I can involve designers and other web specialists to help me with the venture as it grows.

However, for now it’s basically just me, doing this on a minimum budget and expanding my knowledge as I go along. I am hoping to be able to recreate the existing content over the next month or so on the new site.

Then I plan to power straight ahead with content creation and traffic building since in the long run I really want to take this from a personal interest site to a true web portal that specializes in travel, particularly all sorts of travel other than sitting on a beach in an all-exclusive compound with a margarita. In addition the website will also deal with life issues such as life changes, career changes and strategies for creating a better life for ourselves, whatever that might be.

See, travel comes in many different shapes or forms. Life itself is essentially a big long journey, with different itineraries, milestones, detours and destinations. I will keep you posted as I go along on this journey of transforming myself into webmaster and web publisher. Hopefully I'll be able to demonstrate if a total non-techie like me can acquire basic skills in this field, everybody can.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Presenting: Dr. Rajiv Arya, My Cool Dentist

2005-02-17T07:23:00.000-05:00

1. Please tell us a little bit about your personal and educational background.

I am married and have a little daughter of 22 months. It’s been a truly profound experience having her. I have found that just when you thought that marriage was the best thing in and for your life, having a kid is even better. My life overall is relatively uneventful. The great thing is I have a supportive family on both sides. I consider myself very lucky.

2. You practice actively as a dental surgeon and as a lawyer. Why did you decide to do that and what in general is your philosophy related to work?

I actually get that question a lot. Why did I get into dentistry and law? I guess it was self-preservation. I felt that I needed another profession to give me complete or a further satisfaction in my work life that I was looking for. It definitely wasn’t for the challenge- as both professions are very challenging. What one profession would not offer the other one could and vice-versa. It was a bit of a gamble to make this choice. But it was never about making more money, or being uniquely qualified. I am not as goal-oriented as people would think. This choice was more about self-fulfillment and I don’t regret it for a second. The end result is that, yes, I do have a busy week; but more importantly, I am usually smiling and contented throughout it.

What made me go into these fields carries over into the rest of my left. I attempt to look at life in a broader, holistic manner. In dentistry I take interest in the patient, not just the clinical procedure before me. If there is one thing I can give myself credit for it’s that I have an uncanny ability to remember details about my patients and clients for a long time. On check ups, I will often comment on earlier things they told me and follow up on the details of their lives that they have shared with me. Sometimes I surprise myself, even more than the patients, how much I remember about them personally.

I take an interest in my patients that goes beyond just the treatment, I look at my patients more on a holistic well-being approach. Similarly, in law, I look at the client from a bigger kind of picture. What are we really trying to accomplish here? That way- all the parties involved are appreciative of what you are trying to do for them.

I would like to think that I take a casual approach to both jobs since I am not a big fan of pretenses, or acting like as if you know absolutely everything. I don’t appreciate smoke and mirrors. I also try not to take myself too seriously. In both professions you come across experiences that you just don’t know the answer to at the moment. This can present as a very challenging situation. I am the first one to say that we need to look a situation from more angles and perhaps bring in a different expertise. Clients and patients appreciate that candor and I find that they, in return, talk to me on a different level- a more candid level. It always surprises and pleases me when my patients and clients inquire and remember things about my life outside of work. It gives me some sense of belief that they also care. What you see is what you get. I am not a flashy lawyer or dentist, there are no Armani suits here.

3. How do you manage to combine a busy law practice with your work as a dental surgeon?

I find that achieving balance is not as difficult to manage as one would guess. You have to know your limitations and priorities. My priorities have always been clear: I wanted to have a very strong family life and an equally fulfilling professional life. In law I am fortunate that I virtually only take on the cases that interest me. In dentistry it’s a similar sort of thing - if something is beyond my capabilities or outside of my area of interest I refer it out to other specialists. Similarly, I spend a lot of my time with my little one. At the moment, she usually gets up around 5:30-6am and is in a good mood right away. Since I have the morning shift with her, I have to quickly buckle up and start smiling back at her. These hours are precious and more times than not, I seem to always learn a little bit from her every single day.

Essentially I eliminate the extraneous things of the day and somehow everything falls in place. I have to also say that I have a very supportive wife who is very organized and keeps things in check. My philosophy is “Just do it”. If you like what you do, if you like your life and want to maximize the finite time we all have on Earth, then you do what’s important to you. Even during law school I practiced about 20 to 25 hours of dentistry a week, and I missed out on going to the pub on every Thursday night. I also didn’t just hang around and have coffee during the day waiting for the next class to start. I tried to maximize.

In general, if people really need to do something they’ll do it. It’s the same with friendships – you make time for the people that are really important to you.

4. Please tell us a bit about your travel experience in general.

Someone I know and respect said recently: “life is made up of experiences. If I have to measure the quality of my life, I look to experiences that I can remember, that have moved me.” Travel is one of those things. Travel is one of those pillars in life, like marriage or births or deaths or other major events, that has the ability to move humans.

I often, but not always of course, pick places off the beaten path since I enjoy seeing alternative places. Travel for me has to have some level of profoundness in general. It needs to be something that is moving. It’s the closest thing that we as adults can do to bring us back to childhood. When you travel, you look at life almost with the curiosity of a little child, you look at street signs, light posts, the way people act. There is a freshness about traveling, it’s childlike. When I observe my little girl I notice that she is so curious and playful. Travel brings us to that level of openness. It’s very refreshing, liberating and reviving.

5. You have also volunteered in countries such as Canada, India, Malawi and Zambia. Please tell us more about these experiences.

I have practiced volunteer dentistry in hospitals in India. I have also helped out with such far out tasks as applying bug repellent on trees in Zambia, visited hospitals in Zambia and Malawi, and even have done dental work in Canada for troubled youth.

Volunteering in general is something where you always get more than what you put in. That’s a fact. A few years ago I went to India, and it wasn’t at the happiest time in my life. However, I feel like just when you have nothing left in your life, when you are empty, and then at that point when you decide to give more, you start to fill up. This is a very valuable lesson about volunteering in general. It is good for the soul. More than you know!

6. You have also participated in racial equity and leadership initiatives in South Africa, Poland and Germany. Please tell us more about these experiences.

These initiatives were actually started by my wife. She is very vocal proponent of racial equity in the Toronto School Board where she is a vice-principal now. She always had an inherent notion of equity, even before it became politically correct. She always seemed to be on the cutting edge.

She always brought home articles written by educators or other commentators about racial equity. This conveyed to me a little twist on how to see things. A few years ago she had an opportunity with a Catholic education organization to go to South Africa. Since she’s a big friend of animals, and elephants in particular, she said that’s a good enough reason to go. She just wanted to go for a few weeks. Once I started reading the outline, I decided that I was coming too. Whether she liked it or not!

30 of us went down and we got to speak with community leaders, went to leadership meetings, spoke with interesting people who helped South Africa come out of apartheid. We visited a lot of areas and it was an eye-opening venture. The experience was very moving, particularly since the free elections were in 1993.

The group leader that took us to South Africa was already thinking of studying the holocaust in Poland and Germany. I had already been to Israel earlier and since the tour was organized on a very high level, I wanted to come along. I was pulled into this by people that I respect and admire. That’s how everything got started.

As the saying goes, ‘if you hang around with eagles then you will soar, but if you hang around with turkeys…..’

7. A few years ago you went on a very interesting trip that took you to the sites of the Holocaust. Tell us more about that trip.

I recently heard a commentator speak about the Holocaust and people who visit the sites. He said there is absolutely nothing to be learned from the Holocaust and we should not study it because it’s so horrific there is nothing to be learned. Although I appreciate his sentiment, I feel, with due respect of course, that I do not agree with his commentary.

What you see at the sites is so horrific and moving that words cannot explain it. Everyone needs to see what occurred. And not just here - other places too - like Rwanda etc. However, there’s been a physical preservation of it in places like Poland and Germany. There are many concentration camps and death camps preserved. It’s an experience that shakes you to the core. This goes back to one of the broader reasons for travel. Go and try to experience something because reading, video or other media can’t move you in the same way.

It was a very sad trip, but at the same time I tried to make it more academic, make it more scholarly, to try to understand what happened. I had the luxury to do this. I didn’t have to experience it directly. But I ended up with more questions than answers.

8. You are scheduled to be a focus commentator in a documentary, entitled 'The Gate', currently in post-production, that attempts to analyze the tragedies of the holocaust from a pluralistic perspective. Please tell us more about that project.

It’s very interesting how it came about. We have a good Jewish friend who comes to our house, we also have her over for Shabbat dinner regularly on Fridays. We told her about going on the Holocaust trip. Her first reaction was “I am never going to Poland or Germany”. This was 6 months before our trip. So we talked more about why she didn’t want to go. Her family had suffered in Poland and she didn’t want to go and revisit any of that.

As we talked more about it, once we took the emotion out of it, she decided she wanted to go. I suppose it was a very big moment for her to make the trip. My wife and I were going, and we are not Jewish, so our ancestors were not personally affected by the Holocaust. My friend also works for an entertainment company, so she decided to take a camera crew along.

There were 15 or so of us on the trip. The camera crew filmed our reaction to certain things, and recorded the debriefings we had every night. From that, our friend picked 4 people who represented different facets of the trip to create her documentary. My facet was dubbed the “rational perspective”. In her opinion, I tend to give a logical explanation to what’s happening. I tried to explain, as best I could, my thoughts as we moved from camp to camp.

The documentary is being edited right now and there have been some delays due to some personal tragedies in my friend’s life, but hopefully the documentary will be ready in the near future.

9. You are planning to do a trekking expedition to the Himalayas next month. Tell us more about that trip. How long are you going for, what are you going to see? How are you training for this event?

I am going on March 11. This is something I have wanted to do it for at least 15 years. I have had it in the back of my mind for many years. My wife thought I was nutty - well, more than she would normally think, I suppose. If you can divide your experiences into mental, emotional, physical experiences, this one would be to see the physical beauty of the Himalayas, and it also includes a physical training component. I have started to get back into shape now for 6 months to a year now, I have been running, lifting weights - and feel that I am in very good shape now. As far as altitude is concerned, my family doctor is a travel doctor, and he said there is not much you can really do to train for the altitude. But he gave me some medication for altitude sickness.

We are going to Sikkhim, that’s east of Nepal. Due to the political situation in Nepal, the organizers of the trip, which will include 6 people, astutely prepared for a contingency plan. So we are going to a more politically stable country. We are going to go up to 22,000 feet and we’ll do 20 to 30 km a day, or 7 to 8 hours of trekking daily. Sherpas are going to come along with us and we’ll be sleeping in tents on the ground. This is a very environmentally conscious area which I am happy about. In total the trip will be 17 days and the trekking component will be 11 days.

After it’s over, there will be a couple of volunteer components. We are still going over the proposals right now. We also plan to visit a leper colony, and although we are not going to be providing medical treatment, we are planning on helping out with structural things.

10. You are also on the board of Directors of Health Outreach- a registered Canadian charity (www.healthoutreach.ca ) that focuses on providing free health care to children in developing countries using innovative delivery models. Please tell us more about that organization?

This is a great organization. I wish I could take credit for all of it. One of my good friends, Dr. Tim Lee, is the brainchild and driving force behind it. Personally I have helped out more from a legal perspective and I have not yet had the opportunity to perform health care. It’s a registered charity that focuses on providing healthcare, particularly dentistry, to young children in third world countries. Our current focus is Guatemala. The website is http://www.healthoutreach.ca/ where you can see pictures from our recent initiatives. Please visit this site.

One year we arranged for two or three dental chairs in a clinic on a floating boat and put notices out to families to bring in their kids. The kids were dressed in their Sunday best to line up to see the doctor. Now these were people who didn’t even own a toothbrush. The floating clinic went from village to village. We had completely self-contained units with generators.

As there is more interest developing in this, there are so many volunteers that want to come and join us. We fundraise, we approach doctors and dentists and we go to pharmaceutical companies. So far it’s been a resounding success. The best thing is that because it’s still a relatively small charity, all of the funds are managed properly. There are very few administrative costs so virtually all the funds are going to the youth. It’s a great experience and I hope to be involved clinically as well.

11. How would you summarize your philosophy on travel and life in general?

Well, we’ve already talked about a few of my viewpoints on life, travel and work. I am a little uncomfortable about doing interviews, I really prefer quiet success. After a certain number of years you get to know who that person is and appreciate what makes them successful. In general I prefer a lower key approach to things and I really respect the quality of quiet achievements and humble achievers, I find it a commendable characteristic. People don’t need to know about every great thing or all acts of kindness that you have done.

My philosophy in life and travel converge. As the saying goes, ‘We shouldn’t measure the quality of life by the number of breaths we take; but instead, by the number of times our breath gets taken away’.

Thank you, Dr. Arya, for spending your time with us. It’s been very enlightening and we hope to hear more from you once you go on your trek to the Himalayas. All the best to you for your personal and professional endeavours.

SQ.
www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Presenting: Chris Ronneseth - Adventure Travel Expert!

2005-02-15T15:51:00.000-05:00

I recently had a chance to talk to Chris Ronneseth of Trek Holidays (see interview preview) who gave me a good overview of adventure travel, an area of travel I definitely would like to explore sooner than later...

1. Tell us how you got into the adventure travel business.

I grew up around travel. My father, Allan Ronneseth founded the company in 1972 and with a passion to see the world in a different way than the norm, we had the opportunity to travel to countries that were considered exotic at that time and to some extent still are today. Venturing out on my own traveling while attending University I became more and more passionate about the world beyond North America. With a degree in marketing, I ventured off first to New York and later to Toronto working in sales and marketing for technology companies during the tech boom. Having learned the skill of sales in an industry outside of travel but backed with an upbringing rooted in adventure travel, I made the progression to heading up sales in Eastern Canada for the family business where I now provide support to our network of travel agents across Eastern Canada as well as compiling our monthly newsletter on adventure travel trends.

Chris with a local expert in Thailand.

2. What countries have you traveled to?

Africa: Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Egypt, Morocco
Europe: UK, Greenland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria
Asia: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Hong Kong
South Pacific: Australia, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji
Americas: Canadian High Arctic, USA, Mexico, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

Upernavik township in Greenland.

3. Please share with us your top three travel memories of all times.

A. Peru -The last descent into Machu Picchu on the famed Inca Trail from the Sun Gate after seeing sunrise over the site, being the first to enter the site at daybreak and having a feeling of peace, harmony and strong magic in the air.
B. Vietnam - Travelling the countryside of Vietnam by motorbike and stumbling upon a hidden and seldom visited Buddhist Monastery resulting in a three-hour visit with a young Buddhist monk learning and understanding each other’s ways.
C. Namibia - Skydiving at sunset at Swakopmund on the coast where the Atlantic Ocean meets the blood-red sand dunes for as far as the eye can see. One of the most tranquil moments of my life.

Chris' picture from Vientiane / Laos.

4. What is adventure travel and how has it evolved over the last few decades?

Adventure travel used to mean high adventure back when the company was founded in the seventies, it was time when the ‘hippie-trail’ was hot and buses used to travel across Asia from London to Kathmandu with itineraries that were largely invented along the way. Today it is about the small group experience and about experiencing a destination rather than simply seeing it. It is about participation and understanding of cultures, history and customs and being able to take that experience away as enrichment to your daily life.

Local Thai beauties, trying to escape from the sun.

5. Who goes on your adventure travel tours and why? What is the age, gender, nationality and income level of the people that go on your tours?

Adventure travel is largely about the passion to do it. For this reason it crosses boundaries of age, gender and income since the common goal of the travelers is the experience regardless of their life at home. However the largest demographic for us and the most important growth demographic is the baby-boomers who have experienced the traditional beach vacation several times over and now have the time and disposable income to travel to more exotic destinations. Nationality is generally made up of largely English-speaking nations with the makeup in order of numbers being Brits, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, Americans, some mainland Europe, some Latin American countries and the odd Asian traveler.

We offer more than 120 countries worldwide generally just about everywhere. However countries currently deemed to be unsafe for travel (eg. Iraq, Afghanistan) are not included but we expect they will be in the years to come as the situation stabilizes.

Image of the Arctic.

7. What type of accommodation is offered?

We offer generally speaking anything from 2 star budget accommodation to 6 star lodge experiences in Africa and everything in between. However what is common to all places we stay is that they must be clean, comfortable, centrally-located and most important have character that is reflective of the destination.

Hilltribe trekking through Northern Thailand.

8. How do these tours work for single travellers? Do you provide a travel-mate matching service? What happens if I prefer single accommodation?

Our tours are designed with single travellers in mind. In fact 50% of all our travellers come by themselves. We match people up of the same gender and like age to share and avoid charging them a supplement. If clients prefer their own room, we can do this on approximately 60% of the tours, usually the more upmarket ones, but at a rate that is fair and affordable.

9. What about meals?

Depending on the trip we generally include breakfasts and some dinners but almost never lunch as many people like to be out at midday making their own discoveries. However when trekking or in the countryside or where alternatives do not exist we will always include meals.

10. What are the unique benefits of adventure tours as compared to other types of travel?

A sense of achievement, quality of experience, traveling with a small group of just ten people on average, generally better value than comparable bus tours, camaraderie with individuals that share a passion for this type of travel.

Statues at Angkor Wat.

11. What type of activities are offered in your tours?

Sightseeing is a major part of every tour but beyond that we want to include as many cultural experiences as possible such as homestays with local families, village visits, etc. We also have many optional activities available such rafting, sailing, jeep safaris, day treks, etc.

12. Is there such a thing as adventure tours for families?

We now have tours built especially for families to travel with other families where children are age six and up. There is a large demographic of ‘late-starter’ families who never had children until in their 30s. Many of these people traveled with us in their 20s or backpacked independently and now want to give that experience to their children. They are not interested in introducing them to the ‘coca-cola’ culture pervasive in today’s society. These have been met with great success.

Statues in Vientiane, Laos.

