Category: travel

Salmon & Halibut – Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island

On By Rick McIn food, McCharles family, travel1 Comment

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

SURE I puked and wanted to die.

BUT I did catch the biggest halibut of the day. 😀

Fisherman don’t lie. FIGHT ME if you have any doubts.

For the 3rd time ever I joined in on one of the deep sea fishing charters organized by my Dad and brother Rob.

I had a great time last year out of Port Hardy — Murdering Salmon & Halibut — and took a chance again.

This time they were going out with their favourite guide — Josh — with Wild Coast (formerly Trailhead Resort). An all inclusive package including accommodation out of Port Renfrew.

The GOAL for my family is to bring home enough fish to cover the cost of the charter. We made it this year and on our trip last year.

In 2022 we came back with 45 pounds of salmon and 78 pounds of halibut.

At the last minute, Rob decided he couldn’t fish due to some weird medical complications. Rather than cancel his spot, Yvonne went in his place.

Needless to say, Yvonne didn’t get seasick and did catch a lot of fish.

My Dad never gets seasick.

Each year Dad decides he can do one more year reeling in halibut. If you haven’t done it, imagine lifting a FREEZER from 200 feet underwater with very thin line. While the FREEZER is fighting you the whole way. 😀

Visiting London 2022

On By Rick McIn science, travel2 Comments

I couldn’t live in the EU. Europe still sucks.

BUT I would like to spend a month based out of London. It would take that long to visit all the attractions I’d like to see. And learn the city.

Whenever one of my international flights starts or lands in London (often) I try to add a layover. This time I stayed 3 nights.

London is expen$ive. No question. Double or triple the travel costs of Spain, for example.

But I spend most of my time walking. And in the free public museums.

This time I visited:

Both are excellent.

Darwin holds court over the Natural History Museum. A great scientist.

Over in a public park I watched a guy defend the Flat Earth theory. Even in 2022.

His arguments were silly. And hilarious. But he certainly sounded passionate.

It’s easy to prove the Earth is round. You can see if with your own eyes from an airplane.

Yet somehow folks delude themselves into anti-scientific thinking — that the Earth is only 5000 years old, for example.

My point here is that London is endlessly entertaining. There is so much to see and do.

Cycling the Camino de Santiago

On By Rick McIn cycling, travelLeave a comment

There are many pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the goal being the famous Cathedral.

About 10% arrive by bicycle.

Two of the most popular cycling routes are:

  • Porto, Portugal to Santiago
  • León, Spain to Santiago

I’d first tried to start in Porto — but couldn’t find a bike to rent on short notice.

In Santiago itself I found Cycling the Camino, a shop that pretty much NEVER runs out of rentals.

I took the train to León, picking up the rental there. They will deliver almost anywhere you want to start — charging additional shipping to mainland Spain (30€/bike), Portugal (37€/bike) and France (65€/bike).

The cost of the bike itself is around 30€/day.

Inexpensive, in my opinion. And WAY easier than flying your own bike.

I booked 7 days to make the 300+km return which I assumed would be EASY. I did make it in 6 days, finding the adventure more challenging than expected. I was on the bike about 6-7 hours each day.

My short video includes a LOT of drone footage as that’s the easiest way to show the landscape.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Compared with most long distance cycling routes, this one is very civilized. Regular folks have been walking it for over 1000 years. The infrastructure very well developed.

It’s very social with both walkers and cyclists meeting up each evening.

Folks of all ages and fitness levels are pilgrims on The Way.

Though no book, map or app is needed, I did carry a paper copy of the newest Cicerone guidebook.

Spain’s menús del día

On By Rick McIn food, travelLeave a comment

Menú del día, or menu of the day, is a menu served by Spanish restaurants during lunch, one of the largest meals of the day …

… typically between 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

This is a cheap, economic meal, typically with good food.

Problema for ME is that it includes all-you-can-drink wine. They leave a full bottle on the table for you.

I’m pretty much buzzed for the day — at lunch.

Typically they come with soup, bread, drink, dessert and main course. I paid 12 Euro for this feast.

