This is a collection of posts from my cruise on December 14-22nd originally posted to Facebook.
14 December 2018 – 19:04
So there is an episode of mayday where the prop flies off the wing and takes out a seat. I’m in that seat. ?
14 December 2018 – 22:11
Thought it was going to be checked the whole way but $12.50 is not bad for luggage storage for the night.
15 December 2018 – 03:29
There’s a guy in the way of the stairwell smoking and cooking his crack pipe.
15 December 2018 – 04:04
Two very drunk men can barely stand on the standing room only night bus. Toronto should follow Vienna and London’s night tube on weekends.
15 December 2018 – 07:08
Overheard Air Canada Rep: Just follow the signs with the American flag. Passenger: Is that the one with Stripes and Stars? ?♂️
15 December 2018 – 08:49
“Don’t line up until your Zone number is called” works as good as looking for volunteers to check their bags.
19 December 2018 – 14:31
Life’s a struggle right now. Apparently, there is a snowstorm home right now.
19 December 2018 – 14:35
There is a very bad storm and we are skipping Great Sturrup Cay. Apparently, Friday afternoon and evening could be fun. But we now have a full day at St. Thomas.
21 December 2018 – 23:55
Back home tomorrow, I love travel days.
22 December 2018 – 12:36
Flight is delayed for about an hour. Apparently, there were tons of flights cancelled yesterday.
22 December 2018 – 19:08
Every time I look at this board I ask myself not where am I going but, where would I rather be going?
An evening on a subway train can be a very interesting experience. Tonight my transit adventure began at Pearson Terminal 1 where I picked up the 192 Airport Rocket to Kipling Subway station. The bus ride was really nostalgic as I haven’t taken the bus in quite some time.
The bus was packed and well filled with travellers, airport and airline staff calling it quits for the night. Once at Kipling station I got on the first eastbound train to transfer a St. George station. Watching people is one thing that I absolutely love to do. I noticed that although Toronto is very unique that it still has a Canadianism about it.
At St. George station, I switched to a northbound train to try and visit the new stations I have never been to. There was a kind of new couple that was sitting next to me. She was teaching him things about the subway because he is new to Canada. Although it was cute that he missed his stop to go one more stop because he didn’t want to leave her.
After they left the train around Downsview Park station was there was a larger but still average woman I would say in her twenties pull a needle out of her bag and stick herself with it and then placed the needle back in her bag.
On the return trip, there was a group of university students get on the train near York University and they had 3 bottles of Nestea. Except one was clear and colourless and as they gulped it the familiar look of that unique facial expression was very evident from when you gulp a 40% or more liquid and it burns.
The normal coloured bottle must have also been spiked as their attractive female friend asked then to top up her Starbucks cold drink cup.
After I lost interest in them there was another group of very mixed race and the black skinny guy was looking very exhausted. Apparently, he works a security gig and goes to school and just worked 20 hours straight. I only learned of this because they were joking about him as a mall cop. The group then started rapping on the train and it was really good.
A little later on in the journey a bagged tried hitting up everyone on the train because he was hungry.
Shortly after I ended up at St Andrew station and successfully ended the subway journey. Except that the station attendant was evil eying me. I just smiled said hello and continued on my way.
As we left off the quest, I was on the back roads of southern Ontario, with the Spotify music pumped. I was taking the back roads partly because it was taking everything to keep myself together, and partly because the 410, 407, and 401 scare the hell out of me.
It was at this point, I decided that seeing Niagara Falls wasn’t going to happen with the gloomy dark cloud of depression. It was also raining and cloudy too. After close to 2 hours, I arrived in Kitchener and the sun came out there. I managed to find a convenient little parking spot and walked down Festival street. I have written before about Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest but there is something about this festival that in its own special way brings it over the top. There seems to even be a much higher percentage of people in a traditional dress than you even see in Munich.
The Rogers Hometown hockey was there and there was a beautiful smell in the air that brought nostalgia back. Like most things, however, the second time is just not the same and the depression came back. I grabbed a sausage and water and then went to the gift shop to buy a new pin for the Oktoberfest hat and Bavarian suspenders. Then got in my car turned on my “Sadness” Spotify playlist and hit the 401.
