TravelStream™ news feed for member starlagurl on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/starlagurl en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:30:50 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257804969/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257804969/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257804969/tpod.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:30:50 -0500 Visit Pittsburgh press junket!

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Dulles, Virginia, United States

OK, so the flight to Dulles airport was just fine this time. Going through security was kind of lame, because United charges $20 for EACH checked bag. What most people do, is chuck the liquids and then check their bag at the ticket checker lady. This ends up being more convenient, aside from the longer security line, because you can just grab your bag as soon as you get out of the plane at your destination. No more lost bags!Anyway... my flight to Ottawa was boarding on time in gate A5. Remember that, because it's important. I had about an hour to kill before it got there, so I sauntered on over to the Duty Free for some shopping. This is also important.I purchased a couple of bottles of liquor for super cheap and the lady at the counter asked if I wanted it delivered to my gate. Would I?! I sure would...So, I'm killing time, using my free Boingo wireless card that I got in Chicago in the summer, totally not paying attention to any announcements that would inform me that my plane was leaving from a different gate. Finally, it's time for me to line up at gate A5. There is a line of people going through the ticket counter. Everything is normal. I give the guy my ticket and ask him if he has my duty free stuff. "Oh no, you get that on the plane." OK cool, no problem, I follow this line of people, with my "sky-checked" bag and check it onto the plane with everyone else. Still no problems. I get onto the plane and ask the flight attendant where my duty free stuff is and she has no idea! OK... weird... she says she'll go look for it, and so I sit down in my seat. The one that matches the letters on my ticket. The flight attendant comes back onto the plane and says... "Excuse me, where are you going today?""Ottawa.""Oh there must be some mistake, this is the plane to Newark.""What?!" I jump up from my seat and run down the stairs. One problem, my bags are already checked on the plane to Newark! A tall, skinny black man with those giant orange plastic ear muffs on sees me freaking out and he helps me find my bag. Meanwhile, a big black lady with massive cornrows and hardcore sunglasses is frantically gesturing at me to get out from behind the wing of the aircraft. The short Asian guy that checked my ticket at the ticket counter is waving at me to tell me to get onto the plane to Ottawa. The first man grabs me and MAKES me run behind a bunch of planes, I can feel the heat emanating from the engines. They're all about ready to take off. I imagine my head getting completely vaporized because some pilot pushed the wrong button at precisely the wrong moment, and I run screaming, behind him, terrified.Meanwhile, the other people are yelling and screaming at me like I'm going to accidentally set off a nuclear holocaust out there. So I just... freeze... and scream some more... not a cool, sophisticated scream like agghhhh! or something, no... a high pitched, little girl, temper tantrum, idon'tknowwhatyouwantmetodorightnowi'msoconfusedandscared scream. You had to be there, really.Eventually they figure out what is wrong with me, and they nicely usher me onto the right plane. Phew. I sit beside a nice blonde lady and we flip through the sky mall catalogue and talk about boys the whole way home.The customs agent tries to charge me for my second bottle of vodka. I had no idea it actually was vodka. I thought it was some kind of fruit mix drink thing. It was going to be $30, but I talked him out of it by batting my eyes and smiling sweetly. OK, so that's a lie, but whatever, he was just nice and I learned not to try and buy too much vodka at the duty free. And now, I am warning you dear readers. Yes, buy things at the duty free, because that stuff will save you from being accidentally sent to Newark. But for god's sake do NOT buy two of them.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257804268/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257804268/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257804268/tpod.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:41:31 -0500 Visit Pittsburgh press junket!

