UK

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Off to London!

Well, Passport Canada came through… I was so happy to see the “you have something at the counter” notice this morning because I knew all the packages I’m still expecting aren’t due till the end of the week so it had to be my passport! I got in and promptly went to skyscanner.ca to book my flight. I’ve been checking prices daily and the fluctuation is incredible. I really thought I would leave mid-week as that’s when the best prices always show up. Indeed, I saw a $400 ticket leaving next Tuesday on a route I was happy with, but I was hyperventilating at the thought of leaving that quickly.

I did one final scan of the month and an unbelievable deal through Travelocity popped up for next Friday, the 24th. Not only was the price great, but the route was perfect. It left Regina at 12:30, about the earliest I’d want to fly out since I have a 2.5 hour drive to the airport and I have to be there three hours early. It did have two stops, but one of them would let me finally add Newfoundland to my visited provinces list ( 🙂 ) and it was by far the quickest trip I’d seen between Regina and London clocking in at just under 13 hours. It would also take me to Gatwick rather than Heathrow.

But there was just one ticket left at that price… I lost out on a couple of Travelocity deals to Mérida while I was thinking things over, so I didn’t hesitate to grab my credit card. And I got the seat! I’m not happy I’ll be flying all the way to London on WestJet (ie. in a sardine can), but for $333, I would have been nuts not to jump on this deal! $333 for Regina to London! I can’t even get to Montreal for that price!

The way the flight is broken up will be nice. I’m flying to Toronto first, a three-hour trip. I’ll then I have the bare minimum of time needed to make my connection to St. John’s, 40 minutes. That will also be a three-hour trip. I’ll have a 1.5 hour layover, which is the perfect layover length, and then it’ll just be five hours to London. No sitting in the same seat for eight plus hours. Of course, I don’t expect to get any sleep so it’ll be interesting to see how I am Saturday when I land in London. 🙂

When I went to Scotland in ’98, I had a similar itinerary and hadn’t slept in almost 30 hours by the time I got to Glasgow. I pushed through my day, went to bed around 7:00 PM and woke up pretty much on local time the next morning. I’m hoping the same thing will happen this year. Yes, I might be nearly 20 years older, but I’m also much healthier. So I’m optimistic I won’t be a zombie for my whole time in London. 🙂

I’ve secured a private room in a house through Airbnb for four nights (three full days not counting the Saturday). It should be convenient to everything I want to see, not too difficult to get to from Gatwick, and at $56 per night, it’s right in my budget. So with the flight to London and accommodation being so inexpensive, I should be able to handle the outrageous food prices.

Now, to figure out the Oyster card system…

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One Major Itinerary Decision Made

For months now, I’ve been trying to find the cheapest way to get myself to Europe. I knew there had to be a city that would be insanely inexpensive to get to even from Regina and from which I could get to my next destination for very little. I thought that Frankfurt might be that city and, indeed, there are great deals there, but it’s not the best deal.

As it turns out, the best deal is… London! Actually, both London and Glasgow are very close in price, but if you’re going on to Central and Eastern Europe, then you might as well go directly into London since you’d have to go through there from Glasgow anyway. I am finally ready to book a flight as soon as my passport gets here. I should be spending the last week of June (this month!) or the first week of July in London!

I have three options to get to London:

  1. I can pay out of pocket for the whole trip and do the Regina-Calgary-London route in 13 hours door-to-door. Rates for that are between $400 and $450, but I’m seeing deals as low as $325 on less desirable routes.
  2. I can use my travel reward points and pay only about $100 in taxes and fees, to do Regina to several different Canadian destinations to London, with super long layovers in 30 to 45 hours… If I had a job that I could literally do anywhere, that option would probably be a no brainer, but since I don’t I think I will save my points for the trip home and just pay out of pocket this time around since I’m not on a super tight budget.
  3. I’m going to keep monitoring deals from Toronto since I can get to Toronto for free with my points. If I find something under $300 from Toronto, it would be worth doing the trip this way.

From London, I am sitting on three different possibilities. From least to most likely:

  1. I am waiting to hear back about a housesitting assignment in London for July. I know that I would very likely never get another opportunity to spend a month so very near central London for very little cost, hence why I am considering such a twist in my travel plans. But I find this to be a very unlikely outcome and it’s not one I’m counting on.
  2. I am also waiting to hear back about another housesitting assignment in a mountain resort town outside of Prague, Czech Republic. I would really love for this to work out, but the family is having trouble confirming their travel plans even though we have been talking about this for over four months! I won’t know for another two weeks and so I’m not going to make any plans beyond London at this time. London to Prague, or just about anywhere else in Europe, is so inexpensive that I’ll be fine to book at the last minute.
  3. Just do a few days in London and then fly to Bulgaria or to some other destinations and take my time getting to Bulgaria.

