Starting to Pack

Posted on September 24, 2012 by debbie

I finally get the packing bug. I print off the “House Sitter” list,  the “Before Leaving” list and our packing list.  All these can be found under “Packing Lists” on the Menu bar of the blog. I have pasted the Clothing, Important Travel Documents, First Aid, Other Stuff, Scuba Diving and Toiletries lists onto one Excel spreadsheet so it prints on one page. We find this is much easier to deal with.

A lovely young university student comes over for a visit to chat about house sitting while we are gone. She house sat for some friends of ours this summer and our friends were thrilled with the care she took with their home and their cherished pet. So, we are very fortunate to be given her name and excited about having her stay in our house. I print off the list to make sure it is all relevant and to add new items – like how to wash our brand new flooring and NOT to vaccuum the new area rug in the front entrance. I learned very quickly that the vaccuum likes to chew up the rug at break neck speed and spew green fluff everywhere.

I don’t look to closely at the “Before Leaving” list except to glance at it.  Too early still.

Now for packing. I sit down with the list and cross off everything I think is a definite “NOT GOING”.  Stuff like umbrella, journal, iPod, drawing materials, running gear, sandals, sarong and most of the dive gear.

Murray and I have decided to make two packing piles in our library.  HOORAH! We no longer have to lay out everything in our living room. We have a new library upstairs (my daughter’s old bedroom) and we can now lay out trip stuff in there. The two piles are a MAYBE pile and a FOR SURE pile. The MAYBE pile is stuff we need to think about and may get eliminated to try to keep weight and volume down. Here is the maybe pile so far.

The MAYBE Pile

The MAYBE Pile

Under the chair is our underwater camera housing and accessories, dive log books, dry bag, and Murray’s do-rag . On the chair are our sleep sacks, a cigarette lighter battery charger, a baggie of Canada pins etc and a couple of plastic containers.

The FOR SURE pile looks like this so far…….

The FOR SURE Pile

The FOR SURE Pile

It has cameras, lens, wallets, soap, drugs, some of my clothes, our “purses” and some other small stuff.  We have a box in our closet with all sorts of travel gear in it. We pull the box down, root through it and the pile starts growing.

We are starting to pack!

In my next posts, I will talk about the conundrum I have with what “purse” to take and clothes for an African safari.

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Ouch

Posted on September 24, 2012 by murray

Today is the day we have been waiting for. The anticipation has been so thick you could cut the air with a knife.

Today is the day we get to go to Alberta’s Travellers’ Health Services.

Kidding aside, it is always with some trepidation that I go to this health unit. With the advent of the web it is quite easy to find what are the suggested needles and pills for travel to where you might head to in the world. I bolded suggested because there are very few ‘required’ shots to travel anywhere. For instance, you will need a yellow fever shot to travel to some countries if you have spent any time in a country where yellow fever is endemic in the week before you enter the said country. The rest of the shots or pills are only a matter of the odds. What are the odds that you will come in contact with some disease while you are in the area where the disease is entrenched. Even if the chances are quite good that you will contact some sickness and you decide not to, or cannot for medical reasons, take a vaccine you don’t have to and our medical system will still take care of you after the fact provided you can make it back to Alberta prior to passing on. Anyway, I do a lot of research on many health sites, like the WHO, IAMAT, Canada’s and other countries health sites and the provincial health sites. I have a damn good idea what is required for the place we are headed and how we are going to travel and yet the nurse assumes we are not knowledgeable and will follow blindly the information they been provided with by their sources. The two do not always jive and it has been a point of friction. I, for some odd reason, believe that my health is my business and I will not follow blindly what any health person has to say and they do not necessarily agree with that philosophy. In the end some compromise is made and we get out of the office with our lives intact.

