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  • Hello From Ibiza -Part 2
    September 28, 2004, 9:45 pm

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

    The first we visited was La Salada, just north of Sant Antoni, a place only reached via a very stony road. After parking the car we had...
  • Hello From Graz
    November 2, 2004, Internet Cafe Sit´n Surf, Graz, Austria, 2:05 pm

    I finally found Internet access here in Graz. Not the easiest thing I have to admit. Had to ask 3 people and finally went to the tourist info who competently directed me to an Internet Cafe.

    The last few days have been interesting. The first day my sister-in-law and I took a little tour through my home town of Weiz, and in the 8 years that I haven't been here there has been a lot of change. New buildings...
  • Hello From Victoria- Part 1 - Reaching The West Coast
    Jetlag is an amazing thing. It's barely after 5 am and I have already been reading for an hour an a half. So I figured I might as well use this bout of sleeplessness and record my first impressions of British Columbia.

    My WestJet flight out of Toronto left a 7:15 am yesterday, so that meant I got up at 4:30 am, after 2.5 hours of sleep, to check all my luggage, eat a brief breakfast and get myself out to the airport. Sometimes a little travel savvy goes a long way, I had d...
  • Hello From Vancouver -Part 2 - Wheeling Around Stanley Park
    Stanley Park is Vancouver's famous urban paradise and I knew weeks in advance that I would need to explore it in detail, preferably on a bike. So this afternoon at about 1:30 pm I set off from the UBC Campus, and navigated my way downtown by bus, taking 3 buses to get to the eastern edge of Stanley Park. This was my first chance to glance at the city of Vancouver. It is a relatively new city and according to some accounts, its origins date back to 1792 , the year when Captain...
  • Hello From Mexico City - A Relaxing Evening In Coyoacán
    Last night after our big first discovery of Mexico City I had a couple of hours of rest before Vanessa and her mom took me to one of the most picturesque areas in the city: Coyoacán, an area located south of the downtown core. The traffic to get there, as you can imagine, was absolutely incredible – 4 lane streets with no markings, people squeezing in and out between cars as they pleased, trucks cutting in right in front of us with just millimeters to spare…

    Fortunately we...
  • Hello From Ibiza -Part 1
    September 27, 2004, 6:05 pm

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

    We finally checked o...
  • Hello From Cuba - Part 3 - Hiking Vinales And Exploring Nature
    Hotel Havana Libre, Tuesday, April 5, 2005, 6:54 pm

    On Sunday it was gorgeous. The cold front had finally passed through, the rain was gone and we had a beautiful warm sunny day without any humidity.

    My hostess is also a guide for the National Park System and Vinales is a nationally protected natural habitat. She had a tour planned through a side valley of Vinales (Valle del Ancon) with 3 participants, an older couple from Germany and me.

    The tour was fabulous, we go...
  • Hello From Toronto - A Culinary Tour Of The St. Lawrence Market & An Exploration Of Historic St. Lawrence Hall
    October 6, 2005

    Life works in really strange and wonderful ways. At the beginning of this week I talked to my brother in Austria on the phone, and he said he'd been reading this German travel magazine and there was a big write-up about a Toronto-based tour guide who provides culinary tours of the St. Lawrence Market, one of my brother's favourite places that he discovered on his recent trip to Toronto.

    I asked my brother what this fellow's name was and he looked it up a...
  • Hello From New York City - Part 1 - First Impressions Of The Big Apple
    So yesterday morning our American Airways flight (booked for free with my Airmiles) left at 7:13 am to bring us to the Big Apple, a place I had always had a fascination with, but only had visited twice very briefly in my life,and that more than 10 years ago.

