A memorable North American's holiday

At last I finally posted the final journal of my recent trip to Canada and the US.

I started packing up as early as possible to find out how much weight my bags could accommodate. This is not my first trip from abroad where I could carry back personal stuffs from my shopping spree and somewhat brings anxiety for paying the extra loads at the airport. Anyway, without using a weighing scale I am now experienced to assess my bag for not exceeding 25 kg. Surprisingly, as expected it is exceeded, but Im still optimistic that I could fit them all and pay nothing.

Basing from my past travels, I know that every passenger is allowed up to 50 pounds or up to 25 kg especially travelling from Asia to elsewhere. To have a peace of mind, I decided to call the Continental customer service and to verify the charges for excess. Amazingly, I found out that I am allowed two bags and 50 pounds each!

It was an emotional moment to say goodbye to my cousin's family particularly her two kids. I left the house 2 hours before my scheduled departure time from Pearson Airport and catch my connecting flight at Newark (Liberty airport). The day was cold dry and traces of snow are still visible along the roads. My cousin stayed for a while until I successfully checked-in my bags. It was a relief while carrying my hand carries and successfully passed the US immigration.

My flight arrive on-time at Newark and waited for less than two hours for my next flight for Belfast. To make my stay meaningful at the airport, I roamed around and took some photos of the airport and continued reading my Xmas bookcrossing exchange gift – Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters.

Quickly, I boarded the plane with the rest of Irish passengers which majority of them were come from their Florida's holiday. The flight was shaky and bumpy which brought my heart to beat faster! Thank God, the plane finally touched down at the International Airport of Belfast few minutes early as expected. While queuing in the immigration section, I was anxious to go home and sleep! But as soon as I handed my passport to the immigration officer, she searched all my visa stamps and I was surprised to hear from her "if I have encountered problems with the immigration". Well, I remember that I had one when I and my Indonesian friends went to Dublin last Sept 2006 and the bus that we were riding was stopped and unfortunately, we don’t have the Irish visa, we were not allowed to cross the border. I don’t want to explain what happened that day but, it was recorded in the system that I did something wrong which will be a problem every time I will travel in Europe. Anyway, I told her what happened and she finally handed my passport and let me to go!

Before meeting my friend outside the arrival area, I went to the Exchange money counter and asked to exchanged my Canadian dollars to English notes with the same rate when I left the airport three weeks ago which was good because the rate that day is lower than that of my departure. So, it was a good deal!

I met my friend outside the airport with smiling - recharged to face again my university work with new hope and enthusiasm to finish my PhD on time this year.

Oooh, it was a wonderful vacation I had in Canada and the US. I already miss my relatives and friends there! Visiting North Carolina, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal is something I will treasure while I am alive and kicking!

Day 15, and 16: Snowy (negative degrees) in Mississuaga, Toronto

On Day 15, my cousin's sister and I woke up early and immediately drove to Sherway Garden – a shopping mall, 20-minutes away from the house. Fortunately, I was able to buy my favourite shirts in Abercrombie without any fuss. I had the chance to have a one-hour swim at the River grove Community Centre after weeks of not having a regular exercise. Frankly, I gained weight and I feel that my tummy is noticeable this time of the season.

After my swim, I joined my cousin's brother and sister-in-law to visit CN Tower in the downtown area of Toronto. It was a wonderful quick visit to the tallest tower in the world. It is a magnificent structure that provides a panoramic view of the metropolitan Toronto area. Viewing the area at night provides a different perspective of the city where you could only see different lights below the ground.

On Day 16, I joined again my cousin for a ride train going to the city centre. I did a quick tour of the subway area, instead of walking the main streets. When I had my first visit of the city, I noticed that only few people were walking and I thought that maybe because it was early in the morning. But on the second visit, I found out that everybody is walking below the ground – where basements of the buildings are interconnected to each other and where the sub train stations are also connected. All the major shops and restaurants are located few feet below the grounds and well-heated. The concourses are confusing but I managed to remember the colour codes: North – Blue; South – Red; East – Yellow and West – Orange. I was lost for several times but luckily I managed to find my way back where I have to meet again my cousin.

Half of the day, I spent much time at the Uni of Toronto main library in Robarts Building and did some revision of my university research which I successfully sent it by email to my supervisors two days after while in Montreal.