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Today we had only a half day scheduled, and then I had to get on the plane and go back home. We ate at Square Cafe, which was polar opposite to Pamela's. I got the squash crepes and pumpkin chai latte...Kevin, of course, found this whole thing detestable. He made fun of the vegetarian options loudly bellowing "BLECH" when he read that there were soy sausages on the menu. I find it funny that Dave quietly ordered them right after Kevin criticized that particular item.If I had to spend one more day longer with this guy, there is definitely no way I could've kept my mouth shut next time he said something so ignorant and ridiculous. The crepes were artfully done, but a world away from the crepes I ordered last time. Definitely not sugar overload, and tasting decidedly "more healthy" than yesterday. If that is indeed possible with crepes in the first place.The Andy Warhol Museum was just as I expected it would be. A big giant loft space, full of pop art. It was like heaven on earth. My favourite art, all in one place. All from Mr. Warhol, but to top it off, the temporary exhibit was Shepard Fairey, the guy who made that famous Obama stencil, and also the guy who did the Obey Andre the Giant stencil and designed some White Stripes album covers and Smashing Pumpkin's Zeitgeist. Awwwwesome. I could've easily spent a few hours just there. However, it was not to be.Steph, Lee and I left the exhibit at exactly at the time we were scheduled to leave. Kevin, predictably, was sitting waiting for us, presumably bored with the outing for the day.Back on the bus, and before I knew it, the taxi was waiting and we were on our way to the airport. We quickly said goodbye and I snapped a couple of RIDICULOUS ads for the PGH Sky Mall in the terminal shuttle "Forget the news! Go Shopping!"... It never fails to amaze me, how retarded people are.Read the rest, to find out just how retarded I am in the next entry....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257331563/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257331563/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257331563/tpod.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:38:26 -0500 Visit Pittsburgh press junket!

