Anne Shier's Travel Blog: July 2014

Sunday, 20 July 2014

Our Adventures in Niagara Falls, Ontario - Day 4 - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

Saturday July 19, 2014 – Day 4:

Last night and today, Brent and I decided that when planning next year’s trip here, we will consider whether to register ourselves into the Skyline Inn instead, which is attached to the Fallsview Water Park, or just come back to the Comfort Inn. We had such a great time regardless that it probably won’t matter where we stay, but the Comfort Inn is closer to the Clifton Hill attractions than the Skyline Inn is. Plus, there may be a significant price difference, so we would have to decide whether to stay two or three nights. However, there's plenty of time. That will be decided next summer.

In any event, we left the Comfort Inn, had a quick breakfast at Tim Horton’s, and then went back to pay the bill, check out, and give our three key cards back. We were still allowed to keep the car parked in the inn’s parking lot (until 2:00 pm they said), but all we wanted now was to get out of Niagara Falls before the weekend traffic got too bad.

We ended up driving to Hamilton via Hwy. 420 from Niagara Falls, then taking Hwy. 407 straight home from Hamilton. That part of our trip, on Hwy. 407, took only 50 minutes, which surprised me, and Brent and James dropped me off just before 1:30 pm at my home in Ajax. Dave, my roommate, was home and he expressed shock at seeing us arrive so early in the day.

Now, Dave will get to spend some time with Brent and James next week at his brother, Rob’s cottage in Cobeconk, Ontario, and I will be left at home alone for five days. I wonder what that will be like after our noisy and busy adventure in Niagara Falls?

Our Adventures in Niagara Falls, Ontario - Day 3 - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

Friday July 18, 2014 – Day 3:

Today, we decided to go on the “Maid of the Mist” boat ride, which is now re-named because the Canadian boats are brand new and the old boats are now owned and operated by the U.S. However, the ride to and from the Canadian Falls is the same and it’s as amazing as ever. It was Brent’s first time on this boat ride and James’ second time. It was very beautiful. I took several pictures of the U.S. and Canadian Falls with my digital camera; I hope they all turn out well.

We were all getting pretty tired by this time. We’d visit some attractions on Clifton Hill and do stuff, then decide to stop and rest for a while at our hotel. Only James did not want to stop even to rest. That little guy had so much energy, he made even Brent look sluggish after a while. I definitely could not keep up with him. However, I could tell those two were having the time of their lives, and since that’s what we were there for, I tried hard not to complain, but rather, just kept them informed as to what my personal physical limitations were.

Thankfully, we’d decided to gear down our activities a little bit today. We did some swimming in the hotel’s swimming pool, a very nice indoor pool area with natural light coming in from the roof. There was also a hot tub next to the pool for those whose muscles needed relaxing. By this time, Brent and I needed the relaxation part badly; James just played around, as usual. That swim lasted maybe half an hour or so, then it started to get crowded because of weekend hotel guests coming in, so we soon left. However, we still had a fair bit of time left to fill in the evening and it was James who still wanted to do all kinds of stuff. Brent and I did too, but we mostly catered to James’ wishes as long as we were still able to do so. Needless to say, we voted to do more bowling and golf, but we (mostly Brent and James) also visited the Mystery Maze several times, and we went to Crystal Caves once, which is a mirror-maze.

I’d been told when we went to breakfast this morning at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) that there would be fireworks at the Canadian Falls at 10:00 pm tonight, so I suggested that we see the fireworks again this year, only at ground level. Last year, we saw these fireworks while riding the Sky Wheel and it was absolutely awesome! But, viewing them from the ground was equally awesome. I was just amazed that we made it down and back up Clifton Hill to see them; navigating that hill is hard when you’re so tired.

Tomorrow, we’re going home, thank God! While I know that Brent and James have had a lot of fun and I’ve shared as much in that fun as I can, it’s kind of a relief to know that it’s all coming to an end. Usually, I don’t feel that way when coming home from Niagara Falls, but this year has been very physically challenging.

Our Adventures in Niagara Falls, Ontario - Day 2 - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

Thursday July 17, 2014 – Day 2:

Today, we decided to spend a major part of our day in Fallsview Water Park, near Casino Niagara. I had no idea a water park could be so huge because I’d never been to a real water park (the one we experienced in Jamaica last winter was very tiny by comparison). It was built on top of a 9-story parking lot and the water park itself was 5 or 6 stories high! For example, if you wanted to go down a water slide from the very top, it took almost half an hour or so (for me) to climb the stairs to the top and then half a minute, if that, to slide down. There were lots of different slides there, but I only went on a Body Slide, which does not involve using a mat or a tube.

You lie flat on your back, fold your arms in front of your chest, cross your ankles and then you go. The first slide was awesomely terrifying! You slide a short distance horizontally and then drop vertically very fast for a few seconds and at the bottom of the slide, finish in a horizontal plane. Just before going down it, I prayed out loud to myself, “Please, let me live…..let me live!” I was not kidding about this because even a roller coaster ride would have been less terrifying than this first Body Slide was to me. I only went down one other Body Slide which was not as scary and I did not attempt any of the other slides. It would have taken me too long to climb up all those stairs and too scary to slide down.

Brent paid for the day for all of us. It cost him $50 per person, whether you were an adult or a child, so that was $150 altogether, an all-day entry fee. We each got a plastic wristband which would allow us to come and go as we pleased, and one locker with a key to stow our valuables and clothes while we were in the water park. We ended up staying there only three or four hours, up until James told us that he’d hurt his hip and needed to stop sliding. Until that time, he was very active on all the slides and loved every second of it.

Brent and I had stopped a bit for a snack and a drink in the water park’s snack bar, while James continued non-stop. We then dried ourselves off, dressed, and left the water park mid-afternoon thinking we would return later on, but it didn’t turn out that way. We were all pretty tired by evening time, so Brent and James just returned the locker key; we did not return to slide further. There are so many things to do in Niagara Falls that you can’t possibly do all of them in one trip, but, oh boy, did we try!