On the evening of Day 16, we celebrated two birthdays: my cousin's husband and her father (my grandfather). It was a simple celebration for family members only with a big cake, a big bowl of fruit salad, including fried chickens and native pasta.

Day 14: New Year's Day

It was snowing at 1 degree C! I helped shovelling the snow in front of the house. My cousin's husband used the snow blower for easy removal of the snow.

After that, I proceeded to the backyard to make my first ever snow man! With my excitement, I easily shaped the snow man, including his orange eyes, nose and mouth with matching blue hat!

Having a snowman outside the house is my dream came true. While growing up and brainwashed with American films, I always think that Xmas celebration is not complete without snow man. Anyway, at least I managed to have it and being enjoyed by my cousin's kids which later on the head of the snowman was cut-off!

I also met my former officemate and his family in the afternoon. I also met his four kids and the eldest is already a beautiful 19 year old lady. My friend and family left the Philippines when the eldest was only 7 years old.

Day 12 & 13: Shopping in Mississuaga

We just toured around the Mississuaga area and visited some shopping areas. We went to Sherway Garden and just to find out the people were queuing in front of Abercrombie store. So we decided to take our lunch and decided to come back after New Year's day. The mall is quite similar to shopping centres in the Philippines but it has only two floors. Well, it is expensive to shop in Canada compare to the US especially for signature items.

Our lunch meal was really good and we went home open-handed because too many people inside the mall and it was not really advisable to wait to queue for paying or even getting in the shops.

Mississuaga area is a thriving community which is now becoming a catchment area for people who don’t want to stay in the city centre of Toronto. I observed that most of the houses are big, at least 4-5 bedrooms, including a basement, quite similar to American houses.

Day 11: Back to Toronto

It was cold, windy day and snowing in the early afternoon. In the morning, I was busy uploading my photos from my 3 cameras to my websites. Later in the afternoon, my cousin's family and I attended a 5-year old boy b-day party in Bounce n Play. Again, kids were my models during the entire celebration.

After the party, I accompanied my cousin's husband to shop in Costco – a warehouse store, and I did just a window shopping of books, electronics and men's wares. Later in the night, I stayed home and chatted with my friends thru YM.

Nothing planned yet for the next day, except that my cousin's sister planned to accompany me to go shopping and visit Abercrombie store. My cousin was also planning to visit Montreal and Ottawa, after New Year.

Day (3): A visit to the University of Toronto Library at Robarts Building

We left the house today at 620am catching the train for the city. Again, along the way, we talked again about our work, family and our future plans. Arriving the city almost 7am and it is still dark, where tall buildings were still lighted and the street lights guided our way to my cousin's office at Room 500. I took some photos of the buildings, including CN Tower and also shots in the front desk area of my cousin's office.

I finally left the building, and decided to walk (instead of taking the subway) towards University Avenue heading to University of Toronto. Hardened snow is everywhere and I always careful for my steps not to slip my shoes over the snow. Almost 30 minutes of walking and I asked several people for the exact location of the main library at St George Street.

Along the way, I also took the chance to take photographs of the buildings along the main road, and also when I finally reached the library at Robart's building, I took my camera from my pocket quietly and quickly took shots in the interior of the building. The design of the building is interesting, especially to find out that the building has 13th Floor which is unusual for buildings. Well, maybe Canadian people don’t believe the bad reputation of number 13. I roamed around the building after I got my pass from the information desk.





While enjoying the ambience inside the building, I did not notice that my pass was lost until I had my quick meal at the canteen. Well, again I always talk to the strangers! I noticed the lady watching me while I took a shot of Starbucks store inside the canteen. She might be curious why Im taking a photograph inside a canteen. With my little ESP talent, I quickly faced her and talked to her. She nicely responded and finally joined in my table. I found out that she works with the library since 1970s. Gabriela originally came from Chile and she works now with the Public Affairs office of the library. I also found out that the newsletter that I was reading while sipping my hot chocolate was her work being the Editor of the publication. It was funny because she was also confident to say I came from the Philippines of my surname! You know what, I finally found out that my library pass missing! Well, talking to a stranger has save my day! … she left the table and shortly she left carrying a piece of paper – the library pass. She explained that the information desk is strict for issuing another pass, so she signed the new pass after I showed to her my university ID! I always believe that I met this very nice lady because for a reason – I lost my pass and she will give me another one not to avoid embarrassment if I will get a new one from the information desk.