As I entered Toronto after supper time the only suitable thing to do was to stop and grab some Popeye’s. There was no way after the nerve-wracking of the 401 so far that I wanted to deal with downtown Toronto traffic lights and lanes. I then after eating the meal continued on my way to Oshawa where I was so tired that I pulled over to a Tim Hortons and rested for an hour before proceeding to the ONRoute in Port Hope.
I slept very well that night even for sleeping in my car. The next morning I woke up refreshed and continued towards home. On the way back I detoured a few times the first was to take a photo of the First Railway tunnel. The second was to go to Kingston ON Wal-Mart to buy new shoes because my old ones were so far gone my numb feet hurt.
After Brockville, I dove the side road along the waterfront and found a beautiful little stop in Prescott ON where there is a historic site that was the location of the Battle of the Windmill where rebels were stopped by the Royal Navy in 1838. This was my last detour in Ontario before I stopped for lunch at Denny’s. I gas the most incredible pancakes with a Dolce cream to pour over them and soak in them to make a moist wonderful pile of goodness. Which would be the last goodness of the trip.
I gassed up and hit the road. After the panic of Toronto, I was destined to skip Montreal and take the toll bypass road. Or had wished I did. Instead out of nowhere it seemed I entered Montreal. It was a particularly sunny but not too sunny day. From Kingston to Montreal it was “mainly sunny”. I entered the tunnel to leave Montreal and thought well that’s it I made it.
This is when Siri started giving weird directions that made no sense, and I decided to follow signs instead. I was in the 2nd of four lanes and couldn’t lane change due to a transport truck and was forced off on exit 90 of the 20. Well crap… I now had to figure out getting back on the highway and was all frustrated, I was so depressed and just wanted to get home.
I looped back on Boulevard Marie-Victorin and proceeded back to the highway, went to check my blind spot and missed one of two yield signs and the middle on-ramp of two on my left and out of nowhere, my fender makes contact with the door of another car! I pull over on the ramp from hell and cars keep proceeding by my car was able to move and my airbags didn’t go off, but my anxiety is through the roof. The bigger fear than the accident, how I was getting home, or even talking to the stranger, my mind went to “what if the guy doesn’t speak English?!” I get my insurance and papers and place them in my pocket and get out of the car taking pictures of the damage and the scene.
The guy started saying something in French and I asked him if he spoke English and he did. Not to get into much detail but the guy has a history in HR and was super calm with a “shit happens, let’s move forward” approach asking if I was alright. After taking the obligatory driver’s license and car licence plate photos we agreed to proceed off the highway and to a nearby mall parking lot. In the lot was spent about 20 minutes exchanging information and then proceeded on our way.
My tire was rubbing on the wheel-well a but on bumps but it was not too bad. I pumped up a Spotify playlist and continued home as fast as I could. Around midnight, I was so tired and a bit low on gas and pulled into the Irving in Saint-Antonin. I slept kind of well until about 6:30 am, got gas, and headed back to New Brunswick on a beautiful, sunny, Thanksgiving Day morning.
That part of the NB highway looks magical and very beautiful with the yellows, reds, and oranges of the autumn leaves over the many rolling hills and the river valley of the majestic Saint John River. I knew that as the water when I reached the end I would be home.
It has been a really long time since I have last seen the world’s longest covered bridge, and Hartland also has a Tim’s so it was time to detour into town. Once I hit Fredericton, I was getting sick of Spotify and turned on CBC. This is when I learned that going home might not be as easy as planned. The news broke into programming that there may have been an explosion at the Irving Oil refinery that is only a short 3km away from my house. I texted my sister and she said she was alright and that they were not evacuating the area. As I was passing Grand Bay, I first seen with my own eyes the column would f Barack smoke rising from the refinery.
The journalist side of me knew that so needed to get a photo of it for the day that I wrote about my trip. I stopped at Wolastoq Park where I took my photos and then headed home. I was so exhausted that I went to my TV room and did nothing all day but work on cleaning out my PVR. Thus ended my Thanksgiving Day epic.
This is the first of an eight-part weekly series that I am going to try out unusual foods and review them.