Our Adventures in Niagara Falls 2014 - Day 1 - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

Wednesday July 16, 2014 - Day 1:

Brent and James came to pick me up at home around 1:30 pm today for our vacation all together in Niagara Falls, Ontario this year. Last summer, Brent had offered to drive James and me to Niagara Falls where only the two of us had planned to spend three days together. However, Brent also decided to stay a couple of nights too and we all had a blast! I didn't think he would stay that long with us, but we had a lot of fun doing mini-golf in Dinosaur Adventure Park and 10-pin bowling in the nearby bowling alley. I hadn’t done 10-pin bowling in decades!

This year, we decided that vacationing together was not such a bad thing at all. I had booked our hotel at the Comfort Inn on Clifton Hill, which is where all the attractions are; it was very close to everything that we wanted to do. Naturally, this year, we wanted to do more mini-golf and bowling like last year.

After a quick lunch of hotdogs, fries and drinks, we went on the Sky Wheel ride (a gigantic Ferris wheel), then visited the Fun House, Movie Land Wax Museum, and, of course, the Midway where kids can play games of all kinds. James really likes the Midway. We were pretty busy that first night and I was hot and tired by the end of the evening. The weather was very warm and balmy and was predicted to be so till the weekend.

Thursday, 10 July 2014

Walt Disney World: Where Dreams Come True (in Orlando, Florida, USA) - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

http://jdtravelservices.com/deals.html

http://jdtravelservices.com/villas.html

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-experience/vacation-packages/

If you want to visit Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, you would be best advised to figure out the best deal you can get on your flight, hotel and attractions package, as well as the necessary transportation you’ll need to and from the venues. If you have a small family (of 4) visiting this magical place for the very first time, you would save yourselves a lot of money by first doing some comparison shopping on the Internet for the best package price available. This usually depends on when you want to go because the time of year has a big impact on prices.

For example, I might want to take my son and my grandson to Disney World one day. This event would probably happen in the spring, during March Break. People who visit Disney World in Florida usually have kids with them and I would be no exception. Disney World, from what I remember of it when I visited there in the early-to-mid 1970s, was a place that was unequaled in its magic and technology and the incredible variety of things to do. There’s Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Water Parks, entertainment, dining, various theme parks, and more. There are so many things to do and see; if you pick the right package and include as many attractions as possible that you want to include, this is, no doubt, the best way to travel and stay there.

When I went there for the very first time, I was with my boyfriend, Paulo, and his family. There were four of us altogether. Although Paulo and I did not have to pay anything for this trip, I grew to appreciate the wonderful things that Disney World had to offer its guests. I remember that we stayed in a big hotel that was right in Disney World Park itself; however, I don’t remember the name of that hotel anymore. All I remember was that this hotel was truly unique. Each floor had a balcony that faced the rotunda of the hotel and, when you looked down from your floor to the ground floor, there was a train running on a railroad track right through the hotel lobby that transported the hotel’s guests right into the heart of Disney World Park. It was amazing! I’d never seen anything like it before nor have I seen anything similar since. But, that was just one example of the uniqueness of Disney World.

Another thing that I remember about Disney World was Magic Kingdom. There were rides there that I’d never been on and never would be on again. Specifically, I remember the Magic Mountain ride, where you were strapped securely into a car that rode on tracks, and then you were taken on a ride in which everything around you was pitch black except for a few twinkling “stars”. It was supposed to make you feel like you were in space. You had to keep your arms and hands inside the car at all times because it was impossible to see anything, which meant there was only one way to be safe and that was to make sure you didn’t lose any appendages during the ride. It was awesome! I was terrified and yet exhilarated at the same time! Whoever thought of this ride was clearly thinking “out of the box” – it was not at all like any conventional ride I’d ever been on before. It’s now the year 2014 – about forty years later – and I’ve never forgotten those experiences. I guess that’s what Disney World is all about. Being there just once makes you want to go back again and, at the very least, keeps your memories alive.

These days, there are many different arrangements being offered to guests that you can take advantage of for your required accommodations. All you need to know to book it properly is: the exact number of people in your group (and their ages), the size of the hotel rooms or villa needed, the number of days and nights you’ll want to stay, and the time of year of your stay. Unless you’re rich, price is usually a major factor in planning an adventure of this size. You’ll need to have all the correct information on you at the time you book your vacation package. Although there are some things you can change later, like adding more attractions to your package, there are some things that cannot be changed if they are part of a package: flight and hotel usually cannot be changed easily, if at all.

The only way you could change your flight is if it’s a regularly-scheduled flight somewhere and the only way to change your hotel is to get a smaller one, if one is available for you. I don’t know for sure, but I would bet that flight and hotel would be the hardest things to change after a reservation has been made. Also, cancellation of your trip will be a problem unless you’ve purchased cancellation insurance at the time of your booking. It’s well-advised to purchase cancellation insurance any time you want to travel, since you never know if someone in your party will become ill just before you plan to leave home.

For your information: *Sample Package Details
Sample prices are based on 2 adults, one junior and one child in a standard room at a select Disney Value Resort for select 2014 dates: Now through August 2, 2014. The number of rooms allocated for these packages may be limited. Tickets valid for one theme park per day and must be used within 14 days of first use.

I am personally looking forward to taking my son and grandson to Disney World some day in the not-too-distant future. My son is 30 and my grandson is 9, but this is a trip that people of all ages should take if they haven’t done so already. It’s definitely worth going.

Wednesday, 9 July 2014

Adventures in Palm Springs, California (fiction) - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

From the web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Springs,_California
(a fictional short story)

When Susan first visited Palm Springs, California, it was in January 1983, a couple of months after her second wedding, for her honeymoon. She had become divorced from her first husband, Paulo, in early 1981. Soon afterward, she’d moved to Calgary, Alberta to start a new life and, in the process of getting her life set up there, she would meet her second-husband-to-be. Meeting this man would change her life in ways she had never before imagined.

Susan had obtained a temporary assignment (one of many, as it happened) at an office building situated in one of Calgary’s many industrial parks. At that time, Calgary was growing at an unprecedented rate. People were moving into the city much faster than they were moving out. The oil industry was largely responsible for this rapid growth in the Canadian West. This move was the biggest one she would ever make in her life.

One day, Susan met a man named Trevor. They worked at the same place—a company called PPG Industries, which manufactured windows. He worked in the accounting department, and she worked as a temp, a temporary office assistant. Susan found Trevor charming and nice, but she was not overly attracted to him. To her, he was too short and somewhat stout, plus he had thin, reddish hair—definitely not the kind of guy she usually went for. But she supposed that he liked her a lot because after she’d left her temp assignment at PPG Industries, he called her at home several times to ask her out.