    Just flying in over NYC was an experience itself, seeing all the skyscrapers of Manhattan, the various bridges linking the mainland with the island, and shortly after flying over the Rykers Island prison we landed at L...
  • Hello From Toronto – Part 7 - Summer In T.O. Positively Rocks
    It’s been a pretty amazing summer so far. The weather has been pretty good since as far back as April. Occasionally, we’ve had rain showers and thunderstorms, but much of the rain has actually fallen over night. The weather on the weekends has been great for the most part, perfect conditions to enjoy all the activities and festivals that the city has to offer. I decided earlier this year that I would be spending this summer in Toronto without any major travel assignments over...
  • Hello From Toronto - Part 6 - The Toronto International Dragonboat Festival 2006
    One of my favourite spots in Toronto is the Toronto Islands, that lovely patch of land right in front of downtown Toronto, separated by just a sliver of water. So close, yet so far from the city's hustle and bustle. One of the biggest events on the Islands is the Toronto Dragonboat Festival, a family event organized by the Toronto Chinese Business Association. In addition to being a great entertainment event, the Dragonboat Festival is also a big fundraiser for the Canadian B...
  • Hello From Toronto - Part 3 - Exploring Niagara Wine Country
    Two days ago I took our European visitors on a little driving tour of the Niagara Peninsula, specifically to explore some of the 50 something wineries. My brother is a chef and very interested in exploring the authentic tastes and flavours of Canada. So far my visitors have been very impressed with the quality of the Canadian vegetables, meats, spices, and even the various types of beers that they have tried from different microbreweries.

    We got going around 9:30 am to avo...
  • Hello From Chicago - Part 1 - First Impressions
    Chicago, Arlington House Youth Hostel, Friday, October 21, 6:05 am

    So here I am again, on another short excursion away from home. I've been awake for an hour already and decided the best thing is to get up and put my first impressions on paper. Since there is only a one hour time difference between Toronto and Chicago I decided yesterday I wasn't even going to change my watch over. So when I came down this morning to use the free computer at the Arlington Youth Hostel in C...
  • Hello From Chicago - Part 2 - What A Fabulously Photogenic City!
    Chicago, Screenz Internet Cafe, Saturday, October 21, 2005, 9:15 am

    Yesterday I woke up at 5:00 am Chicago time and I figured I might as well get ahead of the crowd at the Arlington House Youth Hostel and take an early shower. At 6 am I was already on the Internet, recording my first impressions of this exciting city and by 6:30 am I had left the hostel. It was still pretty dark outside and the sun was just slowly starting to come up.

    I walked through the quiet Lincoln ...
  • Hello From Chicago - Part 3 - Multiple Austrian Connections
    Chicago, Screenz Internet Cafe, Saturday, October 21, 2005, 10:25 am

    So the two of us expatriate Austrians are staying at the Arlington House Hostel, in itself an exciting experience, to be immersed in this environment of young (and older) travellers from all over the world.

    We got going early again this morning, at about 7 am. In the shower room Linda and I were talking and joking to each other in our Austrian dialect, all of a sudden a woman in her mid to late forties...
  • Hello From Toronto - Part 1- A First Little Driving Tour -The City Viewed Through The Eyes Of First-Time Visitors
    So my brother is in town, together with his wife and 2 friends from my little home town in Austria. It is everybody's first time in North America and their initiation to Toronto. Just to give you ideas of dimensions: Austria has a population of about 9 million and the country extends about 900 km from east to west while the Greater Toronto area nowadays probably has about 4 to 5 million people and Lake Ontario alone is over 300 km long. The first thing my visitors noticed was...
  • Hello From Toronto - Part 2 - Exploring Toronto's Waterfront By Bicycle And Checking Out The CN Tower
    Since my European visitors are quite sporty I figured that renting a bicycle would be the perfect way of exploring the city. So to join them on their first guided bicycle tour I grabbed my bike and the 5 of us headed off to the subway station to go to Bicycle Solutions near Parliament and Carlton Streets. Getting outfitted with a bike didn't take long and the cost was pretty reasonable at $70.00 for a whole week. Now all 5 of us had a bicycle.