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

We woke up quite a bit earlier today and made our way down to Pamela's for breakfast. This is a chain in Pittsburgh, of insane greasy breakfasts.I ordered what was their specialty. Crepes with fruit and whip cream, covered in brown sugar. It was like, insane sugar overload. The blueberries had a funny texture, they were really granuley and not like blueberries used to taste. I wonder if they were not ripe enough or something... but anyway, total sugar rush for breakfast. The waitress kept bringing out plate after plate of more and more food. I had no idea where the hell people were putting it, but they kept eating it. I was crazy full with my giant crepe already. Lee chatted the waitress up, who had been working at the establishment for over 20 years. I was done early, so I went upstairs to a strange Peruvian craft store, and then walked around Shadyside. I gotta say, Shadyside is definitely pretty gross. From what I saw, it was full of chain stores, American Apparels and Banana Republics, more than you could ever ask for.I quickly became bored and went to take a nap in the back of the bus. This caused some confusion, because Kristin was looking for me for a few minutes. However, I don't think I made anyone wait because Lee was buying some sort of Peruvian blanket.Next stop was the Frick mansion and the art gallery of the same name. I was pretty interested in this, and I wanted to spend as much time as possible on the grounds of the estate. However, Kevin took it upon himself to argue with the public relations guy about the merits of allowing him to videotape footage while touring the mansion. The PR guy would not give in. It was really embarrassing how pushy Kevin was. "Well there's no point in me going on the tour then," he said with a huff....OK, weirdo, let's just go before we run out of time. Always on these tours, you are constantly rushed. It's not a bad thing for writers, because it gives you a LOT of unique content and you can create lots of different stories if you're writing for a mass audience.I certainly enjoy the fast pace, and it makes me irritable when someone takes it upon themselves to cut into my very short period of time by greedily trying to get more footage than is really necessary. Anyway, whatever.The house was marvelous. Built in the late 19th century, it had a children's playhouse just as big many regular houses are today. There was a stable (which now houses a museum of automobiles), a greenhouse and lots of fancy stuff inside the house. Most of it was kept as it originally appeared when Henry Clay Frick lived in it back in the day. So he had all the latest trends in convenient living. Electricity, one of the first "paging" systems for his staff, flushing toilets, aluminum on the ceilings, you know.. all that awesome stuff. Our tour guide was pretty amazing. It wasn't that she was in "period" character, she just really talked like somebody from the early 19th century. You could tell she just lived and breathed this house. I WISH I had a video, just of her. I should have asked her to talk to me outside....After a tour of the rest of the grounds on our own, and a visit to the art gallery, (which had a really great photography exhibit on an old children's hospital) we were off to the strip district for a kind of walking lunch tour. Our first stop was Wholey's Fish Market, something that Allison recommended I visit. We had some vegetarian sushi,... go figure, and then some deep fried smelts. If you go, make sure you check out the live fish in the back, it's almost as good as going to a real aquarium... almost.Next up, Mancini's, a very popular place to buy these things called pepperoni rolls. They are baked fresh in this bakery. It's almost like a pizza, without the sauce, but in the shape of a roll... I thought it was delicious. We stopped in at Labad's for some hummus, then onto Primanti Bros. to try their famous sandwich with the french fries in it. This time, it was moderately delicious, the coleslaw was a lot more vinagery. I wonder if going to the actual original restaurant made the difference?Then, we tried a bunch of CRAZY cheese at the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company. There were at least 200 different types of cheese there, and the manager knew everything about every single one. There were three more stops on our tour and I was already starting to fall asleep after eating all this delicious food. Kristin was ushering us along quickly now, so we were briskly taken to eat some pumpkin biscotti and taste some homemade wine at Enrico Biscotti.After that, one more tasting of "mele" at Colangelo's. An amazingly flaky pastry stuffed with almond pudding type stuff. The original mele has custard in it, which contains raw eggs. However raw eggs can't be sold in American restaurants like that.Phew... so we all just rolled ourselves back onto the bus. Sadly, there was no time for me to purchase a Steelers touque. It had already started getting cold and I only brought a spring jacket, because someone advised me that it was sooooo warm south of the 49th parallel. (Mom!)I probably would have regretted that touque later on anyway...We had a couple of hours to go through the Carnegie Museum, which I was pretty excited for. We saw some dinosaurs and Steph and I made a new 5 year old friend while hanging out inside a giant plastic Blue Whale heart. We asked him where his parents were, he simply said, "I don't have any parents."Oh boy...So I sort of kept an eye on him until the people who actually were his parents showed up.So the whale exhibit was good, even if it was a bit smelling of fish. After that, we went to the art part of the museum, which was also good. I especially liked this piece (found at the bottom), where children's books were made to look like a flock of birds taking off into the sky.We went back to the Duquesne Incline, but this time we actually went up the hill. I didn't understand how the apparatus actually worked, but I took a video of the machine part for my dad, because I'm sure he'll be interested in that. After learning all about the history of the incline, it was about time for dinner. DINNER!? Just the fact of THINKING about food physically hurt my stomach. There WAS still room for some pumpkin beer, however. So, I watched everyone chow down... (I don't know HOW) while sipping on my beer and waiting for Ray to show up. I noticed all of a sudden he was 15 minutes late! Oh no, the place was busy, so I assumed he hadn't seen us all the way at the back. I got up and there he was, just getting in. Good!He sat down and there magically appeared in front of me a pierogie. I was informed that I couldn't leave Pennsylvania without trying an authentic pierogie, so there I went again, eating some more carbohydrates and saturated fats. Ray is a funny guy, always bursting into laughter and telling lots of funny stories about his travels over the years. You can find some of them here: http://www.travelpod.com/members/rcysEveryone else at the table was ready for bed, but I still wanted to go out! Arunan had just gotten there, and he said that the famous "BBT" I was told about was right down the street. PLUS it was drum n bass night. How could I possibly resist?So we all carpooled there in Arunan's car, and then when we got there, the place was a little sedated. That's too bad. I was the only one dancing, except sometimes Arunan would join me. Ray was not into it, unfortunately. "Yeah I have not danced to this in like... 10 years""I know it's great!" I yelled back. He made a slightly amused face right back at me. This crazy guy with a huuuuuuuuuge drugged out smile wearing tie dye and everything else to make him look like a typical rave-kid, drug dealer was talking to me and I tried to get him to dance with me. I figured if ANYONE in this place would dance it was this guy. He did, but I think he really was too crazy to concentrate... I dunno.OK, so we dance dance dance and then a few $1 beers later, we were all pooped and went home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257158749/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257158749/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257158749/tpod.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:50:14 -0500 Visit Pittsburgh press junket!