13. Please share with us practical advice for someone who’s never tried adventure travel.

Safety is a state of mind. Most people who elect not to travel to exotic destinations do so because of a fear of their safety while in the destination. If you heed the advice of your tour leader and be practical almost any destination in the world can provide a safe, secure and memorable experience. Where we have had problems with safety it has almost always been a disregard for common sense and advice. Don’t be afraid of experiencing other cultures, you will almost always find that your curiosity will be the best guide though it all and that same curiosity will be reciprocated by the people we meet along the way. It is about learning and understanding other people as much as they need to understand us. It really does shrink the world. Our second biggest problem would be dehydration, when traveling to hot, dry countries or where activity is involved such as trekking ensure you drink lots of water!

Picture from Chris' 2004 trip to the Arctic.

14. How much time do you travel yourself these days?

Generally 5 or 6 weeks a year. It is imperative to my sales knowledge and experience and I owe it to my customers to be the expert in what we do! All of our employees are given wonderful travel opportunities which goes straight to our company motto: Expert advice from those who have been there!

15. Where are you going next?

I plan this year on escorting a trip back to Egypt in April, to South Africa in May to experience some of our new properties we work with and to hopefully take a side trip to Mozambique. Later in the year I plan to make my way to Turkey and the Patagonian outdoors In Chile & Argentina.

Thanks, Chris, for all your information, and have fun on your trips.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Presenting Jeff Minthorn - Editor of Verge Magazine

2005-02-14T14:48:00.000-05:00

A little while ago I mentioned that I stumbled across Verge Magazine by accident and that I planned to interview its editor, Jeff Minthorn.

Jeff Minthorn in Antarctica.

1. Tell us a little bit about your educational background.

At university, I began studying geography in the Environmental Studies faculty but after my second year, I felt like I was covering the same material over and over again. I transferred into Urban Planning and completed the required courses for the first two years, all in one year, but just before I was about to finish my second term that year, I came to the conclusion that I really wasn't all that interested in what I was doing.

I decided to take a year off to think about what I did want to do. During that year I worked a lot, did some travelling, and applied for architecture school. Architecture programs are extremely demanding, but it's also a very broadly based education. I was able to learn a bit about everything from art history to engineering. I think that's the main reason I actually stuck it out for five years to finish the degree. Although it was demanding, it was also very engaging.

2. You have also done quite a bit of traveling. During university you took a year off to live in Rome. How was that? What were your major learning experiences?

I've done a bit of travelling, I guess - more than some people and a lot less than others. I was fortunate that part of my architecture degree involved studying in Rome. Definitely one of the most important lessons that I learned while I was there was about balance and priorities.

I tended to be very single minded - maybe even obsessive for the first few years in architecture school. While I was in Rome, I came to the realization that it wasn't going to be the hours and hours that I spent holed up in the studio with the rest of my classmates that I would remember. What I would remember would be the afternoons that I spent exploring and painting and drawing the architecture that I was there to study. I made a point of getting into the studio very early in the morning - before anyone else was there - so that I could really be productive. Then I would pack up my sketch books and watercolours in the early afternoon - just when the studio was getting good and noisy - and go out exploring.

3. What other types of traveling have you done?

Part of the year that I was away from university, I spent travelling through Europe. It was the usual student-backpacking-through-Europe experience, but you know, as easy as travelling there is, it really opened my eyes and was a real confidence builder for me. Prior to that, I had never left North America.

A couple of years later, I found work in London, England and lived there for 8 months. That was a bit of an adventure. I had very little money, a working holiday-maker visa, some resumés and sample portfolios, and no job lined up. I spent nearly three weeks and most of my money looking for work. Just when things were starting to look pretty desperate, I found a job in an architect's office. I managed to save enough money while I was there to buy an old motorcycle and when my contract was up, I traveled from London to Rome and back on it.

Jeff Minthorn, at Inca ruins in Cha'llapampa, Bolivia
.

4. I was surprised to hear you worked in Antarctica. What did you do there?

Some years ago, I was working here as a wilderness guide and outdoor education instructor (that's another story!). One of my qualifications was as a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (W-EMT). A colleague received a call one day asking if he knew anyone with those qualifications, who would be willing to leave for Buenos Aires in three weeks, and then to Antarctica for four months. He handed the phone to me. Three weeks later, I was helping load provisions onto a ship in Buenos Aires.

I worked as the ship's EMT, and as a Zodiak driver. I was always the busiest while crossing the Drake Passage - it's one of the roughest stretches of ocean in the world. Most people were seasick and there were always minor injuries from people being tossed around during heavy seas. I was also the liaison between the ship's doctor and the passengers. The ship was Russian, as were all of the crew. The doctor, of course, spoke fluent Russian, but no English. We had some very interesting sessions of charades.

5. You have worked in a variety of fields before you started your magazine. Please tell us about your other work experiences and how they helped you in your present endeavour.

Immediately after graduating from university, I worked in architecture for a couple of years before establishing a small building renovation company. I think the main thing that I was able to take from those experiences was how to coordinate the efforts of a team of people to accomplish a task. The design experience has also served me well. Good design is, in a lot of ways, all about conveying ideas in a clear manner.

I also worked as a wilderness guide and instructor for some years. I think that the most important thing that I took from that experience was the importance of trusting the individual strengths and abilities of your team. You may be able to play a lot of instruments yourself, but you still can't perform a symphony alone.

6. How did the idea of Verge Magazine come into being? What is the magazine about?

Verge Magazine evolved out of a discussion about why so few young people know about the many opportunities that exist to explore things that are a bit off the beaten track. It seemed to us that too many young people simply step onto the conveyor-belt of convention and end up twenty years down the road in jobs they despise, feeling completely unfulfilled. Verge began as an attempt to give young people a glimpse of other options and to encourage them to take some time to explore them before rushing headlong onto that conveyor-belt. I suppose it's really about opening people's eyes to opportunities that they may not have been aware of.

Jeff, trekking in the Andes.

7. Tell us about that first half a year between when you first developed the idea for your magazine and when the first issue hit the newsstand. That must have been a pretty crazy time.

It was a crazy time. We spent months putting together a business plan - we had no idea if it was even a viable idea. In addition to fine tuning what exactly what we were trying to do and who we might be competing with, we had to establish who we could get to write for us, who would pay to advertise, how we were going to distribute the magazine, was there funding available to help us start out. We knew nothing about the actual printing process, so we had to learn all about that. We also had to get our hands on the publishing and graphics software necessary, the computers to run it, then learn how to use it all.

We also had to start developing databases to deal with subscriptions, renewals, advertisers, our accounts and we had to get a website up and running. We were working fourteen, even sixteen hour days. I think I could count the number of days we took off during our first year on one hand.

8. How has the magazine evolved since then? Where are you planning to take it?

Verge has evolved in a couple of ways. Over the past two years, we've begun to focus more specifically on travel and opportunities to work, study and volunteer overseas - to travel with purpose. During our first year, we started to recognize that there is definitely growing interest in these sorts of opportunities, and that no other publication in Canada was really addressing it. We're also finding that the age range of our readership is much greater than we initially thought it would be. When we began, we were primarily thinking about students who were about to finish high school or university. They still make up the bulk of our readership, but a growing number of our subscribers are people in their 30s and 40s who are looking to make a change in their lives.

Where are we planning to take it? We're pretty new at this and at the moment, Verge is just finding its feet, so in the short term we're working towards systematizing things as much as we can - trying to smooth out the bumps. Longer term goals involve developing complementary resources for people who are looking for meaningful travel opportunities. There is so much undifferentiated information available out there. Ultimately, we would like to be able to provide a group of resources that help people to sift through the mountains of information in order to make informed decisions about how they travel.

9. What have been your greatest challenges and rewards running this magazine?

The greatest challenges for me have been learning how everything works - it's been a very steep learning-curve. It's also been quite a challenge to sell advertising space. Even though I can be pretty stubborn, I'm not all that pushy and selling things to other people doesn't come easily - every call is an effort. The thing that helps is that I know we have a great product and that the advertising space that I'm selling actually works.

Coincidentally, working toward overcoming those challenges is also one of the greatest rewards. The other big reward that comes from doing this is hearing from readers who have acted on some of the things they've seen or learned in Verge.

Every week or two we'll get a call or an email from someone who, after reading something in Verge, has finally decided to put their routine on hold for a while and go on an adventure. It's also very satisfying to be contacted by parents who have been struggling with their kids' decisions to "quit" school and go travelling. It's great to hear that "ah ha - I get it!" when they discover that taking time out to travel is not necessarily bumming around, and that chances are, their kids will probably return to school and be better off for having seen something of the rest of the world.

Jeff, teaching the "eskimo roll" during a white water kayaking course

10. If you were to give advice to a fledgling entrepreneur who is thinking of creating their own magazine, what recommendations would you give them?

I have three recommendations for anyone considering starting a magazine - these probably apply to any business:

First - before doing anything else, be thorough and honest with your business plan. If you can't determine whether there's a niche for your publication, and you can't say with any certainty who will be willing to advertise, and what would they be willing to spend, re-think your plan. In general, subscription and newsstand sales will not support the cost of running a print publication.

Second - determine if you are the sort of person who finishes a job. Every issue of the magazine is a new project with a whole lot of smaller projects built into it. You need to be the sort of person who can continually start a project, take it completely through to completion, then start another immediately. You need to be very self-motivated and very disciplined.

Third - find yourself a mentor - someone who either runs a magazine or is involved in publishing one. Their advice based on experience will be invaluable as you start out. As you continue and grow, that relationship will probably change from you receiving all the advice, to both of you sharing ideas and experiences that will help both of your businesses.

11. I am sure publishing a magazine must keep you quite busy. How do you still integrate travel into your hectic life? And where have you gone recently? Any travel plans for the foreseeable future?

During the first two years that we were publishing, I really wasn't able to travel at all - there were just too many things to be done. In the past year, as we streamline and standardize things a bit more, I have been able to do some travelling related to the magazine. I try to take time out at the end of each issue published - even if it's a week of hiking and camping around here. Even though there's always a mountain of work to catch up on when I return, I'm much more productive after a break.

I was out to Vancouver a couple of times in the past year and spent a couple of weeks travelling through Cuba for an article published in the last issue of Verge. I just returned from Bolivia, where I was working on a story for the next issue. I'm heading to Uganda in a couple of months to do a story about a Canadian surgeon who is working with war-affected children there, and may be off to Tanzania later in the year - if everything works out.

Thanks so much for your time, Jeff, and all the best for your business and your upcoming travel plans!

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Coming up: Chris Ronneseth - Adventure Travel Expert!

2005-02-11T17:25:00.000-05:00

I just got back a little while ago from a meeting with Chris Ronneseth who works for Trek Holidays, which happens to be the largest adventure travel company in Canada. Chris has traveled every continent except Antarctica, which I am sure he is planning to travel to in the near future.

Chris Ronneseth

Adventure travel actually runs in Chris’ family. His father originally worked as a travel writer, then went on to crew overland Africa expeditions. His love of adventure and his desire to share the experience with other like minded travelers led to the opening of his first office at the University of Alberta in 1972. Today Trek Holidays is a whole family enterprise of adventure travel specialists that collectively have traveled to more than 100 countries in the world.

I have to admit one category of travel I haven’t been exposed to personally is adventure travel and I have been wanting to explore it for a while now. I never had an opportunity to do the “backpacking through Europe” thing, and quite frankly, I don’t know if I would be up to sleeping in public on hard benches in various railway stations around the globe at this stage of my life.

Statues at Angkor Wat.

In our conversation, Chris told me that the tours that Trek Holidays offers actually provide comfortable hotel or guesthouse accommodation, some of it more upscale and unique, while other places are more basic, but clean and comfortable. Either way you get to stay in a local establishment, with most of the travel dollars going back into the local economy, rather than promoting big multi-national hotel chains.

About 80 percent of tours involve sightseeing in small groups in unique places while about 20 percent have an activity component, such as biking, hiking or wild water rafting, built in. So there are different levels of exertion that you can shoot for, from comfortable sightseeing tours in minivans to strenuous Himalaya trekking tours that demand a high level of physical fitness.

Sunset at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Chris also talked to me about the “ethos” of adventure travel, that one of the key things is to leave as small a “footprint” as possible, to prevent a disruption of local wildlife and cultures while appreciating the beauty and diversity of our planet. Many of the tours involve cycling or hiking, so they end up being very eco-friendly.

In his interview, Chris will tell us about his own travel experiences, the destinations and activities covered in adventure travel, about who goes on adventure travel tours and why, practical adventure travel considerations and much more.

Get ready for a virtual adventure around the globe……

SQ.

http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Travel Guide - Greece

2005-02-08T16:03:00.000-05:00

Ancient Greek culture thrived from the 3rd millennium to the first century B.C. and its cultural accomplishments, art, architecture and philosophy deeply influenced thinkers, writers and artists in many subsequent civilizations. The concept of democracy originated in ancient Greece and became the foundation of political principles for most modern nations. Greece – truly one of the cradles of modern civilization.

Picture Athens in its heyday crowned by the Acropolis. The Parthenon, an ancient Greek temple dedicated to the goddess Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin), is located on the Acropolis. Although partly in ruins today, it remains a masterpiece of Greek architecture.

Overall, Athens has much to offer: near-constant sunshine, access to sandy beaches and idyllic islands, and the sites of the 2004 Olympics. Today you will see a thoroughly modern city with a population of around 5 million people, complete with overcrowding and pollution. Nevertheless the ancient sites are unique in the world. History buffs will want to explore other historic places like Delphi, Olympia, Epidauros, and Mycenae. Greek mythology seems to come alive here.

The Greek Islands are sparkling jewels in the Mediterranean and there are literally thousands of them. Crete is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean and a favourite tourist destination for northern Europeans. Corfu is the most northerly of the Ionian islands with a mountain chain in the north, a central hilly region and a flat southern area. Rhodes is part of the Dodecanese islands and is known for its healthful climate and fertile soil. The island of Santorini is a photographer's paradise with its white villages that are nestled into steep volcanic cliffs. Mykonos is one of the most beautiful islands of Cyclades, it is cosmopolitan and offers an intense nightlife. A ferry trip in between the various islands can be an exciting way of getting around and exploring the local lifestyle.

Macedonia, the ancient home of Alexander the Great in the north of Greece, has several well-known travel destinations: Halkidiki, Thassos, Thessaloniki. The capital of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, is the second largest city of Greece. It was first established in 316 B.C. by Kassandros and named after his wife, Thessaloniki, sister of Alexander the Great. Its unique charms comes from large avenues, parks and squares,with trees lining commercial streets with showy shop-windows.

Among the most unique sites in Greece are the Monasteries of Meteora, ancient buildings patched against a series of surrealistic-looking rocks with precipitous vertical drops. There are four monasteries and two convents that are still active today and certainly worth a visit.

Greece combines stunning scenery with ancient history and near perfect weather which make it a great travel destination.

Essential links for traveling to Greece:
Tourism Offices for Greece
Greek travel information
Lonely Planet Greece website
Athens tourism information
Crete tourism information
Rhodes tourism information
Santorini tourism information

Essential books for traveling to Greece:

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

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Travel Guide - Italy

2005-02-08T13:41:00.000-05:00

Italy is an extremely diverse country and one of my favourites. It has a fascinating history, going back to the ancient Romans and beyond and was a cultural powerhouse during the Renaissance period. It is truly one of the cradles of Western civilization.

Rome is the "Eternal City": Today a hustling and bustling overcrowded metropolis, it was the hub of Ancient Rome, the capital of an enormous and powerful empire. Today one can admire many relicts from Roman times: the Roman Forum (Foro Romano), the Colosseum and the Pantheon, among many others, are witnesses to a highly refined culture that existed more than 2000 years ago. A visit to the Vatican also underscores the uniqueness of this city.

Outside of Rome there is just so much to discover. Florence comes to mind immediately, one of the primary tourist destinations. Florence is the capital of Tuscany and known for its many sights: the Duomo (the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Fiore), the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio, Michelangelo's David, and many more. You can also enjoy the quieter villages and serene landscapes in the interior of Italy, with Tuscany as one of the preferred destinations for interior travel. A favourite Tuscan location is San Gimignano, fabled for its many historic towers.

The word Venice immediately evokes romantic notions of canals, the Piazza San Marco and the Doge's Palace, the Rialto Bridge, and of course the gondolieri. There are many other cities and towns to explore. Milan, for instance, is Italy’s fashion capital and has stunning architecture to admire. The old city of Verona is the setting for Romeo and Juliet. Genova is an important harbour city on the Ligurian coast. The glamorous coast along the Italian Riviera around San Remo and Imperia has attracted many Hollywood celebrities.

Many other famous historic towns are located in the north: Bologna, Siena, Padova, Vicenza, Trieste. In the south there are cities such as Naples, Cosenza, Salerno, Sorrento and many more that let you explore Southern Italian hospitality. The eastern side of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula is generally quieter than the western side and cities such as Ancona, Pescara, Bari and Brindisi and their surrounding areas have their own charm. Historic sites in the south include the ancient cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii that were destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D. Needless to say, geologists are going to be interested in seeing the still active volcanoes Etna and Vesuvius.

Italy’s landscape is truly stunning. The Italian Alps with the limestone spires of the Dolomites are simply majestic, and the famous lakes such as Lago Maggiore, Lago di Como, Lago di Garda, Lago di Iseo are blue jewels embedded in green mountains and hills. Hiking, mountainbiking and windsurfing are favourite acitivites in the north of Italy. Naturally, Italian cuisine and wine are appreciated the world over and a trip to Italy can become a venerable feast for the senses.

Some of the most visually stunning scenery can be found just south of the Bay of Naples, along the Amalfi Coast and the island of Capri. The islands of Sardinia and Sicily, reputedly the birthplace of the mafia, glisten like gems in the Mediterranean. There are just too many places to mention, Italy is simply a fabulous place to visit. Check out some of the links below and dream about all these beautiful far-away places.

