joys of hitchhiking

On November 5, 2009November 5, 2009 By Rick McIn food, product endorsements, travel4 Comments

I hate hitching.

But, as a hiker, it’s fairly often that I find myself standing roadside with a backpack, trying to look harmless. Attempting to be empathetic with the people in each vehicle that passes me by. Likely I’d not stop for myself.

In Maui two brave ladies from Vancouver picked me up. I ended up spending most of the day with them, touring the island.

One of the ladies was doing travel research for an article to be published in the Edmonton Journal. We stopped first at Alii Kula Lavender Farm, not an attraction I would find or ever hear about if I was on my own. But actually it was very interesting. We even had lavender coffee at their restaurant.

lavender3

The ladies led me to Ichiban Okazuya.

Although this place is a hole in the wall, without any indoor seating, this is my favorite Japanese take out place on Maui. During the lunch rush, you will see locals (usually office people) lined up outside for their plate lunches. …

more reviews on Yelp

Prices are insanely inexpensive for Hawaii, the food authentic and filling. It’s only open 5hrs/day, 5days/wk. We ate outdoors.

Next the ladies took me to several speciality shops (antiques, hand made dresses, local crafts) on Market Street, Wailuku. All were very interesting I’m shocked to admit.

Worse, I’d stayed at Banana Bungalow Hostel on Market Street for 4 days … and never noticed any of the 3 unique shops nor the nearby Ichiban Okazuya takeout. Some traveler I am …

A terrific day all thanks to hitchhiking. I’ve got to be more open-minded about hitching in future. And pick up more hitchhikers too.

Wailuku-map

Run down Wailuku town in Maui is way underrated. I’m very happy I stayed there for my second week. Very few suitcase tourists ever get there.

fly Emirates Business Class

On November 5, 2009November 9, 2009 By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

Got bumped to Business for a 5hr leg of my long, long trip. Sweet.

EmiratesInterior_wideweb__470x310,0

Emirates is one of the best airlines in the world. Switching from crappy United Airlines to superb Emirates reminded me of what’s been lost in North America.

The flying waitresses on United make it conspicuously obvious that they are ignoring you as much as they can, instead chatting at the back of the plane. On Emirates, even in coach, the staff still fawn on your every need.

Emirates was the first airline to introduce a personal entertainment system on a commercial aircraft after introducing the world’s first seat-back screens in 1992. They’ve won the award for best In-Flight-Entertainment from Skytrax for their ICE system every year since the systems inception in 2003.

600 channels of entertainment shown on a 43cm wide personal TV screen. Over 100 movies on demand including a few current releases.

Emirate’s growth has never fallen below 20% a year. In its first 11 years, it doubled in size every 3.5 years, and has every four years since. They are very profitable.

I’m right now overnighting in the VIP lounge at the airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Cost US$15 inclusive of wifi, food, drinks, shower. Man it’s great to be back in the developing world!

Waiter … I’ll have another sweet lassi.

♫ … I think I’m going to Kathmandu … ♫

On November 3, 2009November 20, 2019 By Rick McIn hiking, music, travel1 Comment

I think I’m going to Katmandu,
That’s really, really where I’m going to.
If i ever get out of here,
That’s what I’m gonna do.
K-k-k-k-k-Katmandu …

Bob Seeger – lyrics

People often ask me, “What’s your favourite travel destination?”

Usually I reply, Nepal. As a hiker Nepal is nirvana. And their blend of Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism and Tourism makes a rich Chai.

Downside?

Perhaps 60hrs in transit. IF I’m lucky.

fire in Maui

On October 30, 2009October 28, 2009 By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Driving in the middle of my first night I saw a huge fire in the distance, not far from the aiport.

Could it be a LIVE VOLCANO?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I never did hear on the news what was happening there. A controlled burn?

no rent-a-car in Maui

On October 28, 2009 By Rick McIn product complaints, product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

For the first week on Earth’s most popular island I did have a rent-a-car.

But I gave it up for my second week.

Why?

Normally I feel it’s essential to have your own wheels when traveling in the U.S.A., but (hopefully) Maui is different. They have a pretty good public transportation system called Maui Bus. And I’ll be several days this week on foot in the middle of a volcano in Haleakala National Park.

The cost of a rent-a-car is about double what I paid only 2yrs-ago. Over $50/day … plus fuel. The agent at Dollar insisted I buy the $13/day extra insurance. INSISTED.

Fuel is US$3.24 / American gallon. But I had to pay $4.39 in distant Hana. (Don’t you wish you owned that service station, the only one on that side of the island.)