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Arunan went to work today really early and then I slept in. I worked all day and Justin from the Halloween party on Saturday dropped in unexpectedly. Well, it was kind of expected by Arunan told me he liked me when he met me. Frankly, I didn't remember him. He invited me over to his place later on tonight before heading over to dinner. Justin has a jacuzzi... yeah don't eyeroll me... I know....We then headed over to the Grand View Saloon. I went there to get a sneak peek of the magnificent view of the city over dinner, and of course, to meet up with Allison and Erwin, who are TravelPod bloggers as well. It was a shame not everyone could meet up on the same day, at the same time, but that was how the cookie crumbled. For some reason, I accidentally told Erwin that we would be meeting at 6 p.m., rather than 6:30. So, he was there waiting for us when we got there. Allison, of course, was there at 6:30, the actual time that I told her we would meet. I ordered a Pittsburgh salad, complete with French fries, steak and cheese... weird but good I guess. I don't understand why they couldn't just serve it all on one plate.We chatted away, and Erwin and his friend Samantha had to go very soon. Allison and Arunan got on remarkably well, so well, that I teased him mercilessly about it later. Allison took us to the Duquesne outlook, and then she went home. Justin, Arunan and I went to the Church Brew Works.This place is awesome. When we got out of the car, Arunan was like, "Oh yeah, this place... it's OK"... and then he opened the door to a completely breathtaking scene! The church has an incredibly high ceiling and people were everywhere enjoying the beer that was fittingly brewed on the altar of the church. Pittsburgh has a "thing" for putting old churches to new use like this.Arunan didn't seem too into the hot tub party, which was also a shame (!!!) because there I am going alone in a strange boy's house in a hot tub. Justin's car actually has GroundFX on it, and you can change the colours and patterns on it for 150 different styles of lighting underneath your car. Yep, it sure does.So anyway, hot tub and nice evening in the backyard at Justin's house. I was too tired to go back to Arunan's place, so I slept over there. (In the guest room people... don't get all gossipy scandalous on me, OK?...)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257245156/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257245156/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257245156/tpod.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:40:20 -0500 Visit Pittsburgh press junket!

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Today was the day for me to go on my incredible tour of Pittsburgh, organized by VisitPittsburgh.Arunan was nice enough to offer to drive me to the bus stop, which was a short walk away. There was wayyyyyy too much traffic though, so I just walked by myself, gave Arunan a big hug and went on my merry way. Walking faster than traffic. Before I knew it, I was getting on the big shiny bus to downtown. I met a guy who was commuting to Philadelphia because when US Airways closed their hub in Pittsburgh, he lost his job, but the company found him another one on the other side of the state. That sucks for him. It was SO easy to get to Shadyside from Arunan's place, which was all the way across town, but it was only one bus transfer. I had to walk through some CRAZY construction, and I got on the wrong bus once, but the bus drivers were all very helpful and they got me to my destination without any hitches. I checked into my room, tried to get the internet working, but it wouldn't go. So then I used the lobby computer which sucked the big one. TravelPod was launching the redesign today, so I wanted to see it. While I was doing that, everyone started to show up. Steph Butler from Fodor's, Dave Thompson, Merle Meyerowitz, Kevin and Sue McCarthy, Phyllis Steinberg and Lee Dunlap.Kevin and Sue were delayed for some reason, so as soon as we got there, we went for lunch at Point Brugge Cafe. After having a delicious shrimp stir fry and a Hop Devil beer, we got back on the bus to Lawrenceville, an up and coming neighbourhood in Pittsburgh, just recently gentrifying into something artsy and brand new. Our first stop was Dozen, for some melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon buns and vegan cookies. We met the owner and then checked out some of the old architecture and the "doughboy" statue. You can find these types statues all over the USA, commemorating the deaths of soldiers in WWI. Why is it called a doughboy? There are many explanations... Our tour guide says that it refers to men who wiped their hands free of chalky-white soil on their pants while training in the southwest USA. Wikipedia says: It arose during the Mexican–American War, after observers noticed U.S. infantry forces were constantly covered with chalky dust from marching through the dry terrain of northern Mexico, giving the men the appearance of unbaked dough.Next stop, Frankies for some homemade sausages. These ones really tasted homemade, just like my Grandpa used to make. Then we stopped in a couple of art galleries, where a lady showed us how they make Japanese woodcut printings, with hundreds of colours, each painting requires a separate wood cut for each colour used in the design.I was reprimanded for taking a photo (of people not of paintings) in this gallery. After that, I didn't take any questionable photos anymore. You'll see why later...We checked out the Grey Box Theater, a brand new place for people to stage independent performances. Then, a fair trade/organic/environmentally friendly store, a weird retro house decorating store, we had some coffee samples (which were delicious), checked out a renovation type place, where they use jeans to insulate their building, then a Persian rug place, then a few other retro type stylish places before stopping for a drink at Brillobox. Someone had recommended that I visit this place before I left, so I was happy to go there. It's decorated all in red and vinyl and there is a Hammerhead shark on the wall!The highlight of the day however, was the sushi at Tamari.It was soooooooo incredible. I ordered a "Sexy Dragon" but also some quails eggs wrapped in bacon and got to taste the various hors d'ouvres that everyone ordered... including some lobster and a special tuna piece that the chef made just for us. It melted in my mouth. Oh my god amazing. I have never been to Japan, but if I did, I would expect that the sushi would taste just like this there.When we got back to the hotel, I was really looking forward to another hot jacuzzi. The one in the hotel looked promising, but alas, it was colder than the pool. I asked at the front desk what was going on, they said they didn't know, and that they would fix it tomorrow. Drat!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1256985931/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1256985931/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1256985931/tpod.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:40:13 -0500 Visit Pittsburgh press junket!