Essential links for travelling to Italy:
Italy’s Official Tourism Website
Frommer’s Italy website
Lonely Planet Italy website
Official website of Rome
Official website of Florence
Official website of Naples
Official website of Venice
Tourism in Sicily

Essential books for travelling to Italy:

SQ.

www.youtravelandtransitions.com
www.textronics.com

Travel Guide - England

2005-02-08T11:07:00.000-05:00

England is the heartland of Great Britain, one of the great empires throughout history. London itself is a truly modern, cosmopolitan city whose roots are firmly grounded in many centuries of history. Places like the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace (formerly the residence of Princess Diana), Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park ring a bell everywhere. Visit one of the many museums in London or simply enjoy a cup of afternoon tea in one of the salons and lounges throughout London. Check out Madame Tussaud's Waxworks, Westminster Abbey, or St. Paul's Cathedral .

Outside of London check out Windsor Castle. Overall, England is a veritable treasure chest for castle-lovers. One of the typical ways to travel in England is to enjoy the fabulous hospitality of a private bed and breakfast. The Cotswolds are a beautiful area with rolling hills, featuring stone houses just the way you always pictured a truly English landscape. Stratford-Upon-Avon is the birthplace of William Shakespeare which is must see for every Shakespeare fan. Performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company will delight theatre buffs. If you like bigger cities, check out Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Liverpool, home of the Beatles. Britain’s Roman history is apparent in many places, including Hadrian’s Wall near Newcastle. And a visit to Stonehenge will bring you up close to one of history's mysteries.

England’s lovely coastline can be enjoyed in one of many resort towns. Southend-on-Sea officially offers some of the best beaches of Europe and is well known for its pier, its theatre and music events. In the south east of England, Canterbury’s cathedral is a splendid example of medieval British architecture. In Dover you can catch ferries to the European continent.

As one of the world’s most famous university towns, Oxford has a scenic riverside setting with museums, shops, restaurants and a vibrant entertainment scene. Cambridge, its rival city, has winding streets and splendid architecture and is perfect for a daytrip from London.

Brighton is a beautiful seaside city with gorgeous architecture. The Isle of Wight offers a serene getaway from the hustle and bustle of the cities. Bournemouth is a holiday resort town on the South East coast of England with award-winning beaches, parks and gardens. A visit to England can be the perfect combination of culture, history and relaxation.

Essential links for travelling to England:

Britain’s official travel website
Lonely Planet England website
Frommers’s England website
London’s official tourism website
Heart of England Tourist Board
South East England’s Official Tourism Website
South West England’s Official Tourism Website

Essential travel books for travelling to England:

SQ.

www.youtravelandtransitions.com
www.textronics.com

Travel Guide - Germany

2005-02-03T14:15:00.000-05:00

After a very turbulent history, Berlin is now Germany's capital - again. After German reunification in 1990 steps were put in place to restore Berlin's splendour. After being the center of Germany's imperial past, it became the headquarters of Nazi Germany and places like the Reichstag recall that era of history. The post-war division into Eastern and Western Germany with the Berlin Wall dividing the city is another fascinating chapter of modern history. Today, economic redevelopment and a real estate boom can be seen everywhere. Sites such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the glitzy shopping boulevard of the Kurfürstendamm, a walk Unter den Linden (the former East's Berlin masterpiece), are standard fare for travellers to Berlin.

Another favorite destination for travellers is Germany's south, the Bavarian Alps and Bavaria's capital, Munich. Munich, of course, is the location of the world's largest Oktoberfest and the Hofbräuhaus is probably the most well-known beer hall in the world. You can also catch some nude sunbathing in the Englischer Garten. Outside of Munich the romantic Castle of Neuschwanstein is a favourite destination. Winter Sports enthusiasts will enjoy the Bavarian Alps and Garmisch Partenkirchen was the sight of 1936 Winter Olympics. Somber reminders of Germany’s WW II past can be visited first hand in places such as Dachau and Nuremberg, The remnants Hitler’s mountaincommand post are located on the Obersalzberg.

Germany offers many other areas of interest, how about a cruise up the Rhine River, or a visit to Cologne or the city of Trier, with its history dating back to Roman times? Other gems include Augsburg, Regensburg, Heidelberg and many more. Hamburg is well known as an ancient merchant and trading city as well as for and its red light district. And the Black Forest area with its quaint villages is another favorite destination for many travellers.

Here are some essential links for Germany:

Germany Official Tourism Website
Lonley Planet Germany Website
Frommer’s Germany Website
Berlin’s Official Tourism Website
Cologne’s Official Tourism Website
Hamburg’s Official Tourism Website
Munich’s Official Tourism Website

Here are some essential travel books for Germany:

SQ.

http://www.travelandtransitions.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Travel Guide - France

2005-02-03T13:21:00.000-05:00

Paris - the City of Lights. Romantic images come to mind of strolls along the Seine and the spires of Notre Dame. The Eiffel Tower is undoubtedly the most recognizeable symbol of Paris. But the great promenade of the Champs-Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe are equally famous the world over. Museum lovers will cherish Paris since they have access to such world-class museums as the Louvre, the Picasso Museum and the Musée d'Orsay. And exploring Montmartre, the city's former artists community, then ascending Paris' highest hill to the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur is an experience no traveller should miss in Paris. The Château de Versailles, Louis XIV opulent castle with its beautiful gardens, is just southwest of Paris.

France is just a beautiful country to explore and offers so many areas of interest. A favorite are the Loire Châteaux, a collection of beautiful castles that dot the Loire Valley. One of the most famous areas is of course the Côte d'Azur, also known as the French Riviera that stretches from St. Tropez to Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo and Menton. The coastal highways on the French Riviera have been featured in many movies and offer panoramic views of the Mediterranean and the mountains. The Provence is the hinterland of the Riviera and over the years has inspired many artistis including Van Gogh and Cézanne.

Normandy of course is one of the primary historic sites of World War II and is a primary destination for history buffs. Wine-growing regions such as Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne have their own charms. French cuisine has inspired discerning gourmets for centuries. The French High Alps offer beautiful vistas and excellent skiing in the winter. France is a very diverse tourist destination that will offer something for every taste.

Here are some essential links for France:

France Official Tourism Website
Lonely Planet France Website
Frommer’s France Website
Paris’ Official Tourism Website
Cannes Official Website
Lyon’s Official Website
Monaco (Monte Carlo) Official Website
Marseille’s Official Website
Nice’s Official Website
Strasbourg’s Official Website
Toulouse’s Official Website

Here are some essential books for France:

SQ.

http://www.travelandtransitions.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Travel Guide - Austria

2005-02-03T10:57:00.000-05:00

Austria, my home country. Where do I start? I guess history is a good place and it was the Habsburg dynasty that shaped this country's fate for many centuries. Austria is known all over the world as the setting for the "Sound of Music" and people instantly associate the idyllic lake and mountain sceneries with Austria. From the High Alps in the West to the plains in the East, Austria is a beautiful country. Almost everyone has heard of its capital Vienna, of places like Salzburg and Innsbruck, but other cities like Graz, Linz, Bregenz and Klagenfurt have their own charm and definitely merit a visit.

The famous Alpine lake district where “Sound of Music” was filmed offers up almost dream-like landscapes with towering mountains, pristine lakes and charming villages. Visit the famous imperial castles in Vienna, check out the Opera or attend a concert by the World Famous Vienna Boys Choir. Music lovers will enjoy Vienna which has been the home of many famous composers including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss Sr., Johann Strauss Jr., Ludwig van Beethoven and Arnold Schonberg. The famous white horses of the Vienna Riding School are another unique attraction. You can experience culture galore here.

In the summer Austria is beautiful for hikers and sightseers, owing to the many baroque castles, monasteries and churches you can visit. Athletes such as mountain climbers, bikers, hang-gliders and even golfers will have a ball here.

During winter Austria becomes a veritable wonderland for winter sports, no wonder since it's one of the word's top destinations for skiers. In addition Austria offers many other activities, such as taking a cruise on the Danube, tasting fresh wine at one of the Heurigen in and outside of Vienna, attending one of the many festivals (such as the Mozart Festival in Salzburg, the Bruckner Festival in Linz), enjoy a luxurious spa treatment at one of the many spa towns or explore one of the quaint little villages and sample a taste of Austrian Gemütlichkeit.

Here are some essential links for Austria:

Austrian National Tourist Office
Frommers website for Austria
Official tourism website for Vienna
Official tourism website for Salzburg
Official tourism website for Innsbruck
Official tourism website for Graz

Here are some essential travel books for Austria:

SQ.

http://www.travelandtransitions.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Travel Guide - Spain

2005-02-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

Spain is a country with a long proud history dating back to the Ancient Romans and even earlier. It is a country of great diversity, with mountain ranges in the North East, beautiful beaches in the South and a luscious green coastline in the north. The center of Spain is characterized by an arid plateau and Madrid is right in the heartland of this fascinating country. In the Spanish capital you'll find many places to visit: the Prado, one of the world's bests art museums, the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace), and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia featuring masterpieces by Salvador Dalí and Juan Miró. For more lighthearted entertainment visit the Rastro, Madrid's biggest flea market.

Barcelona is the second-largest city in Spain and known world-wide for the architectural creations of José Antonio Gaudi, with the still unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral topping the list. When in Barcelona don't forget a visit to the Barri Gótic and take a walk on las Ramblas, one of the most beautiful streets in the world, a tree-lined boulevard where you can delight in the talents of street performers. Further south, the region of Andalusia awaits you with Moorish treasures such as Seville, Cordoba and Granada, where a visit to the Alhambra is a must. A visit to a bullfight, a flamenco show or a sherry-tasting are authentic Spanish experiences that should not be missed. Festivals such as the Semana Santa and the running of the bulls in Pamplona manage to spice up the traveller's experience in Spain. The Costa del Sol from Malaga westwards down to Marbella and Gibraltar is of course known for its excellent climate and beautiful beaches, (and to some degree, its overdevelopment). Santiago de Compostela is a world-famous pilgrimage site and the end point of the Camino de Santiago.

And let's not forget the charm and beauty of the Balearic Islands, Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca as well as the Canary Islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro). Spain is one of my favourite destinations, its history, mystery and charm are unique.

Here are a few essential links for travel planning in Spain:
Official Spanish tourist office
Lonely Planet website
Frommer’s websiteSpain
Madrid’s municipal tourist office
Barcelona tourist office
Seville
Granada

Here are a few essential travel books about Spain:

SQ.
http://www.travelandtransitions.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Coming up: Jeff Minthorn, Editor of Verge Magazine

2005-02-02T16:08:00.000-05:00

Not only am I a travel nut, but I am also a voracious reader. One of the magazines I picked up recently is called Verge and I felt it really stood out from the crowd of travel magazines. The magazine’s motto is “study – work – volunteer – travel” and it focuses on traveling with a purpose.

The magazine is unique in that it talks a lot about learning vacations and volunteer vacations. Once I explored their website I discovered that their primary target audience is young people who might want to take a year off university and focus on opportunities to study, work and volunteer abroad.

Jeff Minthorn is one of the two founders of the magazine; he has quite an interesting background and is no stranger to travel. He completed a degree in environmental studies and architecture and during university he took a year off and lived in Rome. He has traveled extensively throughout Europe and also worked in Antarctica.

Throughout his working life he has become involved in quite different endeavours. He ran his own design/build company, specializing in residential renovations. Later he took time off work and worked as a volunteer with special needs adults. He also worked as an outdoor wilderness guide and instructor.

Jeff and his friend Tannis sat down around 3 years ago over a cup of coffee and decided that they wanted to do something different. And so the idea for Verge Magazine was born. Jeff is one of those people who has successfully turned his dream into reality. About 6 months passed between that fateful conversation over coffee and the day when the first issue of Verge hit the newsstands in September of 2002.

Two and half years later Jeff has become an experienced publisher and editor of a unique publication, and I look forward to introduce him to you.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Booking a Language Study Trip

2005-02-01T16:34:00.000-05:00

You probably know by now that one of my personal passions is languages. I truly love the mental challenge of learning foreign languages and I think even a tiny amount of local language knowledge makes a stay in a foreign country so much more pleasant. It allows us to communicate with the locals in their language, and even if we don’t speak their language well, as long as we make an effort, they really appreciate it.

My favourite language of all is Spanish, so I am planning to go on a language study trip myself. As it looks right now I will be spending the first 2 weeks of April at the University of Havana, studying Spanish and immersing myself in the local culture.

I did a fair bit of research before deciding on this particular language study program. I located quite a few websites out there for individual language schools, and in addition to that, there are language course-booking websites, many of which allow you to search by language and/or country. The most popular languages offered by these booking websites include English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, but Chinese, Greek, Polish, Russian and Turkish and others more are also available.

There are a few basic things to keep in mind when booking a language study trip:

Duration:
How long do you want to stay? One week, one month, a year or anything in between?

Format:
Most language schools offer a standard program, which usually consists of 3 or 4 hours of instruction in the morning where the student has the afternoon off. Intensive programs are also offered where 1 to 3 additional lectures are added on in the afternoon. Examination preparation courses as well as one-on-one courses round out the course program and sometimes schools offer special purpose language courses, e.g. business language etc.

Class size:
The smaller the better. Obviously you will get a better learning experience and more attention from the teacher with less people. A lot of schools offer a standard class size of 8 to 12 students.

Accommodation:
A popular type of accommodation for language study programs abroad is staying with a host family, often referred to as “homestay”. Language students stay in a private room in the home of a local family and often participate in family activities, dinners and excursions. This approach offers the advantage of full immersion in the culture, from a linguistic and social point of view. Other accommodation options include shared student apartments or hotels.

Excursions and social events:
Schools generally offer excursions and social events to the foreign language students, some of which may be included in the package prices, others may cost extra. This is a chance to go beyond language learning and to get to know the local culture.

Included services:
When looking at prices, be careful to compare apples to apples. Some programs have inscription fees over and above tuition fees. Check whether airport transfers, meals or study materials are included in the package.

Here are some links to a number of the language class booking sites so you can do your research:

http://www.123teachme.com/
http://www.abroadlanguages.com/
http://www.abuks.com/
http://www.cactuslanguage.com/
http://www.firststepworld.com/
http://www.languagesabroad.com/
http://www.language-schools-directory.com/
http://www.languagecourse.net/
http://www.languageschoolsguide.com/
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/
http://www.orbislingua.com/
http://www.spanishabroad.com/
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/

Have fun booking your next language study trip!

SQ.
http://www.travelandtransitions.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

My Dentist - A Really Cool Guy!

2005-01-31T11:57:00.000-05:00

I am very excited that I will be able to conduct my third interview very soon. This time it will be with my dentist, Dr. Rajiv Arya, who, as you will see, is a very interesting, unique and multi-faceted individual.

I have been seeing the same dentist for almost 10 years now and I think he is a really cool guy. He is young, bright, not to mention good-looking, as well as very friendly and helpful. A long time ago, when I did not have dental insurance coverage, he reduced his rates which really helped me out financially a great deal at the time, something that I appreciate to this day.

In my opinion Dr. Rajiv Arya is a very interesting and unique individual. We have had many conversations over the years during my dental visits and I have had a chance to learn a bit more about him. Not only is Dr. Arya an accomplished dental surgeon, he also completed a law degree and today practices corporate and commercial law specializing in the health care industry. This is in addition to practicing as a dental surgeon. Needless to say, he completed his dentistry and law degrees with the highest academic honours and awards.

But we are not just dealing with a distinguished over-achiever here. Dr. Arya is truly a multi-faceted individual with a pronounced humanitarian side. Dr. Arya successfully completed a competitive duathalon in September, 2004 and is currently in training for a trekking expedition traveling to the Himalayas scheduled for March, 2005. The trekking expedition is also to contain a significant study and volunteering component. I will hopefully be able to convince him to file reports from his expedition to the Himalayas in the upcoming weeks.

Dr. Arya has volunteered his time throughout his career(s) in various countries including Canada, India, Malawi and Zambia. He has participated in racial equity and leadership initiatives in South Africa, Poland and Germany; including the study of the far-reaching effects of apartheid and the holocaust. The topic of racial equity and tolerance has been very dear to my own heart and I look forward to probing these topics more in our interview.

Dr. Arya is also scheduled to be a focus commentator in a documentary, entitled 'The Gate', currently in post-production that attempts to analyze the tragedies of the holocaust from a pluralistic perspective. Dr. Arya is also on the board of Directors of Health Outreach - a registered Canadian charity (www.healthoutreach.ca) that focuses on providing free health care to children in developing countries using innovative delivery models.

So, stay tuned, for a very interesting interview with a great guy – my dentist!

SQ.

www.travelandtranslations.com
www.textronics.com

Karla Darocas: Artist, Entrepeneur and Canuck Expatriate in Spain

2005-01-27T10:15:00.000-05:00

I had an opportunity to meet Karla last year on one of my trips to Spain. My previous post will give you a bit of background on our meeting. Karla is a fascinating individual, a painter, writer and overall creative person, but also an entrepreneur with a bit of an alternative flair. Here is what she has to say about her experience as a North American expatriate living in Spain.

Karla, enjoying life in Spain.

1. Tell us a bit about your background. Where did you grow up, what is your educational background and what did you do before you moved to Spain?

I was born in Toronto and raised in a small provincial town called Bowmanville – just east of Toronto. I moved back to Toronto after high school and attended Humber College in Rexdale where I studied creative arts – like fashion design, photography and writing. After college, I opened my first enterprise – a boutique in Toronto’s trendy Queen St. area – that sold weird and wonderful wearable art objects.

I sold that business in 1983 and went to the University of Waterloo where I received an honours degree in Fine Arts. I graduated in 1990 – and started my second enterprise – called Zona Communications. It was a communications company – and I jumped into the internet with both feet. I went on to build my first Internet enterprise – which I sold to a California company in 2000. I lived in sunny southern California after the sale of my enterprise – until the New York World Trade Centre tragedy – September 2001.

