2 more days and I am heading down to El fin del mundo!
I've packed light, layers to stay warm, lots of gigs for pictures :), extra batteries for my camera, sun glasses and sun screen...Do I need anything else? :))
I still can't believe I'm doing it... I am dreaming about it since I was 10 years old while watching a TV show and then reading the book after they've made it.  So, eventually your dreams can come true if you help them happening (helpful hint: use a credit card :) )
I've checked and Sunday they are expecting  a high of 32C/89F degrees in Buenos Aires. Sweet summertime (only for a few days) here I come... :)))

This was not the first time that me and my friends had been to America.  We have been out West in California a couple of times. We have friends there. This time we visited the East Coast.

On the thirteenth we landed in Toronto Canada in pouring rain. The captain of the plane had already told us that this was the tail of Ike.  It's never cool to have rain but fortunately it cleared over the next couple of days. When we reached Nigara Falls, our first destination, the weather was still not good but on sunday it was and has stayed that way for almost all the time. Niagara is a awesome place. Nature at it's best.  You have the American Falls and the Canadian Falls, better known as horseshow falls. Around it a town grew up with all kind of hotels, attractions and so on. So execept for the falls there is enough to do here. And it's Canada and we had never been there. We saw the falls from the river with the Maid of the Mist tours.

Monday september 15

In the morning across the bridge to the USA. Felt kind of special to enter the USA over land. But everything went wel. The guy of Homeland Security even said we were lucky with the weather so far. I think he liked the idea of us travelling his country. Soon we were in New York State and driving to New York City. We arrived there in the late afternoon and found our hotel which by the way was in New Jersey, not New York City itself. It was different from when i was in New York the first time in 1999. I stayed in Manhattan itself then.

So every morning we took a  bus downtown and took a bus like that back to the hotel in the late evening. Two and a half days we saw the sights and sounds of New York. We made a boattrip on the Hudson, went to Liberty island, Ellis Island and made several bus tours including one through Harlem and Brooklyn. Those were mostly in the evening and were not hop on hop off.

I'm knee deep in packing mod at the moment.  It's really not fun.  I'm trying to pack my life into two checked luggage pieces and one carry-on. 

But the clock is ticking and whether I'm ready or not, I'm getting on that plane to Sydney.  Those who know me well don't really find it surprising that upon arriving back home from a 7 month trip through India, Nepal, and Thailand, I announced my decision to move to Sydney, Australia. 

Why Australia?  What do I like about Sydney?

For one, the lack of bitter, cold, icey snow.  I may have a decent threshold for cold, but it doesn't mean I like living through long Canadian winters.  I'm really a summer person and I hear the land of Oz has plenty of sun.

I've never actually been to Australia, but I figure this is just a formality.  After all, when it comes down to it, all big cities are essentially the same, especially westernized ones.  This really shouldn't be that difficult.

Just a pain in the ass to organize.

And I really should be busy packing but instead I'm procrastinating by starting up this blog.  I figure I've still got about 28 hours til I need to be at the airport.

    After spending the night sleepwalking around the Vancouver airport with a bike box, I boarded my flight the next morning. The storm in Toronto didn't end up being a big deal and the plane ride was uneventful (I spent most of it catching up on the sleeping I hadn't been able to do during my night at the airport). Finally, after 31,550km, Rusty Jr. and I had returned home.

Thanks to everyone who has read my blog. Who knows what adventures lie ahead.

agsdfg

Maybe because few establishments where I live know how to define customer service, I was surprised at how friendly the front desk person was. He asked me for my last name, which I gave him, to which he replied, "Hah-zel?". I said, "Yes, Hay-zel."

The plane landed at the Pearson International well after midnight. The whole place was empty and there was no way I could have missed my baggage because there was only one carousel moving.

I had all the instructions and addresses and important info I needed on one index card that I placed in my purse, but I failed to put the teeny info that the ticket kiosk for the airport Express Shuttle was right by the baggage claim. I went out into main hall, followed the signs that said airport shuttle, went down 2 escalators, dragging two suitcases behind me, only to find myself alone out on a cold deserted street. I breathed hard and saw 'smoke' come out of my mouth and I realized I wasn't even wearing a hat. A street sign said the temperature was 7C. I fumbled for my beanie and gloves and waited for two minutes until it was obvious from the creepy feeling in my gut that it was so wrong for me to be at that part of the airport at that particular time. I quickly went back in, went up the two escalators again and tried to find the ticket stand.

