Off on the Epic, the Dancing King

Off on the Epic, the Dancing King

Okay, the Epic titles and making reference to epic things may be getting old at this point but trust me there will be more and they will be epically cliche. Upon boarding the ship, it was luck time so I headed to the buffet as usual and sampled a bit of everything. Apparently, the buffet on the first two days of a trip makes up about half of all food waste for the entire week-long voyage. The food was pretty good. Nothing outstanding from most buffets in most ships and restaurants. I was also disappointed that Washie-Washie was not as happy-happy as my last trip. This may seem like complaining, but it is not. The Norwegian Epic is very good, and far superior to not travelling in the first place. After lunch, I grabbed a drink and explored around the ship until it was time to meet up with the Solo Coordinator at the meetup in the solo lounge. The solo lounge on the Epic was really good and better than the Getaway. It had an espresso machine and was amazing coffee. From this meeting, I went to dinner and then called it a night. The next day I did…

An Epic Night and Journey to the Epic

An Epic Night and Journey to the Epic

Following the subway ride, I ended up on good old St. Andrew Station in Downtown Toronto on a Just above freezing evening. I was a bit hungry so as I wandered Downtown I was looking for somewhere no but ended up going to Hooters on John St.. The meal was good I had the Steak Spice Quesadilla and it was really good. There was a hockey game on so, I enjoyed the meal and a beer, game, and people watching until about 1 am. After that, I left and continued to wander down John to Queen West and then stopped at the McDonald’s at Spadina. Since I had time to kill, I stayed at the McDonald’s for just over an hour to charge my phone and people watch with a coffee and a muffin. This area in the daytime is high class, in the evening it is just high. I sat up on the second floor and there was a guy at the end of the booths that kept being woken up by security, it looked like he was very impaired. Then going in and out of the washroom was an uncomfortable assortment of people. Prior to leaving I needed…

A Disappointment with an Italian Name

A Disappointment with an Italian Name

Tonight, I’ve experienced the $1.49 special Tim Hortons take on a Tiramisu style donut. My opinion is that it is the biggest disappointment I have ever seen. The traditional tiramisu has 2 distinguishing characteristics that any cake and variations of it are basically the same, and experience of heaven. The name itself means ”pick me up” or ”cheer me up”. Those ingredients are whipped mascarpone cheese and coffee liquor-soaked cake. The variation that I was served does neither and is a ”let down”, or”scoraggiare” in Italian. This donut is made from their standard filled yeast base donut with a coffee flavoured Venetian cream centre. The top is dipped in white frosting with a chocolate zig-zag crossing the top and powdered chocolate and one or two coffee bean halves. Those coffee bean haves are the worst part of this donut as you have to pick them off as they are terrible to crunch on.

Posts from SunTrip 2018

Posts from SunTrip 2018

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…

A Subway Journey to finish All the Stations

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…

The banged up emotions, banged up car, and big boom finale

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…

Russell Stover Cookie Dough Confection

Russell Stover Cookie Dough Confection

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.

Drywall Flying Off a Trailer is Still a Sign

Drywall Flying Off a Trailer is Still a Sign

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…

Remember?! (Part 1)

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…

My Day on the Anthem of the Seas

My Day on the Anthem of the Seas

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…