I packed up everything and went back to Bowmanville. Then 10 days later – I packed some items and flew to Zurich, Switzerland and married my long-time Spanish boyfriend – who had been working in Zurich for 8 years. We packed up his apartment – and by December 2001 – Christmas – we moved to Spain.

Karla's art.

2. You now live on the Costa Blanca in Spain. How long have you lived there and what made you move there?

We have been here since December 2001. We didn’t know where we were going to live – so the first logical place to go was to where Jose, my husband was born – Xativa. This is a castled city in the interior of the province of Valencia. We lived there for 6 months. We were unemployed and free to travel around Spain – as it was our honeymoon. We bought a 4x4 and traveled up mountains and down into valleys and places that no tourist would ever think of going.

However, we really wanted to move out to the coast – to the sea. We had met in a fishing / holiday village called Javea – back in 1988 – when I was a University student. I came to Spain twice – on student loans – to study art at the Prado in Madrid. Then, I would head out to the coast to party and hit the beaches.

My Spanish sweetie was a waiter in a fine little restaurant called – El Solomilllo – right on the beach. We fell into a crazy kind of love – and spent two wild summers together. We kept in touch for the next years though a friend – until the Internet was developed.

When we came to visit Javea from Xativa we found an old friend, Carmelo. He gave my husband a job and we moved over to the coast. We now make Benitachell our home – which is only five minutes from Javea.

The waterfront in the scenic little town of Javea.

3. What is it like to live in Spain? What are the main cultural differences between living in North America and living in Spain? What was the adjustment phase like initially when you moved there?

Spain is an old culture, full of raw passion, tragedy, love and a fascination with the macabre. It takes some time to get used to the intimate nature of the people. They are a nation of huggers and kissers. In North American culture where a handshake is normal to greet people, here in Spain it is a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. This is standard for men and women. No one ever thinks that you are gay because you are kissing a member of the same sex. This is a silly notion.

Spain is a noisy country. They have a great love of fireworks. Motorcycles do not have mufflers and they roar like big beasts through the streets. People don’t talk to each other – they yell. A North American would think that fight is taking place in a bar when the Spanish get going. But they are not fighting, this is normal communications.

Spain is a dangerous country. Every criminal who flees persecution in their own country comes to Spain. Every type of mob is here, Russians, Romanians, Italians, Yugoslavians… Plus every killer soldier left over from some Central European war. Terrorism has been a common scenario in Spain thanks to the Basque separatist movement (which learned everything they know from Canada’s FLQ). Every week, an unknown body will show up dead in a ditch due to some Columbian drug payment that didn’t get paid.

Drinking and Driving in Spain is normal. Death is cheap on the motorways. Every weekend families say goodbye to loved ones as the jaws of death scrape the mangled bodies of young and old from a twisted up piece of metal that used to be a car. Beer is not considered a dangerous drink, yet it has a 5% alcohol content. If you do need to get one you can go through the Drive-Thru window at your nearest McDonalds. Both wine and spirits are very cheap in Spain – so it is an alcoholic’s dream come true.

Smoking is not prohibited and cigarettes are very cheap. Everyone here starts smoking at a very young age. The women stay nice and thin as they don’t eat, they just smoke. Everyone has black circles under their eyes. The mix of the cheap brandy and cheap cigarettes creates for very smelly people.

4. You have now spent several years living in Spain. What places have you seen? What festivals have you experienced? What gastronomic pleasures have you enjoyed?

Our favourite festival is the Fallas Festival in Valencia. We look forward to the first two weeks of March with such passion. It is the most amazing festival both visually and emotionally. The combination of art and fire, noise and danger – it all comes together in this festival.

We have so many favourite foods – like paella and sausages packed with pork and mountain grown herb. We love flan and rice puddings. We love all types of seafood and fresh veggies from the market.

Karla's art.

5. You are always involved in a variety of endeavours. Tell us about the various websites you are working on.

My husband and I try and keep all of our important information on our own website – http://www.darocas.com/ - this is where I keep track of my paintings too. Then, I have another website called http://www.spainlifestyle.com/ where I store my writings and poems and photos of the renovations on our house. Then, we have another site called http://www.spainphotos.net/ where we store our Spanish adventure photos.

6. In addition to web sites, you also participate in several business organizations. What are they and what is your role?

http://www.palomera.com/ is a website that seeks out and tracks what the Spanish business community is doing and we can watch business trends.

Last year, I started a business club for women – which has grown and we are actually hosting International Women’s Day. It just goes to show the power of women to make something out of nothing. This is a club of international women who have come to live on this coast. The website is http://www.wibc-spain.com/

7. Obviously both you and your husband have a strong entrepreneurial orientation. You are now also involved in a project that involves a luxury Canadian cedar log home development in Spain. Tell us more about that project.

We both love wood homes. The homes in Spain are made from cement – so they tend to be cool in summer, which is good, but during winter and the stormy season cement homes are damp, cold and clammy. They are always full of cement dust and if they don’t get enough sun they get moldy.

The Spanish don’t have a good understanding of wood home building but the many of immigrants from England, France, Switzerland, Germany and so forth love their wood homes. So I hooked up with some old university friends from Canada who design and build wood homes in order to be able to offer a Canadian cedar log home to the Spanish landscape and marketplace. We are currently working on a project with a Spanish developer to build the first wooden home community in Spain. That website is called http://www.spainloghomes.com/

8. In addition to your entrepreneurial ventures, you are also an artist. Tell us a bit about your artistic background and the creative endeavours you are involved in now.

I love to paint. I had not done it for many years due to being so involved with the internet industry. When we moved here I was so happy to get back to my passion and use my skills that I developed at university. Now, I paint to please myself but the paintings sell very easily to people buying new villas or to tourists.

Karla's art.

9. Talk to us about the expatriate experience in Spain. Where do community of foreigners live, how do they interact, what types of business and activities are they involved in, and how has that changed the country?

The coastlines of Spain are turning into very international communities. It reminds me of what California and Florida must have been like back in the 60’s and 70’s. Every retired person from northern Europe is moving to Spain for the sun and sea.

They are bringing their cultural mix and adding it to the Spanish culture. The rest of Spain is changing too – for the good and for the bad. There are more social reforms happening in Spain now – for women and for labour and social welfare. The new government is young and progressive.

The bad side is that the progress is too fast and the natural beauty and landscape is being filled up with cement houses looking like low cost housing, but as holiday homes they are fetching a huge price. This inflation is eating away at the poor in this country and now young Spanish people are looking at an era where they will not be able to buy a home.

10. What advice would give to someone else who is considering moving to Spain?

Don’t’ move to Spain unless you are willing to be flexible. There is nothing stable about this country and perhaps there never will be. If you are rich, and can live off a pension and golf everyday you will be fine. If you think you can move to Spain and get a job forget it. However, if you are an entrepreneur and can see the holes in the marketplace and you have the guts and know-how to fill the hole you will be fine.

Thanks, Karla, for sharing your viewpoints and experiences. I appreciate your insider’s insights into a culture that has fascinated me for a long time. Good luck with your endeavours in Spain!

SQ.

http://www.travelandtranslations.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Second interview coming up: Karla Darocas!

2005-01-27T10:04:00.000-05:00

My Second Interview: Karla Darocas – Expatriate Canuck in Spain!

As you will probably know by now, I have a real fascination for everything Spanish (my article on Hispanophilia will attest to that), so I headed over to Spain twice last year. On my second trip where I visited places such as Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Montserrat and Ibiza, I also spent a couple of days on the Costa Blanca, the most easterly part of Spain that sticks out into the Mediterranean.

My friend and Internet mentor David had linked me up with one of his close friends, a very interesting woman from Canada who had moved to Spain a few years earlier. Karla Darocas was very gracious and invited me to stay with her for a night or two and I had a chance to get a brief glimpse into the life of an expatriate Canuck on the Spanish Costa Blanca.

Karla in the beautiful town of Javea.

Karla, her Scottish friend Rhonda and I went on a day trip on the local train to Benidorm, the largest tourist resort town along the entire Costa Blanca. We talked about life in Spain, about the culture and in particular about the humongous influx of Northern Europeans, particularly retirees, who are settling along the Spanish coastline. If I remember correctly, Spain is expecting something like 4 million Northern Europeans to settle in Spain over the next few years.

From left to right: moi, Karla and Rhonda on the Costa Blanca.

As a result there has been huge real estate development along the entire coastline and in some places like Marbella literally every square inch of available space has been paved over. For anybody with any kind of love for nature, what has happened along the coasts of Southern Spain is really quite painful to see. Development has progressed with very few limits and as a result Spain is facing serious water shortages and environmental issues due to overdevelopment, overcrowding of coastal areas as well as the building of golf courses. The tremendous increase in prices along the coast has made it virtually impossible for the locals to be able to afford a house there.

Benidorm's famous balcony by the sea.

However, despite all these excesses, there are still many beautiful places, and particularly the area where Karla lives is an extremely scenic part of Spain. Karla is a very interesting individual who is an artist, but is also involved in a variety of business and non-profit endeavours. Again she is one of those people who manage to combine the artistic with the entrepreneurial. I found her to be a very generous host and I appreciated the opportunity to spend a day and half with a person who could give me local insight into the area.

Her interview will provide unique insight into a culture that fascinates many of us in one of the most beautiful and diverse countries around. Karla’s frank insights describe Spanish society and the life of a North American expatriate and provide an inside look into a beguiling and contradictory culture.

www.travelandtransitions.com
www.textronics.com

Presenting: BARBARA WINTER!

2005-01-21T22:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I am really excited to be able to present to you my first interview: Barbara Winter, best-selling author and creative entrepreneur extraordinaire. I am always fascinated by people who manage to combine their artistic and creative talents with being a successful entrepreneur. In the end that’s what I am aspiring to achieve.

I first met Barbara in a seminar in Toronto and I enjoyed her humorous, casual yet informative style. A few phone conversations and a tele-class later: here she is!

Barbara in front of Buckingham Palace.

1. Please tell us a bit about your background and work experience.

I've been self-employed for 30 years so the things I did prior to that seem very much in the distant past. My first job was as a high school English and speech teacher. Then I worked for the State of Minnesota Employment service. After taking three years off to be a fulltime mother, I was an interior designer with Ethan Allen. Every one of those jobs taught me things that helped me when I started my own business--including teaching me that I never wanted to work for anyone but myself.

2. You are one of the pioneers of self-employment. When and why did you decide to become self-employed? What was it like when you got started? How have things changed since then?

I certainly wasn't encouraged to be self-employed when I was growing up. The decision evolved gradually. I had gotten interested in personal growth and development back in the early seventies and was slightly frustrated that all the books and seminars (which were far fewer than there are today) were by men, for men. I decided to take some of the things I'd learned and do seminars for women. I also began publishing a newsletter called The Successful Woman. It was all trial and error.

There was very little information to help me then. I began working from home, but was somewhat embarrassed about that. I had no idea that I was going to be part of the home business revolution. Essentially, it's so much easier now to be self-employed because there are more of us doing it and there's more good information.

3. One of the primary focuses of this website is travel. Tell us about your "Support Your Wanderlust" seminars.

Well, I've always had wanderlust myself and as I got more confident about being self-employed I knew I wanted my business to include travel. As time went on, students in Making a Living Without a Job seminars kept telling me that they wanted to travel so How To Support Your Wanderlust came out of those requests--and my own and other entrepreneur's experiences creating profitable travel for themselves.

4. How do you integrate travel into your entrepreneurial ventures? What opportunities of travel have you been able to enjoy through your business endeavours?

I travel extensively throughout the US doing seminars. Now that I've joined forces with Nick Williams, who lives in London, we're doing more work together in the UK, as well as in the US. As a writer, I've also traveled and incorporated research into those trips adding another profit center-- and tax deductible travel.

5. How often do you travel and how do you reconcile travel with all your various business endeavours?

It varies, but I've kind of developed a system that works for me. The seminars I do in adult ed programs are primarily held on Friday evenings and Saturdays so I travel on the weekends with those. When I'm in Europe, I have to have my writing projects done before I leave. I've always preferred to travel more frequently, but for shorter periods of time so that makes it possible to keep up with the demands of my business at home because I'm usually not away for long, long periods of time. And I only buy houseplants that can survive without me.

6. Please tell us about your life and business philosophy in general.

My philosophy--in its simplest form--is "have a great life and talk about it." I decided long ago to make myself a guinea pig and experiment with ideas before passing them along in my writing and teaching. I consider myself a card-carrying dream builder and my greatest joy is helping others go for their own dreams.

7. You are a bestselling author of the book "Making a Living Without a Job". Tell us more about that book.

Making a Living Without a Job was first a seminar which was enormously popular--still is--that put together my ideas about being creatively self-employed. When it went into book form, I wanted to write a manual that wasn't just about getting started, but also about keeping going. It really was meant to free the corporate slaves by exposing them to a different way of working and thinking about their own lives.

8. What about your most recent book "Jump Start Your Entrepreneurial Spirit"?

Jumpstart Your Entrepreneurial Spirit is a collection of 52 short essays about all sorts of things appropriate to the entrepreneurial life. It includes lots of the intangibles things that make for success and lots of stories about people that inspire me.

9. Please tell us about your " Winning Ways" newsletter and the tele-classes and seminars you offer?

One of the most critical things for anyone wanting to succeed at self-employment is to have steady reinforcement. A newsletter does that beautifully and also gives me a format to share new business ideas, books, and stories from my seminar students. Winning Ways comes out six times a year and is great fun to write. I'll be starting my 19th year of publication, which is a longevity record for small business newsletters. While I still do short seminars that include the ones you've mentioned and another called Establish Yourself as an Expert, this past year I've been moving to longer events, which I love. Here in Minnesota I do one called Camp Entrepreneur. Nick and I also do an event in Las Vegas called Being an Inspired Entrepreneur and another in the Lake District in the UK called Building the Possible Dream. I'm quite smitten with all the longer events and plan to do more of them in the future.

10. For a while now you have been involved in building a business across international frontiers. Please tell us more about your newest initiative – Dreambuilders.

One of the interesting challenges I've been dealing with for the past couple of years is learning how to work with a business partner who lives 4,000 miles away. While e-mail and the telephone make it easy to stay in touch, Nick Williams and I are also aware of the fact that we're most creative when we're together in the same place. Sometimes we also have little cultural differences of opinion which we always manage to work out, perhaps because we both find it fascinating to see a different perspective. These are all just little issues that add spice to our business, I'd say.

I once wrote an article called Another Barrier Down in which I talked about the fact that we are the first people in the history of the world for whom geography is not an obstacle for starting a business. In the article I said the business of the future will look quite different: our customers and clients will be people who share a consciousness, not a postal code.

It's that new paradigm that Nick and I have heartily embraced in creating the Dreambuilders Community. We're getting members from all over the globe who share our consciousness. It won't be long before we're holding events in a number of different countries and seeing that the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish almost anywhere. It's wildly exciting to be part of this growing global community of inspired entrepreneurs.

Let me thank you, Barbara, for sharing your experiences and some insight into your creative entrepreneurial mind. So far I have learned a lot and I am definitely planning to sign up for your next “Establish Yourself as an Expert” teleclass!

SQ.

http://www.travelandtransitions.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Barbara Got My Creative Juices Flowing!

2005-01-20T22:56:00.000-05:00

Rekindling My Creativity

Just about half an hour ago I got off the phone from my first “tele-class”, basically an hour and a half long conference call, with Barbara Winter who delivered her tele-seminar “A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Published.”

Barbara Winter definitely has a sense of humour!

Today it was a fairly small group, and as an author of 2 books including one bestseller, Barbara shared with us her knowledge of the publishing world. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it was truly quite simple. A tele-class essentially works like a conference call, you call a long-distance number, provide a code for the conference and you get linked in.

We briefly introduced ourselves at the beginning, then Barbara began to cover her material, talking about conventional publishing, self-publishing and various other topics of interest to novice authors. She has a very casual, engaging style and although this format of knowledge sharing was totally new to me, I have to say, it was easy to follow and I learned a lot.

Listening to Barbara really inspired me to try to spend more time on my newly rediscovered passion. I essentially dedicated the last close to 20 years of my life building a business, taking two part-time business degrees, spending a good deal of time on business processes, accounting and record-keeping systems and figuring out how to make a small business grow. (How many times can you mention the word "business" in one sentence? I detect a trend here....)

What I haven’t done is stayed in touch with the creative side of me. This need to rekindle my artistic side has been fermenting inside me over the last two years or so. Last September I finally put the pedal to the metal, so to speak, and I started publishing my thoughts and experiences over the net. It’s hard to tell whether there is an audience yet for my materials (I haven’t even figured out yet how to install a statistics package on my blogging website), but regardless, the Internet is a fabulous outlet for sharing my first steps as a novice writer.

Taking this class tonight was great fun and a real inspiration to keep going, to reunite the entrepreneur in me with the budding artist, and I really thank Barbara Winter for providing the stimulation to keep going. I already look forward to posting my interview with Barbara in the near future, so stay tuned, it should be interesting.

SQ.

www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

Photoblogging - I finally figured it out!

2005-01-20T14:22:00.000-05:00

Photoblogging is finally here!!!!

Barcelona - architecture galore.

Imagine this – I am in the process of working on 2 websites without a bit of knowledge of website design and HTML programming. As a matter of fact, blogging with www.blogger.com is a simple as it gets and anyone with basic literacy skills can do it too. My main website, www.youtravelcheap.com , is hosted on www.1and1.com where I use a template site builder to work on my site. I know, it’s pretty basic, but I wanted to get some of my content on the net without needing a web designer or spending hundreds of hours of courses to do it.

View of the inner courtyard of the monastery of Montserrat.

But one thing was bugging me – I love photography and although you can see my travel photos http://community.webshots.com/user/vanguard111 I wanted to add some images to my blogs, particularly to the travel blogs. And I just couldn’t figure out how to do it!

Another work of art in Ronda.

