Toronto!

Well I just got back from Toronto yesterday and I had an absolutely amazing time.

I went three years ago with my friends Mike and Ryan, and this time with Ryan and a new guy Josh.  We spent the weekend (Thursday through Sunday) checking out places like the Hockey Hall of Fame, the CN Tower (the outside mostly, it costs too much to go up), Chinatown, and just generally wandering around the city.  We were able to watch two Maple Leafs games and two Red Wings games at our favorite sports bar on Yonge Street, Hoops.

Although we had a little issue with one of the girls there one night...



That aside, the rest of the trip went fairly smoothly!

Here are a few other videos from TO:

Chinatown:



The entrance to the Hockey Hall of Fame:



And finally, a short clip from inside the Eaton Centre (a big, mostly underground mall on Yonge Street):





All of us enjoyed our stay and are looking forward to the next time we get to spend some time there.  A big thanks to Mike and Claudia, Ian and Mike, and Phil.  You guys were all awesome and showed us some great hospitality.

And to Jose:  I'm not switching back over to Chase.



-Paul

Rondeau Provincial Park

Hey all!

Last weekend my cousin Brian and I had a chance to get away, so we decided to do some camping in Rondeau Provincial Park.  Rondeau is located in southern Ontario on the northern shore of Lake Erie.

The park overall is a very nice place - clean facilities, a lot of wildlife, decent campsites.  The only downside is the price: $36 CAD /night for a campsite without electricity ($5 more for one with).  Not a ton of money, but kinda pricey for a campground.  The prices are the same throughout all provincial parks in Ontario.  If anyone knows of some cheaper places, or even free ones, let me know; I'd love to check them out!

Here's a crappy clip shot at night with my crappy camera:


And here are photos from the trip on my Google+ page:

https://plus.google.com/photos/102194554326903901524/albums/5661639795732437393

I'll have another post soon about Toronto (going in two weeks!)  Until then..

-Paul

Hello World! (Video Edition)

Out of the ashes once more!

Well, it's been a long and semi-boring summer.

Other than the two major events of my hernia surgery and my promotion at work (woot), not a whole lot happened.  Honestly, I've been waiting for school to start for a while now.  I did get to travel around a little bit since my Chicago trip, but nothing too big.  It went down like this:

Trip 1: Fly to South Carolina to get my girlfriend, then drove her car back up here to Detroit.

Trip 2:  Drive to the very northernmost tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  It's beautiful up there, so if anyone hasn't been and really wants to check it out, make sure you go!

Trip 3: Return trip to SC.  Drove down with my girlfriend to her house, then flew back up myself.

I've been trying to be a little more proactive about the trips/traveling in general lately.  My boss gave me a week off in October, so I'm taking that opportunity to go back to one of my favorite places: Toronto, Ontario!  I'll be there from October 27-30, so if anyone in the area wants to hang out or grab a beer, just let me know!

Also, I'm still planning my week to Japan next summer.  I've got a LOT of details to work out still, but I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm trying to figure out some way to get out to Finland as well within the next year/year-and-a-half.  More details on that to come.

Oh, almost forgot; I bought a "travel phone" recently.

It's an old, unlocked Nokia.  The idea is that when I get to whatever other country I'm going to (with the exception of Japan and their damn proprietary cell system), I can just buy a prepaid SIM card and then ta-da: I've got a local number!  I've been told they're reasonably cheap, too!  If anyone has any experience with this, or if there's a better way to go about it, let me know!

Well, until next time!

-Paul

Chicago!

Well, time to stop putting this long entry off and get it out of the way.

I returned from my trip to Chicago for Acen last night. I had a great time and met a lot of awesome people, spent some time with my girlfriend, and spent way too much money on things I don't need.

The "bus stop" train station in Royal Oak, MI

Travel wise, the trip started better than it ended. I took an Amtrak train from Royal Oak, MI to Chicago, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised in how comfortable the ride was. It took about 6 hours to get to Chicago, and along the way I had an awesome chat with a grad student from the University of Michigan, and someone who was also going to the convention that I was. Overall a very pleasant experience; I'll definitely take the train again next time I go to Chicago!

