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All Sorts of New Stuff
What's new?
One of the most exciting news is that Travel and
Transitions is now a designated YouTube
Travel Channel Partner. You can find our
extensive video clip collection at http://www.youtube.com/travelandtransitions.
Our videos have now been viewed over 3 million times,
making us one of the most popular travel video websites
in the world.
So, what else is new?
2009 has been a rough year for everyone –
including me. Being hit by the full brunt of the
recession, I had to focus my attention on my full-time
business, which incidentally funds this website.
So I did not have as much time for travel writing,
interviewing, photography and all the other wonderful
things I love to do. Just staying afloat pretty
much took up most of my time and energy.
But working with a small budget and being creative
with my travel planning choices (using Airmiles,
booking cheap packages over the Internet, sharing
costs with friends, staying with family, going local
etc.) I still got to do a few neat things about
which I have not had a chance to write full articles.
Check out the following adventures which are equipped
with links to my Youtube videos from these destinations:
- My trip to Cuba in February 2009 where I spent
a week on a very inexpensive (okay, really cheap)
package vacation an hour outside of Santiago
de Cuba. I did multiple trips into Santiago
aboard the resort workers’ bus and enjoyed
a great opportunity to interact with the locals,
practice my Spanish and learn about Cuban life.
I even stayed overnight in the city once with some
local friends I had made at the resort and explored
the fascinating Santa Ifigenia Cemetery as well
as the Castillo del Morro, Santiago’s waterfront
castle that is a designated UNESCO World Heritage
site.
- My big trip to Europe where I travelled to my
home country of Austria and also took a side
trip to the city
of Ptuj in Slovenia. Then I headed off to spend
10 days in Spain where I criss-crossed the entire
island of Mallorca, which in my opinion is one
of the most beautiful islands I ever visited. Particularly
the northern part of the island, the mountainous
Tramuntana Region, captured my imagination. From
there I went to the Czech Republic where I was able
to visit one
of my dream destinations: Prague, which is one
of the most stunning cities in the world, particularly
the gorgeous medieval architecture on Old Town Square
and Prague Castle, the world’s biggest castle.
Jitka Simkova and her team of local experts helped
me get to know the city as indepth as possible within
the short time that I had. On my way back to Austria
I met my brother and sister-in-law in the
picturesque Bohemian city of Telc, a designated
UNESCO World Heritage Site. I spent almost a month
in Europe and every time I come back from such a
trip it takes me months to process the information,
images and video clips and I am always blown away
by the architecture, culture and landscapes of Europe.
I am currently working on the article series about
this trip.
From that point forward it was mostly domestic
adventures in Canada. In line with the increasingly
popular concept of “staycations”, I
also decided to spend more time closer to home to
save on funds. And I still managed to have a great
time!
In July my husband and I went to Montreal
to check out the Rogers Cup and do some sightseeing.
Montreal is always a wonderful destination and although
we only spent two and a half short days there, we
still had a great time.
At the end of July I started covering some of Toronto’s
great festivals: I checked out the annual Toronto
International Beaches Jazz Festival which is
one of my favourite annual events in Toronto. I
had European visitors in town at that time and they
absolutely fell in love with Toronto in the summer.
In August then I spent some time at the Taste
of the Danforth, Greektown’s annual culinary
and cultural celebration. At the end of August I
headed downtown to partake of Buskerfest,
a wonderful annual event with all sorts of amazing
international street performers that benefits the
Toronto Epilepsy Foundation.
During my weekend bike rides in Toronto I regularly
stop off at the Distillery
District which is an award-winning collection
of over 40 restored Victorian-era buildings that
has been turned into an internationally acclaimed
entertainment, culture and shopping destination.
The pretzels with garlic aioli at the Mill Street
Brewery have become one of my regular treats when
I stop at the Distillery during one of my bicycling
breaks.
At the end of August I took my good friend Mario
for a drive of Eastern Ontario for his birthday,
and we visited Port
Hope, Cobourg, Brighton and Trenton and came
back through the beautiful Northumberland Hills.
Ontario is definitely a gorgeous destination in
the summer.
Being an avid bicyclist, I finally purchased a
bicycle carrier and together with my biking buddy
Gary I embarked on my first out-of-town bicycle
outing. We drove less than 70 km west of Toronto
to the City
of Hamilton. Although Hamilton is primarily
known as an industrial city it has a beautiful location
at the corner of Lake Ontario and at the foot of
the Niagara Escarpment. And it has an awesome waterfront
bicycle path and some great well-preserved Victorian
architecture downtown. It’s definitely worth
a visit.