So finally yesterday I spent a good many hours, downloading a free software called Picasa which is basically an image editor and which is set up to work with www.blogger.com . In conjunction with another free software called “Hello” it allows me to actually touch up my pictures, organize them and upload them to my blog. I was very excited. For someone with no graphic/web design expertise these are little feats of accomplishment that I am extremely happy about.

Magnificent flowers on Ibiza.

So now that our image capability is here, I’ll include some of my favourite pictures, which will allow all of us to catch a few colourful moments away from these dreary days of winter.

Barcelonan architecture.

The church in Sitges, a gorgeous place.

Toronto's "Necropolis" - a very old and beautiful cemetery.

A little hideaway on Ibiza's north coast.

The Campanile in Piran on the Slovenian Coast.

SQ.

www.travelandtranslations.com
www.textronics.com

Bestselling Author Barbara Winter coming up!

2005-01-11T17:18:00.000-05:00

As an entrepreneur, fledgling creative person and travel enthusiast myself, I always keep learning from other entrepreneurs who have successfully combined business, creativity and travel in their own way. Last fall I took a seminar at the Learning Annex in Toronto with the title “How To Support Your Wanderlust”, which ended up being a very entertaining and informative seminar.

Barbara Winter is a Minneapolis-based entrepreneur, writer and speaker who has spent the past 17 years helping people discover their passions and turn them into profitable businesses. She is the author of the best-selling book, Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love (Bantam, 1993), and the publisher of Winning Ways, the newsletter for people living and working with passion.

Bestselling author Barbara Winter.

In addition, Barbara teaches seminars and teleclasses on “Establish Yourself as an Expert”, “Making a Living Without a Job”, and “How To Support Your Wanderlust”. Barbara’s most recent endeavour, her book Jumpstart Your Entrepreneurial Spirit is hot off the press and just came out last month.

One of Barbara’s mantras is to turn artists into entrepreneurs and to turn entrepreneurs into artists. This is incidentally exactly where I am at in my life right now: after 2 business degrees and 15 years in business as an independent entrepreneur, the time has come for me now to reintegrate passion and creativity back into my life, which the website and my travels will offer me to do.

Barbara likes to turn people into inspired entrepreneurs who expand their horizons. I knew that Barbara would be a great candidate for an interview, she is funny, creative and full of great ideas and energy. I am sure that her seminars and books have inspired thousands of individuals to get up and pursue their passion and create their own businesses.

What I like to do in my interviews is I like to talk to the person, get to know them a bit better on the phone so I can compile written questions (hopefully semi-intelligent ones..;) for them that they can answer in their own words. The hour I spent on the phone with Barbara has been very entertaining and informative for me at the same time and I felt totally energized after talking to her.

As a novice writer myself, just listening to Barbara gave me lots of ideas for my own writing and publishing endeavours. Barbara really knows how to capture her audience and I am actually planning to take her upcoming teleclass A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Published.

Barbara is an interesting, inspiring individual that many of us can learn from. Stay tuned for my first interview!

SQ.

http://www.travelandtranslations.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Pilot Guides - My Favourite TV Show

2005-01-10T13:13:00.000-05:00

My husband will attest that I am one of these people that can eat, drink, talk and do travel pretty much all the time. I just love travel, I read books on travel all the time, subscribe to numerous travel magazines – in several languages, as you can imagine. I visit and research travel websites, of course I talk to travelers and naturally I watch travel shows on TV! I am wondering if there is actually a saturation point for me at which travel loses interest. Well, I haven’t seen one so far yet….

So, talking about TV shows, I thought I’d share with you my favourite travel show on TV and one of my guilty viewing indulgences: PILOT GUIDES!

Ian Wright, a pretty funny travel dude.

In Canada “Pilot Guides” airs on the Outdoor Life Network, usually on weekdays at 10 pm. It’s a TV show that is produced in Great Britain by Pilot Productions. According to their website, http://www.pilotguides.com/, they are “an independent TV production company who have produced specialist TV shows for 9 years covering travel, food and history. The company and its presenters have won numerous awards and achieved fame in the field of off-the-beaten track travel TV with the TV show Pilot Guides (known as Globe Trekker in the USA and was previously broadcast under the name Lonely Planet), a show which celebrates the best, newest and most exciting travel hotspots in the world. Other successful shows in their catalogue include the travel and food show Planet Food, adventure and trekking show Treks in a Wild World and shopping and travel series Bazaar.”

There are now more than 100 episodes of Pilot Guides that cover every continent, and what I really like about them is that they present adventure travel in a light-hearted, humorous and even educational way. In virtually every location the presenters go off the beaten path, meet the locals and do some crazy things. In many cases this involves eating some strange-looking (and, as I am sure, strange-tasting) local delicacies, celebrating with the locals, and getting introduced to their customs and traditions. Trekking, hiking, mountain biking or scuba-diving are usually involved as well. All shows have a bit of geographical and historical background and therefore have good informational content as well.

My favourite 3 presenters are Ian Wright, a quirky Englishman with a pretty heavy accent, a great sense of humour and absolutely no hesitations to taste any kind of native dish. Ian now has his own TV show: Ian Wright Live with its own website, http://www.ianwrightlive.com/ , where he shares clips and travel stories with a live interactive audience.

Beware though - sometimes this may turn into a sheep-eyeball-eating contest where Ian invites somebody from the audience to recreate a travel experience that he may have had in some far away country. Obviously this person then has the pleasure of eating a culinary sample of this particular dish, right in front of a live TV audience. Here you can link to an interview that demonstrates that Ian Wright is a rather interesting and surprisingly multi-dimensional fellow.

Megan McCormack and Justine Shapiro are the two other presenters who are willing to explore every location to the fullest in local activities and adventures. They also show great sensitivity in presenting the local cultures, even in politically explosive areas, whether it be in places like Israel or the Middle East. Check out an interesting interview with Justine as well.

Christine Shapiro, somewhere in West Africa.

Even though I personally haven’t done any real adventure travel in exotic locations, watching one of these shows makes me feel like I am out on the road with the presenters, on the back of the truck hitching a ride, or interacting with the locals. It’s perfect for us armchair travelers, who don’t have the time or money to get away when we want. Watching Pilot Guides is one of those guilty pleasures that give me a wonderful escapist feeling when I am a bit stressed out and when I need a little break from everyday life..

SQ.
http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Toronto: Festivals Parks, Sports & Rec

2005-01-09T14:43:00.000-05:00

Toronto's Old City Hall, surrounded by shiny skyscrapers

Toronto is a city with great recreational opportunities. There are so many activities to choose from and there’s a festival or special event going on virtually every week.

Festivals and Events
- Film Festival: The Toronto International Film Festival is widely recognized as the most important film festival after Cannes and the largest and most successful public festival in the world.
- Celebrate Toronto Street Festival: 5 major intersections shut down for this summer extravaganza of live music, performance arts and food
- Caribbana: North America's largest cultural festival transforms Toronto into a Caribbean paradise of pageantry, music, dance and art, attracting over one-million people annually.
- Caravan: Toronto's annual around-the-world party at 30 international pavilions across Metro Toronto. Two-hundred shows, foods, arts.
- Pride Week: Toronto boasts one of largest, most happening Pride celebrations in the world, and an entertainment scene that is as impressive as they come (in fact, Queer as Folk is shot right here in downtown Toronto!).
- The Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival and the Beaches Jazz Festival
- Winterlicious and Summerlicious: Toronto’s summer and winter restaurant promotion events
- Molson Indy: One of Canada's largest sporting events, it features Canadian champ car superstars Paul Tracy, Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani competing at speeds up to 200 mph through the streets of Exhibition Place,.
- Royal Agricultural Winter Fair: signature classics like the Royal Agriculture and Royal Horse Shows. One million square feet of vibrant marketplaces with 300-plus vendors, restaurants like the Vintner’s Terrace and much more. Group and corporate programs available.
- The Canadian National Exhibition: The celebration continues as one of the largest fairs in North America gears up for its 126th year with over 500 attractions, 700 exhibitors and 60+ rides.

Here is more info on special events in Toronto: http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/special_events/

Parks
Viewed from the CN Tower, Toronto is actually a very green city. Despite its large population and huge expanse, Toronto has preserved a large amount of green space and retained a great quality of life.

- High Park is the city’s largest park, it stretches from Bloor Street down to close to the lakeshore and features a large pond, sporting facilities, a zoo and a museum.
- The Toronto Islands are a little recreation oasis in themselves with facilities for boating, canoeing, walking and biking trails and the Centreville amusement park. A 15 minute ferry ride from Harbourfront will take you over there. It’s a little green enclave with a gorgeous view of the downtown skyline.
- The Toronto Waterfront Park System provides public green spaces all along Toronto’s shoreline on Lake Ontario. Pack a picnic basket or go rollerblading. A fabulous place to relax right in the city.
- The Humber and Don River systems provide a large network of biking, walking and hiking trails and offer a breather in the middle of a large cosmopolitan urban centre. They connect into a system of smaller ravines where you can connect with nature, right in the heart of Toronto.

Sports and Recreation
- For fans of spectator sports, Toronto is home to 5 official sports teams: the Toronto Blue Jays (major league baseball), Toronto Raptors (NBA basketball), Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL hockey), the Toronto Argonauts (CFL football) and the Toronto Rock (Lacrosse).
- Being situated on one of the great lakes, Toronto of course is a mecca for water sports (sailing, power boating, canoeing, rowing). Toronto also has the largest facility for beach volleyball players in the country at Ashbridges Bay.
- Fitness aficionados will find wonderful facilities for cycling, rollerblading, jogging, skating and swimming. 210 public tennis facilities will also help keep you fit, and heck- we even have a ski hill.
- The City of Toronto operates 5 public golf courses where you can play affordable golf in the middle of the city.

All in all, Toronto offers a fabulous environment and an excellent quality of life. For more info check out these general Toronto links:

http://www.torontotourism.com/
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/
http://www.toronto.com/
http://www.torinfo.com/
http://www.showmetoronto.com/

SQ.
http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Toronto: Sights, Culture, Shopping

2005-01-09T14:30:00.000-05:00

Queen's Park - seat of the Ontario government
Neighbourhoods
Toronto has a multitude of ethnic neighbourhoods, including Greektown (where the action keeps going until way after midnight), Little Italy, Corso Italia, 3 Chinatowns, Korea Town, Little Poland, Little India, Portugal Village. Other ethnic communities also congregate in certain parts of town and you can explore Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian, Somalian and many other restaurants and stores where you can browse for ethnic food, fashion and art from far away places and check out delicacies from the entire world in Toronto’s more than 7000 restaurants.

In addition to the ethnic flavour that Toronto so plentifully offers, there are a variety of other unique neighbourhoods. Downtown has several interesting areas to visit:

- the Financial District with all its skyscrapers. It also houses the "underground city" - 11 km (6 miles) of interconnecting passageways under the streets that feature more than 1,200 retail stores and services.
- the Downtown Entertainment District – bars and dance clubs galore
- Queen Street West – a hip and eclectic shopping area
- the Gay Village: this is where Toronto’s large gay and lesbian community congregates. Here you can find bars, shops, restaurants and open-air patios
- the Fashion District with a myriad of fashion outlet stores and loft apartments that were converted from 19th century factories
- Harbourfront with its boat cruises and the ferry terminal, restaurants and art, theatre and music venues
- Rosedale and Forest Hill: two stately very upscale neighbourhoods in a park-like setting
- Cabbagetown: a former working class area, it now houses beautiful renovated Victorian homes
- the Distillery District: North America’s best preserved collection of Victorian industrial architecture, formerly the Gooderham & Worts Distillery founded in 1832. It now houses galleries, artist studios and workshops, boutiques, retail stores, restaurants, bars and cafés
- The Beaches, one of my favourite areas, with its shops, parks, sports facilities, bike trails and beach volleyball facilities are Toronto’s version of California on the waterfront.
Check out more information on Toronto’s neighbourhoods here.

Toronto's Beaches: a serene place for relaxation and recreation.

Main Sights and Architecture
Being a relatively young city, Toronto has a rather eclectic mix of architecture which includes

- the CN Tower, at 553 m the world’s highest free-standing structure
- the Skydome, a modern multi-purpose stadium with a retractable roof
- the shiny downtown skyscrapers
- Historic Fort York, the site of the Battle of York during the War 1812 and the birthplace of modern Toronto
- Old City Hall, built in the Richardson Romanesque style
- the campus of the University of Toronto, Canada’s largest university
- Casa Loma, built in the 1920s as a dream castle by Sir Henry Pellat, a wealthy famous Toronto industrialist
- Queens Park, the provincial government buildings, also built in Romanesque style

Casa Loma, Toronto's fairy tale castle.

Culture: Theatre, Music. Museums
Toronto is the 3rd largest theatre centre in the world. Here you can enjoy Broadway-style musicals, homegrown productions, traveling road shows and classical concerts. Some of the great theatre and music venues include the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the Princess of Wales Theatre, the Elgin/Winter Garden Theatre, the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts, Royal Thomson Hall and many others.

A more complete list of theatres and production companies can be found at this link:
http://www.showmetoronto.com/toronto_theatres.htm

Toronto also boasts a great diversity of cultural institutions and museums:
- the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum)
- the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario)
- the Bata Shoe Museum
- the Hockey Hall of Fame
- the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art
- the Bay of Spirits Gallery – Toronto’s finest collection of native arts and crafts
- Black Creek Pioneer Village: a collection of 40 restored homes, tradeshops, public and farm buildings, with interpreters and artisans in period dress
- The Holocaust Centre of Toronto
- The Ontario Science Centre

Markets and Shopping:
- St. Lawrence Market: the city’s original market, where farmers, artists and artisans ply their wares. Known for the freshness and high quality of its meat, fish and farm products.
- Kensington Market: known in the 1920s as the Jewish Market, Kensington Market today is a collection of merchants from around the world. Here you can find fishmongers, street musicians, impromptu speechmakers and shoppers all crowding the streets.
- The Eaton Centre, Toronto’s famous indoor shopping mall, built around an airy atrium, features 285 stores in the heart of downtown Toronto. It is one of Canada's great public spaces.
- The Bloor Street/Yorkville holds many upscale designer boutiques, antique shops, galleries, spas and restaurants.

http://www.torontotourism.com/
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/
http://www.toronto.com/
http://www.torinfo.com/
http://www.showmetoronto.com/

SQ.
http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Toronto - A pretty hip place!

2005-01-09T14:19:00.000-05:00

I know I am a little biased, but really, Toronto is a GREAT place. I have lived in the Greater Toronto Area for the last 18+ years and for the last almost 10 years I have lived right in the City of Toronto. And I love it! I wanted to put together a little profile of Toronto, this quirky, multicultural microcosm of a city.

Toronto's skyline, complete with CN Tower and Skydome.

Let me start by I what I find most unique about Toronto: the tremendous mix of cultures, languages and communities that we have here. UNESCO has designated Toronto as one of the most multicultural cities in the world, as a matter of fact Toronto is home to more than 100 cultures and its new slogan is the world within a city™ .

What’s unique about Toronto is that all these ethnic groups live together in a relative state of harmony. Nothing is perfect, of course, but Toronto is a more inclusive and tolerant place that literally any place I have ever visited, including other world cities.

With a population of 4.2 million, Toronto is Canada's largest city and comes in 5th in size after in North America, after Mexico City, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. Situated 566 feet above sea level on the northern shore of Lake Ontario (part of the Great Lakes system), Toronto is one of the southernmost cities in Canada. In fact, it has nearly the same latitude as northern California.

All in all, Toronto is a fabulous place and there is no way you should have to get bored here. Check out these links for further information.

http://www.torontotourism.com/
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/
http://www.toronto.com/
http://www.torinfo.com/
http://www.showmetoronto.com/

SQ.
http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Slovenia - A Little Jewel

2005-01-08T13:14:00.000-05:00

A Gem in the Heart of Europe

During my trip in November I had a chance to explore Slovenia a little bit, with our brief stops in Ljubljana and our overnight stay in Piran on the Adriatic coast. Slovenia is a tiny beautiful country with a population of less than 2 million people.

View from the Castle of Ljubljana towards the Julian Alps.

The main cities of Slovenia are Ljubljana, the capital, and Maribor, which is located among wine growing hills just south to the Austrian border. Ljubljana is an architectural gem, a city of Renaissance, Baroque, and especially Art Nouveau facades that boasts the greatest exhibition of the architecture of the master Jože Plečnik.

Amazing Art Nouveau masterpieces.

Slovenia was settled by Slavic tribes around the 6th century, brought under Germanic rule in 748 and became part of the Austro-Hungarian empire in the early 14th century until 1918. As a matter of fact, a lot of the architecture in the cities is built in the Austrian style.

One of Ljubljana's architectural gems.

After World War II Slovenia joined the Socialist Federal Repulic of Yugoslavia and in the spring of 1990, Slovenia become the first Yugoslav republic to hold free elections and shed 45 years of communist rule. After a brief 10 day standoff with the federal army in 1991, Slovenia gained independence as a separate country and was formally recognized by the European Union in 1992. Since May of 2004, Slovenia is a member state of the European Union and today it is one of the most successful of the former Yugoslav republics.

Pirano's Venetian architecture.

Its geography is quite diverse. Much of the country is mountainous, with the highest mountains located in the Julian Alps in the north-west part of the country. Mount Triglav (2864 m) is the highest mountain and a favourite destination for hikers. Bled is a fashionable resort town, set on a beautiful emerald-green lake that has an island with a church in the centre, overlooked by a dramatic castle.

The main Alpine chain continues along the Austrian border and another mountain range stretches south into Croatia. Due to its mountains and rivers, Slovenia has become a favorite destination for adventure travelers and outdoor enthusiasts. Skiing is also very popular in Slovenia. In addition, Slovenia also has many thermal spas and health resorts.

Pirano - a gorgeous little harbour town on the Slovenian coast.

The main rivers in Slovenia are the Drava, Sava and Soča River. The Soča River in particular is associated with a very tragic chapter of history: it was part of the infamous Isonzo front during WWI which claimed the lives of an estimated one million people and was immortalized by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms.

