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[qwi]

The Short Version for the "too long didnt read" school of thought ... stuff to do in Canada '08?


Hiya all,

Well D-Day is finally approaching after a 12 month save and being a “responsible” adult I am nearly free .. yippee

Im a fairly unorganised traveller but i find synchronicity + pure blind chance serve me well (I remember reading in a book when I was a young lad about “lady luck” and how you could never rely on her, but also if you didn’t take chances how could she bless you with good luck – )

Anyway what im asking for here is just some random stuff about Canada that I should know / might find helpful, Obviously you need to know what sort of things im into in order to know what would want to know / where I would want to visit.

The idea of going to Canada started with “I want to see a bear catch a fish” and to be honest its not moved on much further from there, I know you have some awesome scenery and I love being outdoors, camping, nature, hiking, cycling, rock climbing, lakes etc.
I will probably ski once or twice but to be honest im not intending to work a season, think im getting a little to old (35) to do the party hard / work hard thang … my choice though rather than a “please talk me into it”
I'll catch a mueseum or 2 along the way, (alternative meusems for fun as well as the "proper" ones), but i'll probably be in out of the cities in 2-3 days .... for me its all about the people / the chats / the coffees / maybe a few beers? / the little slices of life that people let you in for, knowing nothing about each other is judgement free and always results in some benfit for someone

As far as my work plans go - I will be looking for a “medium” sized town .. Where there are enough new people to meet but also once you have met someone there is a goodly chance to bump into them again, I will probably do bar work (an old hand) or possibly some sort of low rank admin (also no problem) – maybe even both !

In my head I have a thought of it being west side near the middle (if that makes sense) hopefully with access to the great outdoors, I will probably looking for work around March / April time. The idea behind this being, land east side, travel about a bit then “scooch” over the middle as funds get low, find some work, save some money, then travel around the west side and “perhaps” return to my new little hometown if all went well / nice people were met ect. Then head back over to east and departure airport in the last month, maybe picking up any missed spots

Anyway …

1. The bad point : im landing in January … lol …. I have no idea what to expect from cold weather that can kill you if you’re a bit disorganised and lacking knowledge (which reeks of me!) .. so some realistic pointers on weather / getting about in weather / clothing .. anything
2. Places .. any favourite spots? Any must sees?
3. People – no worries, ill cope with this one
4. Distances, I have travelled enough to know there is a distance issue in Canada, but some basic land journey times so when I look at a map I have a scale to work from (don’t worry about flights .. unlikely to take any, cant get out an look around on the way )
5. Money – I wont have enough, so anything pricey will be sacrificed for an extra dinner out / round of drinks with new found friends – so we can probably rule out polar bears for one … BUT I am kinda interested in ice and snow (lucky eh?) so maybe somewhere “north” / “off the beaten track” but realistically reachable … even if theres nothing much there, im sure the people will be worth the trip, and I can always cheer them up if nothing much happens, we can all swap stories
6. Ohh can you just buy contact lenses off the shelf if you know your prescription?
7. And another ... festivals, street parties, events, any thoughts on timetables to catch these sort of things (i could miss the carnival in Rio if i was left to my own devices, by sitting talking to a little old lady eating toast in the next town up...)


Im sure I’ll think of other stuff but ill just bump the post.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to visiting your fine land, im sure we will get on fine



Qwi aka Andy