After much research, we had decided to get yellow fever shots. The info on the web is very confusing and it seems to enter Tanzania the requirement for the shot is at the whim of the immigration officer you are dealt. If you do not have proof of the inoculation and it is the day that the border guards require the yellow piece of paper then you have to get poked on the spot. I am not squeamish but after an incident in an Indonesian hospital where I witnessed a doctor’s instruments being washed in the sink I have been leery of unnecessary medical procedures in developing countries. The other reason for the decision was the visa application for Tanzania specified that upon arrival in Zanzibar you will be required to produce proof of a yellow fever shot no ifs, ands, buts or maybes. When we arrived at the Travellers’ Health Services office, the nurse, who was nice enough, had done her due diligence and had already decided that we are up to snuff with our shots and we will not require yellow fever. We explained our decision to get it but she was not completely convinced until I produced the Tanzanian visa application.

Anyway we left with the yellow fever shot, a letter for our doctor to give us a prescription for Malorone and an update shot for whooping cough (That is a must for every adult you know. An up-sell if I ever heard one. Would you like a large fries with that? It is never mentioned that the administrator of such free shots gets paid for them by our medicare system).

Ouch. Both the needles and the cost. Our bill $296.00 for the yellow fever shots. The whooping cough was “free” as mentioned above. We have yet to purchase the Malorone pills.

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Stonetown on a Whim

Posted on September 21, 2012 by murray

After a long process of finding a place to rest and relax in the north of Zanzibar. I started researching a place to stay in Stonetown. I thought this might be easy. There are lots of places but there should only be a few that we would be interested in.

I started about noon with a clear head and by 5pm my head was so full of info I had no idea what I had read. I looked at ‘hotels’, at B&B’s and accommodation noted as ‘other.’ There were a lot of properties that interested me. Costly places that were in the $250 US range to nice “plain jane” places that booked for about $50 US per room per night.

By 10pm I had a list of more than 20. Thankfully I had my own star rating system on notes I’d made and that list was quickly culled to about 7.

I’m not usually an Expedia, Hotel.com, Booking.com fan but I do use them to get an idea of the price of the rooms if the hotel website does not provide that info. There is one hotel that I ranked very high and Expedia had it listed for a very good price (I think.) “Only one room left at this price.”

We are lying in bed. It’s late for us, 11pm. I cannot get to sleep because “Only one room left at this price.” is running through my head. I get out of bed, turn on the computer and book a room at the Jarrerji House in the centre of Stonetown. $135 per night per room (plus taxes) expensive for us, but we are finding that Africa is just out and out expensive anyway. The plus taxes thing is a bit sleazy but I push the book button and the room booking is confirmed. I check first thing this morning and the room at that price has been removed from the Expedia website so at least I didn’t get scammed. I feel good about that.

Stonetown on a whim. I’m an optimist and think we did the right thing. Debbie words “Sometimes you just have to go with it.”

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North Zanzibar

Posted on September 19, 2012 by murray

After some further investigation we have decided to search for accommodation in the Nungwi or Matemwe area. It seems that the Mnemba atoll is very good to dive at.

I have found several hotels in those areas worth investigating so we are going to narrow the selection to about 5 in Nungwi village and 5 near Matemwe Village. Next step, to email each and see what the responses hold.

We don’t get too complicated on our first round of questions. We don’t specify dates, just a general time. Questions: My wife and I are visiting your area in early December do you have accommodation at that time? What are the rates? Does this rate include breakfast and taxes? If not, how much are they? Is it possible for you to provide a transfer from the airport? How much does it cost? How far are you located from the village of Nungwi (Matemwe)? Is it possible to walk and if so how long does it take?

With one key stroke the inquiry has been sent and we are one step closer to finding a place. Usually we do not receive responses from all the inquiries so the first sort is easy. Next we look to see if all of the questions have been answered or at least an attempt made. Then we look at the amenities verse the price. Sometimes we just get a “good feel” from the email. Weird I know but it does happen. Anyway, we try to whittle the number of possible candidates down and send out a more detailed group of inquiries.

