Anton's Amazing Race

Anton’s Amazing Race

Terry wrote an entry a few months ago admonishing the rest of us Canadians for not travelling within Canada often enough (See the post in March named “Change is Good”). He made some good points and funny enough I had similar thought processes several months earlier when deciding (and just as importantly budgeting) where I would like to spend my rotational leave this year. Here I am, a globetrotter since the age of six, and I have never been to the East coast of Canada. I resolved that one of my trips this year would take me there. Terry didn’t mention that the reason a lot of us don’t travel within Canada is that it can be more expensive to do so and this trip is no exception. FYI, one way car rentals are stupid expensive. Expense aside, I’ve put together a trip that’s going to take me from one coast to the other. I’ll admit that I’m skipping a lot of the stuff in between but when you check out my itinerary below, you’ll see it’s ridiculous enough as it is.

Ahem:

- Thursday July 28th 1:25 AM – Flight from Santo Domingo to New York
- Thursday July 28th 9:15 AM – Flight from New York to Halifax
- Thursday July 28th 3:15 PM - Flight from Halifax to St Johns
- Thursday July 28th in St Johns: George Street Festival – Great Big Sea Concert
- Friday July 29th in St Johns: Recover/Explore/Collect Water from Atlantic Ocean & More George Street Festival
- Saturday July 30th – Drive 8.5 hrs from St Johns to Rocky Harbour in Gros Morne National Park
- Sunday July 31st – Ascend Gros Morne Mountain 8hr Hike/Climb
- Monday August 1st – Hike/Boat Cruise through West Brook Pond in Gros Morne National Park
- Monday August 1st 8:00 PM– Leave Rocky Harbour and Drive 4.5 Hrs to Port Aux Basques
- Tuesday August 2nd 5:00 AM – Catch Ferry from Port Aux Basques to North Sydney Nova Scotia
- Tuesday August 2nd 12:00 PM – Drive from North Sydney to Cape Breton and follow the Cabot Trail
- Tuesday August 2nd 3:00 PM – Hike on headland north of Cheticamp, Nova Scotia 3 Hrs
- Tuesday August 2nd 6:00 PM - Drive to Ingonish Beach approx 2 Hrs
- Wednesday August 3rd – Breakfast in Ingonish Beach and a quick morning exploration
- Wednesday August 3rd 12:00 PM – Leisurely drive to Halifax Approx 5 Hrs
- Wednesday August 3rd 6:00 PM – Dinner in Halifax near the harbour and explore the old fort
- Thursday August 4th 5:45 AM – Fly from Halifax to Toronto
- Thursday August 4th 8:15 AM – Fly from Toronto to Edmonton
- Thursday August 4th in Edmonton – Kill time until people are off work
- Friday August 5th in Edmonton – See movie/buy supplies eat at Julio’s Barrio and drink myself silly
- Saturday August 6th in Edmonton – Different movie, different restaurant but essentially the same thing
- Sunday August 7th 12:00 PM – Drive to Elkford approximately 5.5 hrs depending on how adventurous I get with the gas pedal and if I stop in Calgary
- Sunday August 7th Evening – Lamplighter pub dinner for old times’ sake
- Monday August 8th – All day trip to Elk Lakes & hike to Petain Falls
- Tuesday August 9th 7:00 AM – Drive to Penticton BC along Highway 3 8.5 Hrs
- Tuesday August 9th 4:00 PM – Visits in Penticton potential dinner at best greek restaurant ever
- Wednesday August 10th - More visits in Penticton
- Wednesday August 10th 11:00 AM – Drive to Vancouver Airport (5hrs depending on traffic)
- Wednesday August 10th Evening – Gathering of friends & family depending on who's available
- Thursday August 11th Morning – Catch a ferry to the island, stop briefly in Nanaimo and drive to Tofino (est time 9 hours due to grandparents in Nanaimo)
- Thursday August 11th Evening – Dinner in Tofino
- Friday August 12th in Tofino – Dump water from Atlantic into Pacific (yay) Possible hike near Tofino
- Saturday August 13th 10:00ish – Drive to Nanaimo Approx 4 Hrs
- Saturday August 13th 6:00 PM – Attend Wedding in Duncan
- Sunday August 14th – Return to Vancouver & Chill
- Monday August 15th 2:25 PM – Fly to Dallas & Pass out
- Tuesday August 16th 7:10 AM – Fly to Santo Domingo via Miami and drive back to Minesite

DISCLAIMER: In no way can the above be considered relaxing. Side effects include fatigue, overdose of Tim’s Coffee, irritability, and one of the best damn experiences of your existence.