This week’s item is from Russel Stover Cookie Dough in Milk Chocolate. It was about a dollar from Giant Tiger. It consists of one 28g piece of candy. Nutritionally it was (past tense since I have already eaten it 😉)130 calories, has 5g fat, 17g sugar, 3g other carbs, 1g protein, and 2g other.
As I open the package the item is a weird shaped glob without the pre-told story of the packaging is not anything corresponding with Christmas besides reindeer guano.
It was nice and soft to bite into but the glob of cookie dough became overwhelming and hard to finish.
I would not recommend this flavour, I would suggest solid chocolate or marshmallow varieties. As it is a marshmallow world at Christmas time.
Planning for this trip started months ago, it was planned as the best available excuse to visit Brampton Civic Hospital to determine what was real and what was not. I had already sacrificed a day from this mini-vacation for my day visiting the Anthem of the Seas and had Friday to Tuesday for a road trip to Brampton. “Coincidence” (with air quotes) would prevail that it was also during Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest.
As the weekend approached, I was starting to have second thoughts about this trip and a feeling that it was not the most financially planned decision to make. It was literally the Friday morning that I was going to go. The plan was Montreal on Friday, Brampton/Kitchener on Saturday, Niagara Falls on Sunday, back to Kitchener on Monday for the parade and then drive home.
As I was leaving Saint John and just passing Spruce Lake. Out of nowhere, a sheet of drywall flew in the air just metres in front of me and luckily there was none beside me and I switched lanes to avoid disaster. As soon as that happened, I had this dreadful feeling that this trip was a mistake. I continued on anyway. I crossed the border, with fairly little trouble and for once wasn’t searched.
I drove the airline to Bangor and stopped for lunch at Dysart’s just outside Bangor. I grabbed a sandwich, dessert, and a bottle of juice. The sit-down area was really busy. Since I knew that I could go just over 625km on a tank of gas, I went as far as Newport ME to fill up. It was after this fill up that you experience one of the most amazing drives. The road towards Lac Magantic that follows a river and passes the mountains with the changing leaves of fall is breathtaking. It was taking this route that I came across another broken sheet of drywall in the middle of the road.
As I passed through Sherbrooke, QC I needed to get some cash to go out that night in Montreal and while there, I had a rest stop at Tim Hortons. One of the things I absolutely love about the Tim Hortons mobile ordering is that I no longer need to know enough French to order coffee and a donut.
As I arrived in Montreal, I shut off the GPS telling me where to go. Mainly because it made no sense. I circled a whole lot of blocks and there was a parking lot but it was $30 and I thought that that was stupid crazy expensive. I eventually found a free on-street spot on Rue de Bullion. Although there was a mentally disturbed person pacing the street that scared me a little so I waited for him to go down the street and I got out, placed my stuff in the trunk and walked quickly to dinner.
My main goal was to get the La Belle Province for smoked meat poutine. I have to say that it was the best poutine I had in as long as since the last time I was in Montreal on my way back from Oktoberfest in 2015. As with all things nostalgia, it was disappointing from my memory of it. The meat was more fried and smaller bits than before. After dinner, I strolled the streets a bit and settled on going to Ste. Elisabeth, which is still my favourite little pub. The crowd was good and listening to other people’s conversations or at least the few that were in English was a great evening. I spent a good two hours there before heading back to the car to find a truck stop.
As I left Montreal I quickly ended up in Ontario. As you cost the border there is an excessive number of law signs, one after the other for almost 2 kilometres. I spent the night at the ONroute in Bainsville. It was a rough night and I didn’t sleep very well but I tried anyway. My plan was to get to Brampton by 1 pm.
After waking up I went to go to the Irving to refuel but ended up not finding it and went to a Petro-Canada followed by Tim’s and off to Toronto I go. Along the way, I saw a sign advertising the first railway tunnel in the country in Brockville and detours to see it. It was closed so I took a photo and moved on.
Until I saw the sign for the Big Apple, and I thought it would be a cool place to get a photo in front of the sign and move on. Oh boy! was I mistaken, as I drove by I saw that it was packed and thought that it was just a rural market type thing. As I got out of the car the first thing I noticed was the petting zoo and dog park. When inside the building centres around a giant glass-walled bakery that was rapidly making apple and pumpkin pies. It was so cute to see the little children knocking on the glass and waving to the cooks and the smiles as the cooks waved back. To the left, there was a craft brewery and cider house that made a wide variety of tasty beverages and a gift shop the sold local goods mixed amongst the typical gift shop wares. Notable amongst the locally made items was wine and hundreds of types of chewy candies.
