Category: Travel

My travels around the world.

  • UK Photos Online

    I’ve uploaded the photos from the UK trip online. I took approximately 400 photos; the ones here represent the best of them. I removed any pictures of my nieces – I don’t want their face plastered on the Internet (my family is getting the set of pictures with the children.)

    On this trip, I was principally in the Liverpool area, where I stayed with my sister and family. I visited Manchester, where I met up with Richard and Adam (friends.) I also visited Chester, where I caught up with Mike and Jude. Good times. Richard/Adam showed me a good number of Manchester pubs, whilst Mike/Jude brought me to see the Roman ruins (and, consequently, another pub :p)

    Liverpool has the same population as Ottawa, but it’s lively. Real lively. As lively as New York City during a nice summer day – only in the middle of the English winter. That said, both cities were smaller than I had imagined. Don’t get me wrong – they were very substantial in size, and much larger than Ottawa’s city core. However, my mental picture of the places were quite inflated due to their sizable reputation. In any case, I wasn’t disappointed at all.

    Amongst the nice surprises was the Welsh landscape. Immensely beautiful. Really, it has to be seen to be believed. Actually, the whole of the UK is immensely beautiful, in it’s own way. And the culture – while so much of it is the same as Canada, so many things are different. From the cars (smaller, more efficient), to the television (alot less ads!), to shopping (taxes included in the price!), to the people (pubs… lots of pubs) it’s all so different. But all so good.

  • Back from San Jose!

    More details to follow in this entry tomorrow night…

    San Jose City Hall
  • Back from HOPE

    I’m back from the HOPE conference in New York City. I’m very short on time at this instant, so I’ll just point you over to this gallery. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words (and yes, this is a thinly veiled copout attempt.)

  • Why Hostels Are Great…

    Because you meet people like these!

    On the left we have Nadja from Switzerland, Su-Ann from Singapore but living in NYC, Me, Justin from the UK, and Mark from Wales. Missing from this shot was Rahel (Switzerland) and another Mark (Australia). Great people, great experience. This shot was taken from a club in downtown Ottawa.

    This photo was taken over a month ago (got it today). I had met Mark (guy on the right) while I was staying at a hostel in Toronto. I offered to show him around Ottawa when he came up. A few weeks later, he took me up on it. But it wasn’t just us – there was also Mark, Justin, and Su-Ann for this unofficial tour. They had all met at the hostel here in Ottawa. Anywho it was a great time, which culminated in the clubbing at night.