On September 12, 2009 I headed down the Don Valley
on my bike to make a long stop at the Cabbagetown
Festival. Cabbagetown is a beautiful Toronto
neighbourhood that is full of gorgeous Victorian
homes and attractive gardens, and the local festival
stretches several street blocks over to Parliament
Street. Even the local residents participate by
holding street sales all over the place.
On September 13, 2009 I packed two of my co-workers
into my car and we went for a country outing to
Hamilton,
Guelph and Elora. We took a boat ride in the
Hamilton harbour and then had a lovely picnic in
Guelph where we also admired the gorgeous hilltop
Church of Our Lady Immaculate before we embarked
on a walk through the Victorian downtown area. We
capped off a nice country outing with a stop in
picturesque Elora, which is always a beautiful destination.
The following week my good friend Gary and I headed
out to Port Perry where we had an invitation to
visit Lake
Ridge Farm, Koi Nursery and Water Gardens. Owner
Laura Engelsman gave us a tour of her koi nursery
(koi are very colourful Japanese ornamental carp),
and we also got to see her miniature animal farm
which features miniature horses, cattle, sheep,
goats, chickens and bunnies. It’s a great
place to visit and Laura often hosts school groups
and non-profit organizations. We capped off this
visit with a
bike ride in historic Port Perry, a picturesque
Victorian town on Lake Scugog.
On September 20 my regular Saturday bike ride took
me to the Distillery District and from there I headed
out to the Toronto
Waterfront Trail east of Ontario Place. The
next day I jumped on the streetcar with my bike
and headed all the way from the east end of Toronto
to the Humber River. On my way back past Sunnyside
Beach and Ontario Place, I stopped off at Ireland
Park, a spot that offers absolutely fabulous views
of downtown Toronto.
In late September I had the absolute fortune, thanks
to my friend Shauna, to participate in one
of the last-ever tours of Toronto’s historic
Don Jail, an infamous yet strangely aesthetic
institution that dates back to the 1860s. The Don
Jail was recently bought by a private health-care
organization which is planning to turn it a research
and administration facility. It was awesome to catch
the Don Jail in its authentic pre-renovation condition.
On September 29, 2009 I headed out on a country
drive to explore some of the towns surrounding the
eastern part of Georgian Bay. My first stop
was in Port Severn, part of the Trent-Severn Waterway,
and I also stopped off in Honey Harbour and Midland,
which has become famous for its collection of oversize
murals by local artist Fred Lenz. My last stop was
in Penetanguishene, another Georgian Bay harbour
town.
During early October I headed out with my friend
Shauna (another little birthday tour) to Port Hope
again to visit the Port
Hope Historic House Tour, which ended up being
an absolutely perfect outing for die-hard architecture
buffs like the two of us. We also really enjoyed
the hospitality and great food offered by the ladies
at St. John’s Anglican Church who even gave
us a private organ concert.
On October 4 I headed out for the night-time
adventure of Nuit Blanche, Toronto’s avant-garde
overnight contemporary art festival. Although some
of the art installations were not completely intuitive
to me at first glance, it was absolutely mind-blowing
to see all of downtown Toronto completely full of
night-time revelers in search of adventure. Toronto
is a happening place…
My search for interesting local weekend destinations
had come up with Brantford,
a city of about 90,000 just about 1.5 hours west
of Toronto. My 2-day program was packed and included
a visit to the Glenhyrst Gallery, an evening of
theatre at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing
Arts, the Bell Homestead, the Mohawk Chapel, a visit
to downtown Paris and a stop at Robert Hall Originals,
an artist who creates beautiful pewter giftware.
One of the highlights on the last day of my trip
was a leisurely boat ride down the Grand River with
acclaimed tourism entrepreneur Jamie Kent from Grand
Experiences who knows everything about the history,
architecture, fauna and flora of the area. I never
realized that Brantford had so much to offer…
In mid-October my husband and I headed out to Virginia
where we spent a week which allowed me to explore
the colonial roots of America. I learned about early
American history in Williamsburg, Jamestown and
Yorktown and we also made some side trips to Norfolk
and Virginia Beach.
When I look over this list of adventures that I
was able to enjoy in 2009, I guess it wasn’t
such a bad year after all. Much of what I did was
local and it was done on a minimal budget with a
bit of gasoline in the tank and a home-packed lunch.
Actually, many of the local adventures were done
on foot, by bike or by using the subway.
By necessity 2009 was a year of financial restraint,
but by being a little bit creative I managed to
make a lot of interesting experiences and I came
to really appreciate the beauty and diversity that
my local surroundings have to offer.
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