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Riiiiiiiiiing...Oh my god, is it 6:30 already? I hardly got any sleep... bleh...I quickly get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast. What is this? Make your own waffle? OMG, awesome. You put the batter in, close the waffle iron, rotate it around, and when the beeper goes off, it's done! Incredible innovation in hotel breakfast facilities. I'm thoroughly impressed.The result is a perfectly browned waffle, complete with fake tasting maple syrup, I guess you can't fault them, this is definitely not Quebec.Soon, it's 7:30, time for me to catch the shuttle bus. I am right on time. The driver does not come out... OK, she is now 10 minutes late. What's this? You forgot I was supposed to be at the airport? Ugh, whatever. I'm still early enough, but I have just enough time to make it through security and get to the gate again. No chillout time before the flight. No matter, it's a really short one anyway.On the way there, I realize that I left my very favourite hat that I bought in Philadelphia in my hotel room. I try to call the Comfort Inn, but 411 can't seem to find it. I have to quickly catch my plane and forget about it for the time being. Before I know it I'm in Pittsburgh! I call Arunan as soon as I get there, and he says he will STILL come and pick me up. He is a saint. Miraculously....my bags are ACTUALLY THERE! WAITING FOR ME!Phew!I collect everything and eagerly go to the washroom to finally brush my teeth and everything else I didn't get to do, because I checked all of my hygienic products... you know... liquid ban and all... While I am waiting to be picked up, I move some stuff from my carryon to my checked bag and lo and behold (!!!!trumpet jubliation!!!!!) I find my hat! Before too long, Arunan is there to pick me up in the drizzling rain. He had joked about me bringing him some maple syrup before, and I had it for him in the car. He didn't think I'd actually do it, HA! That showed him!... Maple syrup joker... serves him right... or... something...Soon, we are off to meet some CSers at an Indian buffet, the Maharaja. It's not as bad as it sounds. I picked it without knowing it was a buffet. It was better than Ottawa buffets. Arunan is Indian and he doesn't like it so much. It's "just wrong", he says.Anyway, Cathy, Ruchi and Ben join us and we eat wayyyy too much. AND I have to go to Primanti's later... Oh my, that is a disaster waiting to happen.We hang out for a couple of hours just talking about Pittsburgh things. At one point, a guy at another table overhears us debating the different Rambo movies. I've only seen the parts I saw last night, so I have no idea, but he comes over to explain to us the various parts of the series. Thank you, random guy!After the relaxing meal and conversation, Arunan and I agree that it would be a good idea to go back to his place and take a nap. I definitely need it.We wake up around 5:30 and then plan our night. I'm going to go to Primanti's to meet Jeremy and then over to Clearstory Studios for the rest of the time.So, Arunan (aka my private chauffeur, as he came to be known over the course of the weekend) and I headed to Primanti's. Jeremy was there waiting for us and we ordered a big giant sandwich each. I was not too impressed with it, it seemed to be that this sandwich that is so famous is really bland! Even after adding hot sauce.Arunan went to some house party and Jeremy and I decided to hang around and chat a bit. We walked to the house party, but didn't find anyone there. That was because they were in the backyard, as we found out later. So, we just went to Clearstory Studios for our $8 party. There was a crazy amount of booze  available, as well as a giant orange Gatorade container labelled "Mark's Mystery Punch". There were also lots and lots of kegs in the back corner, that many people had already broken into.So... what goes with all of this drinking? Lots of peeing of course. There is only one bathroom for the entire place.You can see where this is going. Before even 10 p.m., the toilets are clogged beyond recognition, the floors are flooded and the whole back-left corner of the place stinks of sewage. Dis-gusting.There is a Giant Eagle (similar to our Metro) that is open until midnight just down the street. I head over there and find that I'm not the only one who has thought of using this washroom. I am shocked to find that someone's ass has exploded all over the toilet there. Blech!When I get back, Jeremy has found his "cow". His girlfriend, Angie has dressed up as a cow and he has dressed up as a farmer. Soon after this, Arunan shows up in his "Son of Man" costume, which surprisingly, a lot of people understand. Rosie the Riveter is there too. She has just been elected to city council and will be starting her term in January. How cool of a city is this, when reporters and city councillors work TOGETHER to put on such a crazy awesome Halloween party every year? Pretty amazing. I also meet a few social media types like @iheartPGH (Stands for I love Pittsburgh, for those out of the loop) and @deeplocal.The beer runs out, and people need to pee even worse than before, so the party thins out. The prizes are given out and we end up at another bar down the street where Arunan's neighbours are. I get to try a Yuengling (nobody drinks the famous Iron City brew, I'm told)...I talk politics with a former marine and then go home for a good sleep back on Arunan's pull out couch.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257072342/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257072342/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1257072342/tpod.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:39:06 -0500 Visit Pittsburgh press junket!