    Our tour began in Cabbagetown...
  • Hello From Chicago - Part 4 - A Personal Tour Of The Chicago Cultural Center
    Chicago, Arlington House, Sunday, October 23, 2005, 6:15 am

    Yesterday, after our lovely Austrian breakfast we went downtown to the Chicago Cultural Center, the main downtown information hub for tourists, to ask some questions about the Pullman Historic District, a planned industrial community, built in the 1880s by industrial magnate George Pullman, creator of the famous Pullman sleeper cars. We figured this would be an interesting place to visit since it brings together a...
  • Hello From Chicago - Part 5 - A Visit To The Pullman Historic District
    Chicago, Arlington House, Sunday, October 23, 2005, 6:25 am

    After being appropriately prepped as a result of our visit to the Chicago Cultural Center we decided to head off yesterday to visit the Pullman Historic District, a planned industrial and residential community dating back to the 1880s, on Chicago's South Side.

    In order to get there we took the red line all the way to the end and then connected onto the 111 bus. What was very interesting to note was that the pop...
  • Hello From Chicago - Part 4 - Chinatown And Second City
    Chicago, Arlington House, Sunday October 23,2005, 6:30 am

    After thoroughly exploring the Pullman Historic District, we decided to check out Chinatown, one of the many ethnic neighbourhoods that Chicago has to offer. The weather had turned from cool and grey with the occasional peek of sunshine to dark, rainy and cold, so rather than walking around we decided to have an early dinner at a Chinatown restaurant called the Lobster King.

    Both my friend Linda and I had ordered...
  • Hello From Nova Scotia - Part 18 - The Lighthouse Trail From Lunenburg To Halifax Via Mahone Bay And Peggy's Cove
    My brief introduction to Lunenburg was just enough to whet my appetite and to give me some ideas of what to see next time I have a chance to visit this part of Nova Scotia. After saying goodbye to the innkeepers at the Lunenburg Inn I went back on the road to connect with the Lighthouse Trail. Beautiful blue skies were greeting me, and the early autumn colours were adorning the small country roads that snake in and out of the indented shoreline of Nova Scotia’s South Shore.
    ...
  • Hello From Nova Scotia - Part 16 - The Town Of Lunenburg - A Unesco World Heritage Site
    A delightful rest at the Lunenburg Inn after a very compressed and hectic day along the Lighthouse Trail yesterday got me ready for another day of adventures. At about 7:30 I made my downstairs in anticipation of a filling breakfast. Sure enough, a freshly baked morning glory muffin was served to quench my immediate hunger. I had two breakfasts to choose from: a hot breakfast featuring poached eggs with bacon or turkey bacon, or a cold breakfast featuring a choice of two item...
  • Hello From Nova Scotia - Part 11 - The Mackinnon-cann Inn: Where Home And Garden Television Meets The Travel Channel
    I had spent a wonderfully rejuvenating night wrapped up in the soft high-thread-count sheets and comforters of my temporary home at the MacKinnon-Cann Inn in Yarmouth. After an exciting drive down the Evangeline Trail yesterday that included a very informative tour of the Bear River First Nation Heritage and Cultural Centre, followed up by an early-evening walking tour to admire Yarmouth’s Victorian heritage areas, I had definitely needed a good rest. But a new day had broken...
  • Hello From Nova Scotia - Part 6 - The Annapolis Royal Graveyard Tour
    After a day packed with explorations and a lovely dinner at the Garrison House I was ready for my final discovery of the day: the famous Annapolis Royal Graveyard Tour. Punctually at 9:15 pm I showed up across the road from the my bed and breakfast at the south entrance of Fort Anne where local historian and expert guide Alan Melanson was ready to give his performance. About 15 people, hailing from places such as North Carolina, California and Saskatchewan, were equipped with...
  • Hello From Nova Scotia - Part 10 - Victorian Heritage In Yarmouth
    Another long and exciting day was coming to an end: from my early morning interview with Patrick Redgrave, the owner of the Garrison House B&B in Annapolis Royal to my learning experiences at the Bear River First National Cultural and Heritage Center to my drive along the Evangeline Trail with a quick stopover in Digby, a drive through the Acadian communities in Clare County and a quick peak at the unusual Yarmouth Lighthouse, I had finally made it to my destination for the e...
  • Hello From Nova Scotia - Part 2 - Acadian History At The Grand Pré National Historic Site
    It’s always exciting to arrive in a new city. I like arriving at night, so the suspense of this new place stretches into the next morning. After a late arrival via Westjet at about 11:30 last night at the Halifax Airport, I picked up my rental car at the Thrifty Counter from a very friendly customer service representative on duty who inquired whether he was going to be mentioned in my Nova Scotia travel experiences – so here you go, this is a little shout-out to the friendly ...
  • Hello From Cuernavaca - Part 7 - A Conversation With Andie Grater, Local B&b Owner And President Of The Newcomers Club
    I am currently staying at, "La Nuestra", a comfortable bed and breakfast with 4 guest rooms, a private swimming pool and an outdoor breakfast area complete with microwave and fridge, which has a rather interesting story. It is co-owned by two women, Andie Grater and Nancy Gray, who are both originally from the United States.

