Travel deals

January is typically a slow month for the travel industry. Most people took time off at Christmas, and they will go back to work on Monday when their children go back to school. And they spent a lot of money at Christmas and don't have any left to spend on travel.

And so the January deals start.

Rest stops while on a road trip

When we're in the motorhome, we don't often travel on the major 4 lane highways. Usually, we're not in that much of a rush, and we enjoy the scenery and the slower pace of the secondary back roads. But during our recent road trip to Nova Scotia, we used secondary roads while going there, and the main 4 lane highways coming back.

Yesterday was a looooong travel day...

We got up at 4:00am yesterday morning. We made a plan to take the Canadian route home...

Party

We all went to a party last night. It was kind of another celebration of Lindsey and Justin's wedding from October 3rd...mostly for relatives of Justin's Dad's and stepmom Jane's side of the family who couldn't make it to the wedding back in Ottawa.

Bald Eagles

About a 20 minute drive from here is a really good spot to see bald eagles. The eagles normally go south during the winter, not because the cold bothers them, but because it's easier for them to find food when there's no snow on the ground.

Laptop stuff

We don't do Christmas presents, but my mother gave us each some money to buy something for ourselves to put under the tree at Lindsey and Justin's.

So I bought myself an external DVD drive. Here's why...

Merry Christmas!

Well today is going to be a coasting kind of a day for us!

We made it to Lindsey and Justins place around 4:30pm yesterday. Relaxed for an hour or so, and then went to Justin's Mom's place about a half hour away. More driving! But at least I didn't have to do it. We had supper there, and then sat around and

Made it!

So we made it to the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia!

Some very variable weather along the way...

Nova Scotia today

Up early again today...probably another 8 hours in the car ahead of us, and then we can relax for a few days.

Looks nice enough outside though...temperature has warmed up to about 0C (32F).

Made it to Bangor!

After 12 hours in the car!

We were an hour late picking up Alex in Plattsburgh. Made it through the border into New York State and hit a blizzard. It snowed pretty hard for a couple of hours, and so between the snowplows and the overly cautious drivers, it was pretty slow going.

We're off...destination for tonight is Bangor, Maine

Up at 4:15am....ugh. On the road by 5:00am!

We'll try and put a post up tonight to tell you about our drive.

House sitting

We are currently house sitting here in Kingston, Ontario for 4 months while the owners are away. They wanted somebody to live here and look after things until they get back. So we shovel the snow, and bring in the mail, and generally make the place look "lived in"...because it is being lived in!

Driving to Nova Scotia...the trip plan

Well, 2 more days until we head for Nova Scotia!

The plan is that we'll leave here at 5:00am Wednesday and head for Plattsburgh NY to pick up our son Alex. We should arrive in Plattsburgh about 8:30am. Then we drive through Vermont and New Hampshire and the White Mountain National Forest, into Maine and to our overnight stop in Bangor where we are staying with a couchsurfing family.

Bought a new camera

I love getting a deal, which is why we always try and buy used instead of new. By buying used, you know you're going to save at least the 13% tax here in Ontario.

But I had been looking for a good used digital camera for a couple of months and hadn't been able to find what I wanted.

Ferry service to Nova Scotia

I see that they have discontinued the ferry service from Maine to Nova Scotia.

Ferry service cancelled

This particular route ran from Portland or Bar Harbor Maine, to Yarmouth NS.

Bay Ferries operates several other routes, including one from St. John, New Brunswick to Digby, NS.

Internet and wi-fi security...or lack thereof

We've been going over two years without any "anti virus" program running on our laptop. I've decided that there is very little possibility of having a virus problem, provided you use a little bit of common sense. I would certainly never pay for one, and I find that the free ones slow down my system.

First of all, never open an email attachment if you're not positive as to what that attachment contains.

Dreaming of Mexico

Today is the coldest day we have experienced in over two and a half years! I'm guessing that the last time we felt this kind of cold was in March of 2007.

This morning, the temperature here in Kingston Ontario is -16C (3F). Fortunately, Kingston is on the shores of Lake Ontario, and it doesn't get quite as cold here as it does in other nearby areas. Ruth is visting her Dad today, and she tells me it's -21C (-6F) there, and that's only a two hour drive away.

Free wi-fi internet access

Good news for motorhome travellers!

There are 14,000 McDonalds restaurants in the U.S., and 11,000 of them offer wi-fi internet access.