London is one of the most expensive cities in the world and was never on my radar of places for me to visit. When I was in Scotland 18 years ago, a lot of folks told me I should take the train to London for a few days and even then I did not see the point when there was so much to see and do in Scotland. I never regretted my decision. So other than the British Museum, I had absolutely no idea until a couple of weeks ago what I would want to see or do in London, but I did know that I would regret not spending at least a few days there. Now, I have a bit of an itinerary sorted out and I’m beyond ready to get there! 🙂

So if option one doesn’t pan out, which would give me a lot of time to explore the city, I found surprisingly decent Airbnb rates for private rooms. So as long as the accommodation doesn’t all disappear before my passport gets here, I can treat myself to a holiday in London for four or five nights. It will give me time to get over the worst of the jet lag and to see a bit of that huge city. However, I may not have that much time if the Czech gig works out since at the rate my passport is taking, I won’t get to London till the very end of June and I would be needed near Prague on July 1st.

But if option one does out, I would be in London till August 12th, and then in Bulgaria through the rest of August, September, and as far into October as I can stand the weather. I will then need to find somewhere warmish and out of the Schengen Area to hole up until the end of December, when I would head to Portugal and/or southern Spain for three months.

If option two works out, I would be in the Czech Republic to the start of August. I wouldn’t have had time to visit Prague at the beginning of my stay, so I would spend some time there, then go to Poland for a week and then start working my way down to Bulgaria. I have a detailed itinerary for that planned where I’d be able to see Budapest, Bucharest, Belgrade, Athens, and a host of other cities and countries before arriving in Bulgaria at the start of September. I would then be there as long as I can stand the weather, up through the end of November, and then my itinerary would line up with the first option.

If neither of the first two options works out, I’m probably going straight to Bulgaria.

But, really, I’m not ready at this time to commit to anything beyond getting to London other than being certain that I will end up in Bulgaria at some point (I have not learned to say, “Beer, please,” and “thank you” for nothing!) and that I want to spend the dead of winter (January through March) in Portugal. The Schengen Area rules are making things complicated and I have to make up my mind about Turkey.

Things are going to move very quickly in the next couple of weeks! Soon as the passport’s here, I’ll book a flight and at least a couple of nights’ accommodation in London. Once I know what date I’m leaving, I can plan to terminate my vehicle insurance, my power, and my cell service, all of which will reduce my budget significantly and help me pay for things like my worldwide health insurance and a special commercial policy for my electronics.

I’ve got my packing list pretty much locked down and am awaiting just a few more online orders to be able to start packing trials. You can look forward to a detailed packing list post when I get to that point, something I’m sure the ladies will enjoy more than the men. 😉

And, of course, I want to keep working as much as I possibly can before I go! I’m starting to refill the coffers a little and I have as big a client load as I can juggle right now, so I am leaving with no concerns on the work end of things.

I just have to remind myself that I’m not heading on a year-long vacation and that my focus should be on staying long-term in a couple of locations (my preferred mode of travel anyway) than trying to hit as many countries as I can since, surely, this won’t be my last time across the pond…

So London! Last time I was in the UK, a pint in Scotland averaged about £1.25. I have a feeling I’m going to get severe sticker shock the first time I walk into a pub in a few weeks! 😀

 

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Lunch at Mary’s and Off to the Cinema

I used to go to the movies a lot, but with the decline in film quality over the years and difficulty to get to a cinema when there is something good playing, I’ve lost the habit. The only movie I really wanted to see last winter never came to Maz, so I never got motivated to figure out Going to the Movies in Mexico. But there was a big movie coming out this fall that I wanted to see in theatres and it just happened to be opening in Mexico today: Spectre, the new Bond movie.

I figured that with the number of Mexicans who speak English I could surely find a showing of Spectre in English, possibly with Spanish subtitles. Absolutely! In fact, I had quite my pick of showtimes and locations. I chose the 2:20 show at the Gran Plaza Cinépolis. 2:20 because it was a very long movie and I didn’t want to get home too late. Gran Plaza because of its convenient location near Mega. I knew that I could walk to the store after, get some groceries, and then easily grab a cab to the embarcadero.

I left home around 11:30 this morning and did my usual walk to the Fisherman’s Monument to grab a bus. For the first time, I managed to flag one down outside an official stop! I got off deep in the Golden Zone since I wanted to grab lunch at Mary’s, a burger joint reader Sandy has recommended more than once.

I wish that I had glowing reviews for Mary’s, but it just wasn’t my thing. Sorry, Sandy. Yes, the burger was good, but last year I could grab a really good plain burger just up the road for half the price or a fancier burger at Beach Burger at the Plazuela Machado for a third of the price. I also didn’t care for the Gringo ambiance, with the English only and late ’90s’ music that I was sick of listening to 17 years ago.

