Mostly because there doesn't seem to be much to do around here. I was in a bar tonight and talking to some of the barmaids and apparently everything kinda closes during winter... it's only my first night here in Halifax though, so I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes and then I'll decide if I want to stay for the planned 5 days. My taxi driver also kinda shot down my plans to visit PEI so I've decided to cut that from my plans...
My hostel also doubles as a cafe which is interesting.
The train ride here was nice enough though. Now I can say that I've traveled from one side of the country to the other by train. Woot.
I like trains. It's kinda in between a bus and a plane. Slightly more expensive than a bus, slightly cheaper than a plane; Takes less time than a bus, more time than a plane; You see more on a train and there's less traffic overall. I dunno, I guess there's just something about it. The pioneer spirit and all that.
This whole East Coast odyssey isn't turning out as well as I'd hoped. Quebec city was pretty, but there's not a lot going on there... I went to Parc de la chute-Montmorency which was probably the highlight. It's kinda like Niagara Falls but frozen over. The whole, everyone speaking Quebecois was pretty challenging/ annoying. So I was kinda glad to leave that behind.
So yeah, I'm getting kinda tired now. I'm giving you one last chance Halifax. Hopefully you can redeem yourself tomorrow. If not, I'm booking the first plane outta here!
Showing posts with label train. Show all posts
Showing posts with label train. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Bloggin at the airport AND the train. Ooooh.
So here I am, bloggin at the airport again. There’s no internet access here so I’m gonna have to CTRL + C/ CTRL +V this thing when I’m done.
I’m sitting at gate A11 at Newark airport waiting for my flight to Montreal and subsequently my flight back to Toronto. I’ve had real shitty internet access at the hostel that I moved to after posting the post below. The first hostel we were in was pretty much a hole. The room smelled of something that none of us could quite put our finger on; the beds squeaked; the mattresses were generally uncomfortable and the bathrooms left a lot to be desired. There was though, good internet access and a slightly better location than our next hostel and an elevator. I suppose the compromise here was a good internet connection, location and elevator for a more safe/ secure non-smelling room with still, pretty average showers.
The second hostel we stayed in was pretty much in the middle of Harlem which to be honest, wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Apparently it’s an ‘up and coming’ area of NYC and you can kinda see that happening. Granted, you still probably wouldn’t walk around there at night unless you didn’t have a choice. You also kinda have to stick to the main streets. But besides that, it’s pretty cool. The food is really good too. Deli’s are pretty much awesome. Think of a dairy crossed with a deli in the supermarket which also makes excellent sandwiches. Excellent. Mostly.
Also, I’m not sure where I left off on my last post so I’m just gonna start with the Staten Island ferry. (This is what happens without the internet) (I love you internet). So forgive me if I cover some stuff again. Also, all the days seem to roll into one so I can’t really distinguish which bit comes where... Thank god for my over 500 photos from this trip.
OK, so as I probably may have mentioned, Christmas was pretty uneventful, I got a bar of Grenadian chocolate (which I still haven’t eaten yet) and supposedly some money in my bank account (which, as of yesterday, I still haven’t received... ). We all went to an Italian restaurant for dinner (which I’m pretty sure I mentioned already....) I think I also mentioned the Guggenheim and MoMA (mostly because I distinctly remember writing ‘the goog’ in my last post for some reason. If not, then, I dunno, I guess that word just stuck in my mind.) Just in case I didn’t though, both MoMA and the Goog were pretty cool. I’m pretty gutted that I missed going to the Van Gogh exhibition for free though. Long story.
Right, lets skip forward a bit shall we? (fast forward noises) And here we are, a few days ago on the Staten Island ferry. It’s free and apparently not a lot of people know about it. I don’t think there’s a lot to see on Staten Island, it’s pretty much a residential area. But as a wise man once said: ‘the most important part of a journey is not the destination but what happens in between’ (or something to that effect. This would have been much better if I had googled this quote (he he, goog). Once again, I apologise for my lack of internet access). Anyway, the point is that the Staten Island ferry goes right past the Statue of Liberty. And it’s free. Being as poor as I am, free things/ things that cost very little money come top of the list when deciding what to do. Hence why we didn’t go see a Broadway show, plus we didn’t have a lot of time to do it... There’s a ferry which takes you right to the Statue and to Ellis Island too but of course, that costs money. Money which I don’t have.
