The Western Canadian Farewell Tour, last stop

Rosetown, Saskatchewan, en route to Calgary. One of the last grain elevators I'll see in a long time.

I've arrived in Calgary for the last leg of the Go See Run Eat Drink Western Canadian Farewell Tour. I've got a few days here staying with my sister, brother-in-law and niece before the big flight out on Sunday morning. On the agenda: seeing a couple of friends, attending my niece's daycare wind-up, last-minute trip-related shopping, oh, and building a 6' x 14' shed for my sister's back yard. No sense in hanging about doing nothing for 3 days, eh? I think once I get to London all I'll want to do is sleep for a week. Then again with the transit strike it may take me a week just to get from the airport to my hostel.

I'm still feeling completely unprepared. The list is shorter, but it's still there: establish secure online document storage, attach earpiece to Skype headset, print approximate itinerary for non-techno relatives without blog access, get two more small luggage locks, get a smaller water bottle, slice up Rick Steves guide books to eliminate unnecessary sections, and print a few things that need to be carried as hard copies.

As for being mentally prepared, despite the fact that the countdown clock says something ridiculous like 3 days, I still really can't believe it's actually happening, and I can't shake the "What have I done?" feeling. I really hope some excitement starts very very soon.

Packing the Aeronaut for the jaunt to Calgary was as discouraging this time as it was the first time. It seems that my list of stuff has surreptitiously ballooned since the last attempt. The final pack on Saturday night will require some extremely hard-nosed decision about things I thought were non-negotiable. I really need to embrace the "If in doubt, throw it out" theory. Things that have already fallen prey to this rule: long underwear, light gloves, buff, the folding Orikaso cup and the plastic sleeve the Orikaso stuff came in. Things on the chopping block: hand sanitizer, one t-shirt (there are 2 others, plus one for running), some first aid kit stuff, the retracta-safe cable lock, the Rick Steves shower caddy, the small travel towel, the Absolute Shoulder Strap... and so on. If absolutely necessary, I'll divide stuff between the Aeronaut and the daypack, and carry two bags, but that would really be admitting defeat.

I have NOT received my UK passport yet, and my hopes of having it in time to enter the UK without having to provide proof of onward travel are fading fast. I paid 3 USD per minute to phone the "What's Going On With My Passport Application Information Line" last week. I spoke (as quickly as possible) to a woman with a very thick Scottish accent who confirmed that my application was received, and that my payment had been processed, which means my application has been accepted and they will be issuing me a passport. However she said there was a "significant backlog" in applications, so I shouldn't expect to receive the passport until 20 working days after they processed my payment. That was on May 6th, so 20 working days from then is approximately last Thursday. Thank you Miss Scotland. I'm now relying on the receipt and confirmation of my Russian Tour and my Eurail pass to prove that I won't be staying forever to go on the dole and watch "Coronation Street". I've also got a colour printout of a scan of my UK citizenship certificate (of course the passport people have the original...) so really they should just shut up, let me in, and give me a cup of tea and a nice biscuit.

(Aside: One reason it's so important to be certain they'll let me in to the country is that United Airlines won't even let me on the plane if they think I'll be turned back. If I get all the way to London and the British border officials refuse me entry then United Airlines has to pay to return me. So if the United folks at the Calgary airport look askance at my Russian tour documents and my copied citizenship certificate, I'll be going nowhere on Sunday.)

It looks like I may need to have the passport sent to an obliging English relative for me, in the hope that it will arrive before I leave that country on about July 5th. Even if it can't ease my entry to England, at least it can get me into the short "We're all Europeans Here" line-up at all future EU borders.

Ok, this has been a bit of a downer post, eh? At least it's actually summer here in Alberta, instead of that lingering chilly spring that's been going on in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Also, I just got off my first real Skype call, and after a bit of technical difficulty, it worked, with video and everything! Nice to see you, Steve.

Off to bed.

Racing to the Starting Line

At first I was going to title this post "Racing to the Finish", but then I realized that everything I've done up to this point is really all about getting me to the starting line on Sunday morning! It's a whole shift in thought that I really need to get used to. I feel like the To Do list is still haunting me, and I worry that I'll arrive in London, find a wireless hotspot, and continue to get ready for the trip, even though I'll actually be on it! I've been preparing for so long I think it will be hard to realize when I need to start DOING.

That said, the last few days in Saskatoon have been kind of like my last few days in Winnipeg - much busier than I expected (though with lots more home-cooked meals!). Because I've been perpetually swamped since about January, I put off some things that I knew I could leave until now, so I've been trying to get through that.

For instance, here's a shot of me taking part in the traditional Sewing of the Flag onto the Backpack:

(Ok, this makes me look a bit like The Joker. What can I say? I'm tired, and I'm 40...)