Susan would reply, “No, Trevor, I’m way too busy with other things in my life to consider dating anyone right now.” But, the truth was she didn’t want to go out with him. He seemed harmless enough, but she really wasn’t interested in dating, or in him. This statement was strange coming from her because she had regularly dated men for many years before and after her first marriage. Taking a break from that racket seemed a prudent thing to do while she was still trying to find her feet in this new city environment.

Susan was a very hard worker who had gone all the way through university and earned a bachelor of commerce degree with high honours (80 percent average). Her heart was in the business world, where she wanted to make it strictly on her own merits. To this end, she’d gotten many opportunities to work in different jobs requiring different responsibilities. None of these jobs was all that challenging, but she took what she could from each job and built up an impressive repertoire of business experience. Regardless, no one seemed to take her abilities seriously, including her usually male bosses and associates, her predominantly female coworkers, her boyfriend of three years, and her family. It just didn’t make any sense. Why did they all have this anti-feminist attitude? She was just as good as anyone else at work, yet the pervasive attitudes persisted and she was getting more and more frustrated as time passed. After all, she was approaching 30 and still hadn’t found her niche in the world of work. Susan resolved not to quit trying though, since that would have played right into their hands. She was no quitter; she knew that if she quit, she would never win, and she intended to win in life, come hell or high water.

Nevertheless, her male bosses and associates relentlessly hit on her no matter where she was working. There wasn’t a week that went by when some man wasn’t flirting outrageously with her. She thought it was because being a woman in the business world was not perceived as anything important. As far as they seemed to be concerned, the business world belonged to men—they were the ones responsible for anything significant that happened. They needed the women who worked for them, or with them, to act as support staff and “worker bees” only. Susan knew she was an excellent “worker bee”—everyone knew that. But the business leadership skills that she still craved to develop were not demanded nearly as often as her practical office skills.

So, here she was now, in a brand new Canadian city, far from her former home in Toronto, not knowing a soul and, though she’d needed to change her life completely, she still felt singularly unfulfilled. What was the answer? She would soon find out that there was no real answer: after all, it’s a hit-and-miss world, which meant that if she did find what she was looking for in life, it appeared as if it was going to be more of an accident of Fate than the result of any conscious decision making. What was she to do now?

When Trevor asked her out, yet again, very shyly one day, she did not know what to say to him except: “Trevor, I like you a lot as a friend, but I am not looking for a relationship nor am I interested in dating anyone right now.” Looking down in embarrassment, he replied, “Okay, Susan, round one goes to you, but I’m not quitting. I’ll try again later when you’ve settled into your new life.” Trevor did not want her to know how persistent he could be in trying to get what he wanted for himself.

Several months passed and she was no further ahead. So, on an impulse, she decided to give Trevor a call one day to see what he was up to. He was still interested in her and they decided to start dating. Pretty soon, they moved in together, renting a small house in Pineridge, a suburb in northeast Calgary. Against all odds, she was happy living with him and he reciprocated in kind. It wasn’t one of those fire-and-brimstone relationships that she’d so often experienced in the past, but it was nice to have a man around who appeared to care deeply for her.

Trevor became the man she finally thought she’d spend the rest of her life with; he was good, kind and caring. He wasn’t terrifically good looking, which she was usually accustomed to in boyfriends and husbands, but he had convinced her he truly loved her and she had eventually grown to accept him and love him as much as she could love anyone. The day Trevor asked Susan to marry him was the happiest day she’d had in a long time and she gladly accepted his very romantic proposal. At that point, she set about planning a wedding for the following year. She did not want to rush into this marriage and screw it up like her previous one. In the meantime, her plan was to work at various temporary assignments until she found a good full-time job and they could get to know each other better as a now-engaged live-in couple, as well.

About six months later, they went to a business meeting that a friend of Trevor’s, Dale, had invited them to. Dale told them that it was “a wonderful business opportunity”. It turned out to be an opportunity to become Amway distributors under Dale and his wife Gloria, who had already been very successful Direct Distributors in Amway for several years. Their success was largely due to their ability to both recruit and motivate people to join their small group; to use and sell the various Amway products, which were all excellent in quality; and to go to meetings in various locales. Susan and Trevor were so excited at discovering this new way of doing business that they joined Dale and Gloria’s group without hesitation.

About a year later, as Susan and Trevor were still actively making wedding plans for their big day, November 20, 1982, they still had given no thought to a honeymoon trip. It was Gloria’s idea that they all travel to Palm Springs to a big Amway rally that was planned there in early January 1983. Each couple would have to pay for their own flight and hotel, but the food and entry fees to the speeches and other events were both to be included in a package deal. As their “up-line” distributors, Dale and Gloria would also attend this convention.

Then, Susan got the brilliant idea of asking Gloria to be her matron of honour at her wedding. In addition, she also asked two of her closest girlfriends, who were now their “down-line” distributors, to be her other two bridesmaids. Their names were Shannon and Lorraine. Susan wanted to remember this wedding as an event that would include all the people she liked most in Calgary – people whose friendship now meant everything to the engaged couple. After the wedding, there would only be fond memories of each other, even if they eventually decided to stop doing business together as a group and go their separate ways.

One thing was for sure, Susan had never been to a place like Palm Springs, or anywhere in California for that matter, and it going to be the trip of a lifetime for her and Trevor. She set about learning more about the climate, geography and tourism of this southern city.

Palm Springs has a mostly hot and usually dry climate, with over 300 days of sunshine and around 4.83 inches (122.7 mm) of rain annually. The winter months are warm, with a majority of days reaching 70 °F (21 °C) and in January and February days often see temperatures of 80 °F (27 °C) and on occasion reach over 90 °F (32 °C), while, on average, there are 17 nights annually dipping to or below 40 °F (4 °C); freezing temperatures occur less than half the time. The lowest temperature ever recorded was 19 °F (−7 °C), on January 22, 1937.