Ah, yes, I remember now. This is the day where one of my friends was meant to be on a plane to India the night before but went to the wrong airport. We spent the day on the Staten Island ferry and were lucky enough to make it to Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. We also visited the Seinfeld diner (which is actually called Tom’s Restaurant) which was pretty cool. Obviously in the show it’s only the facade that’s shown but it’s still pretty cool. The food isn’t too shabby either. It was super busy too. We were pretty lucky though, that the diner was only about 3 blocks up from our first hostel.
A trip to New York probably isn’t complete without seeing Ground Zero. Right now it’s under construction so there’s not really much to see but there’s like, a visitors centre/ museum across the street which is pretty much designed to make people cry. The whole sentiment of the exhibit is designed to be very emotional, very patriotic and very well, pro-America. Children’s paintings – ‘not just NY’s finest, but the world’s finest’; missing persons posters; sappy movies with interviews with people; random things found in the rubble. It does the job though, I suppose. It made me almost want to cry. Just being so close to something so big. There’s just a big empty space where you think there should be something but there isn’t. Just a big patch of blue sky. Visiting the museum is a must but it really brings you down. It kinda ruins the rest of your day. You get kinda depressed and don’t want to do stuff. Luckily though, when we were there it was getting dark anyways, so we just went off to find a bar somewhere.
Let’s skip forward to New Years Eve. Being in NYC for New Years you can’t not go to Times Square right? Apparently though, the whole Times Square thing is for tourists only. Apparently New Yorker’s go t Central Park instead which would have been cool too. But I think it’s true. None of the people we talked to were from New York. Pretty much anywhere BUT NYC. This New Years Eve also was the coldest on record in NYC history which is pretty cool. It didn’t really feel that cold though because all the people were huddled together. But as soon as it hit like, 12.10am on the 1st pretty much everyone had left the area and you could definitely feel the -10 degree winds then.
The actual ball drop itself to be honest, was kinda lame. The ball is super tiny and the ‘fireworks’ weren’t spectacular at all. The event has a lot of potential which isn’t being taken advantage of which I find surprising – I mean, NYC is one of the cultural powerhouses of the US but it can’t put together a decent New Years show. It could just be so much better. I mean, for people who are pretty far away from the ‘action’ there’s not much going on. I mean like, Lionel Ritchie was performing and apparently the Clinton’s were there but no one where we were gave a shit. I dunno, it’s not really what I expected to be honest.
So that was round 1 of my trip to NYC. Flying home was pretty uneventful, except for when I fell down the stairs at the hostel and twisted my ankle and when my bag didn’t arrive at Montreal airport (cos apparently when you arrive at Montreal airport you need to pick up your bag and go through customs again to recheck your bag on your next flight. So, I waited for my bag for like, close to 2 hours which made me miss my flight which meant I had to book another flight to Toronto. Luckily for me the flights were hourly so I didn’t arrive too much later than I was meant to. I was kinda scared that my bag wouldn’t turn up and I’d have to postpone or even cancel my East Coast trip (on which I am writing the rest of this post) ( It was there waiting at Toronto airport for me and thank god for that!) It was also my last night in Toronto last night. It was pretty uneventful, a few drinks at Mick E Fynn’s (well, just the one for me) and one final night staying at the Primrose.
I’m now sitting on a train bound for Montreal. Nothing much to report really. I’m just sittin, writin’ shit. Bloggin on a train. Being kinda anti-social listening to my ipod but trains aren’t really set up for that kinda thing anyway. Plus, the lady next to me doesn’t seem very interesting. It’s kinda weird travelling on my own again but I don’t really mind it. I was meant to be travelling with someone originally but plans change and I’m cool with that. So yeah, everything seems to be running on time as far as I know, and I should be in Quebec City late this afternoon. Cool.
I’m sitting at gate A11 at Newark airport waiting for my flight to Montreal and subsequently my flight back to Toronto. I’ve had real shitty internet access at the hostel that I moved to after posting the post below. The first hostel we were in was pretty much a hole. The room smelled of something that none of us could quite put our finger on; the beds squeaked; the mattresses were generally uncomfortable and the bathrooms left a lot to be desired. There was though, good internet access and a slightly better location than our next hostel and an elevator. I suppose the compromise here was a good internet connection, location and elevator for a more safe/ secure non-smelling room with still, pretty average showers.
The second hostel we stayed in was pretty much in the middle of Harlem which to be honest, wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Apparently it’s an ‘up and coming’ area of NYC and you can kinda see that happening. Granted, you still probably wouldn’t walk around there at night unless you didn’t have a choice. You also kinda have to stick to the main streets. But besides that, it’s pretty cool. The food is really good too. Deli’s are pretty much awesome. Think of a dairy crossed with a deli in the supermarket which also makes excellent sandwiches. Excellent. Mostly.