The coach seats were very spacious compared to an airplane

When I arrived in Chicago, the girl I met on the train who was going to the same place as me had a friend who she was supposed to meet up with her.  He and his brother lead us to the metro about a mile from Union Station.  It was a little bit of a walk while dragging my bag behind me, especially with the sidewalk construction we had to trudge through.  It was awesome to see so many big buildings all around me, though.

A pretty scene over the river 

The L's Red Line entrance

I didn't get to spend a ton of time in downtown, since I hopped on the Blue Line right away and headed out to O'Hare, which was right by my hotel.

We stayed in the Aloft, which was a pretty schmancy hotel.  It was chosen, though, for it's close proximity to the convention center.

The convention itself was pretty awesome, but I won't bore you with the details of that here.  If you want pictures and talk about the con, check out my girlfriend's post about it at kohimemoe.blogspot.com.  

The way back was the more stressful leg of the trip.  Upon trying to check my girlfriend in to her flight on Sunday afternoon, we learned that her flight had been cancelled and the next available one was the following morning.  Because of this, we had to stay an extra night in Chicago, which I was secretly happy about.  More time out of town coupled with more time with my girlfriend (who lives 700 miles away, for the record); I saw no downside here.  Ok, maybe the $12 it took to reschedule my train, but in my eyes it was totally worth it.

After seeing my girlfriend up to security at the airport, I hopped on the Blue Line and headed back downtown to Union Station to head home.  The train ride between O'Hare and the Jackson Street stop is about 35 minutes long.  Not bad, and its a really cool and cheap way to get from place to place.  Note: I live in the suburbs of Detroit.  The only thing I've ever really seen like this is the People Mover, which can't even really compare.

Entrance to the Blue Line from O'Hare Airport

The train ride home was fine, but we were a bit behind schedule since the storms that cancelled my girlfriend's flight had apparently knocked out one of the signaling wires for the train.  This meant that between Jackson, MI and Dearborn, MI, we had to travel around 25 MPH.  Needless to say, I was pretty tired when I got home.  It was a positive experience though, and I definitely plan on going back to see the city when I don't have some big event taking up all of my time.

To see more pictures, check out my Chicago Picasa album here.

Short Update

So it turns out that I'll be returning to South Carolina with my girlfriend in August with her car, and flying home on a Sunday night before work.

This isn't shaping up to be a bad summer for travel! I was a little down after having to cancel my Japan trip for a few (mostly money) reasons, but as of right now I've got 4 trips planned. Not bad, eh?

Three Summer Travel Plans!

I didn't forget about this place! A few developments have.....developed.....

So hey there!

Turns out even with my main trip (Japan) canceled for this summer, I'm still going to get to go on three nice trips this year.

The first one I've already talked about, and that's Chicago next month. I'll be in Chicago for four days, traveling by train to get there. Pretty excited as I haven't been there since I was a kid and I'm really looking forward to my trip in general.

The second trip is a pretty new one. In June I'll be flying down to South Carolina for a weekend to see my girlfriend, then drive her car up to Michigan so she can have it up here for the summer while she's staying here. Again, really excited for this trip. It'll be my first big road trip on my own, so I'm a little nervous. With my girlfriend and I taking turns driving, though, it shouldn't be bad at all. It's about 11 hours, which is right around the same amount of time that it takes me to get to my grandparents' place in the UP.

Which brings me to trip #3:

For Fourth of July weekend (extended because of a day off of work), my mom, sister, girlfriend and I will be driving up to the Copper Harbor area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. VERY excited for this trip, as the UP is one of my favorite places to travel. It's such a beautiful and quiet place to just relax for a few days. Unfortunately since I work early on the 5th, I won't be able to stay for the fireworks on the night of the 4th, but being up there for the weekend will still be a treat as it always is. Fishing, swimming, enjoying the stars at night at Bete Gris...I just can't wait.

Well, again, I'll post if anything changes or gets added. I am pretty excited for this summer though, should be a good one for traveling!