Christmas in Canada: Winnipeg

Oh gosh, I've put this off for way too long... I was originally going to publish this back in January, and then in March, and then I thought it would work well to publish it for Christmas in July, and then... you get the picture. But hey, I've finally buckled down and finished it off. That's right, the story of what I did at Christmas is coming some 10 months later. Enjoy!

Actually, once again for Christmas I didn't travel to any exotic locations. In fact, it's probably going to continue that way for the foreseeable future, because I don't have any trips planned at all right now, including this upcoming Christmas. I haven't had any trips since then, either. It's kind of sad, but maybe in a year or two I'll get to go somewhere. Goodness knows I love to travel!

So, instead of traveling far away, I went back home to Canada to get my yearly snow and cold fix, and while I was there I spent a couple of days in Winnipeg. I've always loved going to Winnipeg. It's probably the place I've visited the most, so the city has quite a bit of nostalgia value for me. Yes, there are plenty of reasons to complain about it (like the roads; no planning whatsoever!), but I still look at it through rose-coloured glasses. For the past several years a new museum had been under construction in Winnipeg: the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Last September (the one in 2014) the museum finally opened, and I decided that while I was in town, I was going to check it out.

Christmas in Canada

Merry Christmas everyone!

I mean, for a few more minutes. It's pretty much over at this point, but whatever. Happy New Year! Yeah, that works.

Anyhow, this is just an update about what I'm doing this Christmas. The past two years I've gotten to go on fantastic trips around the world to visit friends and family (and family of friends), but this year, I wanted to do Christmas at home, with my family. So, I'm back in Canada. Well, I've been in Canada for a couple of weeks and I'm actually about to leave again, but the point remains that I wanted to have Christmas at home with my family, which I have now successfully done.

Yes, rather than trot around the globe this year, I figured that I'd save some money and visit my family in Canada, and then my family in Indiana (which is next on the agenda). I haven't seen the Indiana folks in quite a while, so it seemed like now would be the perfect time for a visit.

I hope that next year I might be able to go on a short little trip to somewhere exciting and foreign, but for this year, it was nice to come back to the -30 degree Celsius temperatures and snow of my hometown, as well as to hang out with my entire family, some of whom I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Siblings need to visit more than that.

So, this Christmas has been good so far and I look forward to the rest of my break. Maybe I'll actually get around to posting another story in the new year before the break ends... but don't get your hopes up.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas in Kenya: Days 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25

This is Part 5 in a series. You might want to checkout the previous post, or start at the beginning.

The Gate of Hell and School

We decided to go to Hell's Gate with Roswell's family. We would leave before them to eat lunch there, and they would meet us later at the picnic area. To get there from RVA, we had to descend into the valley. There are technically 5 ways down, but two are really far away and one is prone to carjackings, which only leaves two. The way that we chose to go down is the better road of the two when it's dry, but it had been raining the night before, so large sections of the road were now simply mud. Really thick, slippery mud, at that. There were times where we were going downhill with our nose pointed 30 degrees from the direction we were moving (I'd use radians but most other people don't like them). Surprisingly, it felt quite a bit like driving on a really icy road. Dagger's dad did a great job keeping us on the road, and there was never a time where I felt unsafe. Actually, most of the time it was just fun.

Christmas in Kenya: Days 15, 16, 17, and 18

This is Part 4 in a series. You might want to checkout the previous post, or start at the beginning.

Masai Market

Masai Market is a sight to behold. I mean, it is an experience, that's for sure. We woke up fairly early that morning to drive into Nairobi to get to the market. It's kind of on the outskirts of town, near the embassy district. The shopping center itself is actually very well off, with all sorts of shops and stores for the more wealthy citizens. It looks very much like a traditional Western mall. However, under a tarp roof, just outside one of the exits from the mall, there is a place set up for vendors. I think that it's close to the size of a hockey rink. There are hundreds of vendors set up in rows very close to each other all throughout this space, trying to sell their carvings, or their beads, or their shirts, or whatever else you are looking for. There are multiple vendors with the exact same items, so you can look at multiple options. Apparently it was not a crowded day, but it seemed packet to me.