Geographically speaking, Palm Springs is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 55 miles (89 kilometres) east of San Bernardino, 107 miles (172 kilometres) east of Los Angeles, 123 miles (198 kilometres) northeast of San Diego, and 268 miles (431 kilometres) west of Phoenix, Arizona. The population was 44,552 as of the 2010 census. Palm Springs covers approximately 94 square miles, making it the largest city in the county by land area.

Biking, golf, hiking, horseback riding, swimming, and tennis in the nearby desert and mountain areas are major forms of recreation here.

Tourism continued to be a major factor in the city's economy with 1.6 million visitors in 2011. The city has over 130 hotels and resorts, numerous bed & breakfast inns and over 100 restaurants and dining spots.

There was no doubt in Susan’s mind that Palm Springs was a very nice place to visit in the winter months.

Monday, 7 July 2014

Adventures in Acapulco, Mexico! - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

The year I left my full-time job at the TD Bank in downtown Toronto, I was fed up enough to do something completely different for a while. I’d been working for the TD for three years and had changed branches, moving from Adelaide and Victoria Streets to Queen St. E. and Logan Ave., and finally to Bay and Wellington Streets. Despite these moves, however, my banking career wasn’t moving forward; I felt like I was marking time and staying in one spot. I was also newly separated from my husband, Paulo; my life, in general, had sort of ground to a halt, in a manner of speaking.

My best girlfriend, Gloria, who was still working full-time, was now looking for a travel-mate to go on vacation with this year and, bingo, there I was, ready for action. It was November 1980 and we were both 28, only a month apart in age. We had known each other most of our lives, ever since my family had moved in next door to her family in Agincourt, a suburb in northeast Toronto. Although we didn’t see each other all that often, we did stay in touch frequently.

I did not know much, if anything, about vacationing in southern tropical destinations except for a trip that I’d taken to Florida in 1972 with Paulo and his family. His parents had asked me if I wanted to go to Florida with them and I couldn’t say no. Key West, the southernmost tip of Florida, was as far south as I’d ever been. I remember that the weather had been warm and balmy and that the Atlantic Ocean had looked very inviting. That was during March Break, I believe, while Paulo and I were still university students.

Gloria and I had been very curious about Mexico, in general, and Acapulco, in particular. November to March is always a good time of year to travel to southern destinations on the Atlantic side by the Caribbean Sea, or on the Pacific side.

Acapulco is the largest city in Mexico. It was to be a very popular tourist destination, up till about the year 2000. From that time onward, a lot of violent crime would happen in Mexico, particularly Acapulco, and Canadians, among others, would become afraid to visit there for several years. After the year 2010 onward, people would start to visit Mexico again, but would usually stay at the resorts in places like Puerto Vallarta and Cozumel, which are on the Caribbean coast. Reading beforehand about Mexican resorts located on the Caribbean coast would tell people more about any particular destination they had in mind. In general, resorts anywhere are safer and more secure than vacationing outside of a resort. To this end, you can purchase all-inclusive tourist packages that include your flight, hotel, food, and a car rental, if desired. This is considered cheaper than non-inclusive travel.

However, we decided, through a travel agency, to book ourselves, non-inclusively, into the Holiday Inn in Acapulco, right on the beach on the Pacific Ocean. We had a large double room on the seventh floor with a balcony, which faced the beach. The view was fabulous!

Everything at this Holiday Inn had a Mexicana theme to it, including the food. If you didn’t mind spicy Mexican food, you might like to sample it, and we did. However, I’m not much into spicy food anyway, so I only tried a bit of it. This was not a package tour for us; we had to buy our food separately.

We mostly spent our time on the lovely, sandy beach where there were lounge chairs, a bit of shade, and waiters who would bring us any drinks that we ordered. I drank Pina Coladas the whole week; now, whenever I drink a Pina Colada, I automatically think of Acapulco and the beach.

Gloria and I went shopping too – along the main drag by the hotel where various street vendors were set up. I bought a marble chess set for my younger brother, some souvenirs for the rest of my family, and some clothes (summer dresses) for myself. You had to bargain vigorously with each street vendor to get the thing you wanted at a good price. Gloria bought stuff for her family too and she just loved to haggle with these vendors. She was so good at it; she always got her stuff from them at the price she was aiming for. In any event, the prices were pretty good. The natives in Mexico are relatively poor compared to us. They survive mainly by making and selling things to tourists like us.

Although we were having a good time generally, there were a couple of not-so-good memories. One day, when we were coming up in the hotel elevator to our room, the forefinger on my left hand somehow got caught on an edge of the elevator door as it was closing. We had just gotten off at our floor for the night. My finger started to bleed and was extremely sore, so I got a bucket from our room, filled it with ice cubes from the nearby ice machine, and then dumped the ice into the bathroom sink. Once I’d dumped the ice there, I put my whole left hand into the ice and kept it there for 20 minutes at least. Finally, the pain in my cut finger subsided and the bleeding stopped. I stuck a band aid on my finger anyway and then went to sleep for the night.

The next day, miraculously, my injured finger seemed to be completely healed! I could move it around freely and I didn’t need a band aid anymore. It was amazing! I think the prompt application of ice did the trick. I couldn’t even see the cut anymore.

Another incident that was not at all good happened to Gloria. She had been recovering from a recent illness up till the night before we were to leave on our trip. But, despite the fact that I decided I was going anyway, with or without her, she also decided that she still wanted to come with me. Shortly after arriving at our hotel and settling in, we went for a swim in the Pacific Ocean. A few days afterward, she suddenly became very ill, running a high fever. So, I had to call a doctor for her; it was the only thing I could do. Thank God we had purchased medical insurance! This male doctor, who happened to be German like Gloria, and who worked on-site part-time to cover emergencies, came to our room, examined Gloria, and then administered an injection of antibiotics (or something like that) in her rear end. I was very scared at this point and did not want to leave her alone in this condition. I took good care of her after that, and two to three days later, just as we were getting ready to return home to Toronto, she started to look better, but not great.

Gloria had already phoned home and spoken to her father, telling him what had happened to her. And, guess what? He blamed me for her illness! As if I knew what had caused it! I really think that she’d accidently swallowed some water from the ocean; I know that she had swallowed some infected water somewhere, but no one knew where. I’d been drinking the water at the hotel too, but it didn’t affect me at all. On the other hand, the oceanic water was extremely dirty when I think about it now; that would’ve been the worst thing for her to ingest.