Seafood soup appetizer on the Santiago Camino

HEY – the Interterritorial Health Council, made up of doctors and other health professionals, had suggested that alcohol be dropped from the menús del día.  I highly doubt that’s going to happen.

Visiting León, Spain

On By Rick McIn cycling, hiking, travelLeave a comment

I took the train to León where I’d be starting a week long cycling trip to Santiago de Compostela on the French Camino. A pilgrimage people have been doing for over 1000 years.

It’s very walkable, a small city with most of the attractions close together.

León’s Cathedral is one of the finest in Europe.

Panorama of Plaza de Regla and Leon Cathedral, Castile and Leon, Spain
Me and the cops.

My official start is this Cathedral. I’ll finish at the Cathedral in Santiago.

León is a great tourist town. I did a lot of cycling there testing the rental bike.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

10 Years a Nomad by Nomadic Matt

On By Rick McIn books, travelLeave a comment

In the 1990s my main focus was travel. My recreational reading was mostly travel books.

On my year long trip to Asia, I emailed text and a few crappy photos to Warren who posted them to early blogging platforms.

I recall checking books like 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. Travel for travel’s sake.

After hiking the West Coast Trail for the first time in 1999, I decide to switch to what I called destination travel. I’d travel to do something specific — a specific hike, for example. I’d travel less, but with a GOAL.

The first blogging I did was on WordPress.org, launched 2003. For a couple of years before that I hand coded HTML which was difficult.

Matthew Kepnes — Nomadic Matt — started traveling abroad in 2005 and quickly became one of the most popular on the web. The site is still going strong as Matt hired a team of 5 people to keep it going.

Matt traveled nearly non-stop for 10 years. And then wrote a memoir.

Ten Years a Nomad: A Traveler’s Journey Home

I found it surprisingly honest. Matt spends more time detailing the MANY things that went wrong than humble bragging his awesome accomplishments.

It would be a good book for 1st time backpackers to read on the way to the hostel.

Note — the guy famous for dancing around the world in the early days of YouTube was another Matt — Matt Harding. I confused the two for years.

Visiting Coimbra, Portugal

On By Rick McIn books, travelLeave a comment

Coimbra is a popular stop for tourists coming to visit the archaeological structures dating back to the Roman era, especially the well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus.

Monastery of Santa Cruz

It’s even more famous as the home of the University of Coimbra (1290), the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world.  Its historical buildings were classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2013.

I bought a ticket to see the Joanine Library (Biblioteca Joanina), continuing my quest to visit all the most beautiful bookstores and libraries in the world.

It’s small, but well gilded. 😀

The most interesting part of the story is that this is one of the Portuguese libraries that encourages bats to make residence. The thinking is that they eat insects that might damage the ancient treasures.

Library on the left. By Dicklyon – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Biggest man on campus. King Joao III (John III) 1521 – 1557.

Though King John accomplished a lot, the Inquisition was introduced into Portugal in 1536. Just like in Spain, the Inquisition was placed under the authority of the king.

In Portugal the first Grand Inquisitor was Cardinal Henry, the king’s brother

If Belgium was the most horrific European nation for brutalizing people in their colonies, Portugal and Spain were next worst. I blame the Catholic Church out of Italy equally.

Lisbon photos 2022

On By Rick McIn books, photos, travelLeave a comment

BACK in Lisbon to have a tooth implant installed, I posted some Instagrammy pics on Instagram.

Having visited most of the major tourist sites last year, I looked for less visited photo ops this time.

For example, I caught the ferry over to the former industrial suburb city Barreiro. I saw no other tourists wandering the streets that day. Augusto Cabrita, local photographer, cinematographer and film director is celebrated with this massive wall portrait.

Like last year, I took most of my larger meals at Time Out Market.

Many of my photos are of street art. I tried an experiment taking pictures of street art alongside REAL LIFE. One example.

The installation of my tooth implant was delayed by a couple of weeks. So I’m still not smiling in any photos prior to June 9th.

World’s oldest bookstore – Livraria Bertrand – Chiado, Lisbon

I finally got out to the Cascais beach area, about 45 minutes by train from the city centre.

Last night in Lisbon.

I feel more like a local than tourist.

Here are my Lisbon photos and video from November 2021.