The next day we have responses from all 10 places. So much for the easy first cut. In the mean time I have been searching sites like Trip Advisor that review travel destinations. I read the reviews and try to see where the guests are coming from. The very positive reviews are often missing the fine points but for the most part they are honest, the ones you have to watch are the really negative ones. If they have something to say it is important to understand what they mean, but a good portion of the time even though the review is what is perceived it is written by a person that is pissed for one reason or another and must be viewed with that perspective. Another type of negative reviewer often has high expectations and wants 5 star amenities and thought that maybe the 2 star priced hotel should have them??????

By reading the info available on the web I whittled down our numbers not necessarily by eliminating any bad ones but more by choosing the ones that seemed to have that little bit more. We are down to 7 and our second round of questions.

One of our first questions was worded “How far are you from town and how long does it take to walk there?” Every hotels answer indicated how far they are from Stone Town. They must have thought we were crazy to ask how long will it take to walk because there was not one closer than a 45 minute drive. After explaining that the first question was misinterpreted our reworded question reads “How far are you from the nearest village?” Next we ask if the village has eating establishments, grocery stores, tourist shops and general goods shops. We explained that we are not interested in half or full board options and asked if there are places in the village to eat or other resorts within walking distance that we could eat at. We inquired how one is suppose to keep valuables safe when not in the room, does each room have a safe or is there a safe or safety deposit box at reception. For the hotels in Matemwe we asked how much a taxi would cost to travel to Nungwi and for the ones in Nungwi we asked if they are located near any night clubs explaining that we are generally “early to bed and early to rise” type of people.

It seems that the customer service aspect of the Zanzibar hotel industry is quite refined. Either that or they are hurting for business. We sent off our second round of emails last night and by this morning we had all 7 replies with very nice emails. This is not making our choice any easier. We did eliminate one because they only have half board rates and we want to see what other dining places are like. Six more to go. That should leave us with one.

After receiving the emails yesterday morning Debbie and I spent the day pondering and discussing the choices available. Most of the time the talk was logical which didn’t really seem to get to many decisions but since this decision was causing us both lot of stress the talks were sometimes heated. Those didn’t seem to progress the situation either.

By 9pm we had chosen Matemwe as the place to go and narrowed it down to two possibilities. The Tanzanian Retreat Hotel and The Panga Chumvi, both small hotels, both on the beach and both somewhat unassuming. The differences are the Retreat has a pool and the Panga is owned and operated by a local crew. I think we are leaning towards the The Panga Chumvi.

Morning of the fourth day. We are at this moment in the process of contacting Rebecca at the Panga Chumvi Hotel and seeing if in fact we can get a room. This should relieve some of the angst the has been floating around here lately.

Six days into the process and it is done. After some confusion as to which rooms cost how much and what we had asked for, we opted for the individual type ‘cabins five steps from the beach. I sent the deposit and hope we have secured what we think we have. If not, oh well, as long as we have a room.

List of resorts (hotels) we looked at and why we discounted each.

Nungwi Area: This area looked good to us but we had to make a decision and it was as much as a gut reaction as logical consequence. This area is much busier than Matemwe and that is good but we think the traffic would be mostly other tourists and they would be the impetus for the area’s growth meaning that this area would not be too much different than a lot of other place we have visited elsewhere in the world. Second, from reviews and the website we felt that the dive operator, OneOcean, which only operates fromMatemwe, seemed like a more reliable choice. There is every likelihood we will visit this area, we’ll get a taxi or jump on minibus and head out of the day. It is only 30 or so minutes down the road.