What I remember best about Acapulco was the evening we went to a disco place, the kind we used to go to all the time at home. Only this place stayed open almost all night long and we didn’t get back to our hotel until after 5:00 am. What a blast! Another thing that I did was to go para-sailing for the first time ever – where a motor boat pulls you by a long rope and you have a large parachute attached to you by a harness. During your ride, you are at least 100 feet in the air and when you land, you put your feet down on the beach. Some people have been known to land somewhere other than the beach by accident, which is not a good idea because you could drown if the parachute lands on top of you in the water. However, everything went like clockwork for me and I landed on the beach without a problem. Finally, water skiing, which is something I’d done on lakes lots of times, was something I signed up to do on the ocean for the first time. Wow! That was like jumping from one hill to another hill, going from wave to wave. It was totally unlike any water skiing I’d ever done before…..what a thrill though.

In summary, except for Gloria’s unexpected and rather intense bout of illness in Acapulco, I thought it was a fairly good trip. Gloria recovered completely shortly after we got back home and I’m so glad she did. Her father might never have forgiven me for that incident. However, eventually he did forgive me and forget; otherwise, Gloria would not have gone to Europe with me in the spring of 1981.

During this trip, we’d been talking about going to Europe together the following spring (1981), which I’m sure her father would have objected to, but, in the end, we did go and nothing bad happened to either one of us during the entire trip, which lasted almost a month. That story is for another time though.

Sunday, 6 July 2014

When Staying in Paris (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

(Based on the tourist guide book “Complete Guide for Visiting Paris”, 1975 and on my own personal experiences in the spring of 1981 in Paris)

When you have landed at the airport in Paris (either Orly or Charles de Gaulle), you will normally have to take a bus to a terminal. This bus will leave you at either the Invalides or the Porte Maillot terminals. From there, you would have to decide how to get to your hotel: by taxi or the Metro (subway train system). After you arrive at your hotel and unpack and relax a little, you will want to start sight-seeing right away.

Paris, France is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, famous for its people (artists, intellectuals and historical figures), the Metro, and its many churches and monuments. There is the Seine River, which runs through the centre of Paris and adds much to its allure. There are many things to do and see – enough to keep you busy for a long time, depending on your interests and your travelling companions and people you may meet along the way.

My best friend, Gloria, and I went on a trip to Europe in the spring of 1981. It was to be the “trip of a lifetime”, since neither of us could be sure we would ever be able to return there. We visited 10 countries of western Europe (including its tiny principalities). As it turned out, France was one of my favourite countries and I loved Paris on sight! We stayed in Paris for one wonderful, memorable week – I’ll never forget it.

If you wish to travel through Paris via the Metro, it is certainly the easiest, fastest and most inexpensive way to move around the city. We learned very quickly how to travel via the Metro. All you need is a map and a cursory knowledge of French so that you can read the signs above each station platform and in the trains. You can buy a pocket map to carry with you; there are large maps, as well, outside of each station showing the various Metro lines in different colours. You will need to look at the map and find the name of the station at the end of the line on which your station is located in order to find your way to your destination station. You may also have to change lines at one of the stations where the lines of the Metro intersect. However, directions onto different lines are plentiful and clear, so you won’t get lost.

Once you are on the train riding to your destination, you will very quickly become absorbed in watching the other passengers. There will be men with their noses buried in their daily newspaper, women busy knitting or reading, and couples of lovers involved with each other, totally oblivious to those around them.

When I met Sam at our first Paris hotel (called the Berthier La Tour), Gloria and I were on a bus tour with 48 other people in late June 1981. Sam happened to be a very sexy Frenchman working as a bartender in our hotel. Paris was to be the last stop for Gloria and I; the rest of the tour passengers would end their trip in London, England. Gloria and I wanted to stay in Paris because we wanted more time there than just the 2-3 days reserved in the tour. But, the disadvantage of staying longer in Paris was that we had to change hotels once the tour ended and everyone left for London. We already had a reservation at a very seedy-looking hotel (it looked more like a shelter and smelled like one too). Of course, there’s no way that we could have known what it was like beforehand. Thus, we needed to change hotels in a hurry. That’s how we ended up at the Quirinal Hotel on Rue Lafayette. As I recall, it was not far from L’Opera (the Opera house). From there, we planned all of our daily excursions: Place de la Concorde, le Sacre Coeur, Place du Tertre, Montmartre, the Louvre Museum, and so on. It was so easy to get anywhere you wanted to go within the city limits and it was a lot of fun.

The French people can be very friendly, as long as you have some knowledge of French and are willing to use it to communicate. French people love to sit in open-air cafes, sipping their “grand crème” (milk coffee) and eating a “croissant”. These are considered snacks that will tide people over until either lunch time or dinner. Lots of Parisians love to spend a great deal of time in the bars and cafes at all hours of the day and night, chatting about business and politics or whatever happens to catch their interest. Apparently, a typical Parisian talks in a mocking and ironic fashion, making fun of things and people, while gesturing colourfully and injecting his/her own slang into the French language. This makes the French people very interesting and charismatic. The French taxi drivers and the “quatres-saisons” vendors who sell fresh fruit and vegetables are particularly famous for having this quality.

You will probably want to start shopping at almost the same time that you are sight-seeing. Shops selling food are open from 8:30 am (the bakeries from 7:00 am) till 1:00 pm, and then again from 4:00 till 7:30 pm. Other shops, like fashion boutiques, bookshops and hairdressers, are open from 9:00 am till 7:00 pm without interruption. Food shops are also open on Sunday mornings, but are closed on Mondays (either all day or only in the morning). The big department stores are closed on Sunday and Monday mornings, but are open the other days from 9:30 am till 6:30 pm. Once a week, some of them stay open later, till 11:00 pm. You could pass an entire day at one of these department stores because they each have a restaurant, a tearoom and a hairdressing salon. Of particular importance to tourists, if you visit a shop that sells fashions, jewellery or other luxury goods, you only need to show your passport and a special card issued by your bank or American Express and the sales tax will be waived.