Between Ljubljana and Koper on the Adriatic coast is a limestone plateau that contains the most extensive network of karst caverns. The Postojna Caves are famous worldwide for their interesting stalagmite and stalactite formations. The Skocjan Caves, which are on UNESCO’s list of natural and cultural world heritage sites, boast the 1400-meter long and 150-meter deep underground canyon of the Reka River.

The Slovenian portion of the Adriatic coastline is very small. It only has four villages: Koper, Strunjan, Izola and Piran. Every kilometer of the Slovene coast is a new surprise. There is a natural reserve with the unique, eighty-meter Strunjan cliff, the highest flysch wall on the Adriatic coast. The coastal area is called Capodistria and in the 15th and 16th century this area was part of the Venetian Republic. The architecture in this area shows a definite Venetian influence and the coastal villages are very picturesque. The most famous beach resort is Portorož which is composed of a strip of high-rise hotels, restaurants and bars as well as a casino.

Monastery in Pirano.

Tourist information for Slovenia can be found at the following websites:
Slovenia: http://www.slovenia-tourism.si/
Slovenia: http://www.ntz-nta.si/?id=3222
Ljubljana: www.ljubljana-tourism.si/index.cgi?set_lang=us
Maribor: http://%20www.maribor-tourism.si/ang/danes.asp
Bled: http://www.bled.si/index2.sxp?lang=2

Here are some essential resource books on Slovenia to consult for further information:
Lonely Planet Travel Guide
The Rough Guide to Slovenia
Slovenia - Enchantment of the World
The Julian Alps of Slovenia - A Walking Guide

SQ.

http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Cuba is Calling

2005-01-07T11:36:00.000-05:00

So I’ve got plans to go on a language study trip to a Spanish speaking country. Somewhere where it’s nice and warm, a place with interesting history, culture, beautiful landscapes, warm and friendly people…

Cuba - amazing natural beauty...

With Spanish as a hobby you have a million choices since there are 23 countries that have Spanish as their official language. I just did some research on the web and came up with the following countries:

Andorra, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.

So for an aficionado of Spanish, the travel opportunities are virtually limitless, given the number of Spanish speaking places one could travel to. So how to choose? Well, I also have a bit of an interest in sociology and political history and I thought of all the places I could possibly go to, Cuba has a special ring to it.

Havana, Cuba, at dusk.

Why Cuba? First of all, Cuba is a beautiful place, a jewel in the Caribbean Sea with a great climate and diverse landscapes. Cuba has fabulous music and outstanding historic architecture. We have probably all seen images of classic cars from the 1950s against the backdrop of colonial Havana. Despite all their hardships, the people are reputedly warm and friendly.

Beaches anyone?

But last, but not least, Cuba is unique. In a world that is so dominated by globalization and marketing, Cuba is the only place that has retained a vastly different political system and in some ways it has virtually remained stuck in time for the last 40+ years. And this will change very quickly once Fidel Castro is gone.

Astounding architecture.

I am certainly no Communist, but coming from Europe, I grew up in a socialist country, so I can probably relate to some of the things they have tried to do in Cuba. And from a sociological point of view, it’s going to be interesting to see a society that is so different from our commercialized consumer society that we live in today. I could almost liken it to entering a different universe, a universe of central planning and dictatorial political decision-making, a country where scarcity and a lack of common everyday goods is the norm, where people have learned how to be creative and how to make do with what they have. Certainly not the culture of abundance and consumption that we are used to.

In August of 1989 I had a chance to visit East and West Berlin, at a truly historical moment, just 3 months before the wall came down. Beyond doubt this was one of the most interesting personal experiences I have had in my entire life. Walking through West Berlin, with all its glitzy stores and neon advertising, and then crossing Checkpoint Charlie to get to the grey, austere and crumbling Eastern part of Berlin; seeing the wall, seeing the monuments, the Brandenburg Gate, 2 halves of a city divided by history, was one of the most fascinating experiences I ever had. I fully realize that it must have been horrible for both parts of this country/this city to be divided for several decades, and the events leading up to this division were absolutely horrific. But I am glad I got to witness a piece of history before it disappeared forever.

Coming face to face with history can truly give you goosebumps. I want to visit Cuba in its present state, just because of its uniqueness, all of which I am sure will change very quickly once Castro is no more. So of all the places I could conceivably go to, I am choosing Cuba, a beautiful scenic Caribbean island, but also a unique time capsule, a sociological abnormality, a place that is going to vanish and undergo huge transformations very quickly, possibly in the near future.

So Cuba, here I come……..

SQ.
http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

A Severe Case Of Hispanophilia

2005-01-07T10:56:00.000-05:00

No, it's not a disease. It's just a general state of being nuts about everything Hispanic.

As far as travel is concerned, last year was a great year. We spent two and a half weeks in the South of Spain in the provinces of Almeria and Malaga where we checked out places such as Mojacar, Nerja, Marbella, Ronda and Gibraltar.

The famous Ponte Nuevo of Ronda.

Spain is such an awesome place. The history, the architecture, the language, the music, the food, the climate, the diversity of landscapes……. It is truly an amazing place and I can’t seem to get enough of it.

The Rock of Gibraltar - a piece of Britain on Spanish soil.

In September I took off again for another two weeks and a bit with one of my friends, guess where – to Spain! Again! This time I went to Barcelona (what an awesome city!), Tarragona, Valencia, the Costa Blanca, Montserrat and I also spent a relaxing week on the island of Ibiza, which turned out a lot more beautiful than I expected. Barcelona I thought was fabulous, its location on the Mediterranean, surrounded by a group of hills. It’s also very close to the Pyrenees, so there is excellent access to skiing, hiking, mountain biking and all sorts of other sports activities. It’s obvious by now that I have a love for the Spanish language, Spanish culture, music etc.

Benidorm: Spain's equivalent of the Copacabana.

In November I had a brief interlude with my short 9-day trip to Austria with a brief side trip to Slovenia and Northern Italy. And although I appreciate Central Europe, and it was certainly nice to visit my home country again after an 8 year break, something always calls me to places where it’s warm and where they speak Spanish.

Church of Ronda, in brilliant sunshine.

One of my dreams is to learn how to speak Spanish and to achieve close to native speaker level. I learned Spanish almost 20 years ago at university and haven’t had much of a chance to keep it up since then. Last year I finally took some courses in Spanish again, (at a fabulous place called the Spanish Centre, http://www.spanishcentre.com/, in Toronto) and I am enrolled for another course starting this coming Monday.

Casares, one of the Pueblos Blancos (white villages in Andalusia)

So when you combine a language nut with a travel nut, what do you get?

You get someone who’s planning to take a trip that includes a local language training program. This has a number of advantages: first of all, I’ll get to go to an interesting place in a warm climate. Number 2: I get to learn Spanish. Number 3: Chances are I’ll stay in a “homestay” program, meaning that I will be staying with a local family where I am fully immersed in the Spanish language and I get to know local customs, traditions, etc. Number 4: I’ll get to explore the local area, meet some of the local people, take pictures, etc.

Another Pueblo Blanco.

It’s a fantastic combination, spending 4 hours in the morning learning languages, then having the afternoon off to explore the place, having your weekends free to do excursions and being fully immersed in the local culture by staying with a family. It’s great because you don’t need a travel partner since you will be staying with a local family and you are already connected to other people through the local language learning institution.

These language schools generally arrange everything, including the accommodation, and usually they also have excursions and special social & cultural events that the language students can participate in. I know that I will be doing a Spanish language study trip some time in the spring, probably April, but I haven’t yet determined the exact location and all the details. I’ll keep you posted on all that good stuff.

I’m already getting excited.

SQ.
http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

Help!! for Sun-Starved Canadians

2005-01-06T17:59:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, around my husband’s birthday, we were thinking of taking off for a quick package-deal week in the sun. We never got to go because I was too busy at work, but we started looking into it anyway.

I am usually not the greatest fan of package vacations since I like to explore foreign places on a more individual basis, but they do have their proper place as a getaway. Particularly in a cold northern country like Canada, where the yucky weather can start in October and drag on into April, with occasional errant snowstorms in May!!!!

A winter like this would be bearable.

Package deals are great for stress relief, for slouching on the beach, sipping margueritas, playing some beach volleyball and having some all around affordable unadulterated fun. Packages usually include flights, airport transfers, all meals and some activities, so they are definitely one of the least expensive and most convenient ways of getting away from the snow.

So we started looking into cheap affordable package getaways and there are a number of great online sources to check into. Here is a list of helpful websites (in alphabetical sequence) to start you off on your package holiday shopping:

http://www.bookitforless.ca/
http://www.belairtravel.com/
http://www.destina.ca/
http://www.exitnow.ca/
http://www.expedia.ca/
http://www.flightcentre.com/
http://www.itravel2000.com/
http://www.lastminuteclub.com/
http://www.redtag.ca/
http://www.selloffvacations.com/
http://www.sunholidays.ca/
http://www.sunquest.ca/
http://www.sunwing.ca/
http://www.thetravelhotline.com/
http://www.wholesaletravel.com/

These websites offer convenient search engines where you can check out destinations and book holiday packages within minutes. Booking last minute (literally a day or two prior to the departure date) is usually not a problem, particularly in months from October to about January (excluding Christmas) since they are not prime travel time. February and March, when the deep winter blues hit, may make it more difficult to secure equally low priced vacation weeks since the demand shoots up at that time of year.

Popular inexpensive destinations include Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. All these destinations offer beautiful beaches and a great variety of recreational activities. In addition, for the more inquiring minds among us, they are also countries rich in culture and history.

Mexico's Puerto Vallarta: A perfect destination for Northerners tired of our harsh winter.

In particular, we were looking into the Dominican Republic and places like Santo Domingo boast a rich colonial history. Christopher Columbus' brother, Bartolomé Colón, founded the Dominican Republic's capital city, originally named La Isabela, in 1496. A number of New World 'firsts' occurred here, including the first cathedral, university, monastery and hospital. This is also where Spanish conquistadors set off to conquer the rest of the Caribbean, and regions of North, Central and South America.

Puerto Vallarta's famous mermaid statue.

Cuba and Mexico equally offer great opportunities for travelers who are interested in history, architecture, culture and music. So despite the low prices of these destinations, they offer a great mix of relaxation and tourist attractions. I found packages from about $400 and up, excluding taxes, departing the next day.

Florida destinations like Orlando also offer package deals that include flight, hotel and car on a last minute basis from about Can$380 and up, meals not included. Departure taxes also need to be added and they usually range between $150.00 and $250.00, depending on the destination. So from about $600 an up you can actually get an all-inclusive break from the slush and snow that the rest of us get to enjoy.

SQ.
http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

The World Unites

2005-01-06T16:55:00.000-05:00

Global Tsunami Relief Efforts

As a person who loves travel and who’s planning to see more of the world, the tsunami disaster in Asia has truly shocked me on a personal level. The death toll presently stands at around 150,000 and is sure to rise much higher due to poor sanitation, hampered relief efforts and infectious diseases. It is almost unfathomable how a single event, an earthquake that only lasted a few seconds, can literally change the face of the earth and cause unmentionable suffering to millions of people.

After the initial relief operations, the process of rebuilding is going to take a long time.

It’s strange, but every time I look at a travel show now, particularly when I see beautiful beaches and palm trees, images that remind me of these paradises in the Indian Ocean before the disaster struck, I get a twinge in my heart and I am reminded of all those horrible pictures of devastation and death, and of the suffering and upheaval that’s going to continue for many months.

Other pictures have surfaced, of tourists continuing to enjoy themselves in Thailand, even in the face of the recent catastrophe. Although I personally cannot imagine how I would be able to enjoy a vacation in this area, considering that thousands of people just perished a short distance away, it is true that some of these countries, in particular Thailand, depend on tourism as one of their main sources of national revenue.

So I am torn as to whether to condemn these vacationers and say, how can you go there and enjoy yourself in this paradise that has turned into a mass grave for tens and thousands of people. On the other hand, the economies of these developing countries have already been hard hit, and in addition to international donations, they can probably use every tourist dollar they can get.

Toronto, the city I live in, had a similar experience, on a much smaller scale during the SARS outbreak of 2003. Even though only about 50 people in total died from SARS, Toronto’s restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues were tremendously affected by the absence of tourists that ensued in the wake of SARS. Local authorities tried to put together all sorts of promotional campaigns and special discounts to bring the tourists back. So I can imagine that some of these Asian countries are going through exactly the same thing, simply on a hugely larger scale.

Governments and citizens around the world have obviously been deeply emotionally affected and have tried to do what they can to help. For now, financial donations seem to be the most effective way for helping the local populations in the affected countries.

Let me bring you here a summary of reputable organizations that you can consider donating to:

In Canada
http://www.redcross.ca/
http://www.care.ca/
http://www.oxfam.ca/
http://www.worldvision.ca/
http://www.unicef.ca/
http://www.msf.ca/ (Doctors Without Borders)
http://www.savethechildren.ca/

In the United States
• American Red Cross (via Amazon)
• American Jewish World Service
• BAPS Care International
• CARE
• Direct Relief International
• GOAL
• Habitat for Humanity International
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
• Islamic Relief Worldwide
• Network for Good (with a listing of additional relief organizations)
• Oxfam International (US page)
• Save the Children
• UNICEF (US page)
• World Food Programme (UN)
• World Vision

Events like these make waves around the whole world. I think we have all been touched by the plight of humans living thousands of kilometers away from us. Certainly in Toronto, this multicultural microcosm that represents the world, many other smaller organizations, police and fire departments have started fundraising drives for the tsunami-affected areas. This has certainly been an event that proved that people all around the world care.

An event like this teaches us that there are definitely things beyond our control and despite our daily gripes and complaints, we should be grateful for what we have. My heart and best wishes go out to the people in the affected areas.

SQ.
www.youtravelcheap.com
www.textronics.com

My Own Personal Mess

2005-01-06T16:39:00.000-05:00

So I started this blogging thing some time in October. It's been quite exciting putting up travel reports from a few of the places I visited (Barcelona, Ibiza, Graz, Trieste, Cividale, Ljubljana etc.) and I had an opportunity to include some of my own personal reflections.

But, as anyone who runs a small business can attest, sometimes your work just grabs you and doesn't allow you to pursue what you want to dedicate your attention to. My last 2 months since my return from Austria have been consumed with reorganizing the office, setting up a new accounting system, working out a sales and business expansion strategy for this new year and dealing with various organizational issues.

In addition to that, one of my key employees is relocating and although we are losing her on site here, we'll try to set up a satellite office in her new location. That will entail a whole new range of planning and preparation. Over and above that, of course we have to recruit and train a replacement for her locally. So it seems that my work has regularly been interfering with my recreation.

That’s the life of the small entrepreneur. For a while my stated goal has been to grow my business from the one-person solopreneurship (with a network of international suppliers) that it was about 2 years ago, into a fully fledged business that has all business functions professionally organized. That obviously means formalizing the customer service function, the supplier management and purchasing function, the accounting function (always a headache), the sales and marketing function, administration and employee relations as well as strategic long-range planning.

So while I am trying to transition over into a new field (becoming an author – of a book on budget travel - and a web publisher), my full-time responsibilities have definitely hampered the speed of progress into my new endeavour. However, I am in the process of goal setting for this coming year and I definitely want to dedicate more time to researching and writing articles, interviewing travel experts and other cool folks, doing some real-life traveling and finally starting to write some of the actual chapters of my travel e-book.

It’s finally time to put the pedal to the metal.

SQ.
http://www.youtravelcheap.com/
http://www.textronics.com/

The Reunion(s)

2004-11-08T10:35:00.000-05:00

My home town, November 8, 2004, 7:10 am

THE REUNION(S)

Today is the day of departure. I got up early to bring my thoughts and impressions to paper while they are still fresh. Saturday was the day of the big reunion. What a thought – getting together with a bunch of former classmates, most of whom I had not seen since graduating from high school. 20 years is a really long time.

A reunion stirs up strange feelings, feelings of curiosity, mixed with a little bit of nervousness and apprehension. A reunion forces one to think about one’s life, the last 20 years, the decisions one has made, and their cumulative effect. Time to take stock and reflect.

In high school I hung out with a group of 3 girls. The four of us had a lot of fun, we spent a lot of time together, we were all pretty good students, and sometimes we bugged the teachers and provoked them with silly questions, just to distract them from covering the material as required by the curriculum. We played volleyball together, attended choir practice together, went away together on various school trips and shared our first steps into young adulthood together.

But I for one had lost contact. I left my home town at the age of 20 and started a new life on a new continent. I also felt quite ambivalent about my home town since the small-town way of living and thinking had never been my cup of tea. In addition, life in Toronto kept me pretty busy and as a result I didn’t really keep in touch with anybody back home. So the prospect of reconnecting with people from my distant past was exciting and nerve-wrecking at the same time.

I had already connected with 2 of the 3 women who were part of our little posse and we had already spent many hours discussing our lives, philosophies, experiences. Now it was a question of convincing the 4th member of our high school gang to join us. Three phone calls later and a meeting was arranged. The four of us decided to get together at noon on the day of the reunion which was to start later at 2 pm in a little mountain village outside of my home town.

The reunion: 4 old friends from high school reunited.
Our meeting was great, seeing people I hadn’t seen, whom I had been really close to during an important phase of my life was amazing. None of us had really changed all that much visually, everybody was still slim and decent-looking. People now had careers, family, children. We talked about old stories of mischief and harmless juvenile errors in judgement. We shared tidbits of our youthful ways of looking at life, our teenage torments, and the twists and turns of our lives since then.

We finally convinced the fourth member of our group to join us in going to the big reunion and we headed off to our meeting in the mountains. Our class reunion was set in a beautiful mountain restaurant in a quaint little alpine village. Unfortunately the fog that had hung in the whole week was still hovering above the landscape and no rays of sunshine were to be seen.

