Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Travel Tips/Experiences needed

Hi all! It's me again. <g>

For my Nano project, I need some travel tips/experiences for:

-Seattle (day trip) Helicopter ride at sunset possible??
-Vancouver
-Niagara Falls (Canadian side)
-Toronto
-Nova Scotia
-Edinburgh, Scotland
-Ireland
-cruise to the Caribbean

In order to reach the 50,000 words I need to expand these occasions. Since I know that my own experiences are not all-inclusive, I would really appreciate your input.

I have been looking up info on websites but that's really boring. <g>

Thanks in advance,

Natascha

I haven't really been around Toronto as a tourist, so I'm afraid I can't recommend hotels, but I can recommend a few sights to see: you'd want to go up the CN Tower, first of all. Not if you have an extreme fear of heights, but you know. There's a glass floor that's pretty cool. The ROM - Royal Ontario Museum - is nice if you like museums. If you're a baseball fan and are here around the baseball season, you can see a game at the SkyDome, which is right beside the CN Tower (it's been renamed the Rogers Centre a few years ago, and people call it by both titles).

If you like theatre, you could see a play downtown. If your story is set right now... The Sound of Music is playing at the Princess of Wales theatre and it's just an amazing show (tickets range about $25-$100, though, depending on where you're sitting).

If you want to go shopping, the Eaton Centre is a great mall downtown (and I also like Yorkdale mall, which is further north).

Also - do not drive downtown. Get a TTC pass - it'll get you around just fine. (TTC = Toronto Transit Commission, which runs the subway and buses.) The subway system is pretty easy to navigate.

Lake Ontario is south, as is the CN Tower and the downtown area - so basically, south is downtown, north is the suburbs. Yonge Street (the longest street in the world ) runs the length of the city from the lake and divides into east and west.

If you have any particular questions, let me know.

Julie

Helicopter tours aren't common around here. However, they do have seaplane flights that take off from Lake Union, which is north of the Space Needle by a few miles.

Are you looking for something romantic, or something touristy? If you want romantic, I'd say a trip to the observation deck of the Space Needle, and touristy, I'd say a sunset ferry ride over to Bainbridge or Vashon Island.

It's been over 20 years since we went to Edinburgh, so I can't remember it as well as I'd like to. We visited the castle and Royal Mile, of course, and bought lots of lambswool sweaters, lacy knit shawls, and a scarf in the ugliest tartan in the world that was somehow connected to my family name. (I know all the tartan stuff is mostly invented anyway, but it was fun.) We also had wonderful food including venison sausages for breakfast and salmon and the one of the best soups I have ever tasted. The most interesting part of our second trip was not near Edinburgh; it took place out in the country near Inverness. We were on a one-lane road (that's right, one lane) looking for a hotel when we came over a hill and there was a car coming directly toward us. No matter how much you chant to yourself "think left, think left," in a crisis Americans turn their cars to the right. And people from London, the ones heading directly toward us, turn left. And that means the front ends of the cars meet. And that can destroy the steering linkage in a rental car. But we did manage to find a hotel (not the original one) that was a converted hunting lodge with a bar that served wonderful 20-year-old Scotch. And the next day, while my husband traded the rental car for another one, a friend and I went pony riding through the heather, with dogs bounding alongside.

I've also been on a couple of short cruises, from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas and from Fort Lauderdale to Key West and Cozumel. Are these locations that you are interested in? What type of experiences are you looking for? Port or shipboard?

Hi Tasha:
We just got back from a 16 day cruise through the Caribbean. Do you want Western or Eastern? Anyway, we're still thinking we're on a ship. As soon as the brain settles down, I'll give you some details. Since I've been out of touch, what is the Nano project you are working on? I had the impression they were short, small stories.
regards
Artemis
Epilogue: We went to the Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbados,
Curacao, Aruba, Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatamala, Belize, and Costa Maya, Mexico.
In the Caribbean they drive on the left, Brit style except for the Netherlands Antilles (Curacao & Aruba) which are Dutch and they drive on the right like Canada, US,& Europe. Western Caribbean (Guatemala, Belize & Costa Maya) are on the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula and they drive on the right.
Members of the British Commonwealth like Canada:
Antigua, Barbados and Belize
Independent Dutch Countries:
Curacao & Aruba (just off the coast of Venezuela)
Barbados had the earliest history of colonization from the 1700's. Adm. Horatio Nelson (pre Battle of Trafalgar) built the first navy yard on Barbados. It was used to repair sails on the ships. A little known fact is that George Washington, who later was known as the father of our country, sailed with his younger brother to Barbados to get a cure from "lung fever" (probably pneumonia) for him. A house they lived in is on the tourist route. Unfortunately for him, G.W. contracted smallpox there.
Any questions you have, send me an e-mail.

Thank you all! You are the best. Great stuff already! Keep it coming. I am especially looking for some anecdotes or activities as well.

Either part of the Caribbean is fine, I hadn't even thought about it or decided on a trip length. I have only been on a cruise once and that was a 4 day trip with Royal Caribbean to Nassau and Coco Cay more than 8 years ago. I did do the parasailing, snorkeling, and banana boat ride, and of the course the shopping in Nassau.

Artemis, I wish the NaNo project would be shorter but alas they want 50,000 words! I still plead insanity for signing up. And I hate to admit it, but today was the first day where I didn't write anything... I still have two hours left in the day but seriously doubt I will even open Word tonight.

Natascha

Glad to hear you are writing, Tasha! If you want some more excitement, we got chased by Hurricane Ida off the Yucatan Peninsula and made it to New Orleans just in time. BTW, it takes 8 hours to transit from the mouth of the Mississippi to New Orleans. They can go only about 14 kts. That we didn't know!
Let us know about your Olympic adventures.
regards
Artemis & Hubby
Here's a story about George Washington in Barbados:
http://www.coedu.usf.edu/culture/Story/Story_Barbados_Washington.htm