Also, I’m not sure where I left off on my last post so I’m just gonna start with the Staten Island ferry. (This is what happens without the internet) (I love you internet). So forgive me if I cover some stuff again. Also, all the days seem to roll into one so I can’t really distinguish which bit comes where... Thank god for my over 500 photos from this trip.
OK, so as I probably may have mentioned, Christmas was pretty uneventful, I got a bar of Grenadian chocolate (which I still haven’t eaten yet) and supposedly some money in my bank account (which, as of yesterday, I still haven’t received... ). We all went to an Italian restaurant for dinner (which I’m pretty sure I mentioned already....) I think I also mentioned the Guggenheim and MoMA (mostly because I distinctly remember writing ‘the goog’ in my last post for some reason. If not, then, I dunno, I guess that word just stuck in my mind.) Just in case I didn’t though, both MoMA and the Goog were pretty cool. I’m pretty gutted that I missed going to the Van Gogh exhibition for free though. Long story.
Right, lets skip forward a bit shall we? (fast forward noises) And here we are, a few days ago on the Staten Island ferry. It’s free and apparently not a lot of people know about it. I don’t think there’s a lot to see on Staten Island, it’s pretty much a residential area. But as a wise man once said: ‘the most important part of a journey is not the destination but what happens in between’ (or something to that effect. This would have been much better if I had googled this quote (he he, goog). Once again, I apologise for my lack of internet access). Anyway, the point is that the Staten Island ferry goes right past the Statue of Liberty. And it’s free. Being as poor as I am, free things/ things that cost very little money come top of the list when deciding what to do. Hence why we didn’t go see a Broadway show, plus we didn’t have a lot of time to do it... There’s a ferry which takes you right to the Statue and to Ellis Island too but of course, that costs money. Money which I don’t have.
Ah, yes, I remember now. This is the day where one of my friends was meant to be on a plane to India the night before but went to the wrong airport. We spent the day on the Staten Island ferry and were lucky enough to make it to Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. We also visited the Seinfeld diner (which is actually called Tom’s Restaurant) which was pretty cool. Obviously in the show it’s only the facade that’s shown but it’s still pretty cool. The food isn’t too shabby either. It was super busy too. We were pretty lucky though, that the diner was only about 3 blocks up from our first hostel.
A trip to New York probably isn’t complete without seeing Ground Zero. Right now it’s under construction so there’s not really much to see but there’s like, a visitors centre/ museum across the street which is pretty much designed to make people cry. The whole sentiment of the exhibit is designed to be very emotional, very patriotic and very well, pro-America. Children’s paintings – ‘not just NY’s finest, but the world’s finest’; missing persons posters; sappy movies with interviews with people; random things found in the rubble. It does the job though, I suppose. It made me almost want to cry. Just being so close to something so big. There’s just a big empty space where you think there should be something but there isn’t. Just a big patch of blue sky. Visiting the museum is a must but it really brings you down. It kinda ruins the rest of your day. You get kinda depressed and don’t want to do stuff. Luckily though, when we were there it was getting dark anyways, so we just went off to find a bar somewhere.
Let’s skip forward to New Years Eve. Being in NYC for New Years you can’t not go to Times Square right? Apparently though, the whole Times Square thing is for tourists only. Apparently New Yorker’s go t Central Park instead which would have been cool too. But I think it’s true. None of the people we talked to were from New York. Pretty much anywhere BUT NYC. This New Years Eve also was the coldest on record in NYC history which is pretty cool. It didn’t really feel that cold though because all the people were huddled together. But as soon as it hit like, 12.10am on the 1st pretty much everyone had left the area and you could definitely feel the -10 degree winds then.
The actual ball drop itself to be honest, was kinda lame. The ball is super tiny and the ‘fireworks’ weren’t spectacular at all. The event has a lot of potential which isn’t being taken advantage of which I find surprising – I mean, NYC is one of the cultural powerhouses of the US but it can’t put together a decent New Years show. It could just be so much better. I mean, for people who are pretty far away from the ‘action’ there’s not much going on. I mean like, Lionel Ritchie was performing and apparently the Clinton’s were there but no one where we were gave a shit. I dunno, it’s not really what I expected to be honest.