1. Flame Tree Cottages: It is a bit on the expensive side and the reviews on Tripadvisor had a few minor concerns like the WiFi often did not work but the hotel computer had no trouble connecting. (We had to use some criteria???) (Second cut)

2. Langi Langi: We decided to stay in the Matembe region. (Third cut)

3. Smiles: We decided to stay in the Matembe area. (Third cut)

4. Tanzanite Resort: We had to make a cut somehow and I did have a few ‘ifs’ from Tripadvisor. It was also 25 minutes walk to Nungwi and the reason for staying in Nungwi would be to be close to village. (first cut)

5. Nungwi Inn: The best part of the reviews is the restaurant. We felt we could patronize the restaurant without having to stay there and there were some iffy room reviews. (first cut)

Matemwe area: We chose this area because it is quieter, and not so influence by foreigners like us. Quite a conundrum, eh. Sometimes being a tourist doesn’t make sense. We think it will be important to have some down time after 3 weeks of moving locales everyday and Matemwi is a better bet for that. As mentioned above we think the dive operator in this area looks very reliable.

1. Nyota Beach Bungalows: Only OK reviews and it is the farthest place from the village. (first cut)

2. Matemwe Beach Village: Looked like a good place. A bit expensive and they only had rates for half and full board. We like to try other places to eat and we would not be able to eat the 4 course meals that are on offer with dinner. (second cut)

3. Seles Bungalows: Looks like a nice place but it does not have a pool and one of the other places we are looking at seems to be an equal but is less expensive. (third cut)

4. Zansibar Retreat Hotel: ( there seems to 2 place with similar names, we are not interested exclusive high cost retreat) This was the last one to fall off, it had a pool, good reviews, looked good in the photos and reasonably priced. Basically it was a virtual coin flip and we chose the other place.

5. Tha Panga Chumvi: The chosen place. (sounds religious, eh!) The place is simple, and $100 per room per night. It has good reviews, the photos are nice enough and the emails received were prompt and cordial. So we have emailed with our request for 5 nights stay.

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Checking out R&R in Zanzibar

Posted on September 15, 2012 by murray

While in Tanzania and Botswana we will be on the move every day or close to it for a month so we will be looking for some down time on the exotic island of Zanzibar. We really only have 4 or 5 days on the beach and 2 or 3 days in Stonetown but we must come home rested, after all this is a vacation.

We want to dive as we will probably not return to this corner of the world so it is now or never and diving is a very relaxing activity. I start our search for accommodation by looking at maps of the dive sites and the PADI dive operators locator. This narrows down the area we are likely to stay.

There are a few areas that look good as starting points. The north end of the island near Kendwa or Nungui, the east side of the island near Matemwe, farther south near Paje and Zambini, or the along the south-west shore near Kizimzazi.

It took hours, but I found several possible places to stay in each of these areas. The hard part is finding information on what area would be the best for what we want to do. R&R and dive. Debbie came up with the idea to post a question on Trip Advisor in the forum and see what comes up. Did that last night and so far have 2 responses. First suggested the Matemwe area. The second suggest a completely different island, Pemba. I am now on a holding pattern awaiting more feedback. Once we decide what area we are going to we will narrow the hotel choice severely and the decision should be easier.

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A Packing Challenge

Posted on September 13, 2012 by debbie

We have read  that there are tight restrictions on luggage size and weight for some airlines in Africa. If a person has too much luggage, he/she will get charged for an extra seat or for freight. We have also read that bags get stolen and/or lost frequently. Since we are flying on a number of smaller airlines and a number of different airlines, we want to ensure that our luggage is of the correct size and weight and that it travels all the way with us and doesn’t go astray.

The general idea we are going to strive for is to reduce the stuff we take to an absolute minimum so our carry-on is small and light and will stay as carry-on and not have to be checked on any flight. Let’s see if we can accomplish this.

I get out our flight info and start checking the airlines that we will be flying. We are flying Westjet and British Airways from Edmonton to Vancouver to London to Dar es Salaam. They each allow 1 piece of hand luggage plus a purse/briefcase.  Weight limits for Westjet are 22 lbs for each piece and sizes of 21.5″x9″x15.5″ and 16.5″x6″x13″. The hand luggage weight limit for BA is a whopping 51 lbs and no weight limit was given for the purse/briefcase.  The sizes for BA are 22″x18″x10″ and 18″x14″x8″.  These flights are not going to be the issue for us.