To the right was a large bakery shop that is typical to a farmer’s market with more baked goods than you could possibly ever eat. In the “by the slice” case, there were over 20 types of apple pie and tarts to choose from. Also, there was a smokehouse to get the freshest ribs, chickens and, brisket. Outside there were rides, a Beavertails mini golf, and an activities area.
After I left there I was on the road again, it was lightly raining and overcast. As I approached Toronto the 401 gradually split into a stupid number of lanes and unnoticed until too late a stupid number of cars going very slow. Magically swiping lanes and the merging nightmare of going back and forth between the 401 and 401 Express. My anxiety was also at a stupid level of stress that if I could have figured out how to change nine-plus lanes I would have taken the side roads. Also, it was getting close to 2 pm at this point and I didn’t want to get to Brampton too late. Thus not getting to Kitchener too late.
As I first glanced at the hospital, I noticed the white church that my mother talked about. The inside of the building didn’t at all look as so had imagined and seemed quite advanced at parts. Hearing the announcement voices was far more terrifying than the 401. In my mind, there would be a person at the desk that I could tell my story to and complete the quest. What I ended up with was a desk with two options, “Pod 1” or “Pod 2” and on the wall above it, was a red clock of terror.
Brampton Civic Clock
I had frozen and broke down completely, I don’t like calling people, let alone to a pod that I had no idea what was the right one. I just stood there for almost 20 minutes trying to come up with what to say. Also what to say and not sound crazy. I ultimately walked out and went back out to the front doors. I was so devastated that the quest was a disaster.
As I was starting there, there was a doctor giving bad news to a woman who was in reality more devastated than I was about how their loved one was progressing and had not much longer. Not because I didn’t make it but because I couldn’t hold myself together. As I got to the door, I pulled myself together and convinced myself that I have to go back and try.
As I get back to the phone, I pull together and dial to “Pod 1” then a voice answers and asks what I wanted. I came up with “Hi I was here 2 years ago on my way back from Rome, and I wanted to see what the Pod I was in looked like.” They then buzzed me in and I took 5 steps and had no idea where to go, then alarms started going off around the corner and I couldn’t breathe and had to get out of there.
As I reached the elevator the woman from earlier also got in. I decided to attempt to say something and I told her that 2 years ago they said I was going to probably dead, and I will never forget her response. “You look pretty not dead”.
As I went to pay for my parking, I paid on the terminal, as another woman who was having difficulty paying let me go first. So I offered to help her with the machine and paid her $6 parking pass. She didn’t expect it and was shocked and didn’t want to accept it and tried to pay me back but I told her to help someone else.
After, I took the back way to Kitchener, avoiding all the highways and pumped up the music. Trying to reflect on the calamity of the day that just happened. It was at this point that I had no motivation to go see anything else and I just wanted to be home and not stuck with a 20-hour drive back.
This is getting 1600 words long so the smashing and booming finale will have to wait for the next post.
I have a large pot of Blueberry Rhubarb, looking for ideas of what to do with it.
A slow cooked very thick pancake with Blueberry-Rhubarb topping. #foodporn #outsidetheboxcooking
Ketchup on waffles? #foodfail
This is the Danish I ate in Copenhagen Denmark. What shall eat in Hamburg Germany? #travel #travelfood #travelproblems
Burger Week is my favourite week. Hula Burger from Mix Bistro #sjburgerweek
My final meal of 34. I will be so glad for this year to be over. Cavendish Fries, Fritesauce, and 0% beer.
Made it to Denny’s 😍
With a little dessert 😍
The Wurst! #meaningoflife
Waffle Sticks dipped in custard. #healthybreakfast #foodporn
Home cooked waffles, with real fruit, and maple 🍁 syrup. #foodporn #healthybreakfast #greatfood
OMG! Tim’s brought the Dutchie back for #canada150
Mexican Rice #healthyfood
RibFest #healtyfood
So good
The #nbday #roadtrip #heathyeating dinner! 😍
Raspberry Sour Pie!!! ❤️😍❤️
Dinner
Not half eaten food.