Look at these prices. They’re steep even by US standards!

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I had the Texas burger, with jalapeño, cheese, BBQ sauce, onions and bacon. Beach Burger does something very similar, only with avocado instead of jalapeño. I found Mary’s burger quite salty, but I liked the mix of ingredients. The peppers weren’t spicy at all, but added some zing.

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I did appreciate that they serve Heinz ketchup!

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The bill came in both pesos and USD, so disheartening. The peso price is a better value, by a full USD.

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I would go to Mary’s again if that’s where someone wanted to meet me or if I had a guest who was craving a little slice of the States, but not on my own. I’m glad I tried it out, but it’s not the Mexico I came here for.

From Mary’s, I headed south towards Rafael Buelna, stopping to get a cold bottle of water at an Oxxo and an ice cream at Thrifty’s (in lieu of a snack at the theatre). I had no sooner turned onto Rafael Buelna when I was accosted by a gang of Mexican tourists from out of state who mistook me for a Mexican! I sent them off to Taco Loco, after they complained that they couldn’t find a taco joint with ‘real’ prices, no English on the menu, and spicy salsa. I have a feeling that my directing Mexican tourists to authentic tacos in the heart of Gringoland is going to be my favourite story of the winter!

By the time I reached the Gran Plaza, I was more than ready for air conditioning! The cinema is located in a mall, a very similar setup to what you see NOB. I had no trouble buying my ticket (saying, literally, “Double zero seven” because I had no idea how to pronounce Spectre in Spanish! One thing that surprised me is that they have assigned seating. I had to pick my seat without ever having been in their theatres, so I chose one right smack in the middle of the theatre, which wound up being row G. G is not an easy letter to pronounce in Spanish (it’s sort of like yeah, but more guttural), but I was apparently very clear. What can I say, I like a challenge! A movie ticket was just $43!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s 2.56USD or 3.40CAD!

I was early, so I sat with my phone in the lounge until it was close to start time. I had a glance at the food, and it was super pricy, close to NOB prices. Popcorn is ‘palomitas.’ Then, I went in. The seats were very comfy and reclined slightly. Row G was one row too close to the screen for me, so I’ll go with H next time.

Pirating warnings, commercials, and previews started promptly at 2:20 and lasted for what seemed forever. So going to the cinema in Mexico is just like going to the cinema in Canada and the US. I went to the cinema twice when I was in Scotland, and mind you this was almost 20 years ago and in very small town theatres, but if the movie started at 2:20, it started at 2:20. All the previews and whatnot were before then.

The movie was absolutely amazing! I can’t believe how bad Quantum of Solace was when Casino Royale, Skyfall, and Spectre were so good. I’m tempted to go back and give Quantum of Solace another chance now that some of its issues have been addressed…

I sometimes have difficulty with the British accent and wish I had subtitles, so I was glad to have them for this one, even if they were in Spanish! They actually helped me out a few times.

The movie finished at 5:00 and I spent a full 10 minutes wandering around the mall looking for an exit! I finally made my way back to the entrance I’d come in on, clear across the mall from the cinema, so the equivalent of walking two extra blocks from Mega. It was still light out and I headed off to the grocery store, refusing service from a pulmonía along the way.

While I prefer to shop at Soriana and Ley, each grocery store has some things the other doesn’t. Mega has the best bakery section (Raisin bread with no sugar! Pumpernickel!) and I can count on it to have hummus (thanks again, Sandy!). I got what I needed, amounting to three bags’ worth, and headed down to get a taxi.

There was a pulmonía and a regular taxi waiting out front, with the drivers sitting at a table chatting. Normally when you come out of a store laden with packages, taxi drivers will fall on you in droves, but not these guys. I said to them, “Taxi?” and they looked at each other until one finally asked me where I was going. When I told him the embarcadero, he said, “Why do you want to go there?!” That’s very unusual for my experience with Mexico. People here don’t question you and assume you know what you’re doing unless you ask for help. I was tired and retorted, “Hoping to sleep in my bed tonight, thank you very much.” He did a double take and told me that the fare would be $60, which is average for that ride, so not worth bargaining down. He didn’t help me with my door or my packages either at Mega or at the embarcadero, so I didn’t tip. Oh, and this was a real taxi again, dang!

Here’s a map of my day. The red tear drop is Mega. Pemex la Ceiba at the bottom right is across Emilio Barragán from the embarcadero. So I walked from there to Fisherman’s Monument, where I got on the bus to get to Mary’s. From Mary’s, I walked to the cinema, then back to the Mega, where I got a cab. The cab took a winding route that mostly parallels the bus route.

