"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

UGlas wrote to ask for info on my undergrad studies in London, wanting to know what kind of visa I entered under at that time (just watch--there will be some sort of tsurrus because I didn't gte a formal student visa...) What I found entertaining was that I *still have* the actual passport I used at the time. The DOS gave it back (as they will do, if you ask) when I got its replacement. Hysterically funny to see what a geek I looked like, back in 1985. :-)

Also, I got an entry and an exit stamp in 1985, but when Chris and I went for our (delayed) honeymoon in 1988, I got an entry but no exit stamp. Can I use that to claim that I've been resident for 25 years? :-)

My second passport has indications of the vagary of the immigration officer that are so distressing to those of us of a slightly OCD variety. Page 8 is the first page for visas; it has entry stamps from the UK for 2002 and 2005 (May), for Canada from 2005 (transit--September), and a re-entry stamp from US DHS from 2006 (apparently we didn't start doing that until that year). The next page has entry stamps from the UK (2005--September), Canada 2006, and US re-entry 2007. Page 10 has my marriage visa from 2008 and its confirming IO stamp, and the facing page, 11, has the US re-entry stamp from 2008 and UK and US stamps from 2010.

If you're counting, you'll notice there's something missing--the UK entry stamp from 2007. Yes, the random bastard skipped pages 12, 13, and 14 (all blank, as were 10 and 11 at the time) and planted it on page 15!

My newest passport is as yet marked only by a DHA re-entry stamp from last October. Apparently Canadian customs and immigration didn't even see fit to give me an entry stamp when I visited the Maritimes last autumn.

I need to find the time to finish sorting through pictures and to write up my notes (mental and pen and ink) into a proper trip report, but  a few observations that I thought I would bung down on on paper (as it were) while I'm thinking of them.

Arriving early for one's plane is better than arriving late. Among my friends and relations there is probably a solid consensus that, for whatever reason, I tend to be late for things most of the time. Friends and family are forgiving (at least mostly, at least so far...); airports are not. I made extraordinary preparations both leaving and returning to ensure I was at the airport by at least the recommended "two hours before your flight for international travel". Both times I was much earlier than that (3-4 hours). I wasn't sorry. I've arrived at the airport late, rushing to check in and hopping from one foot to the other in the security line (appearing anxious and worried <> a good thing under the eyes of trained airport security officers), afraid I was going to miss my flight. It's not a good thing. Better to have time to kill in the departure lounge.

Make sure you plan carefully those things that need to be planned. Trained by redactrice, I tend to plan vacations in detail. Sometimes it's fine to leave more things to chance; I tried that approach this time. But some things you should really be sure to plan carefully. For various reasons, I planned to fly into and out of Charlottetown Airport on PEI (at some point we can discuss why that wasn't the best idea and, in fact, totally puzzled my hosts at my last stop, who are travel agents as well as B&B owners). The original last stop on my "tour" before that was in northeast New Brunswick. I hate spending the last night right near the airport (though I should probably do that) because it seems as if by doing that I devote the whole of the last day to just positioning, instead of doing something fun with it (we can go into the logic-fail of that later, too). I'm sure that at some point I checked the distance from there to Charlottetown and thought "Oh, that should be OK." But while I was on the trip, I checked again and found that at the best of times it would take me 4 1/2 hours to get to the airport. Plus the two hours before my flight, that would have had me getting up quite early (though somehow I did a math fail and calculated that I would have to leave at 6 am). So I switched final stops to Saint John, in southwest New Brunswick, because that would be "closer". Well, it turns out, only about half an hour closer. And I actually ended up driving what Google predicted would be four hours in about three (both because I was worried about timing and because there was no one on the roads at 7 am on a Sunday in the provinces. :-) All of which is to say: I need to think more clearly and plan more exactly in future. And I should not panic so fast. Though it was swings and roundabouts--I didn't see Acadian NB, which I would have liked to, but I did go to Fundy National Park and Hopetown Rocks, which had not planned on, and which were wonderful.

In Canada, "open through mid-October" doesn't mean what you think it does. I had originally meant to take my trip in late September, but events disrupted that plan. When I got ready to book later dates, I did a quick scan of my guidebooks and they said all the things that I wanted to see that were seasonal were open "through mid-October". I was planning a trip for the 6th to the 14th, so I figured I would still be able to see things. What I found was that most places closed after Thanksgiving, which in Canada is the second Monday in October. The 1st was a Monday, so Thanksgiving fell on the 8th. Of course everything was closed on Thanksgiving, and most things were closed the day before, since it was Sunday (note to self: Canadians still have some serious blue laws). So by the time I could get to them, everything was "fermée pour la saison".

