Travel with Art

Arrival 5:00am wake up call and off to the airport in warming weather. A few bags to check and a long walk to get to our gate. Breakfast coffees and muffins (a bagel for me) before boarding the WestJet flight - which is now pay for everything and no free food even on a 6 hour international flight. Curaçao end we could clear through the e-channel by scanning our passport and having its machine take our photograph (it was marked for only those who had online filled in an arrival card - but the attendant waved us in anyway). Then it was the maneuver through duty free before getting to baggage claim - so money was spent. After exiting it was a short wait and onto a bus for the 9 mile ride to Hilton Curaçao. The hotel is oriented so that both sides have ocean views - but the other one from John and I is the better view (Kerry & Donna’s room is there). We gathered at the beach side bars and lazed there till dinner (and the start of the Super Bowl). We ended the e...

Toronto  Early morning with cold (for Victoria) temperature I drove to the airport to park a 10 minute walk away from the terminal. But then security was only a 5 minute queue. So time for breakfast. Onto a partially full Air Canada flight which gave me a whole row to myself (yeah!).  I napped a fair way of the direct flight to Toronto, but was well awake to take in the white of the ground as we descended for landing. Blowing snow from high snowdrifts and multiple loaded with snow dump trucks along the taxi ways and tarmac. It looked cold! I headed from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 to reach our agreed Fiona MacCool meeting point  - but oops it’s on the other side of security... So a text message later Kerry, Donna and I meet outside baggage claim. We arrange an Uber ride and arrive at John’s home just before 4:00pm. Uber was a great choice so that we didn’t have to haul luggage through public transportation and change of vehicles. After a little house expl...

Hi all, my next trip is coming up in a few days... I fly to Toronto on January 30th, meeting up with Kerry & Donna (flying in from Winnipeg) and staying at the home of John Tyler. This portion will be my deep freeze... On February 3 the 4 of us fly on to Curaçao. February 10 return to Toronto for 3 days and I fly home to Victoria on February 13th. In the Southern Carribean lie a few small islands that form the remnants of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Once a vast empire, it now consists of The Netherlands and the tropical islands of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten. Curaçao is the biggest of the three and a popular tourist destination for mainly Dutch and American holiday makers. Our plans include lazing on beaches, sipping Caribbean rum (and perhaps other beverages), snorkeling, scuba diving... and a wander around the island possibly taking in the highlights: Willemstad (the capital) - center of which is a UNESCO World Heritage location Adjacent Otrobanda...

Zigzagged out of Invercargill then along fairly flat sheep and cattle ranch country heading to Fortrose.  Here the view is the Toetoes Estuary, an area containing approximately 400 hectares of tidal flats. Now in The Catlins...an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southland regions. It includes the South Island's southernmost point, Slope Point. Waipapa Point & lighthouse. Oldest wood built lighthouse in NZ. Sea lion as sunning on the shore and then rolling in the sand to add sun block. Onwards through a pretty rolling hills landscape on a road with twists and turns. Took side road down to Slope Point. Then a 27 minute return walk through sheep pasture to the southern most NZ mainland point. Driving on through a series of scenic reserves on some of the twistiest roads I’ve driven on. Destination Pur...