    Originally from Brooklyn, Andie had lived in Atlanta for 20 years and become an expert in advertising production and management while Nancy, on the ot...
  • Hello From Mexico City - Part 5 - Exploring The Paseo De La Reforma, The Bosque De Chapultepec And A Nice Evening In San Angel
    This morning another wonderful Mexican breakfast was in store: Vanessa had made "tlacoyos con nopales" (fried dough covered with fruits of the prickly pear cactus and melted cheese on top) which I really enjoyed. Around 9:30 we got going and Vanessa’s sister dropped us off, right in front of the Angel de la Independencia, a monument erected in 1910 to commemorate independence from Spain, on the Paseo de la Reforma.

    The Paseo de la Reforma is an almost 4 km long tree-lined ...
  • Hello From The Canadian Rockies - Part 26 - A Final Walk Through Calgary
    Our last couple of hours before our departure had arrived. We had left Banff at about 9:30 am and got into Calgary just shortly before 11, parked our car just east of downtown and set off on foot on our final walk to explore a bit more of downtown Calgary.

    The first place we passed by was Calgary City Hall, a classic sandstone building, located right opposite the Olympic Plaza. Originally constructed for the medal ceremonies for the 1988 Olympics, Olympic Plaza has become ...
  • Hello From Banff: Taking The Gondola Up To Sulphur Mountain And A Last Walk Through The Village
    Our skiing had come to an end and I allocated the last full day in Banff to explore some more local attractions while my husband headed into Calgary to do some shopping. We got going at about 11:30 am and Nigel dropped me off at the foot of the Banff Gondola. This historic attraction has been around since 1959 and the gondola was just recently reconstructed and reopened in 1998 and features a state-of-the-art gondola system engineered by a Swiss gondola construction company.
    ...
  • Hello From The Canadian Rockies - Part 18 - Our Celebrity Breakfast At The Twin Gables B&b
    Bed and breakfast travel is one of our favourite ways of discovering new places and the historic Twin Gables B&B is a real treat. It is a 4.5 star-rated bed and breakfast, located in the upscale Mount Royal neighbourhood in Calgary, which is about 25 minutes away by foot from downtown, and the restaurant area on 4th Street takes just a 10 minute to walk to. It was the perfect location for our Sneak Peek at Calgary and after a good night’s rest after our feast at Il Giardino’s...
  • Hello From Vancouver - Part 5 - Gastown And My Final Explorations
    Hello from Vancouver (5): Gastown and My Final Explorations

    After my extremely interesting walking tour of the Downtown East Side I decided to round out my exploration of the city with another bicycling trip. In my mind, bicycling is just the perfect way to discover a city, it gives you greater range than walking, you don't need to wait around for buses, and you get exercise at the same time -bonus!

    I realized that I had not even seen Gastown yet, which gave me a perfec...
  • Hello From Montreal - Part 13 - 360 Degree Views From The Tower At The Olympic Stadium, Bugs And Nature At The Insectarium And The Botanical Garden, And A Quick Visit To The Jean Talon Market In Littl
    July 2, 2006

    Appropriately rested from my action packed day yesterday I had a leisurely breakfast and headed out on the subway at 9:30 am. I love the subway system in Montreal since it’s safe, efficient and all the major sights are accessible via underground transportation. And the interesting thing is the trains run on rubber wheels - none of that metallic clanking that I am so used to from places like Toronto, New York City or Chicago...