If you're goofy about taking photographs, be sure you have all the stuff you need. In the past I've forgotten to bring my camera, brought it but forgotten to bring extra batteries, or brought batteries but forgot to bring the recharger. This time, I took a set of three camera batteries *and* the recharger. And used all of them every day. What did I not do?I forgot to clear my pre-trip pictures from the camera. And I didn't bring a spare memory card (fortunately the large one was in the camera). So, 90% win this time. :-)

I am totally sold on toe socks. Up until now, I had been buying them and wearing them because they are unusual and the choice allowed me to be eccentric in a small way so as to distract from and mask the utter slavish conventionality of much of the rest of my life. :-) But I did a fair amount of walking and hiking on this trip (more than I do in the normal course of events at any rate, though probably no more than I should be doing normally) and the only day I developed any blisters was the first day, when I wore conventional socks and my slip-on "going through American airport screening" shoes (Canadian airport security measures seem to be not so concerned with my highly dangerous shoes). I wore toe socks the rest of the time (mostly specially purposed hiking toe socks from Sock Dreams), and my feet were happy and blister-free.

OK, more on the actual trip when I have time...

The Canadian dollar has been about 10% below the US dollar in value most of my life (US$1 would get you CAN$1.10).

Apparently this is now one of those distant memories, like the £ being $5, or even $2.50. The Canadian dollar has been at parity with the US dollar, off and on, since 2008 (with a brief return to traditional ranges in 2009). And at the moment it is slightly *above* the US dollar in value. One US dollar right now can only purchase 0.99068 Canadian dollars!

I've decided that I like the directing of Denys Arcand. I think maybe I really like Montreal too, but maybe it's just the Montreal that lives in Denys Arcand's imagination.

Oh, and I got a nice armchair for free when my downstairs neighbours moved out.

When I put a throw over it to keep it from being cat-haired within an inch of its life, we found that the throw extends down to the floor an makes a fort for cats. Phineas is hiding in there, and Nicholas is pouncing on the throw when it moves. So everyone got something nice.

That is all.

A satire on how bad Canadian health care is provokes an angry defense of US healthcare from poorly informed Americans ... and a Canadian.

When Chris and Mel were staying here, I introduced them to Slings and Arrows (which my fab neighbours Christy and Kevin had given me). C&M started watching it, and I saw the first ep with them, but they were home during the day, so they watched the whole series through and the only other eps I saw were some of the King Lear ones at the end. So I'm watching it again to pick up the eps I missed with them. And it's simply marvelous, as it is every time. ( Read more... )

OK, so it turns out that one of my two new shows I really like, Flashpoint is from *Canada*! As is one of it's stars, and one of my favourite actors of recent years, Enrico Colatoni. This just goes to further prove my impression that if the UK doesn't work out for me, Canada would be another great place to go. Any country that can produce shows like this, Wonderfalls, and Slings & Arrows, as well as actors like Colatoni, Sarah Polley, Molley Parker, and Paul Gross, is pretty cool. And I've seen enough of it (cities like Montreal and rural areas like Nova Scotia) to get the feeling I'd be right at home.

OK, another wonderful thing to do to file with all the other cool ideas for things to do.

I like hiking, but I've never been taken by the idea of hiking the *whole* of the Appalachian Trail, as it starts far too far south for my taste, down where there be dragons &c. Doing part of it sounds pretty cool, maybe that section from Virginia north. Some of the long-distance footpaths in the UK and their equivalents in France, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands also seem appealing.

But now I've discovered that there's even more AT than I realised:

International AT--Quebec

International AT--Newfoundland and Labrador

Of course, walking this would be in addition to exploring all the other parts of Quebec and the Maritimes I want to see, touring more of the Rockies in the US and Canada, traveling to the west coast to see BC, the Pacific NW, and Alaska, and all the traveling I'd like to do in Europe, the Middle East (someday, if there's ever a safe time to do that again), and maybe Central and South Asia. And Australia and New Zealand...

Anyone have any ideas how one can become independently wealthy and spend all one's time doing what one would *like* to do, instead of what one needs to do?

*sigh*

Well, here I am in Halifax! It's going to be about half an hour before they have my rental car ready, and there's a handy Internet cafe where the terminals are free if you buy something, so I'm having a Molson and leaving a note to say hi!
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