Starting in mid-January, internet access will be FREE. Canada is following the American's lead, however the rollout to Canadian locations will be sporadic, apparently starting with Metro Vancouver.

Buying an RV in the United States and bringing it back to Canada

We bought Sherman (our motorhome...he drives like a tank!) in New York State.

When we started shopping, I quickly noticed that prices in the U.S. were much lower than prices in Canada. How much lower? Well it depends somewhat on how much money you're planning on spending, but I'll use our experience with Sherman to give you a real life example.

How did we become motorhomers?!

In July 2007, we had never been in a motorhome. By October 2007 we were living and travelling in one!

How did all that happen? Here's the story...

Restaurant food

We don't eat out very often. The main reason for that is that I can't justify the cost, however we also happen to like our own cooking. Far too often, we have had a restaurant meal out, have paid the bill, and said to each other, "well, that was just okay...".

If we're in the mood for something different, or it's a special occasion, we would much rather buy something we don't usually buy in the grocery store, and cook it ourselves. Usually, this would be a good rib steak on the barbeque!

I smell a rat!

The house that we are sitting does have a clothes dryer in the basement, but Ruth prefers to hang the clothes to dry. We never had a dryer at home, and they are expensive to operate. Anyhow, one day a couple of weeks back, Ruth noticed that a sock had disappeared from the lower drying rack. She found it around the corner behind some boxes. She kind of shook her head, but didn't think anything more of it.

Canada - Part 2

Despite the fact that I don't want to live here, I do agree that Canada does have some fantastic natural scenery, and for that reason it would be a nice destination to come on vacation. Here are some of our favourite places, coast to coast...

Canada

I've got it figured that Canada is NOT such a great country. And it's possible that I'm thinking this way because of the rotten weather the last two days...but in general comparison to most other countries, they are better. And please don't bring up our "free" health care...that is a subject better left to other forums.

We have terrible weather for 5 months of the year, and no where in Canada to go to avoid it. Don't talk to me about Victoria...their winter weather sucks too! Canadians have nowhere to go but south...and of course many do.

Snow

Well, there's a big snowstorm happening in Eastern Ontario today, so we are missing the warmth of Mexico and we were reminiscing a bit. Last year at this time, we were parked in a farmers field among the palm trees.

We don't watch TV

At least not much. Occasionally we do tune in to Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

However we do watch a lot of movies. When we settled the motorhome into the Kingston KOA last May, we signed up at http://www.zip.ca/

This is an online movie rental service available anywhere there is mail delivery in Canada. We find it so convenient! You make a list of movies you'd like to see from their 74,000 online titles.

Sunday afternoon drive

We went for a nice drive Sunday afternoon. I was born in Belleville, Ontario but my parents moved to Ottawa when I was two, so I don't have any memories of it. And, we wanted to do the Loyalist Parkway from Kingston to Belleville, and go across the Glenora-Picton ferry. This would be a very nice drive in the spring and summer, with lots of choice spots to stop for a walk or a picnic along the way.

Couchsurfing

Last night, we went to a pot luck dinner. We didn't know anybody there, but the event was hosted in a private home through a website all the attendees were members of. There were 18 of us there...people from Australia, Sweden, Ireland, and some from other parts of Canada.

What have we been up to...

We stopped writing our last blog because it was a trip journal...and our 18 month long motorhome trip was over. You can still view it here:

http://www.mytripjournal.com/kevin_ruth

So we decided to settle in Kingston, Ontario for the time being. Ruth got a part time job at the Kingston KOA, so that's where we lived in Sherman the motorhome.

Last Minute Travel from Canada

We haven't done a last minute trip for quite a while, but whenever we need a quick week or two away, we like to book at the last minute. The main benefit is that you can get a great price. For example, today you can book an all-inclusive trip to Varadero, Cuba from Toronto for $435 CAN per person and that's TAX INCLUDED. That's your airfare, meals, hotel, and drinks...all included!

You book today...and leave tomorrow. How great would that be?!

Welcome to our new cyber home!

We'll be posting here every day...even when we're not travelling. If there's something going on in the world, we're probably going to comment on it. You may not always agree with us, but that's what makes the world an interesting place. Sometimes, Ruth and I don't agree with each other! And feel free to leave a comment or send us an email...we love hearing from the people who follow our travels.