We are flying Precision Air from Dar es Salaam to Arusha return. They allow one piece of checked luggage with a weight limit of 51 lbs and total dimensions adding up to 62″. Only 1 piece of hand luggage is allowed which must weigh under 22 lbs.

mmmmm……….

We must fly through South Africa to get from Tanzania to Botswana, so we are flying South African Airways from Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg return. SAA allows checked baggage of 1 piece that weighs 50lb and maximum dimension of 62″. Only 1 piece of hand luggage is allowed and it must weight less than 18 lbs with a size no greater than 21″x16″x9″m for a total dimension of 46″.

I am starting to get worried……

Air Botswana, which we are flying from Johannesburg to Kasane and Maun to Johannesburg allows 1 checked bag weighing 44 lbs and 1 piece of hand luggage weighing 15 lbs.

And now I am really worried!!!

We are taking Mack Air from the Okavango Delta to Maun, and they fly the smallest planes I have come across (6 seats).  Their website is so small that they have no information on luggage weight and sizing. My guess is that it doesn’t run along the same lines as Westjet and British Airways!!

Coastal Aviation is flying us to Zanzibar return.  All their website says is that soft-sided bags are preferable and a person’s total luggage must weigh under 33 lbs.

One website indicated that the traveler’s name should be on the outside and inside of checked luggage along with the route and destination.  Does that sound like luggage goes on a walk about often?

After looking at the various luggage requirements, I am not sure that we can limit all our luggage (as carry-on) to the lowest  denominator of 15 lbs required by Air Botswana. Murray’s camera/lens weighs that much!! I still want to give it a really good try and go with my “purse” and a very small backpack. As we start to lay out our gear, I will keep you posted as to what we take and what we leave behind and the final tally of weight and size.

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Sidetracked

Posted on September 11, 2012 by murray

Off we go on a diversion. In order to make a decision on whether or not we dive Little Cayman in April, with our NY friends, depends on a number of factors. To resolve some of these we must again lay Africa aside and follow another path for awhile.

Issue one. Every school board in North America decides on what dates spring break will fall. What on earth does this have to do with a couple of retired folks and their dive trip you might ask? I have lived the rhythm of the school year since I was 6 years old. Now a good number of our diving partners, both from NY and Edmonton, work within the school system and our dive trips are somewhat influenced by their available holidays. Can we make the two different weeks of spring break, the one our New York friends have off and the one our Edmonton friends have, work in our favor to be able to dive with both groups?

Issue two. Cash. Simple enough, if we dive for 2 weeks or more can we afford to take another trip in the fall and do we want to just do the dive trip and be satisfied?

Issue three. Destination. We know our NY buddies are heading to Little Cayman. We know the diving is good there. Our Edmonton crew has not been many places, actually only Bonaire, so they have the opportunity to go anywhere where it will be a new and different experience.

Issue four. We decided when our Edmonton group started diving 2 years ago, Debbie and I would alternate dive trips with the NY group, but as I said above is there a way we can schedule the trip to dive with both groups?

The communication begins. We use mostly email to talk to our friends in New York. Email is not the best form of communication, it is often misread or misunderstood but for basic communication it is OK. We meet with our local crew and discuss the options. Using our rotation, the priority will be to dive with the Edmonton group.

Our first meeting with the potential divers nets commitment from 5  of us, R, A, B, Debbie and me and maybes from 3 others, S, J, and R2. It is easier to make decisions with only 5 so that will help. Discussed are 3 destinations and money. We could go to Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, or Cozumel. Debbie and I have been to Cozumel before but would be willing to go again. We split to research the possibilities and the costs.

The NY divers meet and a provisional itinerary is set, they will dive 3 days on Cayman Brac and 7 days on Little Cayman. This plan is good for Debbie and me because we can overlap the two different spring breaks and meet with both groups but it will depend on where the Edmontonians decide to go.