After finding that the doors to the interior of the airport would only open into the outer hall and I could not possibly get back to the baggage claim area, I decided to just get a cab. I had wanted to get the shuttle because it cost CAN16.95 one way, $29.95 round trip. I knew the cab was going to cost at least CAN50. It didn't look like I had a choice because the street was deserted except for the random cab. I hailed one and upon talking to the Indian driver, I found out I did the right thing: there was no way I could have caught the shuttle because they only operate until midnight, and it was already past 2am. Hmm, maybe they should put that on the hotel info one of these days.

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July 13

I arrived at Toronto Airport by the evening, and simply had to find my way down to the Hotel, the Ramada on Jarvis street. So I took the cheapest option and bought a coach ticket (return) to the city centre.
That bus was definitely one of the best I had been on in years, leather seat, air conditionning and even wireless Internet (it seems). But the ride is never long enough to test it.

I got dropped and indicated the way by the bus driver and then walk toward Jarvis Street to find my hotel just off a Harveys (hmm that has been a long time ago). I checked in and walked into my room on the third floor. My first impression was definitely one of amazement, I made myself at home taking the thing out of my bag into the closet. There is a nice bathroom, and TV and even a fridge.

I tried to get to the Internet and then had to ask the help of the reception to do so. So I could manage to talk with Megan as I was sitting in my posh hotel room. I wish she was here with me actually, or that we could afford such luxury one day together.
I took a break from the net to go to Harveys and get a veggie burger. Although I could not finish it all, it was nice to have after all that balkan food. I also had a glimpse of the services offered by the hotel, the tiny swimming pool and squash court. And especially spotted where I need to be on the morning.

July 14-15-16-17-18

I nearly overslept on my first training day, I rush downstairs and went immediately to the place but I wasn’t the only one that had not arrived. So I signed on the registration sheet and took place in the training room. While preparing different documents and having some drinks (didn’t have time to breakfast).

So finally when everyone has arrived we started the presentation and all topic for the training.

The training was about Intercultural differences and offered by the Federal Government as condition to go work abroad. And all expenses at this posh hotel were paid too!

The training went well, it last 3 days in which I mainly spent with the group for dinner and for further discussions.

On my first evening, I just went to get some food at a convenient store (I couldn’t find a single supermarket in that city!) and stayed inside my room to chat with Megan, that was great. On my second evening, I went to walk overnight near the CN tower and the stadium and the main core city, I basically walked to and back from the hotel. So I was discovering a bit more of the city as I wasn’t spending long and then of course, chatting late before getting some sleep. On our last day, the training didn’t last for the whole day so we got some daylight time to do something else and I used that to join someone from the group to go to Kensington market to eat at a Chinese restaurant and then on my way back did more photo shoots of the city. I also went down Jarvis Street to shop for clothes and found some interesting ones. Back at the hotel, I watched a bit of TV and chat before heading down to the swimming pool for a good hour.

On Thursday, we had to go to CUI office. So we did that altogether by the tram and spent the day there finalising our employment paperwork and having presentation about our relative working country. One thing that I wasn’t happy with was that they took us insurance while I could have managed to find cheaper myself (all expenses for the job are taken off our allowance… so if it is not spent, I receive it as salary).

I walked over the city again on my way back and relaxed some more at the swimming pool once at the hotel. I made it late that night but made sure everything was packed as I needed to go to the airport the following morning.

I had to rushed out of the hotel as I didn’t fully took into account the time the bus took to go to the airport and I absolutely mustn’t miss the next one, which pick-up spot is a bit of a walk. Hopefully I made it on time and without hassle, especially since my flight got delayed (I’m so unlucky with those recently). So I took this time to finalise my enrolment to Air Canada Airmiles program.

 Probably the best definition of Indian summer was given by John Bradbury:

"The air is perfectly quiescent and all is stillness, as if Nature, after her exertions during the Summer, were now at rest."

I would exchange all the words for colors, though...They can express more than words... ;)

The cheapest way I found of getting to Pearson Airport from the city centre - is to get the subway (TTC) on the westbound Bloor line (green), for about $3, to the end of the line at Kipling. You can then pick up a free bus to the airport, which leaves from the end of the bus platform (to the right).

Stayed at Quality Hotel & Suites Airport East, which is pretty close to the airport. We arrived at night, so didn't want to have to travel too far to get some sleep.

Picked up a car from Rent-a-Wreck, who I shall not be using again - as they charged me way more than what they quoted. The franchise I used in British Columbia were honest and up-front; this franchise was not.

Headed off to the Science Museum, to see the Mars exhibit, mess around with some of the exhibits and watch a film about Mars exploration.

Helping my friends out, by doing some yard-maintenance and fitting a water-barrel. Not looking forward to my flight tomorrow to L.A, or the next day when the flight to Fiji is at 11.30pm.

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