Regarding French cuisine, you can enjoy a “light meal” at a Parisian “Drugstore” at any hour of the day. For example, you might have an “assiette anglaise” (cold meat and ham sandwich), or a “croquet-monsieur” (toasted ham and cheese sandwich), or sandwiches of any kind. There are 6 Drugstores in Paris in various locations. If you want to eat and walk around at the same time, you can buy various things to eat like hotdogs, crepes (thin pancakes), wafers, or “krapfens” (doughnuts). But, if you want to eat in a “real restaurant” instead, you would be able to eat things like “steack pommes frites” (steak and potato chips), or “pot-au-feu” (boiled beef served with vegetables), “boeuf bourguignon” (similar to a delicious beef stew), or delicacies like caviar or “pate de fois gras” (liver paste). There are many interesting and unique cooked foods that need to be sampled to really be appreciated. However, beware that the French just love to eat fatty foods and, if you have to watch what you eat, it might be difficult for you to do so in Paris.

As for Gloria and I, we ate mostly in the cafes and bars because the food was usually light fare and something we liked and could afford. After all, we were on the budget tour this time ‘round. My goal would be to visit Paris a second time and eat a really nice dinner at a “real restaurant”, like the one in the Eiffel Tower or at Maxim’s on L’Avenue de Champs Elysees, or something to that effect. However, I will settle for being able to visit Paris just one more time and, hopefully, be flexible enough regarding which hotel I can afford to stay in and how long I can stay in the city. One thing is certain: when staying in Paris, you must always do as the Parisians do!

My Heavenly Place - Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

If any of your friends or colleagues asked you one day what your favourite place to vacation is, what would you say? Would you know instantly which place you want to vacation in the most? Would it matter how you traveled there, who you went with or when you decided to go there? These are the questions that everyone asks themselves when they have just one or two weeks to spend somewhere special. I am certainly no exception. I’ve asked myself these questions many times. About seven years ago, I finally found my ideal place.

For me, that place is Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (a.k.a. the “Soo”, or SSM). It’s situated in northern Ontario between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, on the St. Mary’s River. To me, the “Soo” is a very special place because of the way I feel while I’m travelling there, staying at Days Inn and travelling home later on. Friends or colleagues of mine ask me why I like the “Soo” so much and my reply is that it feels the way I think Heaven would feel if I were there. And, they look at me like I’m crazy (that’s nothing new, mind you!) because they really don’t understand the appeal of the “Soo” to me.

You’d have to have visited this place to know what “Heaven” really means to me.

There’s so much that the “Soo” has to offer its visitors in the summertime. There is the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, a national historic site of Canada; there is the Agawa Canyon Tour Train Holiday Package, a 2-night train package that is offered to various hotels for their guests; and, there are the “Soo” Locks Boat Tours that will take you right through the boat lock system. There are also some very nice restaurants, malls, movie theatres and historic sites; pretty much anything you want to do or see is available. My tastes are relatively simple, yet I have an adventurous spirit and when that spirit is active, I like to do different things on my vacation – things that I don’t normally do in my regular daily life – mostly because I want to feel like my life is now richer as a result, but also because I don’t always have the time to do different things. To me, that’s what vacations are really all about – doing the things that you don’t have the time for normally. I’d like to tell you about a few of the various tourist attractions to begin with.

The Sault Ste. Marie Canal:

Discover technology over 100 years old that still operates the historic lock complex near downtown Sault Ste. Marie. You can do the following:

Visit the Powerhouse; in 1895, power for the world’s first electrically operated lock was produced here.
Learn how the Emergency Swing Dam saved the day in 1909.
Visit the Sault Ste. Marie Canal year round.
Visit the Visitor Centre near the Canal.
Research the library resources available on site.
View the lock’s operation – it is open for pleasure craft from mid-May to mid-October.
Do picnicking and bird-watching.
Have ready access to washrooms and parking.
And, there is a phone and fax number, and an email and web site address for your convenience.

The Agawa Canyon Tour Train Holiday Package:

The Agawa Canyon Tour Train Holiday Package includes 2 nights’ hotel accommodation, 1 Agawa Train ticket, 2 continental breakfasts, 1 OLG Casino SSM Package and 1 Attractions Passbook. From June 7th to September 9^th, the price (including tax) for adults is $203 and the price for seniors is $195. From September 10^th to October 10^th, the price goes up: for adults and seniors, the price is $236. During this time, it is considered a “winter” train tour. I suppose that the packages are designed mostly for summertime visitors, like me.

I finally booked myself to go on this train tour in August 2012 and it was truly magnificent! It was a one-day tour that took about seven to eight hours to complete from start to finish. I was already booked at Days Inn for five nights, two nights of which would have been included in the 2-night package. For approximately $180 CDN (not including tax), I got a wonderful opportunity to go on this train tour that traveled up north through the wild bush of northern Ontario for about three hours one-way, stopped at a beautiful park and river at the end of the tour for about an hour and a half and then returned its passengers back to Sault Ste. Marie in another three hours. We had breakfast on the train and snacks and drinks whenever we wanted. I met some very nice people on this trip, as I always seem to do when travelling, and we chatted about the many beautiful lakes and cottages and trees and rock and the Agawa canyon itself. It was breath-takingly beautiful and I’ll never forget it. I took lots of photos and later, made a photo DVD for myself out of them.

My Stay at Days Inn:

At Days Inn, where I usually stay, everything is at my fingertips. Days Inn is a full-service hotel located only one block away from the Agawa Canyon Train Station. Days Inn is located downtown, across from the Station Mall Shopping Centre and the new Essar Centre Sports Complex and only two blocks from Casino Sault Ste. Marie for those who like to gamble.

Days Inn features a large indoor pool, sauna and workout room, as well as, complementary wireless high-speed Internet access (a big selling point with me!) and a front lobby workstation available if you don’t have your own portable computer with you. The hotel also features outdoor balconies with most rooms and an onsite restaurant and lounge. When I stayed at Days Inn last summer (August 2011), I had direct access to the lovely little grassy courtyard in the back where there were some picnic tables to sit down at where I could read a book and/or eat something. This feature made it seem more like a house to me and less like a hotel room. In any event, an outdoor balcony is always nice to have.

I also do a little sight-seeing and I always take several photographs with my digital camera. This year, I had some new photos of myself taken in a local photo kiosk at the mall because I didn’t have any good pictures of myself at home; the pictures from the photo kiosk turned out surprisingly good and so, I wanted to display them on my author web site (www.anneshier.com), on my Facebook Wall page, and on my personal Google page. These lovely pictures should help improve my profile’s appearance quite a bit and my public image as a new author. The author photos I took here are going to be used on my next book cover – they are that good.