Christmas in Kenya: Days 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14

This is Part 3 in a series. You might want to checkout the previous post, or start at the beginning.

Lazy Holidays

Day 10 was a Sunday, so naturally we went to church. However, the church that we went to was one that was down in the valley, in the IDP camp. This Internally Displaced People camp was formed four years ago, in the wake of the most recent elections. There had been much violence that had broken out because of the election, so many people had lost their homes. They were then placed in these IDP camps, originally in emergency tents. However, a couple of years back, Habitat for Humanity had come into this particular camp and had built the residents actual brick and mortar houses to permanently live in.

However, the community is still very poor. Everyone is wearing cast away clothing, there are people without shoes... that sort of thing. Because of their great need, one of the Kenyan men from the community around RVA, John, has taken it upon himself to help these people. Apparently, he usually boils ~150 hardboiled eggs and takes them to the children in the camp. This week, seeing as it was Christmas Sunday, he brought a huge bag of plumbs and a massive box filled with individual treat bags for the children. I don't know how he managed to get all those bags, but it was impressive. When we went down to the camp, we gave John a ride too. It was a bit of a cramped ride with the six of us plus John and his treats all in the Pajero, but we fit.

Christmas in Kenya: Days 6, 7, 8 and 9

This is Part 2 in a series. You might want to checkout the previous post to start at the beginning.

Wildlife In the Aberdares and Nakuru

This was the start of the "wildlife" portion of the trip. On Wednesday, we woke up, packed up, and then drove off to the Aberdares. The Aberdare park is a wildlife preserve that has houses that you can rent to stay in for the night. It's a very nice park, and there is a lot of wildlife around to look at. The scenery is beautiful too.

So, the first day we drove up to the park, which was an adventure in itself. The roads are pretty amazing in Kenya. I have never seen so many potholes in my life. You weave from one side of the road to the other in an effort to keep away from the nastiest of the potholes. It's pretty exciting, but I can see why people would want to have a four wheel drive car. Some of those holes were deep, and we bottomed out many times. The final count was 9 times, I do believe.

Christmas in Kenya: Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

Adventures in Airports and Acclimation

Day 1 of my journey didn't start until about 8pm on Friday when the first flight left, so there wasn't much going on before that. I mean, we chilled at Dagger's cousin's house, but that was it. Chisel and I were pretty much the only ones home most of the day because Dagger and the rest of the family was at his cousin's graduation. When everybody else got back, it was almost time to leave (so as to avoid the traffic). We got to the airport without any major events happening, and made it through security, found our gate, and boarded the plane on time. We even took off on time. It's weird. International travel doesn't usually work out that well.

England: Day Nine

This is Day 9 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

So, this is the last update. However, it's not the end of my trip. It was supposed to be, but it's not. Right now, I'm stuck in Philadelphia, as opposed to being in Minneapolis. Why is that, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

So this morning I was in London still. We got on the tube to Heathrow, and everything was going fine. We got in the line to return our Oyster cards (that allow you to easily take the tube and buses), and everything was going fine. We were cutting it a little close, but it wasn't too bad. We showed up at our gate, but we weren't able to board until half an hour after we were scheduled to, because the plane hadn't come in yet.

When we did board, we were pushed back on the take off schedule by the ATC, so we were late to get onto the runway. However, when we did finally make it out, everyone on board could definitely smell burning... something. We were pulled back to the terminal for maintenence.

It turned out that an AC unit had overheated, which had caused the smell. By the time that we got finished repairs, refuelling, and were back on the runway to take off, it was 3 hours later than scheduled.

On the flight, I watched several movies: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Minority Report, and Cowboys and Aliens. Only Minority Report was worth my time.

Oh, in case anybody was interested, the planes that I have flown on over this trip were an Embraer 190, Boeing 767, Boeing 737, and an Airbus A330. Not sure what I'm taking tomorrow. And, sorry to any Boeing fans out there, but I enjoyed the A330 more than the 767. I'm sure that almost all of that is related to the fact that the A330 had personal, on-demand movies, while the 767 had a couple TV's for everyone to watch, so everyone saw the same thing.

