Category: travelogues

saved by Battlestar Galactica

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelogues, TVLeave a comment

I have been “full on”, almost distressed, jetting around Australia from one coaching conference to the next.

Fearing for my health and sanity, I turned to Captain Bill Adama and Battlestar Galactica — reimagined — in 2003 by the Sci-Fi Channel.

Their most watched TV series ever was my short daily escape from the busy gymnastics itinerary. A nice way to “tune out”.

Kara “Starbuck” Thrace is particularly compelling. And I like Edward James Olmos.

I highly recommend the series.

Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Epic Series

Battlestar Galactica – The Complete Epic Series (Limited Edition Cylon Head Packaging)

“if yer grandad was a convict …

On By Rick McIn travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

… clap your hands.”

Olde traditional Tasmanian song

My first visit to Tasmania.

From Melbourne I flew straight to Hobart in Tasmania. Historical evidence of the convict era is everywhere. Tourism is flourishing.

We drove up to Launceston (67,000) for a 1-day gymnastics clinic. My host, UK expat John Hargreaves, took me out for traditional fish and chips, the local brew, then a walking tour of town up into impressive Cataract Gorge. This is the principle tourist attraction in town and ideal for walkers such as John and myself.

map.gif
trip report on Cataract Gorge

Next travelogue on this trip >> Brisbane, Australia

you need a visa for Australia – WHAT?

On By Rick McIn product complaints, traveloguesLeave a comment

It cost me $2.25 and an hour exactly to get from home to the third best airport in the world by public transport (bus, train, bus).

Total = 1 man hour.

If someone had driven me it would have cost them an hour, me a half hour, put another vehicle on the congested Calgary roadways — and spewed extra pollutants possibly killing a cute baby seal.

Early at the airport, feeling well (as well as a guy leaving bleak, overcast Canadian arctic winter for Australia mid-summer), I was dumbfounded to learn that I needed a visa for Australia.

Surely not.

I made the same mistake once before. Not allowed to board a flight to Brazil because I had no visa. (Air Canada rerouted me to Canuck-friendly Chile.)

This time Air Canada sold me a visa for Australia ($25), the only national visa they are allowed to sell at the ticket counter.

Whew.

Travel agents are supposed to advise customers when visas are required. Right? (At least the stupid ones.)

And why didn’t Air Canada send me one of those “email reminders” confirming my flight? I get those from other airlines?

Even confirming my flight on line with Air Canada on-line was difficult. I finally had to phone them.

aussitxt.jpg

Next travelogue on this trip >> I could live in Melbourne

hiking Paria canyon, Arizona

On By Rick McIn hiking, photos, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

I just posted a photo journal on my hiking blog: Paria – the best canyon walk in the world.

It links to my photos of the trip as well as a detailed description on how to organize 4 days wading in a river slot canyon. Certainly this is one of my favourite hikes anywhere.

Rick-Paria.jpg

137 Paria photos on flickr.

I also recommend the famous day hike nearby, called The Wave. (I had trouble on that one.)

» this is the last travelogue post on this trip.

Le Halloween est Mort

On By Rick McIn miscellaneous, traveloguesLeave a comment

Fred, c’est vrai?

… the French, so put off by the war in Iraq and the infestation of McDonalds in their country, have largely declared Halloween dead. The “holiday”…a term hardly foreign to the leisure-loving French, no longer inspires legions of wee French kids to go about knocking on big heavy doors and pleading for candy.

Well, then let them eat cake, I say. But seriously, it seems the decline in interest follows a short-lived popularity, during which the French briefly copied our customs, but then decided that the day way too commercialized and had just enough a whiff of America about it that they decided it was time to commit the holiday to the plastic jack-o-lantern of history.

Le Halloween est Mort – Gadling

» next travelogue post on this trip – Hiking Paria Canyon, Arizona

when did Halloween get … BIG?