Air Travel - Always a Good Story

The best part about flying a lot is that you end up with a lot of stories about the random crap you've been through.

Today was no exception.

So the plan today was flying on Air Canada from Edmonton (YEG) to Baltimore (BWI) via Toronto Pearson (YYZ). I was to depart Edmonton at 7:00 am.

I wake up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am to make sure I had enough time. After a shower, I pull out my phone for a quick email check. There's an email from Air Canada saying my flight has been delayed from 7:00 am to 8:20 pm arriving in Toronto at 8:00 am tomorrow.

(Aside: At this point in time (I now realize) I should have been suspicious because there was no notice informing me of what YYZ - BWI flight I had been rebooked on.)

So my heart essentially stops working as I dig around for the toll free number for Air Canada reservations. After being on hold briefly, I get an agent (miraculously, an anglophone). I tell him what's going on. He looks at his system and says "Hmmm that's weird. Let me put you on hold and I'll have a look into it."

Meanwhile, I check both Kayak (http://www.kayak.com) and FlightStats (http://www.flightstats.com). Both show the flight on time at 7:00 am. Odd. So I head over to Air Canada's website and my brain promptly explodes. They show the flight as on time but list the departure time the same as the email I received. Also odd was that they showed the flight being over 14 hours long. Normally, it's 4.

Finally the Air Canada agent returns and says he's waiting to hear back from someone who's calling YEG to check with them as they'll have the latest information. On hold again.

An agonizing 16 hours (actually, 3 minutes) later the Air Canada agent comes back and tells me YEG says the flight is on time.

Naturally all of this has taken some time. So now I'm running late. I rush out to my car to get to the airport.

I finally arrive at the terminal and discover that my flight (AC106) is not shown on the departure displays. I check in. No problems.

So I'm just about to start boarding (on-time) and I can't help but wonder what the hell happened to Air Canada's computers this morning.

More to come if the drama returns..

Things Are Picking Up

I imagine this post will be only a few sentences; I haven't had a whole lot of time to say much in the last few weeks, as this time of the year generally involves a lot of activity and travel for us, and 2011 has been no different...

I recall speaking a few weeks back about 14,000 on the TSX feeling like kryptonite, and it now appears that we may finally be seeing the result of QE2 getting up and leaving the table. The TSX closed just shy of 13,100 on Friday, and while a short-duration reversal back to the mid-13s is probably in order, a downward trend seems established.

The only question that remains is when QE3 will be announced. The US is not, and won't be, in a position to avoid both a) increasing the debt ceiling, despite the political noise this is currently generating, and b) avoiding further rounds of "Quantitative Easing".

The governments of the G20 have made it clear that they are either unable or unwilling to act in the manner necessary to bring expenses back in line with tax receipts. What would you say if your neighbor came up to you and said that he would continue to knowingly spend a great deal more than he makes until 2014? Just kidding, the majority of Canadians would probably invite the neighbor in to view their new credit-line-financed home renos over a glass of Cristal on granite in front of a 52" television continually tuned to HGTV (except when the only show on that channel worth watching is on).

What an age we live in; I may have to refill my popcorn bowl a few more times here on the positive net worth end of the theater, but the feature presentation is growing nearer, and it's going to be a good one.

Evil Genius Smarties Plan

It occurs to me (as things of this nature so often do) that there is an excellent way to twist the "always eat the red ones last" marketing scheme for Smarties into an evil genius plan.

It's quite simple, really. Lace all the Smarties colours save the red ones with some sort of slow-acting poison. Then, distribute exactly enough of an antidote for the total poison into the red ones. Ensure the antidote breaks down quickly so you can't build up an excess.

Now anyone who fails to heed your commands and doesn't eat the otherwise-identical candy covered chocolate things in an arbitrary marketing-derived order... dies! Muahahaha!