I've also "pimped my daypack" so that the zipper tabs have little hooks on them that snap onto metal rings thus preventing the zippers from being surreptitiously opened by nefarious evil-doers while I'm distracted by, oh, The World.

I finally decided on which travel insurance I'm going with. I chose World Nomads over Bon Voyage (a product designed for Travelcuts) though it was a tough choice. What tipped the scales for me is that World Nomads offers $2,500 of coverage for lost or stolen baggage, whereas Bon Voyage coverage is only $800. On the other hand, Bon Voyage offeres $50,000 for death and dismemberment vs. World Nomad's $10,000. I guess I just figured the odds of me losing some important bit of kit are greater than the odds of me being dismembered. Or perhaps I'd just like to believe that, so all you actuaries out there can just keep your contradictory information to yourselves, 'cause it's too late.

I've also insured my car for storage, replaced the battery in my watch, scanned some more important stuff, bought a better second pair of running/sleeping shorts, informed my credit card companies that I'm leaving the country, got some earplugs, printed out stuff that has to be in hard copy, got a folder to carry stuff that has to be in hard copy, tested my Citizen's Bank ATM card, fixed the mic volume problem with my Skype headset and bought Skypeout credit for calling regular phones with Skype (for just 3 cents/minute!).

And I nailed down a lot of my itinerary for England, booked a lovely B&B for a couple of nights outside of London, and bought my Great Britain guide book. Most importantly, though, I've been in touch with the London Hash House Harriers! They're running on the evening I arrive, so what better way will there be to cap off a long long long day of traveling and jetlag than with a Hash run and a pint of Real Ale.

It's almost time!

Blog Housekeeping

Ok, now that I'm (semi-) underway, I've made a couple of subtle changes to the blog, and am contemplating a larger one.

1. Astute GSRED readers may already have noticed a new heading in the sidebar to the right, titled "Last Known Location". As you might expect, this lists my last known location on the globe. Or, to be more accurate, the last place I was when I remembered to update the was place I was.


2. Particularly astute GSRED readers may have noticed that the map in the sidebar is now showing a sporty new RED line, AND it's centred on my Last Known Location, instead of being stuck hovering over Winnipeg. I decided to leave the original blue line, because it was kind of a pain to build in the first place, and because I thought it might be nice to see what I thought would happen, compared to the red line which, of course, represents what has actually happened.

3. Astoundingly astute GSRED readers may even have noticed that the countdown clock skipped beat a little while ago, since I revised it to reflect my actual departure time from the Calgary airport, en route to Chicago, and then connecting to London Heathrow! I've left it in local time, because I couldn't be bothered to figure out what it would be in GMT.

4. Finally, once I actually arrive in London and have a chance to get online, I'll adjust the countdown clock so it will start counting up, adding up the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds I've been traveling.

Now for the other possible change I'm considering: Twitter. Those of you on Facebook may have noticed that I haven't updated my status since, er... January... so maybe I shouldn't be adding to my online To Do list, but it seems like Twitter may be a Useful Thing. A few people have commented that one of the good things about the blog will be that when they see new post, they'll know that I'm ok. However, there may be long stretches of time when I'm not able to post anything new (23-day overland tour through Africa, anyone?). However, I can update Twitter with a text message on my cell phone, which I plan to keep active by buying local SIM cards as I travel.


I think I can add a Twitter window to the sidebar of the blog so that even if there isn't a new post, there might be a quick 140 character update to satiate the addicts in the crowd, if only briefly. The trick will be in finding a gadget for the blog that doesn't ruin the lovely asthetic we've got going on here, and that I can implement without Phonella standing over my shoulder coaching me through it.

I've gone ahead and created a Twitter account, called "goseeruneatdrnk". Note at the "i" in "drink" is missing, because Twitter will not allow a 16-character account name. That was almost enough to make me scrap the whole plan...

So what do you think? Should I tweet, or should I just go have fun and let you guys stew between posts? Comments, please.

Random thoughts on the last week

Has anyone ever started an Around-The-World trip with the first stop in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan?


Well I'm here now, in the loving embrace of family and wireless high speed internet access. I'm taking this chance to plan the England leg of my trip, which looks like it will involve visiting quite a few relatives, some of whom I've never met, and some of whom I met perhaps 20 years ago. I am, however, assured that they will all be thrilled to see me, and may even consent to picking me up at train stations and supplying me with pull-out couches and other amenities.

***

I booked my hostel for the first few nights in London, and am quite keen about it. Smart Russell Square gets good reviews, is centrally located, and claims to be quite new. I like it because it's got little curtains around all the bunks, so there's a semblance of privacy even though I'll be in a 4 bed dorm. Also, the price is quite remarkably cheap - about $35 CDN per night!