    My first destination for this ...
  • Hello From Montreal - Part 12 - Dinner At Galianos And Celebrating Canada Day
    July 1, 2006

    After my official Montreal bike tour, my individual explorations of the Lachine Canal and my chat with André from Ça Roule, I decided to go for a little stroll to explore Montreal’s Port area which was hustling and bustling with celebrations on this Canada Day. I strolled out on Jacques Cartier Pier to an outdoor concert stage where two well-known Canadian singers, Kim Richardson and Sylvie Desgroseillers were enchanting the audience with Mo-Town and R&B melod...
  • Hello From Montreal - Part 11 - A Chat With André Giroux – Owner Of Ça Roule Bicyle Rentals
    July 1, 2006

    had thoroughly enjoyed my guided bicycle tour with Ça Roule and Bruno, a licensed city guide from Guidatour, really introduced Montreal up close to us. And my own independent explorations of the bicyle trail along the Lachine Canal introduced me to a side of Montreal I had never been exposed to. After returning my bike after a full day of exercise I wanted to find out a bit more about who is behind this operation, Ça Roule, or Montreal on Wheels, as it is know...
  • Hello From Montreal - Part 9 - Exploring Montreal By Bike – The Lachine Canal
    July 1, 2006

    I had thoroughly enjoyed my guided tour of Montreal by bike and being the bicycling enthusiast that I am I knew this would be a highlight of my trip. The great thing was that even after the tour was finished, I would get to hold on to my bike until 8 pm tonight since a full-day bicycle rental is included with any guided tour at Ça Roule / Montreal on Wheels.

    So once our little group of bicycle explorers split up, we all went on different directions on our r...
  • Hello From Montreal - Part 8 - Mexican Delights At La Iguana And A Peak At The Montreal Jazz Festival
    June 30, 2006

    The Plateau area is one of the trendiest areas of Montreal, so I decided to explore it a little further after my discoveries of Old Montreal. From my hotel I hopped into the subway at Place d’Armes and took the blue train north to Sherbrooke. I enjoyed a wonderful stroll through the St-Denis neighbourhood, considered by many to be the most typical of Montreal’s neighbourhoods. Hundreds of street cafés, restaurants and funky boutiques line the street.

    The s...
  • Hello From Montreal - Part 7 - A Delicious Outside Lunch At The Café Du Chateau, A Major Thunderstorm And A Tour Through Musée De Ramezay
    June 30, 2006

    Well, as much as the walking tour through Old Montreal nourished my senses and architectural sensibilities, my stomach was in dire need of nutrition and I was debating whether I should plunk myself down at one of the enticing terrace cafés on Place Jacques Cartier. Then I literally stumbled over this beautiful small park, Place De La Dauversière off to the side of the main square. In the southeast corner of this space is a little gate that looked like the ent...
  • Hello From The Canadian Rockies - Part 4: Dinner At Il Giardino & Meeting One Of Calgary's Most Successful Entrepreneurs
    After catching a lovely and much needed rest at the historic Twin Gables Bed and Breakfast we set off to explore the immediate neighbourhood, the restaurant area on 4th Street. We were going to walk, but considering I had been really sick with an aweful chest cold in the last few days, venturing out into the cold evening air had me a little leery. Henry from the Twin Gables was really kind to offer us a drive a few blocks up to a restaurant called Il Giardino, one of the plac...
  • Hello From The Canadian Rockies - Part 2: First Impressions Of Calgary
    As so many times before, I used my Airmiles to book our flights to Calgary (with the Westjet Airmiles Mastercard you get to fly out west for only 1600 Airmiles instead of having to use 3000 Airmiles in high season with other airlines). As an astute traveller you have to look at every option of cutting your travel costs and Airmiles is one of my favourite tools. A direct flight took us from Toronto to Calgary in about three and a half hours.