So, landing 3 hours later than we should have, we had missed our connecting flight, and were stranded here in Philadelphia.

So, that's where this blog will end. I won't bother posting tomorrow, because I'm not in England anymore. I probably won't update this blog again very soon, and when I do, I'll probably post something boring, like a very unoriginal analysis of Citizen Kane, or something. I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read this blog. This has been a great experience, both the blog and the trip. But mostly the trip.

Full Series

Intro: England Trip

Day 1: Airports and Gardens

Day 2: Howth and Oliver!

Day 3: Howth and Manchester

Day 4: Manchester United and London

Day 5: New Year's Parade and Sherlock

Day 6: Doctor Who and Arsenal

Day 7: BBC Studios and the British Museum

Day 8: The Tower of London and Piccadilly Circus

Day 9: Return and Philadelphia

England: Day Eight

This is Day 8 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

Even though we didn't have anything planned for today, we still managed to get a lot done. More than most other days, I'd say.

So, because we had no plans I got to sleep in. While I was missing breakfast (which closes at 10), my dad went out to Stamford Bridge, which is the Chelsea FC stadium. He walked through a cemetery on the way there, and apparently he saw a fox. In the middle of London. Who'd have thought?

England: Day Seven

This is Day 7 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

Today was crazy busy.

We started out the day with a tour of BBC Studios. Right outside the front doors, this is parked:

It's the TARDIS from Doctor Who,
in case you don't know.

England: Day Six

This is Day 6 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

Remember how I said that today was going to be a slow day? Yeah, I was wrong. This was actually the day that both my dad and I were looking forward to the most, and it was probably the highlight of my trip.

So, thanks to a tip off by an awesome cab driver, we found out that there's this show on right now called the Doctor Who Experience. We looked it up last night, and discovered that the only day that it was open while we were here was today. So guess where we went?

England: Day Five

This is Day 5 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

Today was the slowest day yet. I slept in, then went to breakfast in the hotel. (UPDATE: In case you're wondering about the hotel, it's the Hotel Ibis: Earl's Court. I just recently learned that in the K-ON! movie that was released the very same month that I was in London, the girls actually stay in the Hotel Ibis: Earl's Court! You have no idea how excited I was when I learned that!)

England: Day Four

This is Day 4 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

It's good to be back in London. I really do like this city.

So, the day started in Manchester. Woke up, had breakfast, and then walked to Old Trafford to watch the Manchester United vs. Blackburn game.

England: Day Three

This is Day 3 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

Finally, on day three, we reached England. Manchester, specifically.

But we'll get to that.

England: Day Two

This is Day 2 in a series. You might want to check out the previous day, or start at the introduction.

So, day two of the England trip was still in Ireland. In Dublin specifically. In Howth, even more specifically.

Today, we started out by walking to the downtown, and taking a look around. My aunt had some errands to run on the way, so we stopped in at some buildings on the way.

England: Day One

This is Day 1 in a series. You might want to start at the introduction.

So, day one of the England trip is actually spent in Ireland. Imagine that. But before I get to that, let's go back a bit further in time.

England Trip

Right, so I'm off on a trip to England with my dad, and I've decided that I'm going to try to post about it here.
I may even tell people that I'm doing this!

Anyhow, I'll try to update this blog at the end of every day (London time, aka. GMT) with a post about what we did, and I'll try to include some pictures and whatnot. I'm not sure that I'll have an internet connection everyday, so if I don't, there won't be an update. It almost makes sense.

So yeah, that's what's up.

New stories starting on Wednesday night GMT.

Full Series

Intro: England Trip

Day 1: Airports and Gardens

Day 2: Howth and Oliver!

Day 3: Howth and Manchester

Day 4: Manchester United and London

Day 5: New Year's Parade and Sherlock

Day 6: Doctor Who and Arsenal

Day 7: BBC Studios and the British Museum

Day 8: The Tower of London and Piccadilly Circus

Day 9: Return and Philadelphia