When we entered the restaurant we saw 2 tables full people, about 20 people or so and we started making the rounds, shaking hands, introducing ourselves. I immediately recognized almost all my former class mates. There was only one person whose hair colour had changed and who had gotten a bit bigger who looked very different from before. Once we had exchanged photo albums and once my school mates had showed me photos of what this person looked like in the past it finally clicked and I realized who this person was.

What followed was a long evening of chats, of reminiscing, one of our school mates had brought super 8 movies that were filmed more than 20 years ago at various social events, dances and of course our big prom. Two of our teachers were invited and they participated actively in the discussions and shared their impressions of our teenage (mis)behaviours. It was amazing how people’s lives had turned out. There were engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, architects, computer scientists, senior managers and I guess I was a bit of a special case since I was the only person who had emigrated and lived overseas for the majority of my adult life while most of my colleagues had stayed relatively close to home.

The atmosphere was great, very relaxed and joyful and everybody looked like they were having fun. People were sincerely happy to see each other. Plans were made to do this again in another 5 or 10 years, address and contact information was exchanged and friendships were rekindled. All the nervous anticipation was converted into giddy silliness and exuberance over reconnecting with so many people from our shared past. I finally headed home at 4 am after an evening of laughter and reminiscing and this reunion turned out to be the crowning touch of my trip.

SQ.

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Reflections of a New Writer

2004-11-05T10:48:00.000-05:00

My home town, November 5, 2004, 7:30 am

REFLECTIONS OF A NEW WRITER

When I set out to write my book about budget travel and slapped a few pages on the Internet to get motivated and to get started, I didn’t realize that writing would become so addictive. I spent half of last night mulling over my experiences in my home town, thinking I needed to get my hands on a computer to write them down as soon as possible. Connecting with your roots is indeed a rather intense experience. I crawled out of bed at 7 am this morning, just to get on my brother’s computer to get my thoughts on paper.

All these thoughts going through my head.

But writing and publishing on the Internet and sharing one’s innermost thoughts with an anonymous faceless audience, possibly all across the world is a different story. On one hand it’s a real thrill to think that my humble, simple thoughts might be read by other people, and possibly even inspire some reflections of their own.

On the other hand it’s downright scary, to grant access in some way to one’s personal inner sanctum, to the private thoughts between my ears. There’s a definite sense of vulnerability and doubt about how much to share, what to write about, what people might think when they read over my reflections.

Funny enough the concern became greater when I started sharing my website with people that I knew. I had no problem writing and publishing personal thoughts to a truly anonymous audience of strangers, but once friends and acquaintances started looking at my material it started to feel a bit funny.

On the other hand, the opportunity to get out there into the ether of the Internet and share one’s reflections feels good, feels cathartic. To feel that my writings might resonate with other people is gratifying, and the adventurer, the little rebel in me says, the hell with what people might say or think, this is what you need to do right now, so go for it! It takes a bit of courage to expose so much of oneself to a potentially wide audience, but I guess I have always been a bit of a risk taker.

SQ.

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www.textronics.com

The Homecoming

2004-11-05T10:20:00.000-05:00

My home town, November 5, 2004, 7:00 am

THE HOMECOMING

Home. What is home? Is it the small rural town in Austria where I grew up, the town that I left now more than 18 years ago? Or is it Toronto, the Metropolis, in whose bowels I have been living in for almost 2 decades?

The big baroque pilgrimage church in my home town.

“Home” is a strange notion. I guess “home” is where you feel you belong, where you feel most at peace. That’s probably the closest definition of “home” that I can come up with.

I have spent the last 2 days around my hometown, taking care of some business issues, having meetings with people, dropping in on old friends, school mates, my old school, connecting with some of my old teachers.

View of my home town.

It’s a strange experience. The place feels so familiar, but it has changed so much. Even the visual appearance of my home town has changed to the degree that the downtown area is hardly recognizable. People have changed, gone grey, gotten bigger, shrunk, faces have become more wrinkled, visible signs of aging have set in. Certainly more with some people than with others. You hear of deaths, yesterday I found out that one of my former teachers, one of my favourite ones, passed away barely a year after retirement.

I have sat down with people for conversations, and there is a definite sense of groundedness, of agrarian pride, of being connected with the countryside, with nature around them. Many people eat more naturally; appreciate the fruits of the earth that surrounds them. Much more so than in the expansive megalopolis of Toronto, where people are much more removed from the natural environment around them and go to the supermarket for super-processed food.

Rural landscapes close to my home town.

There are also other conversations. Conversations about regretting past decisions, missed opportunities, barriers to doing what one really would have wanted to do. Whether we are talking about career decisions, relationship decisions, major life decisions,… I guess that’s not surprising, since people all over the world start questioning their earlier choices in mid life and later life.

What strikes me as different in some of these conversations is the sense of irrevocability and resignation. “Well, that’s just the way life is”, “That’s how it goes around here”, “You can’t change it now..”, “There is just nothing you can do about it, you just have to grin and bear it”. That sense of resignation and fatalism has made an appearance in various discussions with a variety of people that I have had in the last few days.

Being the dreamer that I am, the person that always sets out to capture a new inspiration, to pursue a new idea, to start something else up, this way of thinking strikes me as very foreign. Maybe there is a difference when you live overseas, that the “American (or to a lesser degree, the Canadian) way of thinking” rubs off on you, that “everything is possible”. Or at least you make yourself believe that.

All I can say is, as a person who’s gone out into the world and made a few things happen according to her own ideas, this sense of fatalism and resignation is strange to me and it makes me a little sad. Sad about the fact that people with talents, ideas and aspirations have given up striving for what they would really like to do, how they would really like to live. Sometimes I think it’s the small-town environment that imposes these barriers, whether they are real or perceived.

So for this dreamer, the metropolis, where many people believe that many things are possible, the big city with its diversity, its ethnic quarters, its broad entertainment offerings, its diverse and easily accessible adult education opportunities, its 3 universities and countless other academic institutions, with all its overcrowding, pollution, road rage and urban sprawl, with its gay area, the street people, graffiti-covered underpasses, this metropolis of Toronto, that has given me the chance to become the woman that I needed to become, that’s where my home is.

SQ.

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Hello from Graz

2004-11-02T17:30:00.000-05:00

November 2, 2004, Internet Cafe Sit´n Surf, Graz, Austria, 2:05 pm

The "Uhrturm" - the clocktower, Graz' most well known sight
I finally found Internet access here in Graz. Not the easiest thing I have to admit. Had to ask 3 people and finally went to the tourist info who competently directed me to an Internet Cafe.

The last few days have been interesting. The first day my sister-in-law and I took a little tour through my home town of Weiz, and in the 8 years that I haven't been here there has been a lot of change. New buildings, renovations, traffic reorganization. It almost felt like being in a different place.

On Saturday my brother, sister-in-law and I started our little weekend tour to Slovenia and Italy. We drove on the highway to Austria's border with Slovenia (only about 45 minutes from my home town). Then we continued on for about another hour and 15 minutes to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. We parked the car by the river and took a little walk to the central market. The place was just packed and you can buy anything from fresh bread to meat, sausages, fish, vegetables, fruit, flowers. People were out in full force, even shopping for candles for the annual trip to the cemetery. After all it was the weekend of All Saints Day and people take their cemetery duties very seriously in Central Europe.

We walked through the old town with its cobble-stoned streets and then started the steady climb up to the castle hill. At the top is an old castle with a renovated tower that can be accessed. You get to the top through a really interesting winding staircase and once outside, there is a beautiful 360 degree view of the surrounding area, including the limestone outcrops of the Julian Alps.

After a brief lunch in a local pizzeria we continued our drive towards the Slovenian coast. I couldn´t keep my eyes open since I was so tired, so I missed a good part of interesting landscape. The Postojna mountain pass is always interesting and after that we got close to the Adriatic coast. We drove by the Slovenian towns of Koper, Strunjan and Izola and finally ended up in Piran.

Piran (formerly Pirano - in Italian) was a town that has changed hands many times among many people. Most of its core was built by the Venetians and on the hill above town there is a clock tower whose style is very reminiscent of the Campanile in Venice. Beside the harbour is a beautiful square with houses dating back several centuries. We checked into the Hostel-Hotel Garni Val, very similar to a youth hostel, where we could stay for Euro 20/night. My sister-in-law and I stayed in a room with 4 beds (2 of them bunkbeds), and washrooms/showers were in the hallway.

We went on a beautiful stroll through town, again nice cobble-stoned streets, the weather was gorgeous, we had blue sky with about 20 degrees. Of course we climbed the belltower which gave us a beautiful 360 degree view of town and the Adriatic coast to the north, all the way past Trieste. I almost got a heart attack when the bells of the clock tower started ringing right next to my ears. They were unbelievably loud.

We had a nice dinner in the evening in a restaurant called "Delfin". My brother of course had fish, one of the local specialities. I ended up picking up a stomach virus and on Sunday and Monday I was dealing with some very unpleasant symptoms. Sunday morning we checked out and continued our journey towards Italy.

After about 30 minutes of driving and basically no border check at the Slovenian-Italian border we ended up in Trieste, a city of 270,000 people, and a major industrial and port city at the north end of the Adriatic. Trieste used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the architecture is very reminiscent of many Austrian cities. We visited the main square with the City Hall, checked out the "Canale Grande", an outlet of the sea that stretches into the city.

Trieste's Piazza dell' Unita

On the harbourfront there was some sort of exhibition by the Italian Navy, the Military and various police organizations. 3 war ships were parked in the harbour and apparently people were able to go on tour inside the war ships. All sorts of military and police vehicles were parked in the harbour area and sailors, soldiers and policemen and women were available to answer questions, pose for photos etc.

After our short stop in Trieste we continued our Northern Italian tour and stopped in the town of Cividale, a medieval town that was originally built by the Germanic tribe of the Langobards. It also has an old town core with ancient churches, narrow cobble-stoned roads and the most famous sight is the "Tempietto", the little temple that was built many hundreds of years ago by the Langobards.

Cividale and the "Devil's Bridge" - a beautiful ancient town in the foothills of the Italian Alps.

After lunch (where I couldn't eat any of the Italian delicacies due to my stomach problems) we continued our way home through the Italian Val Canale, past Udine, Tolmezzo towards the Austrian border. It had been raining for several days and it was still pouring and all the mountain streams were very close to overflowing. Waterfalls overflowing with water were shooting down from all the mountains and the major river, the Tagliamento, looked like it was going to flood the area in the very near future.

About 3.5 hours later we finally arrived back home in Weiz, after driving through the pouring rain. Sunday night and yesterday I had to take it easy since my stomach was still bothering me a great deal. Today I finally took off, picked up my rental car at the airport in Graz and I have spent the last 2 or 3 hours rediscovering my university town. I checked out the castle hill (Schlossberg) in the middle of town, walked up to the Uhrturm (clock tower), the symbol of Graz, and looked at all the medieval remains of the old fortress castle on top of the hill. I also walked through the town´s centre, across the Hauptplatz (the main square with its market, which also houses City Hall) and finally, after some extended searching, ended up in this Internet cafe.

So the last few days have been quite exciting, Austria, Slovenia, Italy. The beauty of Europe are the small distances between all the various places. A perfect place for a sightseeing aficionado.

More to come.....

SQ. 2:30 pm.

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Preparing for Austria (Graz / Styria)

2004-10-26T16:15:00.000-04:00

So, barely 4 weeks after getting back from Barcelona and Ibiza I am getting ready for another trip, this time back to my home country of Austria. I have to take care of some business issues in Austria, and in addition to that, I am heading over for my 20th high school graduation reunion! Scary stuff, I must say. I left Austria 18 years ago, and with the exception of 1 or 2 people, I haven't seen anybody I went to school with for almost 2 decades....

It's going to be interesting to see my former schoolmates after such a long time. Seeing the changes in hair colour, physical shape, muscle tone, attitudes etc. 2 decades is a long time, you go through life feeling pretty good, feeling young and energetic, and then you realize that you are heading straight into middle age. I often wander what sort of reflections my school mates have been going through, how their outlook might be different from mine, since the majority of them chose to stay close to home. From what I could tell I am apparently the only person that left the country/continent to start a new life in a totally different place. So this reunion will be interesting indeed.

Austria is a beautiful country and although I am only going over there for a short period of time, I am hoping to have a little bit of time to do some exploring. I may do a little side trip to the north part of Italy or to the coast of Slovenia or Croatia.

Lovely architecture in Ljubljana

The beauty of Europe is that everything is so immensely close. Although the end of October/beginning of November is not the best time to travel weather-wise, I am looking forward to going back home after almost 8 years. It's certainly a good time to realize some travel savings since it's off-season.

This will be a real budget trip too since I get to stay with my brother and sister-in-law. I did some searches on the Internet to look for the best flight connection and almost booked with http://www.flyzoom.ca/ which offers tremendously inexpensive charter flights to London Gatwick. Their return flights to London start at about Can$199, which is an unbelievable price for a transatlantic flight.

Then I looked into Ryanair, http://www.ryanair.com/, which is one of the well-known low-price charter airlines in Europe that fly to Graz from London Stanstead. Ryanair would charge about GBP 80 + GBP 40 for a return flight to Graz, 120 Pounds in total (about Can$270) which would be an extremely good price for a flight from Toronto to Graz.

However, I could not find a good connection between the two flights and would have had to stay over one night in London, which would have negated all the savings from the flights. So I ended up booking with http://www.destina.ca/, and getting a convenient direct flight with Lufthansa from Toronto to Graz for about Can$850, taxes included.

I will certainly try to do a little tour of Graz, http://www.graztourism.at/, the city where I attended university. Graz is the second largest city in Austria (larger than Salzburg or Innsbruck) with a population of about 250,000. It has a beautifully preserved medieval core and was recently awarded the designation of "World Heritage Site" by UNESCO. In 2003, Graz celebrated many festivals as "Europe's City of Culture 2003.

The "Rathaus" (City Hall) of Graz
Graz has a hill in the middle of town, the so-called "Schlossberg", that can be ascended by funicular. On top is the "Uhrturm" or clock tower, built in 1712 and the symbol of Graz. The "Hauptplatz" or main square is a beautiful large square and harbours City Hall and many upscale retailers and a local market. Other main sights include the Chateau of Eggenberg, the Cathedral and Mausoleum and the Armory.

Graz is also the capital of "Steiermark", which is the Austrian province of "Styria", http://www.steiermark.com/en/. Styria is a beautiful province with diverse landscapes, including glaciers, high mountain ranges, rolling hills and even vineyards. Styria is one of the little-known secrets of tourism in Austria and it holds tremendous scenic beauty while at the same time offering great travel deals.

Styria has beautiful regions, including the Styrian "Salzkammergut", a region with high mountains and alpine lakes, very close to the area where "Sound of Music" was filmed. Other regions of interest include the "Dachstein-Tauern" region with towering high mountains, Upper Styria with forested mountains of medium altitude. The Western and Southern part of Styria have gently rolling hills, many of them with vineyards and orchards. This is often referred to as "Styrian Tuscany". In the south east is the area called "Thermenland", a relatively flat area with low-rising hills that has vestiges of former volcanic activity and many thermal springs and spas. Just the perfect place to get pampered.

The area that I am headed to is called "Oststeiermark" or Eastern Styria, with medium-high mountain ranges and rolling hills that peter out towards the Great Hungarian Plain, with many castles, ruins and churches of interest. The regions of Styria make up one of the most reasonably priced areas of Austria and they offer great recreational and cultural opportunities.

As always, in the little bit of spare time that I will have on this trip I will take pictures and create blogs whenever the time allows. It's going to be interesting to head back to my home country, my home town after almost 8 years.

SQ.

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Camino de Santiago

2004-10-16T08:56:00.000-04:00

Toronto, October 16, 2004, 8:57 am

Yesterday I went to a special presentation at the Spanish Centre, www.spanishcentre.com, in Toronto. The "Centro de Habla Hispana" is a combination of a language school, dance school and cultural centre right in the heart of Toronto and I have taken some Spanish lessons there recently to rekindle my love of the Spanish language.

The presentation yesterday was by Sue Kenney, www.suekenney.ca , a former sales professional in the telecommunications industry, who completed the Camino de Santiago, a 780 km pilgrimage on foot, from east of the Pyrenees in France to the town of Santiago de Compostela in the northwestern part of Spain. You can check out her experiences first-hand in her new book My Camino.

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

Sue is a very interesting and dynamic individual. She told our group about several of her defining life experiences, her sister's death due to cancer, her youngest of 3 daughters moving in with her former husband, her experience of being made "redundant" in her early 40s at a major telecommunications company in Toronto, after 25 years in the industry. She also touched on her experiences as a championship rower who won a gold medal in the FISA World Masters Rowing Championships with a group of women whose average age was 42, an accomplishment that must have required tremendous efforts, determination and discipline. All around a very unusual, impressive personality.

Her layoff from her telecommunications job was a pivotal point in her life, when she looked around and took inventory of all her physical surroundings and material belongings and realized that this wasn't everything for her. There was something more to life and she decided to tackle the Camino de Santiago barely a month after her layoff and began her journey in November of 2001.

Sue hiked the Camino by herself, although occasionally accompanied by other pilgrims, during the winter when very few individuals even attempt this journey. She hiked between 25 and 40 km a day, and stayed in the "refugios" (pilgrim's hostels that are open to registered pilgrims for a suggested donation of about 4 Euros a night). She also mentioned stories of incredible generosity of the locals, who cooked meals for the pilgrims and gave them an honourable welcome along the way. Sue also told a story that was shared with her by another German pilgrim, who said that the stone figures along the way were a collection of stones left behind by other pilgrims, and each stone represented the sorrows of the pilgrim that deposited it.

Sue started to pick up stones, symbolically put her sorrow in it and put it down, and later decided that she would do this for other people, putting down a stone for them every time she tought of them and any sorrows that they might have. Sue's journey along the Camino become a journey of self-love and of love for other people. And it changed her life. Today Sue is no longer a telecommunications consultant, today she is a motivational speaker, writer and coach and she tries to live the principles that she discovered on the Camino in her day to day life back in Canada.