So that was round 1 of my trip to NYC. Flying home was pretty uneventful, except for when I fell down the stairs at the hostel and twisted my ankle and when my bag didn’t arrive at Montreal airport (cos apparently when you arrive at Montreal airport you need to pick up your bag and go through customs again to recheck your bag on your next flight. So, I waited for my bag for like, close to 2 hours which made me miss my flight which meant I had to book another flight to Toronto. Luckily for me the flights were hourly so I didn’t arrive too much later than I was meant to. I was kinda scared that my bag wouldn’t turn up and I’d have to postpone or even cancel my East Coast trip (on which I am writing the rest of this post) ( It was there waiting at Toronto airport for me and thank god for that!) It was also my last night in Toronto last night. It was pretty uneventful, a few drinks at Mick E Fynn’s (well, just the one for me) and one final night staying at the Primrose.
I’m now sitting on a train bound for Montreal. Nothing much to report really. I’m just sittin, writin’ shit. Bloggin on a train. Being kinda anti-social listening to my ipod but trains aren’t really set up for that kinda thing anyway. Plus, the lady next to me doesn’t seem very interesting. It’s kinda weird travelling on my own again but I don’t really mind it. I was meant to be travelling with someone originally but plans change and I’m cool with that. So yeah, everything seems to be running on time as far as I know, and I should be in Quebec City late this afternoon. Cool.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Traveling plans coming together nicely
All of my post-uni traveling has more or less been planned. Well, until the middle of January anyway. First stop is Cuba which should be pretty sweet. That's from the 13th to the 20th of December. Then back to Toronto for a few days to pack up all my stuff (*sniff) (I have a cold). And then off to NYC (from the 23rd to the 2nd of January) but by which means I'm not sure yet. Then hopefully by train back to Toronto where I will be starting my East Coast odyssey with one of the kiwi girl's I've met. I'll be meeting her in either Montreal or Quebec City (this is all by train by the way) where we'll be spending a day or two and then off to Nova Scotia where we will be finding our own way around, mainly because no tours run around that time. Anyways, this tour will cover Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Hopefully too, we can make it far enough up north to see Aurora Borealis which would me super amazing. That should take us to maybe the 10th or so of January? Then I'm planning on going to Washington DC on January 20th to see Obama get sworn into the White House aka to see George Bush get kicked out of it. Accommodation will be pretty hard to find but luckily I know someone who knows someone who lives there so... And then after that I dont know but I have to be in Seattle around the 30th or 31st of January so I can fly cheaply to Anchorage which has been the part of my trip that I've been excited about most! Firstly, cos, c'mon, it's Alaska! Gonn' see me some polar bears! Also, it means that my North American Odyssey will soon be over. Which is both a good and a bad thing. I'll let you know closer to the time.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Bloggin' on a train
Right, so, seeing as I don’t have internet access like I thought I would on the train from Vancouver to Toronto I’m kinda writing this in Word and then I’m totally gonna CTRL C and then CTRL V this sucker when I get a chance.
I’ve just been asked to changed times AGAIN. I seriously don’t understand this whole time changing thing - mostly cos it can be pretty confusing. Well, its super confusing actually, I have no idea what time it is right now.... That’s probably one of the hardest things to get used to. I suppose though that once I get into Toronto which will, essentially be my new home, I won’t have to change times again until I leave. I just have to make sure I have the right time as soon as I get there (which is about 24 hours from now! Woop woop). Not taking into consideration the delays that will, according to the stories of people who have taken the train, most likely occur. I’ve overheard people say that their train was up to about 12 hours late which is pretty crazy, luckily mine has only been about 1 or maybe 2 hours behind at the most. I mean, they try to make up the time by going faster when they can but it seems like it’s a lot easier to lose time than to gain it back so hopefully I won’t be too late getting into Toronto.... especially considering that my sister is picking me up from the station and the last ferry is at 11.15pm I think.
Anyway, the trip so far has been pretty cool. I’ve now officially been through five Canadian provinces (or states?) I got on in Vancouver which is in British Columbia which was really mountainous and awesome but as we kept going on into Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba (especially Manitoba) it was kinda flatsville. There weren’t any hills let alone mountains. Actually, most of it reminded me of NZ just because most of Manitoba is like, farmland with cows and whatnot. Apparently there are buffalo hangin’ around there but I didn’t see any.... heading into Ontario though there’s a lot of forest and lakes on either side of the train which are equally as beautiful but it gets super annoying cos whenever I want to take a photo of like, the lakes or mountains or whatever, by the time I get my camera out and turned out there are frickin trees blocking the way! If not trees than big ass rocks.