The average holiday maker in Maui spends $171/day. … My target budget is about $40. Ha. So far I’ve spent at least $70/day despite sleeping in a tent.

Yesterday I moved into the Banana Bungalow hostel. Nice.

They offer “free” tours each day. Have a great kitchen. Free WiFi.

The location is in historic (rundown) Wailuku town, the administrative centre of the Island. Low rent. There are no suitcase tourists here. We mingle with locals, a racially diverse crowd of Asian, European and Pacific Island descent.

It will be a different Maui experience. I won’t be able to stop and gawk anywhere as I did with the car. Tooling all over the island. The highlight of Maui so far has been the motor touring, actually.

Having a rent-a-car was a worry though, in the States. I don’t trust insurance companies to deliver if I did have a major problem. They’ve been devaluing the payoff for claims in recent years. And I don’t really understand the specifics of …

Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) or Loss Damage Waiver (LDW)
Personal Accident Insurance (PAI)
Additional Liability Insurance (ALI)
Personal Effects Coverage (PEC)

Do YOU have confidence you’re actually covered when you rent a car?

amazing bridges

On October 23, 2009October 16, 2009 By Rick McIn photos, travelLeave a comment

Kate sent me one of those viral emails jammed with wild bridge photos.

I won’t do that to you.

It did get me going on the Internet looking a bridge photo sites. Astonishing!

Henderson Waves (Chinese: 亨德森波浪桥) is a 274-metre (900 ft) long pedestrian bridge. At 36 metres (120 ft) above Henderson Road, it is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. …

The bridge has a wave-form made up of seven undulating curved steel ribs that alternately rise over and under its deck. The curved ribs form alcoves that function as shelters with seats within. Slats of yellow balau wood, an all-weather timber found in Southeast Asia, are used in the decking. The wave-forms are lit with LED lamps at night from 7pm to 2am daily. …

Wikipedia

Henderson

Click through to see more photos of bridges:

9 amazingly unique bridges you may not have seen

World’s Most Interesting Bridges

World’s Most Interesting Bridges, Part 2

World’s Most Interesting Bridges, Part 3

Best Island in the World – Maui

On October 20, 2009 By Rick McIn hiking, product endorsements, travel4 Comments

For the 15th time in 22 years, Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards poll has chosen Maui as the “Best Island in the World.”

But I’ll be the judge of that … hiking Maui for the next 2wks.

I flew out of Vancouver, now my favourite airport in Canada. The new SkyTrain rail service, the Canada Line, whisks you directly downtown, connecting to harbour ferries.

Or, with one bus connection. to the Vancouver Island ferries at Tsawwassen. Superbly convenient!

The line opened August 17, 2009, fifteen weeks ahead of schedule. One of the rare things the B.C. government ever got right. Kudos.

Thanks Les and Tam for the “buddy pass” airline ticket on WestJet, my favourite airline.

Europe on the cheap – airfares

On October 16, 2009October 8, 2009 By Rick McIn product endorsements, travel1 Comment

There are millions of things to do in Europe.
Millions more if you have money.

I spent the past summer there. It was easy to decide what to do. I had a focus. Hiking.

Lonely Planet Western Europe provided me a list of best hiking regions.

Hitting many of the “best hikes” did involve a lot of travel on the 3 main kinds of airlines:

Full service Airlines
Discount Airlines
Charter Airlines

airplane1rgb

I flew no full-service airlines. Here is a sampling of the flights I took during high season:

Halifax to London = CAD$200 – Thomas Cook (Charter)
London to Venice = CAD$100 – EasyJet

Glasgow to Barcelona = CAD146.96 – RyanAir (world’s worst airline)
Bilbao to Glasgow = CAD$159.36 – EasyJet

Glasgow to Calgary = CAD$227.24 – FlyGlobeSpan (Charter)

I highly recommend flyglobespan.com. Their charters run only seasonally. And only once a week. But flying direct from Calgary or Vancouver is wonderful for that low fare.

Average airfares are still increasing, I believe. But lowest airfares are as low as they’ve ever been as airlines get better and better at filling all the seats.

I normally start with two websites:

Mobbissimo.com
Yahoo Travel (formerly Fare Chase)

From there I might compare with other aggregation sites like Kayak, if necessary.

Then I try to find the flight / fare on the website for the carrier, and buy direct, online.

If you are flexible on dates and times, you can often get a low fare. The further in advance of the flight, the better. For Charters it’s worth cross checking with a travel agent.

Flying to and from Europe … and between European nations is very inexpensive. Cheaper than train or bus in most cases.