I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. The Camino de Santiago is many things to many people, a religious pilgrimage, a spiritual journey, a process of self-discovery and meditation, an extreme physical challenge, and an opportunity to face and confront one's deepest fears. Many people who complete it come out changed human beings. Sue Kenney was certainly one of them and I think she inspired many of the people in the room to think about their own path, their own journey from here on in.

For me last night was an insight that you don't always need to travel thousands of kilometers to learn things about other cultures, about other people or yourself to gain valuable insights. Sometimes your own city has so many things to offer, events that expand our horizons and stretch the envelope. Thanks to Sue Kenney and Javier from the Spanish Centre who made this experience possible.

SQ
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Hello from Ibiza (4)

2004-10-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

October 1, 2004, 9:50 pm

So we spent our last day here today, the last day of this truly amazing 2 week vacation. Yesterday, after our little beach experience at Cala Llonga we went to the town of Sant Miquel where they have a live performance of folkloric dancing every Thursday evening at 6:15 pm.

The performance was inside the white-washed church's inner yard and we sat down with another 40 to 50 tourists to watch a group of about 10 children and teenagers who were all dressed up in traditional Ibizan outfits. The boys wore black or white pants with vests over a shirt and red long hats, almost like nightcaps. The girls all wore headscarves and some of them wore traditional Ibizan wedding dresses with 13 layers of skirts!

They performed a number of dances, with the boys jumping and kicking their legs up high, while the girls mostly walked around them, demurely in tiny little steps. Obviously some courtship and wedding dances, the instruments were mostly a flute, a metal instrument that looked like a sword that was used for percussion, plus a little drum. Some of the flutes played were introduced by dated the Egyptians. The boys also used very large castanets. Definitely a very interesting experience, in terms of dress, music and dance, Ibiza is a very unique culture, extremely different from the typical Spanish or Andalusian stereotype of flamenco dancing.

A wedding dress in Ibiza: 13 layers!

Today we went into Sant Antoni where I took a 1.5 hour boat ride (8 Euros) on a glass bottom boat. We went around the south part of Sant Antoni bay to Cala Bassa. A diver was also on board and at one part we stopped and she dove in and brought back a few animals, 2 sea worms, a sea star and a very thorny animal who´s name I forget. We went around the islands off the Bay of Sant Antoni, beautiful area. On the way back, the ship´s crew served local champagne in a unique, curved flask that deposited the drink directly on the recipient´s tongue. Some of the boaters quite willingly partook of the ritual.

We then spent the afternoon at Platja des Comptes where we went swimming and watched a beautiful sunset in front of the little islands off the coast. It was crowded at the beginning, but it thinned out nicely around 3, 4 pm or so and we had more space on the beach. One local man came back from diving with a harpoon and he brought in an octopus which immediately drew a crowd of onlookers from the beach. Just before sunset we went to a smaller little cove where we saw a jelly fish just floating around, against a backdrop of golden rocks, which alerted us to the imminent sunset.

Many people congregated and the sun dropped slowly but surely into the water, just to the right of one of the larger islands off the coast. A fitting evening to our last night in Ibiza. All in all, it´s a beautiful place, just large enough for a week of exploration and compact enough so we never had to do much driving, the biggest distance on the island from one point to another I believe is 40 km.

Glorious sunsets on Ibiza.

A great vacation!!!

SQ.
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Hello from Ibiza (3)

2004-09-30T19:15:00.000-04:00

September 30, 2004, 4:15

Sitting here in an Internet Cafe in Cala Llonga on the east side of the island. We spent about 2 hours in Ibiza today, me just sightseeing, climbing up to the fortress and taking pictures, Theresa finally getting her souvenir shopping done.

From about 1 pm on we have been spending our last few hours at Cala Llonga, a beautiful beach, set in a deep inlet, where we have been relaxing.

Yesterday was by far the most exciting day. We took a ferry from Ibiza to Formentera with the Balerias boat called Ibiza Jet (29.80 Euros for supposedly the faster ferry at 25 minutes, it still took us 40 minutes to get over to the other island.)

Formentera is a lot smaller than Ibiza, about 82 square km compared to about 580. And it´s virtually flat, with only two areas with a long hilly elevation. The highest point is on east end of the island, at Far de la Mola, elevation about 200m.

Lighthouse on the east end of Formentera.

We rented 2 motor scooters to discover the island, which was absolutely the best idea and the most fun. We had 2 little Piaggio automatic scooters with a 50 cc engine, top speed about 70 km7h, and a cost of 20 Euros a day, crappy helmet included.

Riding the motorscooter made me feel like a kid again!
We booted around the whole island, Far de La Mola, Far des Cap de Barbaria - an almost lunar landscape with many little figures of rock that must have been built by other tourists.

Then we moved on to Platja de Cala Saona, probably the nicest beach on the island, set into a rocky scenery. Most other beaches we saw (Es Copinar, Es Arenals on the south side of the island) were very flat, sandy beaches, with little scenic interest.

However, the colour of the water, as anywhere on the islands of Ibiza and Formentera is truly amazing, deep blue water with turquoise and light blue patches. I couldn´t believe the colours when I first saw them.

After handing our scooters back, we caught the slower ferry back at 7
and arrived in Ibiza Harbour at about 7:30, all the while standing on the outside deck and enjoying the cool air and the atmosphere of an impending sunset. Then we just shopped for dinner at the local Spanish "Walmart" and had a quiet dinner back at the resort. Although it wasn´t so quiet after all, it was karaoke night at the Gold Crown pub and there was many a singer who wasn´t really meant to be in front of a microphone.

Finally around midnight the ruckus died down and I could get to sleep. Well, tomorrow is our last day in Ibiza, our last chance to enjoy the Mediterraean. Tonight we are going to enjoy some true local Spanish dances in the village of Sant Miquel. Should be interesting....

SQ.
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Hello from Ibiza (2)

2004-09-29T01:45:00.000-04:00

September 28, 2004, 9:45 pm

We just returned to the resort after a gorgeous evening and decent dinner in Santa Eularia del Riu. Today we spent the whole day driving from beach to beach, starting on the northwest side of the island, just north of Sant Antoni, continuing towards the north side of the island and ending up in Santa Eularia.

The first we visited was La Salada, just north of Sant Antoni, a place only reached via a very stony road. After parking the car we had to walk another 10 or 15 minutes and we reached a very secluded beach with rocky platforms where a few people (mostly nudists) were sunning themselves. The view towards the sea included a rocky island off the coast - what an amazing vista!

We continued on through the interior of the island and enjoyed the hilly, rather quiet road. Then we reached Sant Miquel, and the Port de Sant Miquel which is a very beautiful little town. The next beach, Cala de Benirras, is also very beautiful with a rocky outcrop in the middle of the bay. The scenery with the coastal hills, rocky outcrops and the sea is just absolutely stunning.

Portinatx, a gorgeous beach in the middle of town.

We continued on towards Portinatx and visited several beaches there, again some of them with rocky outcrops situated in the various bays. Then we made our way to Sant Joan de Labritja to Cala Vicent which again is a stunning beach looking out toward the island of Tagomago. We spent a bit of time there, but the wind blowing in from the sea was really cool so we packed up and kept visiting and photographing beach after beach just north of Santa Eularia.

All the while we commented on how small this island is and how much immense beauty there is concentrated here. For dinner we went to Santa Eularia which has one of the most beautiful seafront promenades that I have ever seen.

Santa Eularia des Riu.

We had a 3 course dinner (menu del dia) at the Bar Sinatra Restaurant which appeared to be a very upscale place. A regular soup of the day was listed on the menu for 6.25 Euros! We on the other hand had a nice dinner with appetizer, main course and free drink (including wine) for 10.50 Euros. My grilled pork chops were not the absolutely best, or at least tastiest, but for the amount we paid we got a great value.

After a little icecream at the sea front we decided to get going to get ready for our big trip to the island of Formentera tomorrow.

SQ.
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Hello from Ibiza (1)

2004-09-27T21:05:00.000-04:00

September 27, 2004, 6:05 pm

I am sitting here in the front entrance hall of the Ses Fontallas Plaza timeshare resort in Sant Antoni. We arrived on Saturday at about 5:30 in Ibiza and had to hang around for the luggage. 2 of our pieces actually didn´t make it due to a technical problem with the cargo area on the plane and we had to wait an awefully long time at the baggage information area to find out that the baggage would be delivered the next day.

Ses Fontanellas Plaza timeshare resort.

We finally checked out our rental car, a VW Polo, at Hiper-Rent-A-Car, just outside the airport. Not a bad deal for about 158 Euros a week... On the way to our resort we stopped off in a huge supermarket, we called it the "Walmart of Spain" where we picked up the basics of groceries and we then made our way to the resort in the dark.

Ses Fontanellas Plaza is a nice complex right in the tourist area of Sant Antoni and we got unit 308, a one-bedroom with partial seaview. Definitely a very nice place, with mini-kitchen, a comfortable bedroom, nice furnishings, nice bathroom with bidet (still calling it the "boot-washer" since I haven´t figured out what to do with it...;)

I am sleeping out in the living room on a comfortable trundle bed and the balcony is very roomy with a nice view out to the sea. We had a nice sleep and finally a home-made meal after all the restaurant cuisine that had started to taste a little bit the same.

Then a nice breakfast on the balcony yesterday. After waiting around for our luggage to be delivered, we finally decided just after noon to head out and we drove to Ibiza. Interesting town with a fortress on the hill. We climbed all the way up and had a beautiful view of the harbour and the south and southwest side of the island.

Ibiza in the evening - D'Alt Vila - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I took a ton of pictures and also picked up a few items from the souvenir shops. Got all my souvenir shopping done in about half an hour. The pottery is really amazing here. I wish I could pack it all up and ship it home to Toronto.

On the way down from the fortress I saw a local family, grandmother, 2 or 3 adult kids and several grandkids, in the street and thought I´d practice my people photography. From the looks the family appeared to be gipsies. I approached them very friendly in Spanish and asked if I could take some pictures.

The grandmother then got up and shot into my direction and got very aggressive and shouted at me to get lost, waving her arms. Her kids were quite okay with the idea of being photographed, but the old lady wanted no part of me taking any pictures. So much for my first foray into trying to experiment with human motifs in my career as a hobby photographer....

Oh well, after walking around a few hours we were pretty pooped and drove back to our little apartment where we made a nice little dinner, watched some Jay Leno and Conan O´Brien on the satelittle network before going to sleep.

Today we got going pretty early, we left at about 10 am. Another brilliant day with sunshine on the coast, but a few darker clouds hanging inland. We checked out 7 or 8 beaches or coves on the southwest side of the island and spent about 3.5 hours at a cove called Cala d´Hort, which had the most stunning scenery of all, a nice cove with a sandy beach, looking out to a monolithic rock that sticks out 389 m from the sea. An amazing view.

Relaxing in front of the rock.

We thought we´d have dinner there at the local restaurant but the sun drained our energy and we decided to drive by 2 more beaches and then come back to our little home away from home. One thing we noticed for sure: Ibiza is a gorgeous place.....

SQ.
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Hello from Sitges

2004-09-24T10:20:00.000-04:00

Sitges, Cafe Tiempo Loco, September 24, 2004, 7:20 pm

The beautiful church of Sitges

Sitting here in the cafe, 2 minutes from the Hostal Bonaire (Euro 39 for a single room) where we are going to spend the night.

We left Javea yesterday around 1 pm and drove up the A7. We were just curious about the toll and ended up paying Euro 6.20 and Euro 17.75 plus another Euro 1.20 to exit just around Tarragona.

We decided to explore the mountain areas and ended up in a hostal in the small medieval town of Montblanc where a single room cost only Euro 25.00 and a double room was Euro 42.00. We walked around the town which is completely encircled by walls and medieval watchtowers. Quite interesting, but very small.

Having dinner was another thing, we were ready to eat by about 8 pm, but no chance, none of the restaurants would open before 9:00 pm so we ended up eating a bocadillo (sandwich) at a bar on the main square.

This morning we had a nice little breakfast on the main square at the same place. It was market day today and all sorts of merchants were selling various types of merchandise from portable stands. Our breakfast was lovely, tea plus 2 of the freshest croissants we had ever tasted.

We then made our way through the mountains past Valls into the area of Montserrat, which is an absolutely fascinating area. We ended up spending the entire afternoon at the Monastery of Montserrat, checked out the basilica, were astounded at the various modes of transportation one could use to get up to the monastery, ie. the road with Euro 4 for parking, a pin and racket railroad and an aerial tram.

The mysterious jagged mountains of Montserrat.

Plus we took a funicular to the top of the mountain to Sant Joan and walked around at the top of the serrated mountains. What a gorgeous view! We also walked up to the right to a little chapel (I guess the Chapel of Sant Joan). Right beside it was an abandoned villa / restaurant that was glued against the mountain. It pretty much lay in ruins and I wondered what must have happened to this rather mysterious place...

The famous monastery of Montserrat.

After Montserrat we drove down to the coast and we decided to spend our last night on the mainland in Sitges, a really beautiful town about 50 km southwest of Barcelona, right on the Mediterranean. We went to the tourist office to get our accommodation information and then drove down to the beach where we had to park quite far away from the downtown. Parking is definitely an issue here.

We booked into the Hostal Bonaire right downtown, 2 single rooms at Euro 39 each, not bad for a beautiful beach town. Not fancy, but clean and with private baths. Now we are gonna head out for dinner. After about 4 to 5 hours of walking today we are pretty tired and hungry....

Tomorrow it´s off to Ibiza where we are going to have a more relaxing week.

SQ.
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Hello from Javea

2004-09-21T20:40:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 5:40 pm

We just arrived in the little port town of Javea, about 75 km south of Valencia. Yesterday we drove down the coast from Barcelona, stopped in Tarragona for a lovely little lunch and had a quick peak at the remains of the Roman walls. We couldn´t find the supposedly well preserved amphitheatre though....

Peniscola - a scenic little town on the Mediterranean.

We made our way south along the N340 to a town called Peñiscola, a beautiful jewel on a peninsula sticking out into the Mediterranean. We stayed in a beautiful little hotel along the waterfront (for Euro 37 each) and had a great dinner at a local restaurant.

Peniscola - and it's old Moorish centre.

This morning we left, drove into Valencia and walked around the downtown area. We checked out the Cathedral on the Plaza de la Reina, then the Mercado (similar to the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto) where the fish market area almost made me toss my cookies.

Valencia.

Across the street is the Llonja, a Gothic silk market, one of the few Gothic buildings that is not a church. Unfortunately it is under renovation and all covered up and we couldn´t get in.

Then we headed out on the road again, for about 2 hours, drove through the expansive developments at Denia and ended up driving over the mountains to Javea. Javea is a beautiful little town right on the Mediterranean, at the foot of an impressive mountain called Montgo.

We´ll see what tonight holds...

Views of the Costa Blanca.

SQ.
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Hello from Tarragona

2004-09-20T16:05:00.001-04:00

September 20, 2004, 1:05 pm

My second blog entry. Sitting here in Calle Cos del Bou in Tarragona. We spent 2 very intense and interesting days in Barcelona. Barcelona is a great city with so many sights to see. The Barrio Gotico (Gothic Quarter) with the old cathedral, the newly renovated waterfront with the Statue of Columbus, La Sagrada Familia, the architecture by Antoni Gaudi (La Pedrera, Casa Battlo, Parc Guell, La Sagrada Famila), the Olympic Park.

The topography is great, on one side is the Mediterranean, on the west side is the hill Montjuic and on the north side is Mount Tibidabo, the highest mountain overlooking the city with an amusement park and a beautiful church on top.

The beautiful church on top of Mount Tibidabo.

We ended up buying a 2-day ticket for the Bus Turistico (20 Euros for 2 days, 16 Euros for 1 day) and rode the blue, red and green lines of the bus, covering all the major sights. We also took the Tram Azul and the Funicular to the top of Mount Tibidabo.

The Magic Fountain, a beautiful nightly display of colour in front of the Palau Nacional.

A great city. Tremendous nightlife, although we are not club goers, the activity and hustle and bustle until late in the night are great. La Rambla is just full of people and people of all ages are walking in the Barrio Gotico and as a tourist you feel completely safe. Lots of entertainment, we even saw a live concert in front of the old cathedral (La Seu) where people were dancing the Sardana, a traditional Catalan dance.

Dusk in Barcelona.

Now we have just arived in Tarragona and do a little walking around this old Roman town before we head further south on the coast. Next report to follow...

Tarragona's Painted House.

1:10, SQ.
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Hello from Barcelona

2004-09-18T16:45:00.001-04:00

September 18, 2004, 1:45 pm

This is my first ever blog and I´ll have to be very brief since I only have about 11 minutes left at the Internet cafe. I am sitting here at the Maremagnum shopping mall in the port of Barcelona.

The Port of Barcelona.

Theresa and I just came back from our tour on the blue Tourist Bus. (20 Euros for 2 days). What a fabulous city!

Barcelona's Gothic Quarter.

Yesterday we had dinner in the Gothic Quarter and got serenaded by one musician / music group after another. And today the bus tour, beautiful weather, brilliant sunshine, about 28 degrees Celsious.

One of Gaudi's masterpieces.

We started in the port area, snaked our way past the Casino, the Olympic Village, the Zoo, through the Gothic Quarter to the hussle and bustle of Plaza Catalunya. Along the way we had a quick peak at Gaudi´s masterpieces: Casa Battlo and La Pedrera. The we came across the middle part of the city, up to the hill of Montjuic where we visited the Poble Espanyol (Spanish village), a beautiful 1929 replica of buildings from villages throughout Spain.

The Poble Espanyol.

Then we passed the Olympic stadium, the Teleferic cablecar and came back down into the city where we are just starting to relax now in the harbour.

Tonight we´ll probably head up the Ramblas and check out some authentic Barcelona Nightlife.

SQ.
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