Research indicates that Cozumel is easier to get to and is WAY less expensive than either Cayman destination. There is some apprehension amongst our novice divers about the strong currents and drift diving but that can be overcome and must be faced at some point in one’s diving adventures. It is also very difficult for Debbie and me to extend our trip to Cayman, requiring a plane ride to Houston or Atlanta and a lot more cash. Cayman looks good but as above it is significantly more expensive.

The NY group have contacted the Little Cayman resort and there is limited availability for the dates required so there is an urgency for us northerners to make a decision on our destination and if Cayman be it to book accommodation.

Edmonton meeting 2. Sitting in the sun on the patio of the neighbourhood coffee shop, Blues, the conversation takes about twice as long as it should but it is a slow Saturday and no one seems in a big hurry. A decision has been made. The cost of Little Cayman is one of the prime concerns so this year we will go to Cozumel. We have also made a pact to dive in Little Cayman in the spring of 2015. Choosing the less expensive option and the availability of accommodation, the opportunity for our 3 maybes S, J, and R2 to join us has just been greatly increased.

As the accommodation in Cozumel is more or less unlimited the pressure has been abated somewhat and we can proceed with the organization of this trip at a more respectable pace. So it is back to Africa and all things pressing. We will continue to pursue the underwater adventure but this time we have some help and 5 of us will attack the web for info. It is sad for Debbie and me not to be able to meet with the Syracuse group, but alas we cannot do it all. We will for sure be planning to do so in the Spring of 2014.

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Today is the Day. I Hope.

Posted on September 9, 2012 by murray

When we drop out of house renovation mode and back into day to day mode we realize we have not touched our African travel plans in 2 months and the time is neigh to pay the balance on the safaris. We start immediately and it is a good thing we do because we are very tired and our travel planning skills are very rusty.

First thing is to review our file and check on what we have done and what will be needed before we leave, items both pressing and not so much. First on the list is to pay the outstanding balances on the safaris because if they do not get paid doing the rest of the listed items would be for naught. We confirm the amount, make sure we have sufficient funds in the proper accounts and contact our travel mates L & R to coordinate payments. If we send one wire for both our balances the cost of the wire is shared and although it is not much I really hate to pay bank fees and will go to great measures to minimize them.

Aardvark first, they prefer a bank draft for their payments and that is very easy to acquire. A trip to the bank, write a short note, lick the stamp and the payment is jetting (if indeed the postal service uses jets) it’s way to Victoria in California. Botswana Safari done!

Next, the payment to African Travel Resource. Their preferred payment method is for us to wire the money to their bank. If we use a credit card they add a 2% surcharge along with the 2.5% visa charge for converting to a non Canadian currency and it adds up quickly and it is not the way I do things. L goes to her bank and gets a bank draft made to me and I’m off to my bank to send the wire.  Tanzania done!

Both payments make landfall in a couple of days, meaning as long as we get to Africa we have transportation, accommodation and a guide to facilitate our wanderings into the ‘wilds.’

Debbie ticks payments off the list. Item 2 – appointment to get poked. We have enough shots to travel most anywhere but there always seems to be that one more and of course there is the ubiquitous malaria pills. For the first time we are entering an area with endemic yellow fever. Zanzibar requires a yellow fever certificate. The appointment is made and marked on our calendars.

We need to establish our cash budget. First to get an idea of what is needed and second because travellers cheques are not universally accepted we plan to take cash so we are trying to minimize the amount we are going to have to carry. We lay out a plan on one of Debbie’s famous spreadsheets and start to plunk in numbers. We have some exact values, like a couple of hotels but other numbers we use are from our past travel experiences. Like food costs, $10 CDN for breakfast, $15 CDN for lunch and $25 – $35 CDN for dinner. In the next couple of weeks we will refine the values, I do not expect it to cost too much to eat in Africa. Five star hotels will cost what we estimated and more but we are reasonably adventurous and do not frequent those establishments.