Up until the stop in Winnipeg, the official halfway point, the trip was pretty fun. I met some couple cool people and the train was relatively empty. Although I was made to move from my seat when we first boarded the train to make room for a family of 4 which was a little annoying at first but I ended up spending most of my time in the lounge/ dining car anyway which is where it was at. I think I could actually live in that car. It’s got everything: lounge, kitchen, dining room – you’d just have to replace the seats in the dome up top for beds cos sleeping on the train isn’t too comfortable. I DID however, find a little nook in the lounge car which is sort of hidden away, it’s like, the curved section of the couch which is just by the staircase going up to the dome. The first night actually, I slept in the top of the car in the observation dome. In retrospect that was kind of a bad idea seeing as during the night it turns into a freezer. During the day it’s all well and good but when it gets dark it gets super cold. The air con is on full all day everyday or else the kitchen gets super hot and there only one control panel for the whole car so.....
Umm, yes, I met some cool people on the first leg of the trip but this second leg from Winnipeg has been pretty shit to be honest. Everyone I met got off at Edmonton or Winnipeg and a lot of extra people have come on board since then. There’s also a lot of kids and obviously a lot less space. They had a crew change at Winnipeg as well which was sad. That particular crew in comparison to the one now was a hell of a lot friendlier.
I’ve also been experiencing internet withdrawal. Not as bad as I thought it would be but still, I kinda need to check my emails etc for important stuff like, stuff for uni and from my cousin about plans for Toronto which I’m forced to assume have not changed significantly or at all. I mean, I’m not saying there was any doubt around it just that maybe in the last few days something may have come up or whatever...
About an hour or 2 ago we stopped at Sioux Lookout which is a tiny little station on the lakefront. We had a choice to get out here for a bit while people got off/on and while the train refuelled. I can tell you, it wasn’t the best station to stop at. The platform ended like, 6 carriages or so past the one that I was on and so it mostly looked like we stopped randomly in the middle of nowhere. It seemed just like one of those many tiny towns that you get in the middle of nowheresville. Anyway, it’s starting to get dark now and my new home (aka the lounge car) is not relatively empty. Woot. That means that (assuming there are no major delays) this will be my last night on the train. That’s a comforting thought I suppose considering the conditions I’ve slept in over the last few nights. I’m also looking forward to a shower and not moving so much so fast.
All up though, it’s been a good trip so far. The scenery has been amazing; so many completely different landscapes in one single country. It’s also been really warm which is good. I think I have a tan which is the good news; bad news is that I have major tan lines on my arms now...
*EDIT: ok, so the rest of the trip went pretty well. I spent the last night back in the freezer (aka the dome car) mostly cos there were a lot of people in the lounge car when I wanted to sleep. I got into Toronto on time which was surprising considering the stories I heard.Sunday, August 17, 2008
Sitting in my hotel room
Hey guys,
It's Sunday which officially means I've been in Canada for a week now. That also means that I have a train to catch tonight. Right now I'm just sitting in my hotel room packing all my stuff back up so I can check out. I also have no idea what I'll do today. Just wander around I suppose.
I kinda ran out of things to do yesterday. I was kinda pushed for ideas of what to do so I ended up going back to Stanley Park via the Robson Street public markets which was kinda not what I expected. Nothing like the Lonsdale markets or the Granville Island markets. There just wasn't much there at all....
Anyway, the reason I was going back to Stanley Park was to go to the aquarium. It was pretty sweet. I heard that they had a Beluga whale who had just had a baby so I kinda wanted to see that. There was also and Amazon area which obviously had fish from the Amazon but they also had like, a butterfly house which was cool. It also had a sloth in it! That was pretty awesome. And totally unexpected at an aquarium, well, for me anyway.
Ok, I guess I'll go check out now. I still have no idea what I'm gonna do till I need to catch my train....
It's Sunday which officially means I've been in Canada for a week now. That also means that I have a train to catch tonight. Right now I'm just sitting in my hotel room packing all my stuff back up so I can check out. I also have no idea what I'll do today. Just wander around I suppose.
I kinda ran out of things to do yesterday. I was kinda pushed for ideas of what to do so I ended up going back to Stanley Park via the Robson Street public markets which was kinda not what I expected. Nothing like the Lonsdale markets or the Granville Island markets. There just wasn't much there at all....
Anyway, the reason I was going back to Stanley Park was to go to the aquarium. It was pretty sweet. I heard that they had a Beluga whale who had just had a baby so I kinda wanted to see that. There was also and Amazon area which obviously had fish from the Amazon but they also had like, a butterfly house which was cool. It also had a sloth in it! That was pretty awesome. And totally unexpected at an aquarium, well, for me anyway.
Ok, I guess I'll go check out now. I still have no idea what I'm gonna do till I need to catch my train....
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