Journey & Adventure

People say – “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” I say – “Absence makes you wonder why you didn’t stay away longer.” Yes, I’m back. It’s good to be home, but it’s not so good to be back at work and back to reality. Reality is overrated. I know, I know...enough of my bemoaning the fact that my vacation is over. We arrived home late in the evening on my birthday, March 31st. We left the Philippines on my birthday.  I had two whole days of birthdays thanks to the International Date Line. It was the longest birthday of my life, but thank goodness, I didn’t age twice.  That would NOT have been cool. This time around, jet lag caught up to me with a vengeance. It’s now Wednesday, April 04, 2012 and I’m just starting to function again. Thank goodness it’s a short work week – Good Friday is a Godsend (pardon that horrible pun). I hope to finally get some pictures downloaded from my camera tonight and put together some thoughts from our trip, which I hope to share w...

In less than a week, we are off to the Philippines for two glorious weeks of scuba diving, snorkeling, eating, drinking, relaxing , more relaxing and maybe some shopping. I’m looking forward to everything - except the journey to get there. The first leg of the trip will see us depart Toronto for a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. Then it’s another 2 hour flight from Hong Kong to Manila and then another 2 hour flight from Manila to Cebu and then a 2 hour bus ride to the dive resort. Estimated time in transit to get there, including flights, wait time at the airports and bus time = 25+ hours. A previous trip to Palau was 36+ hours of travel time, BUT we had an overnight stop over in Hawaii, which softened the blow a bit. All of our travel companions are pretty easy going, but I’m sure someone will have a meltdown before that excursion is over. My money is on one of the smokers in the group. Should be interesting. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes. The suitcases are ...

When my blog was first started, it was done so with the intention of sharing some of my travel experiences, and perhaps some travel tips, hints, websites, etc. Since I haven’t been on a trip since February and my recent travel experiences have been limited to my daily commute, there hasn’t been a wealth of anything useful to share, except perhaps how to maneuver a roundabout. Now that summer is upon us and the summer travel season is in full swing, I thought perhaps now is a good time to provide you with some travel etiquette tips. Today, I will feature airline travel tips. The opinions expressed here are solely mine and the information provided here may or may not provide you with a better travel experience. Your personal satisfaction is not guaranteed and your travel experiences may vary, but I can guarantee that your fellow travelers will appreciate the effort. Well maybe not. Let me rephrase that – I will appreciate the effort. Tips Chec...