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

The deal for this trip, was that I would work one full day to make up for the extra vacation days I needed to go for 6 days like this. So all morning, I emailed a LOT of travel-type people, to tell them that they are on our Top 500 Twitter Travel list.If you haven't seen the list yet, please follow it here: http://www.twitter.com/travelpod/listArunan went out for a romantic walk amongst the fallen leaves with a ladyfriend of his and when he came back, we went with some other Couchsurfers to play games on the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning, organized by Adam.He just loves obscure games. So much so, that he is putting together a festival of obscure gameswww.pghplays.blogspot.comI didn't have any running shoes, but no matter, I went around in my big black platform shoes that I foolishly wore this week.We threw around his foxtail. A weird tennis ball with a tail at the end of it that you can catch, and then we played circle soccer, a really ingenious way of playing soccer with only one goal, and a giant exercise ball and then another game that was just invented, called fricket. Kind of a mixture of cricket and baseball, played with the aforementioned foxtail.Some videos uploaded below document the day's events. I didn't realize until it was pretty late, that wait a minute, there's Carnegie Hall! I was surrounded by all these famous architectural structures... *sigh*... how glorious.Soon, it was dark, and we could hardly see the foxtail anymore, so we went for some food at Fuel and Fuddle. I had a "smashed potato" pizza (wha?)... it was delicious BTW.... and that was pretty much the extent of it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1256899521/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1256899521/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/52/1256899521/tpod.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:41:03 -0500 Visit Pittsburgh press junket!

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Sterling, Virginia, United States