I also like to use my laptop computer as a multi-media centre. I can watch DVD movies if there’s nothing much on TV; I can listen to music though I usually use my portable CD player for that, and I can play electronic games of all sorts (usually, Solitaire or Jeopardy!). For me, there is never a dull moment while I have my computer on vacation! Whoever said that travelling alone is dull has not vacationed in the “Soo” yet, nor have they had access to a computer.

What I like to do most of all though on my summer vacation at Days Inn in the “Soo” is to write my short stories, or at least plan what I’m going to write. This year, however, I decided to just spend time polishing up some short stories that I had already written. I did this because I was in no rush to get a full book of stories ready for publication yet. You see, I’d just published a book of 35 short stories in March 2011 called “My Short Stories (Book One)” and it seemed to me that I should be giving my first book a chance to succeed in the North American marketplace before attempting to publish another book. In my mind, that process might very well take anywhere from two to five years. Canadians and Americans everywhere had to be allowed the time and opportunity to read my short stories, decide which ones they liked best and why, and then talk to other people (their friends and colleagues) about their favourites. Once that’s happened, I can then concentrate on publishing and promoting another book.

One thing is for sure – I love writing short stories and I plan on spending time doing this activity a lot more from now on. So, even though I am a full-time high school teacher who has taught mostly computer-related subjects and career studies at my home school in Scarborough, Ontario, I’ve also developed a deep love for creative writing. I love to write about people and relationships, life and death, and various life-related issues. If people like my stories, it’s probably because they can identify with a character somewhere in one of my stories and the story makes sense to them; at least, I hope so. Only time will tell how successful I’ll be.

Travelling alone up to the “Soo” is extremely pleasant. I take my CD player and iPod with me and listen to music on the bus. The bus has its regular stops along the way. The distance to travel up there is about 900 km (409 miles) northwest of Toronto, so we stop three times along the way. I invariably meet someone on the bus to talk to and that helps to pass the time, as well. The whole trip takes about eleven hours, including all rest stops, but it doesn’t seem all that long to me. On the way home, the same trip, which I did at night this time (on the “red eye” bus), took maybe the same amount of time, but it was much quieter and there weren’t quite as many people on the bus after our Sudbury stop. It was a very relaxing trip, however, both going up and coming back and I plan to do this trip again many more times in the future. It really is lovely visiting the “Soo” in the summertime. That’s why I call it “My Heavenly Place”.

In the year 2012, I was staying at Days Inn as I always did. I believe it was my sixth visit here. However, the hotel was now undergoing major renovations. I was living on a live construction site: talk about strange vacations! I asked why this was happening now. No one working at the hotel had told me at the time I’d made my reservation that such things were happening. The hotel personnel told me that Days Inn had recently been bought out by Holiday Inn Express. Thus, its name was to be changed. I surmised and mentioned to them that I thought that meant the prices would also go up. The hotel personnel, however, denied this fact, but they were wrong. Apparently, the new hotel would include a hot breakfast with their daily rate and had built a new breakfast room with this in mind. The individual guest rooms had already been renovated, so the main changes were currently taking place in the lobby, hallways, stairwells and breakfast room areas. Still, it was aggravating to have to spend my 2012 summer vacation in this environment, among construction personnel and their equipment. Oh well, this year, 2014, I booked myself into Holiday Inn Express for the first time, and, though it is more expensive, it should also be just as nice, if not nicer. I’ll never change my mind about the “Soo” – I expect that this place will always be “My Heavenly Place”.

On the Road Again (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

If you love to travel as much as I do, then you would know that there is no better feeling than getting ready for a much-anticipated trip, other than actually leaving. You have to be so organized and prepared, making sure all of your bills are paid beforehand, that your hotel reservations are made for the right dates and confirmed, and that you have paid beforehand for your bus or train trip. Personally, I prefer taking the bus on a road trip, rather than renting a car or driving my own car or taking the train. I have a very good reason for my personal travel preferences.

Last summer, purely by accident, while browsing the Internet, I visited the Greyhound Canada web site and found a special travel bus pass that is meant for anyone who loves to travel on the road. It’s called the “Discovery Canada Pass”. This special travel bus pass is like the TTC Metro Pass used in Toronto, which allows one adult unlimited travel for one month on public transit within the city limits. The Discovery Canada Pass, similarly, allows an adult unlimited travel on the bus throughout Canada, and parts of the United States as well, for a given length of time. You can buy these passes for anywhere from 7 days’ to 60 days’ duration. Once you’ve purchased such a pass, you may travel anywhere, at anytime and access a bus at any location simply by showing your Discovery Canada Pass. It is good on different buses other than Greyhound, as well. It must be used within the validated time period that you have previously chosen for yourself, and must be purchased in advance (if you want it delivered by mail to your home before you leave on your trip), but otherwise, there are no restrictions, relatively speaking.

In addition, the prices for the various Discovery Canada Passes are amazingly reasonable! In year 2004, I was planning to take a road trip on the bus around the north shore of the Great Lakes, Huron and Superior. Initially, I wanted to go only as far as Thunder Bay, Ontario before returning home to Toronto. I even thought of going west as far as Alberta where I had previously lived in Calgary for almost a decade of my earlier adult life. However, upon checking out the regular adult bus fares to Calgary and Edmonton, it quickly became apparent that for me to pay regular bus fare would be out of the question. It was way too expensive for me. There had to be a better way, I thought, so travelling using a bus pass for a given length of time suddenly looked very appealing to me. I decided to buy a pass for 10 days’ duration, starting about mid-August, and it would cost me only about $256.00 to travel to western Canada! Compared to regular bus fare, it was a terrific bargain! The regular fare from Toronto, Ontario to Edmonton, Alberta, round-trip, at the time, was well over $600.00 - more than double the pass fare! I had been well-travelled during my youth and earlier adult life, yet I was shocked at the exorbitant cost of such a trip! How was anyone supposed to enjoy a trip at all if all they could afford to do was to get on and off a bus?