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I was tempted to get a couple of hot dogs for supper at the embarcadero, but I was hoping the hot dog lady would be up and running on this side so I could get them to go and put my own mustard relish on them. Turns out, she’s out of business. Dang. I did pick up some beer on the way and decided to have one with some of my bread, cheese, salami, and hummus for a quick and easy supper.

It’s been a long, full, and great day in Maz again! But I think tomorrow will be an Isla day… 🙂

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The Winter of My Dirty Feet

Sitting at Charly’s Rock tonight munching on my octopus tacos as I watched the Sea of Cortez, I was flooded with a feeling I couldn’t understand at first. It was overwhelming and I almost choked on it as tears welled up in my eyes and threatened to spill over. I took a deep breath to calm myself and then I knew what it was I was feeling.

If my life was a movie, there would have been a montage running backwards through the last seventeen years of my life ending with me sitting on a bench by Melrose Abbey in Scotland. The feeling was utter oneness with the universe and my place in it. Peace. A certainty that I am exactly where I am supposed to be and that my life is on track.

I’ve always felt that I was being prepared for something. Part of that something was my winter here in Mexico. So many little life lessons all added up to no significant culture shock and an ability to slip so easily into my Mexican routine. I’ve been wanting to come to Mexico for so long, but I was patient and went when going there felt like an inevitability, the most logical and sensible next step in my life.

There is no doubt in my mind that I will be back at Isla this time in seven months. And there is little doubt that I’ll have Mexican residency within the next few years and citizenship within the next decade.

The thing about travel, truly living in a new place instead of just vacationing there, is that it expands your horizons and refashions your worldview. I remember taking a train to Mountainview, California, eight years ago, my first time being in a warm climate, and having a life altering revelation. I didn’t have to keep trying to enjoy winter and cold weather. I could choose something else because there were other options!

Just because I was born in Canada does not mean that I am forced to accept its climate or culture of apathy or exorbitant cost of living. The whole world is open to me and I can choose to live in a climate where I am healthier. Rather than bemoan the status quo and lack of desire to grow as a people, I can choose to live somewhere that is growing into ‘first world’ status and choosing its own path that honours the past while shaping an exciting future. Or I can choose to live outside the first world because I know I can be very happy with very little as long as I have good internet… and just about anywhere in the world has better internet than Canada anyway. And then, there’s my income, barely enough to eke out an existence in Canada, yet sufficient to live well in less developed countries. I might not love what I do, but I love the freedom of schedule it affords me and when I can live somewhere like Mexico where that money buys me a lot of freedom, it really makes me feel stupid to have ever considered giving it all up for a ‘real’ job in Canada.

The life education I gained in the last several years was costly and now I need to focus on paying it all back. I’m grateful that Mexico is relatively close by and will provide me with the stimulation I need I until I can afford to take off and explore the far reaches of our world. I’m also thankful that I found a sliver of Canada that is calling me back, a piece of property that I love and where I don’t feel that my values are compromised. Haven is a blessing and I can honestly say that sad as I am to leave Mexico tomorrow, I am happy to be heading home.

Just think of what lies ahead for me; nearly six months of good weather under the bright blue skies of my beloved Prairies while knowing that my life now is a nearly eternal summer and that I do not have to dread the coming winter. I’ll have a brief spell of cold before I can leave and, soon enough, my feet will be getting reaccustomed to the grit of sand between the toes and forgetting what closed shoes feel like.

For the last seventeen years, this song has been a lament. Fond memories of my Scottish travels were marred by the failures that followed my great adventure across the pond.

Now, I can say, Caledonia, you were the best thing I ever had and I can finally remember you with only joy in my heart and not an ounce of regret.

¡Gracias, Mexico, y hasta noviembre!

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A Little Cultural Research

I’ve done a lot of research about Mexico over the years, confident in my belief that I’d eventually live there, if only as a snowbird. But now that it’s really real, I’m having a burst of panic thinking that I really need to know things I take for granted in Canada and the US, like tipping and how the currency works, never mind all the cultural etiquette!

My only experience traveling in a country that doesn’t use dollars was a month-long trip to Scotland in 1998. I remember my first night in Edinburgh (third night in Scotland) like it was yesterday. A fellow backpacker, Michael, and I decided to go have dinner together. I ordered penne in a rosé sauce and was shocked to find meat in it (I was a vegetarian back then). But even more clearly than that I remember paying the bill and Michael asking me three times if I really mean to tip what I was tipping. It was only later that night that I realised I’d given a nearly 30% tip on a mediocre meal with poor service! I had a good laugh at myself about it.

This is how I’m going to approach my first trip into Mexico proper (I’m not counting the two trips I’ve taken to border towns). I am going to make mistakes. I will likely get scammed more than once. It’s just part of the experience and I will do my best to keep my sense of humour!

Living in another country that does not use dollars and whose primary language is not French or English has been a major dream of mine. I can’t believe it’s about to come true!