***

Getting out of the house was a lot of work and emotionally tough. I remember sitting among the remains of my possessions trying to figure out what to do next... pack this? No, call this person. No, wait, check that website... no, really pack something, for God's sake, anything. JUST PICK UP SOMETHING AND PUT IT IN A BOX... And then I stopped and tried to figure out how I got to this point. Really, I had a great job, a beautiful house, better friends than I realized, and a really damned good life. Exactly what was wrong with that?

Then I snapped out of it, and got on with it. Oh, and after all my whining about downsizing, I can report that in the end I did get rid of my couch. A quick sketch of the outline of the couch inside a 5' x 10' storage space, along with the general tendency to purge that comes from selling most of what you own, made it a relatively easy decision.

In fact, it turns out that 5' x 10' was ample. Look at all that empty space!

***

It was a tough finally leaving Winnipeg this morning, there was more running around and there were, of course, more goodbyes. I've said good bye to a LOT of people in the last week. My recommendation to anyone else planning something like this is: either sneak out of town without telling anyone and then send them an email when you're gone, or carry a backpack full of kleenex at all times. It was hard.

Universally, though, people are happy for me. Everyone gave me a hug and told me a variation of the following three things:

1. Have fun.
2. Stay safe.
3. Tell us all about it.

To which my standard response is:

1. I hope so.
2. I'll try.
3. That's the plan.

Ok, when I say "everyone", what I meant is "everyone except Steve", who said:

1. Have fun.
2. Stay safe.
3. Eat something weird in every country you go to. (And then he grabbed my ass... ah, I will miss you hasher boys...)
   

If you ever want to learn how many friends you have, I'd advise you to make plans to leave town on a big adventure and never return. That's when you'll find out how many people whose lives you've been a part of. It's humbling and fantastic.

The 400th Running of the Winnipeg Hash House Harriers

First of all, apologies for not posting in a while, but the last week has been hectic and something had to give. In retrospect I could have planned things a bit better, starting on Wednesday, when I was still working full time, and trying to pack everything in my house, and had dental surgery as well. Thursday was my last day in the office, and more packing. Friday was all pack, pack, packing, followed by loading almost everything out of the house and into my storage space, and my last night in my first house. Saturday was the scramble to get everything else out of the house, and the big Hash event. Sunday was my first chance to come up for air... and blogging just wasn't at the top of the list. I'm sorry, but also: get used to it. My life has absolutely no structure anymore, so while I will certainly continue to blog, the happy Tuesday-Friday schedule of posts that most of you probably never noticed anyways is officially a thing of the past. Just enjoy 'em when you get 'em.

So on to today's topic: The 400th running of the Winnipeg Hash House Harriers. The event was a photo scavenger hunt, which was a LOT of fun. To quote the illustrious organizers (also my generous hosts for my last days in Winnipeg):

To celebrate the 400th run of the Winnipeg Hash House Harriers we organized a photo scavenger hunt. The group was divided into four teams and sent on a 3 hour odyssey around Winnipeg. The list was extensive and included four categories: basic tasks, locations or things; random acts of silliness; interpretation of common sayings and interpretation of movie quotes.

All team members had to be in every photo. The teams were allowed to run, walk or take transit. No biking and no cars allowed.

I was on a team with 4 others, and we had a blast running around Winnipeg for 3 hours, getting sunburned and accosting strangers to get them to take our picture (and I learned how to use the self-timer on my camera, which should prove to be a useful skill).

Here are a few of the shots of my team, with accompanying captions:

Everyone jumping (no feet touching the ground)

In a shopping cart

"Few and far between"

"Fore!"

I am proud to report that my team completely smoked the other three teams and won the event by a significant margin (what were the rest of you guys doing all day anyways?). We claimed the grand prize of frozen margarita mix and tequila, and then there was beer and chips and hotdogs and cake.

Most surprising though, was when the Winnipeg Hash House Harriers presented me with an uncharacteristically generous going away present. Keep in mind that this is a group of individuals who often can't cough up the $5 fee to cover beer costs for the weekly run, so imagine my surprise when then presented me with an envelope of cash and strict instructions for its use. I'm supposed to wait until the worst day of the trip when things are crappiest and I just want out, and use the money to check in to the fanciest hotel I can find and have one night of luxury, courtesy of the hashers. Thanks guys; you are the best. I will definitely write a post from my posh hotel room, hopefully while wearing a complimentary bathrobe and enjoying a bit of room service.

There's more to write about the previous week - lots of emotions about finishing work, and leaving my beautiful little house, and the seemingly endless rounds of goodbye lunches and dinners. But I figured I'd have some fun today and bash out a post about the hashers, so everyone can see some of the great folks I'm leaving behind, and so I can focus on the good stuff.