Purity Jam Jams fresh from Newfoundland.
It’s #PSL time of year again! 😍 Grande with extra shots of Espresso!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Yum some good Chinese food from Manchu Wok
Seriously chicken
Tim’s Pumpkin Spice Muffin is so good but more expensive this year $1.69!
Ukrainian Breakfast looks so good!
I had to organize the chocolates. I’m not OCD.
Canned Kale… the Super Food. Better than Popeye’s canned spinach.
Good breakfast at Billy’s
Everyone stop what you are doing and go to @sjcitymarket and get a fresh stroopwafel! You have not lived without one! #livelifeuptown #saintawesome #healthyfood
Yum
Breakfast #saintawesome
Bacon and Donair Pizza!
The Saint John River breakfast is so good. #healthyfood
Dinner time! #healtyfood #freddyfoodie
It’s free Root Beer Day @awcanada #healtyfood #portcityfoodies #saintawesome
It is a beautiful early summer morning on a Maple tree covered cemetery and the lake morning sun streaming partially through the leaves. The winds were calm with just enough movement to make the light twinkle through the leaves. Amongst the tombstones, there is a body lying as motionless and at peace as those in the soil a mere few centimetres below. Then Fred awakens, as he rises the reality of the situation hits him like a cement truck. He is feeling envious that the souls below don’t have to suffer the terrible feeling from the over-exuberance of the night before that he has forgotten.
It was quite obvious that he had been drinking and he was missing pieces of clothing like his left sock, it was nowhere to be found. Fred had woken up hugging a small headstone.
Fred is stunned as he realizes where he is this time as he sees a group of headstones before seeing the with “Fred Useless” engraved. Fred exclaims “Damn… Not again… Damn!”
Fred rises to his feet and staggers holding his head while entering a pathway noticing Phil lying hunched over a tree with a few beer bottles around him.
“Phil? Is that you, man?”, shouted Fred. “Phil, dude, wake up.”
Fred hoping that Phil is still alive; kicks Phil’s leg. (Several times) Phil awakens with some disorientation as he suffers from a nasty hangover, and really pissed off that someone, not just woke him up but made his body suffer blows of unexpected pain by kicking him.
“What a night…” squeaked Phil as he stretched and welcomed the morning light. Phil can barely see Fred standing over him as the sun irritates his eyes. “Oh, hey Fred. How the night treat you?” Phil rises to his feet as Fred pokes fun at Phil’s physical state.
“Apparently, not as good as yours.”, replied Fred
Phil suggests that they go get breakfast and Fred agrees. Phil gets up and starts to walk away with Fred but stops when they hear a voice in the woods.
“Phil!?”, a mysterious long and very sweet sounding voice bellows.
“Oh, Wait one second.”, says Phil. Phil runs back and finds Bekka (Looks perfect) from hiding behind the tree.
“I’m sorry I forgot you.”, apologized Phil.
“It’s ok, but I’m hungry.”, Bekka replied.
“That’s ok sweaty, Fred just stopped by to bring us for breakfast.”, explained Phil.
“You’re the best!”, Bekka replied, followed with a passionate kiss that made Phil really happy.
Fred rolled his eyes and wanted to puke a little bit, and not just from the hangover.
The three of them start waking out of the woods.
“Out drinking alone, eh?”, Fred asks Phil. Since remembering that Phil had blown him off last night that he was going to have a quiet night at home with his bottle of scotch.
“That was the plan…”, says Phil as he looks into Bekka’s eyes and then Phil kisses Bekka as they are all walking out of the woods.
Fred is scratching his head and thinks as aloud, “I think I am forgetting something important?”
Back at the “Fred Useless” headstone, it stands bare as Rita’s head appears
from behind it, her hair is in complete disarray, makeup smeared and clothes loose-fitting and unfashionable.
“Mmm… Fred”, Rita says in confusion. Rita notices the headstone and jumps away startled. “What the hell? Fred!” Rita wonders aimlessly. Hoping desperately that she is not alone, she continues to shout, “Fred! Fred!”
This effort is to be in vain as yes indeed Rita is alone.
