travel – Page 2

Jun 06 2011

First time on BC Ferry

I don’t know if I have mentioned this yet or not, but this is my first time on “The Island” and no I’m not talking about the island in Lost, although that might be fun too. The island I’m talking about is Vancouver Island. This was is my first time in Vancouver and Victoria. Yes, they finally let me out of the north.

Well to get to the island I had to take the ferry over. This was my first time on a BC Ferry. I have taken ferries in Ontario and in Alaska, and of course the ferry crossing the MacKenzie River on the way to and from Yellowknife.

I have heard many people talk about BC Ferry on Twitter and not all good things, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Truthfully, because of the people I have met through twitter I was a little worried.

When I boarded the ferry though, I was pleasantly surprised. The ferry was clean, timely and accommodating. As I climbed the levels to the main decks, I found a lot of seating for all the passengers. It appeared there were more seats than passengers, so that is always good to see and the seats were relatively comfortable. Having been slightly sick earlier that morning and hungry I wanted to get something to eat. So we found the food area and got some food. Ferry Food as someone called it, wasn’t the greatest around. I would compare the burger I had to one that was left until the end of the day at McDonald’s. It was dried and shriveled.

As I toured around the ferry, I learned that they offered free WiFi, although it was slooooow. You do seem to keep cell service for the majority of the ride though, so tethering saved me from boredom. I also found a kids area and a private area, for those who wish to pay more. I made my way out onto the front deck, which was right under the bridge and I could see the captain. I was somewhat surprised we saw land for most of the trip, then again I didn’t know what to expect.

Getting on and off the ferry was actually a fairly fluid process. We drive on, park, rest and then drive off.

May 30 2011

Fort St. John to Prince George

Well I have been in Prince George now for over 24 hours, but lets review the first leg of my Social Media Camp Victoria 2011 Roadtrip or better known as #SMCV11RoadTrip.

The drive isn’t all that exciting, especially if you drive it continuously, but this was only my second time driving this highway and the first time was going in the other direction. I started off by heading south out of Fort St John, but quickly jumped onto the Braden Road, which I might add was still quite dusty. The Braden Road took me to Highway 97 in the west bound direction.

I stopped in Chetwynd, BC for lunch and a break. Chetwynd is best known for their Chainsaw Carvings, no? I’m really not sure. It was a good break and as I was trying to take my time on this stretch of the trip, I sat in the visitor centre parking lot watching people pass by on the highway.

The drive between Chetwynd and Prince George is known as the Pine Pass. It known to be a beautiful drive and also a narrow one. I didn’t find it all that narrow, there again I have traveled the highway from Banff to Chilliwack a couple time and I find some of those roads nuts.

I didn’t see any wildlife and the sun stayed out for my entire drive. Take a look at some of the photos I got along the way.

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May 29 2011

Out of town for a bit

Well I think this a better time than any to write this. I’m currently sitting at a road construction on the way to Prince George. Although this won’t be posted until I get to Internet in probably Prince George.

I’m off now, out of Fort St John for a couple weeks for various things. I’m on my way to Prince George to meet up with Andrew who is already there for a Chamber AGM, then on Tuesday we will begin our drive to Victoria for the Social Media Camp Conference.

We may stop in Vancouver for a night before continuing onto Victoria. The trip is going to be a good one, because I said so and because this is part of Canada I haven’t seen much off and I’m happy to be getting the chance.

Keep coming back for more posting on my travel. First one being the trip from Fort St John to Prince George.

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Mar 31 2011

I’m on a plane, again!

Alright here I am on a plane again less than a month since the last time I traveled. Man I seem to be getting around these day. This time I’m headed to Yellowknife, but let’s back that up for a second.

My first flight was out of Grande Prairie and originally I was going to get up really early in Fort St John and drive to Grande Prairie, but then the Twitter Folk of #GPAB planned a Tweetup the night before so I decided I wanted to attended. Then that plan went from just me going to Andrew and Brent going as well. So we left early in the day and spent perusing Grande Prairie.

The Tweetup was a good turn out I think, about 15 people in attendance at Original Joes. I have some photos, but they are still on my iPhone.

So then after a night of waking every hour in the Motel6 and feeling sick this morning, I’m in the row with the emergency exit on the plane with no one beside me.

Once I land in Calgary I will have a hour and a half layover before I jump on another Air Canada flight to Yellowknife. As an added bonus, I’m feeling better after I got some Ginger ale in me.

Mar 13 2011

Traveling Home Today

Well hello there, I just wanted to drop a quick line and let you know the team is heading home finally today. Drupalcon ended on Thursday, so we spent Friday and Saturday exploring the city.

I have lots of photos and blog posts I’d like to right out the rest of the trip, but I wanted to also let you know that I wanted to do so. Couple thing have held me back at the moment, one being the hotel WiFi is throttled like no other. The most I can do here is general surfing and writing. For me to upload 20 or so pictures would take a couple hours. The other reason being no time, I have been out and about doing different thing, going new places. Like yesterday, I went to the Chicago Institute of Art, which is apparently the second largest Art Museum.

So in a few ours I will board a plane and fly to Edmonton and then proceed to drive 8 hours back to Fort St John. It will be a long day.