On By Rick McIn humour, photos, traveloguesLeave a comment

This was a dying excuse for an annual holiday. No?

A symbol of excess and needless consumer spending hyped by Wal-Mart and the dental industry?

Yet Halloween is HUGE in Vegas. (Masks no longer allowed in Casinos, though.)

I enjoyed the party hosted by Tom and Karen Otjes, escapees from frozen Canada. We were coaching colleagues in Calgary for years. Now Tom is Head Coach of Cirque du Soleil’s “O” at the Bellagio, the company’s largest production.

tom-karen.jpg
more photos from the party on Flickr

Meanwhile, in Saskatoon, disguised partiers raced around town in taxi-vans attempting to “beg, borrow or trick our way into getting strangers to give us stuff. Nothing counted if we didn’t get it on video tape.”

In this likely illegal contest, Warren’s team won.

photos of the revelry – Warren Long

283665495_fc72256dbc.jpg

» next travelogue post on this trip – Le Halloween est Mort

“security theatre”

On By Rick McIn government, health & fitness, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

Like every tourist in Page, Arizona, I popped in to visit Glen Canyon Dam. I’ve really enjoyed similar tours of other large dams.

And the impact on the environment caused by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam is more controversial than most. It sounded interesting.

Glencanyondam.jpg

But I was turned off by over-zealous security officials.

After a slow line-up, turned out I was not allowed to carry anything into the facility. They rushed and flustered a bus load of French tourists too. Everyone present was painfully aware that there was zero security risk. It was an embarassment.

This going-through-the-motions has been called security theatre. Too right.

Rather than this useless song and dance, why don’t we study what the Israelis do? The security procedures of El-Al airlines, for example. El Al has has had no successful terrorist attack on board any of its aircraft for over 35 years.

Major dams are terrorist targets. They deserve the highest level of security. But hassling tourists does not help. Shut the facility down from tourism completely, if necessary. Shut down the highway, if necessary.

But don’t pretend you are preventing a serious attack by preventing me carrying in a wallet.

» next travelogue post on this trip – when did Halloween get … BIG?

hiking – survived Paria Canyon

On By Rick McIn hiking, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

Just trudged out of amazing Paria Canyon.

It was four days walking in a cathedral of stone (with flooded floors). Simply gorgeous.

Paria Canyon is much safer than I expected. It is nearly impossible to get lost on a river hemmed in by huge cliffs. (Though 62-year-old James Aalberts managed it last week.) And I cannot see how anyone could drown in Paria no matter how high the tidal wave.

On my hiking blog, for photos, check this post: Paria – best canyon walk in the world

» next travelogue post on this trip – “security theatre”

leaving Las Vegas

On By Rick McIn Cirque du Soleil, hiking, miscellaneous, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

Had a great couple of weeks in Vegas, being trained in the circus arts. Where else to learn but in the true Entertainment Capital of the World?

I saw the 5 awesome Cirque du Soleil shows currently playing and spent time backstage. As well, I observed two auditions and assisted my she-mentor Dana with evaluations.

It was an eye-opener! And a learning experience big-time.

If you want to know more, I post Cirque du Soleil notes on my gymnastics blog.

THANKS Dan & Terri, and Dana & Fred who hosted the perfect houseguest (… at some point in the past. This time it was me eating their food and drinking their booze.)

Next adventure?

Hiking Paria Canyon on the Arizona / Utah border. I plunge into the slot canyon Thursday Oct. 26th.

par.jpg

» next travelogue post on this trip – hiking – survived Paria Canyon

exercising while travelling

On By Rick McIn gymnastics, health & fitness, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

The worst part of travel is the inconsistency of exercise and food. You have far more control over your life at home.

I would like to be riding a bike to a gymnastics gym (or weight room) but — instead — I’m jogging to playgrounds.

This one (VitaCourse) in Vegas is of the best playground gyms I’ve found.

playground-gym.jpg

» next travelogue post on this trip – leaving Las Vegas