(More to come in Part 2)
The preceding is an adaptation of a screenplay for a short film of the same name, portions of this story were enhanced with suggestions from Tony Tompkins. It has been formatted from the original to fit the blog format.
This tale begins about a month ago. I received a marketing email from my favourite travel company Maritime Travel. It offered a talk about the offerings by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, lunch, and a tour of the Anthem of the Seas when it was in port on September 13th. I had never received one of these invitations before but was in envy of those who did. I was kind of in an when I showed it to a colleague, her eyes lit up and said: “I’m your plus one right?”
So, I replied back that I was interested and quickly go a reply back that I was on the list.
About a week before the trip, I received an email with the details that basically confirmed the times.
Meet at the “Port of Saint John” by 9:30 am. There were no specifics. Let’s face it, if I can find a ship in San Juan, Saint John would be a walk in the park. I mean how could you miss it on a beautiful sunny day.
When we got to the terminal the commissioner let us into the terminal and gave us directions to go to the furthest door. We passed through the “Fundy Cruise Market”, which carried all the typical local wares. (Including Maple Syrup). Once in the terminal, it was a flutter of activity with people being directed to their excursions or tours to see the city. Once at the far gate as directed we were then pointed to the group of people sitting at the nearby door. I then proceeded to the guy checking off names from the list.
We waited there for about a half-hour before proceeding up to the ship. This was an incredible people-watching opportunity to see the different types of tourists from the ship and to judge them. Especially the “I’m wearing the T-shirt from my last port” guy.
We were then led up in the group to the security gate, checking ID they gave us a ship pass and then we were directed to the security gate. The first sign this was not an NCL ship was the lack of “Washie Washie Happy Happy” although there were hand sanitizer stations everywhere. The metal detector part went really fast. I am really good at that even at airports.
The ship itself is like I giant beautiful mall and hotel at sea. There are so many things to do and things to see. It is also well suited for winter in New York(ish) as most of the pools have the ability to be glassed in and there are incredible pools on the front solarium where you can get incredible views.
There are also tons of exercise options from basketball, running, soccer, free falling, wall climbing, roller skating dance hall, and gym.
There are also enough bars that you probably never have to use the same one twice. Although there is even a self-serve bar that has a robot make the drinks for you.
After the tour, we were seated for dinner and there was a mini menu of some of the best dishes on the ship. I ordered the Swordfish which I never knew I would love.
The main discount was pretty much just access to the on-ship Next Cruise desk what had some deals. After we wandered the ship a bit more and took some more photos.
If the economics worked out I would like to travel on this ship or another RCL ship sometime. This ship is incredible. The elevators even have a floor pattern that tells you what day of the week it is. The ship speaker music in common areas was really pleasant and diverse.
Taking a tour in #saintawesome
I’m on a boat #saintawesome
This week I learned: Some Filipino actually has a job changing the day of the week floor tile on every elevator.
#fundyfringe up next on What Matters Most on @rogerstvnbTshirt a day selfie countdown to #fundyfringe start today. Year 1 the Yellow/Red/Blue year. #5daystofringe #bingethefringeDay 2 of #fundyfringe T-shirt countdown (Black and Yellow Year) #4daystillfringe #bingethefringe3rd #tshirtselfie countdown to #fundyfringe (Grey/Green/Blue Year) #3daysuntilfringeWhy be blue? The #FundyFringe is in only two! (Days) #2daysuntilfringe #tshirtselfieLook on the bright (green) side, #fundyfringe starts tomorrow, but with a tease tonight! (7pm BMO). #tshirtselfie #onedaymore #countdowntofringeIncredible standing room turnout for the #fundyfringe big tease.Incredible #fundyfringe performance of #BarStar tonight @fiveanddimesj (more shows Wed-Sat) #bingethefringe @fundyfringefestSomeone is resting before he kicks off his dancing shoes tonight at the #fundyfringe dance party! 11:45 tonight at the BMO.Up next for #fundyfringe at the Interaction/Sanctuary (Corner of Queen/Germain) The Waiting Gentlewoman 8pm and Cardboard Countess 8:15pm #bingethefringeI am so honoured to be recognized for living and breathing #fundyfringe over the past 6 years. I couldn’t have done it without the other dozens of volunteers that were also part of the team.