I rushed from work ready to tackle the giant U.S. customs lines at the airport before my 7:20 p.m. flight to Washington. I got there, sort of disappointed that there weren't any. I flew through the screening process, faced no interrogation by the customs officer and waited around, patiently for about 1.5 hours only to find that my flight was delayed until 8 p.m. Ohhhhhhh man. All of us crowd around the Air Canada booking agent guy, frustrated and wondering if we'll catch our connecting flights. Most people still will, but I'm left wondering about mine."Oh yeah, they'll hold the flight for you once you get there," the cool and collected African American man tells me with a tiny grin and a nod. I briefly sense a tiny bit of insincerity and bullshit sliding through the gap in his front teeth."Well, can you please make sure that my bags are transferred very quickly, like, flag them or something?" Everytime I go to the states, I lose my bags, no word of a lie."Oh yeah, for sure," and then he types something into the machine and I go back and sit down waiting for my flight to finally leave.I decide to use the facilities and I have to tell you, I really have a beef with automatic toilets in airports. The toilets flushed not once, not twice, but FOUR times in one visit to the lavatory.It turns out they needed to change the brakes on the plane from Ottawa to Washington, so we were delayed at least an hour and a half.My plane to Pittsburgh leaves at 9:55 p.m., we slowly taxi into the airport at about 10:03 p.m. I run to the gate, only to be told that yes, of course, my flight has already left. Why on earth would they wait a few moments for a stranded Canadian to get on the plane?Anyway, me and another guy from Cornwall (Ontario), Dwayne, are both stranded tonight. We are directed to the customer service line, where we are given a voucher for $15 for dinner, a stay at the Comfort Inn & Suites, and our boarding pass for tomorrow. I guess it's not THAT bad. I mean, I'd rather be stranded than be on a plane without any working brakes, right?The problem comes however, with the clueless United Airlines staff sending us on a wild goose chase to our hotel."Go out these doors and then wait for your shuttle, it should come in 20 minutes."OK, so we wait... and we wait. A half hour goes by and everyone but us has already found their shuttle.We're out there all alone, so I decide to call the hotel and ask how long the shuttle runs. Of course, it doesn't run right now. Back inside to talk to United."Yes, of course, here is a voucher for a Washington Flyer, go out the door and make a left and then a right."We follow the signs to the Washington Flyer bus, not the taxis. Mistake again. We wait for a while, I find a schedule that says the buses aren't running either at this time.Back to the United desk. "Nooooo, go straight right there, take a taxi!" A different lady from before tells us. Grrrrr.... OK, I'm need a drink, I'm spending my food voucher. The only thing still open is Guava & Java, so I try to buy one of their famous guava juices. I have to spend all $15... on what? Some yogurt and fruit?The guy behind me in line offers to pay me if I buy him a sandwich. Sweet. $7 for free!Thanks guy behind me in line. I also order an orange juice for Dwayne.Dwayne has gone ahead and ordered the cab, by the time I get back there it's there. Finally, we take the cab with an unresponsive man with a big grey beard.We get to the hotel and it's nice and new, and pretty plush, thank you Air Canada. I guess.I get to my room, can't resist catching a bit of Rambo on Showtime, drink some decaf and then promptly pass out.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/51/1256477826/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/51/1256477826/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/51/1256477826/tpod.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:34:28 -0400 To Ajax, for a girls-only-celebrate-our-accomplishments party!

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Welllllll we slept in a little bit, then lounged around and made some breakfast of eggs and toast... and more cheese.Carrie and Kim went home later, but I hung around until 6-ish because that's when my ride was coming. We tried to set up the DVD player, but that didn't work with Jamie's TV... then we just read some books and things and kind of napped. Jamie had to go take some stuff back to Wal-Mart and Home Depot, so we did that and then she dropped me back off at the Wendy's, where I had to wait quite a long time for my rideshare. But they were nice and called to tell me they'd be late.I ended up getting home at about midnight, after falling in and out of consciousness in the front seat of the car. Aw.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/51/1256391419/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/51/1256391419/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/starlagurl/51/1256391419/tpod.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:10:08 -0400 To Ajax, for a girls-only-celebrate-our-accomplishments party!

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Ajax, Ontario, Canada

Jamie and I woke up early, I was awoken by some birds freaking out after they heard me stretching in bed. I was feeling really dirty, so I took a shower and after that, we went to the Dollar Store to buy decorations, Sobey's to buy food (I made a cheese tray) and the LCBO for some wine.We didn't have breakfast, so I snacked on some dollar store chocolate yummy nummy. After we got back, Jamie's mom was there setting up a baby swing, in case Tara came with her baby. She ended up not coming.Then basically we just cleaned up and Jamie called me a wimp because I wouldn't clean the toilets without a toilet brush. She just shoves her hands right in there! Wow. We set up the crepe paper and balloon decorations and made fruit kabobs, it was good times.By the time people came over, I was about to pass out on the floor from all that.We quickly got reacquainted, drank a little too much wine and danced to 90s pop music, but not before cracking open the old yearbooks and gossiping about all the people that never left Welland.Carmen went back home for the night and Carrie and Kim slept over.
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