    We arrived at the Calgary Airpor...
  • Hello From Ottawa - Part 11- The Canadian Museum Of Contemporary Photography Featuring Sunil Gupta And The Challenges Of Immigration
    My schedule in Ottawa this past weekend was extremely compressed, but there was one place I wasn’t going to miss: the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. As a person with no formal background, yet a keen interest in the visual arts and photography, I have been wanting to visit this museum for a long time. And my Internet research revealed that the Museum is featuring a very special exhibition right now: two photographic series by Sunil Gupta, an Indian-born Canadian ...
  • Hello From Ottawa - Part 9 - The Lord Elgin Hotel - A Historic Landmark In The Heart Of Ottawa
    As far as travel to Ottawa is concerned, you’d be hard pressed to find a more central lodging location than the Lord Elgin Hotel. It is located right at the Intersection of Elgin and Laurier Streets, just steps away from Parliament Hill, the War Memorial, the Chateau Laurier, the Government Conference Centre and the National Arts Centre. Confederation Park, one of the main locations for Winterlude, is located right across the street.

    We could not have found a better spot f...
  • Hello From Ottawa - Part 6 - The 26th Annual Bedzzz Races On Dow's Lake
    When I was making my travel plans to Ottawa I had a look at all the events that are part of Winterlude, Ottawa's Winter Festival, and there was one event that caught my attention right away: the 26th Annual Bed Race at Dows lake.

    After a nourishing breakfast at the Lord Elgin Hotel, Theresa and I laced up our skates and made our way on the longest skating rink in the world, the 7.8 km long Rideau Canal Skateway, to Dows Lake, where the Bed Race was going to be held.

    I l...
  • Hello From Orlando- Part 20: The Walking Hall Of Fame Of The PGA Father Son Challenge At ChampionsGate
    After our exciting round at Mystic Dunes, it was only mid-afternoon on a gorgeous day with blue skies, so we decided to take a 10 minute drive and drop in on the Father Son Challenge at Champion's Gate, which has been held for the last 3 years at this golf course in the South part of Orlando. You can't miss Champion's Gate, when you first get off exit 58 on the I-4, the impressive main entrance gates to Champion's Gate are right there.

    The Father Son Legend is truly a walk...
  • Hello From Montreal - Part 4 : Dining And A Bit Of Jazz At Modavie
    June 29, 2006

    Hello from Montreal: Dining and a Bit of Jazz at Modavie

    After my initial introduction to Montreal through my driving tour, my next step was to explore the city on foot. I set out on my first walk through Old Montreal (Vieux Montreal). Literally five minutes from my hotel is the Place d’Armes, one of the most historic locations of Montreal, highlighted by the impressive Basilica of Notre Dame. I strolled eastwards on rue de Notre Dame towards Place Jacques...
  • Hello From Montreal - Part 3 - A Driving Tour As A Great Introduction To A Fascinating City
    June 29, 2006

    Shortly after my arrival in Montreal, right around 1 pm, I met Carole, a licensed professional tour guide from Guidatour in the lobby of the Holiday Inn and she was going to be my local expert on a driving tour through the centre of Montreal. I had only been in Montreal once before 10 years ago, so I really needed a quick overview of the city to familiarize myself with its layout. And although Montreal's downtown area is very compact and walkable, a driving t...
  • Presenting: Pablo Chufeni - Servas Traveller And A Champion Of Cross-border Youth Exchanges
    I met Pablo at the Canada-US Servas Conference that was held at the beginning of August in Vancouver where I had a chance to spend about an hour and a half with him to find out more about his involvement as a volunteer for Servas, an organization with hosts and travellers in more than 130 countries whose motto is "Travel for peace" to promote greater inter-cultural understanding and tolerance. Pablo is one of those people who always has a smile on his face and he is filled wi...
  • Doctors Without Borders - A Global Volunteer Organization Helping People In Crisis Regions
    One of the subjects I am going to research in the near future is combining travel with volunteer opportunities all over the world. Volunteering is a great way of exploring different cultures while making a positive contribution to important causes.

    Doctors Without Borders first caught my attention during the Tsunami Crisis. It is an organization that provides important medical relief to people in disaster-stricken areas. I felt compelled to find out more about this organiz...


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