As we are slowly ticking things off our preliminary and by no means exhaustive list we get an email from our New York dive friends, P, V, S, and K. “Hey guys we are booking our scuba diving trip to Little Cayman in the spring, the hotel is filling up. Are you in?” The wheel is spinning faster and faster now. It is time to pick up the cadence.

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Slogging through a Blog

Posted on September 7, 2012 by murray

I’m a jock. I have been most of my life, just didn’t realize it until I was about 40. For many years I raced bicycles. I was never really good but I did the best I could. In order to do my best at every race, I trained. I trained like bicycle racing was my job. I learned lots. One thing that I try to pass on to everyone I know that starts an athletic activity (and the point of the title) is that you cannot train at infinitum. There will be breaks in the continuum and they will happen for any 1 of 10,000 reasons. For the most part these breaks are good, they give both your mind and your body a rest. The thing about a break is:  it is very, very, VERY hard to get back into the routine. Be it swimming, running, or riding a bicycle, for weight loss, conditioning or training for competition. Once you have broken the string it is almost impossible to find the new end and start to reel it off the ball.

At one point you will have rested enough and you will want to resume your workouts. You will have good intentions but there will be a myriad of reasons why you cannot start again. Each day you have to start in the morning and say to yourself ‘I’m going for a run today’. Ten, twenty times a day you have to repeat that mantra. As the day progresses you add to the phrase, things like ‘I’m going to run today right after work and I will run to the park, through the park and along the river then home. That should be about 5 km.’ If you do not run that day after work you have to get up the next morning and go through the same routine. Sooner or later you will run again. If you do this day after day your routine will return.

This is what has happened to our blogging. We were blogging quite regularly and then we started to renovate the house. Those of you who have been involved with such activity will understand that renovation is all consuming. We cut our athletic activity in half. We cut down on dining out almost completely. Entertainment became removing another section of old flooring. Blogging hit the skids. We did manage a few entries but they were sparse and written quickly.

I’m at the point where I want to resume entering a semi regular entry into the blog. So, every day I’m saying to myself ‘I have to come up with a captivating concept, and write a blog post.’ As I said above it does not happen instantly but I’m working at it. Tomorrow I try again. Stay tuned.

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Saturday in Toronto

Posted on August 26, 2012 by debbie

After packing up, checking out and stowing our bags with the Conceriege, we head out for our last day in Toronto. We go in search of breakfast and locate a small breakfast shop specializing in eggs. We consume large breakfasts and roll out of the restaurant.

We walk to the north and east quadrant of downtown. Cabbagetown in an area where there are many of the original Victorian houses. They are now made into small apartment complexes, duplexes and single family homes.

We move from lower income areas to higher income areas and back again. Due to the heat, our walk takes the form of short walks between park benches. We plot the route according to where the green spaces are on the map. When we arrive at a green space, we find a bench in the shade and revel in the slight breeze wafting across our hot bods. As we sit to cool off we watch the world go by.

Being Saturday, parents and kids are out, singles are out, friends are visiting friends and they are out. Everyone is outside enjoying the hot sunny weather and the weekend.

The parks further out are filled with parents and kids, grandmas and grandpas. Picnics. Kids playing in the splash pools with their parents wishing they could join them and be 12 years old again. As we move closer to the downtown the parks’ clientele changes. Not so many families and a few more inner city people. And the further in we go, the more street people we see occupying the parks. They are sitting enjoying the sun, sleeping in the shade of a tree, chatting with friends.

We notice that although we do see folks with dogs, we do not see an overabundance of dogs.  In Edmonton, it seems that everyone met has a dog.  Not so here. There is not so much green space for dog enjoyment, yards are tiny or non-existent, housing consists of apartments and condos.

As we wind our way on our walk we notice there are many activities to choose from. A company picnic, a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, FanExpo, a Cuban celebration with live music and a street performers festival. So much happening all in one day!

We end up back at the hotel and wait for the shuttle to the airport. As I write this we are winging our way west towards the ever setting sun and home.

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