So, the Discovery Canada Pass opened up a whole new range of exciting possibilities to enable me to travel and see a good part of North America (at my leisure)! All of a sudden, I could see that I did not need to be limited by a bus fare that was outrageously expensive to pay!

On this particular pass that I had purchased, there was accessibility to all parts of Canada, from east coast to west. In addition, certain “direct routes” to various cities in the U.S. could also become accessible to me in my future travels to the eastern seaboard. Cities like New York, Philadelphia and Boston, and states like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Virginia – in most cases, places that I had never before visited - were not too far away from my hometown of Toronto and were definitely within the realm of travel reality for me. Upon discovering this special travel bus pass, I resolved to never again limit my travels simply because I thought it was too expensive to consider visiting a particular place, no matter where it was located.

A colleague of mine, a teacher whose name is Serena, used to tell me and other colleagues of ours (usually at lunch time) about the exotic destinations she had visited already. She would tell us about places she’d visited in Southeast Asia, like Thailand and Singapore; she had also been to China, India and Pakistan. And, I was so jealous that she felt the freedom to go to these remote places completely on her own, with no one to show her how it should be done. Of course, I realized that the only way to access these places was to travel by airplane or by boat.

I asked Serena one day at lunch time, “I’m really curious - how do you find the courage to go to such far off places without knowing exactly where you’re going to be on a day-by-day basis?”

And, she replied, “Because I just love to travel. That’s what makes me truly happy. Plus, I love the adventure of not knowing exactly what’s going to happen while I’m visiting a particular country. In fact, every day is a new adventure for me.” She added, “Nothing, not even teaching, can fill that gap for me, so I’m always looking ahead to my next big trip, and I always will.”

However, it did help to plan her travels better because she could take advantage of the “four-over-five” program offered to full-time teachers. Under this program, teachers who subscribe to this program could work for 4 years, get paid 80% of their salary per year, and bank the rest for travelling (or whatever else they wanted to do) in the fifth year.

I wanted to travel as she had done, but I had been at home in Canada for so long - about the last 25 years or so - that I thought I would seriously lack the courage to venture out on my own in a strange country, with only the help of a travel agent to guide my planning. It quite literally “scared the hell out of me” that, one day, I just might find it in myself to pack my belongings into a backpack (or something very portable) and go wherever and whenever I wanted in the world (assuming that I am retired or have some free time). The idea of staying somewhere very strange, completely on my own, and coping all by myself in countries with strange customs, languages, food, people, and so on, was very frightening. It also seemed like a very exciting way to live. I was very intrigued and wanted very much to free myself from my own self-imposed limits and allow myself to enjoy travel and its fantastic benefits to the fullest extent.

Travelling around the world is a kind of education, the kind you would never get at school because it’s very informal in nature. Travel teaches you different ways of thinking and allows you to see the world through different eyes, doing things and coping in different ways with life’s challenges. To be sure, it’s a growth experience. You could not help but mature as a person by travelling around the world and not limiting yourself in any way from life’s experiences.

Thus, I have made up my mind that, no matter how long it takes, I will take some significant trips to different parts of the world and will do my best to assimilate the knowledge I obtain from those trips into my own personal knowledge base. This should help me to cope better with different and strange things that I will encounter and not be afraid that I will not be a good traveller. After all, I was a fairly good traveller when I was younger and had enjoyed many of the trips I had taken with my family and significant others in my life. Why should anything have changed from that time?

In the spring of 1981, for example, I went on a trip to Europe for 29 days with my best girlfriend at the time, Gloria, and we had an absolute blast there! We were both in our late 20’s at the time. We spent a few days in London, England on our own, and then we joined a bus tour around Europe for 19 days. The tour started in London and was supposed to end there too, but we decided to end the tour early for ourselves in Paris, France, so that we could spend some additional time in Paris before flying home to Canada. I thought that this trip was a life-changing experience and, thank God, I wrote a daily journal about the trip’s events and our experiences. When I went back home and later wanted to read it over, I could not believe what we had experienced in Europe! One thing is certain, I will never forget our trip to Europe as long as I live, and I would dearly love to return to Paris one day and stay for about a month (at least 2-3 weeks anyway!). I would concentrate on learning the French language better, becoming more fluent in French and, generally, becoming more comfortable with the French people. They can be very friendly to foreigners, as long as they know that you are willing to at least try to communicate with them in French, which I was! The French tend to love Canadians for some reason that I don’t completely understand, and they do not tend to like Americans at all, again for some unknown reason. So, I’m glad that I am a Canadian and that, one day, I may very well get a chance to go back to Paris, and, while there, I’d also love to visit some other places in Europe that I have never seen before.

Who knows what strange and exotic places I will get to see in my lifetime? All I want is the chance and the choice to go any place I want and stay for as long as I want. I know the experience will be well worth the wait.

Of course, there are other wonderful benefits to travel as well, no matter how you travel to any given destination. I am familiar with a program called the “Wyndham Rewards” program (a.k.a. the “Trip Rewards” program). I, myself, am a member of this particular trip rewards program that includes more than 6,000 hotels (of which Days Inn is a member, where I stay most of the time). You can earn points or air miles for qualified stays. You can enjoy free nights with no “blackout” dates (like holidays and peak travel times). You can also choose from hundreds of reward options, such as gift cards, airline tickets, and resort vacations. And, finally, you can take advantage of special member offers.

In addition, if you are an Ontario secondary school teacher like me, you are automatically a member of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF). There are special travel (and other benefits) offered to those who are members of our federation. Obviously, teachers can become better at their chosen profession by travelling for pleasure or by going elsewhere in the world to teach other children in other countries. There are exchange programs in which teachers can participate that will allow them to take another teacher’s position in another country and have that same teacher take their own position in Canada. That is a fantastic opportunity for both teachers to see the world and also contribute something meaningful from their teaching experience to other children in other countries.

All in all, travel and teaching are both wonderful pursuits, and if you want to somehow combine these two activities by working somewhere else in the world as a teacher, you would only benefit from doing so. That is really the perfect vehicle for someone like me, who wants to travel around the world, and still maintain her teaching status and professionalism, not to mention the invaluable experience gained from doing wonderful things, such as, travelling to various countries of the world and learning all about other cultures, food, languages and people.

(see my author web site: http://www.anneshier.com for more details)