Back to my main reason of visiting the library, I successfully able to locate the books that I want to read and spent 13 dollars to have some pages to be photocopied. I did mistake of using the photocopier machine which few pages where spoiled at 15 cents each!!! Anyway, I was happy because I did some shots inside the restricted floors where the floors are kept. Believe me, I thought my university library back in Brisbane (Thailand) was the biggest library I visited, but this library is the 4th largest bookkeeper in North America, or maybe one of the largest libraries in the world. The only difference is that it has floor number 13 where books are also found!

I finally left the library at 330pm after I received a call from my cousin that we will meet at her office building at 4pm. It was lovely day spending time with books and with the rest of people who love to learn new things!

Day (2) Part 2/2: Catching-up with my cousin and her family

Last night was a busy day after coming from New Jersey in the morning. After I was picked up from the airport by my cousin's husband, we immediately proceeded to the house. My cousin and her parents were there, while her kids were still in the baby sitter's place. While waiting for the kids to arrive, I took the opportunity to have a long conversation with Lola (my cousin's mother) in the dining room. She prepared a Filipino style breakfast. We did discuss a lot of things – my family, about my plans in the future and whereabouts of our friends back in the Philippines. She was my former English teacher in high school and I took the opportunity to thank her personally for being strict in the class and somehow the discipline she instilled in us, personally helped me prepared in my undergrad program back in Manila.

It was a long and never-ending story of life and we laughed a lot remembering those happenings almost 22 years ago! Finally, the kids arrived and at first they were quite hesitant to approach me especially the girl, Andrea. On the other hand, Alex (little boy) was happy enough to sit besides me watching the High School Musical 2 film on dvd. Most of the time, Alex and Andrea will stand up and showed their prowess in dancing and singing, imitating the main cast of the film, Troy and Gabriella. I was really amused how these young kids entertained me (their Uncle) as their guest.

I was at ease playing with them and easily got their attention especially the little boy. Being a new friend, Alex asked me so many things, especially my Xmas presence for them! It seems that the boy is really excited to open his gift. I was successful not to tell them about the real identity of the gift until my cousin's sister arrived from work at the hospital. By the way, the sister has 2 grown up kids which were shy to extend their hands for a hand shake's welcome. After preparing my lunch, Lola is busy playing the cards, while the kids are still pre-occupied with their toys, including the drawings I made for them. Well, these drawings were requested by them with proper name for each drawing. At the end, the girl (Andrea) showed her anger and cried because I failed her not to draw a princess based on her specifications – long hair and opened hands! I also failed to write properly the name she wants for the princess which really triggered her to show here tantrums. Well, with that early stage of knowing them, I finally say that kids sometimes are demanding and making their parents' blood to rise!




When my cousin arrived from her office, she invited me to join her to go for shopping at Wal-Mart. The kids heard this and they were desperate to convince their mum to be with us, thinking that I will be leaving very soon. And because of my instant attachment to the kids, especially with Alex, my cousin convinced them to stay after a bubble warm bath, and not to worry that Uncle Rey will leave, but stay in the house for almost 3 weeks. Anyway, we finally left the house and it was freezing outside and the boulders of snow along the roads are still visible. We had our dinner at Harvey's first before going to Wal-mart. It was an excellent meal – friend chicken and rice (ala Kenny Roger's style). We talked about so many personal things and we just having a good time to share our stories after not seeing each other for almost 15 years.

As usual, visiting the store will guarantee a book purchase and this time I bought for my cousin to read, One More Day of Mitch Albom at 40% discount. I already read the book few months ago and it is highly recommended to everyone! I also volunteer to prepare a dessert (fudge) for the family tonight and hopefully some of them will be packed and consumed during my long travel to North Carolina tomorrow, Saturday (Day 5) to spend our Xmas day with close friends.

We arrived the house and the kids were already asleep. I did a quick shower and helped my cousin wrapped some gifts for her boss' two young kids and officemates. I went to bed almost past midnight with things ready for my first visit to the city centre of Toronto. I only slept 8 hours in the span of two days.

Day 2 (Dec 20) Part 1/2: Arrival to Pearson Airport (Toronto)

As I mentioned in my earlier journal, I did not able to get a seat for Toronto flight last night, but finally got booked one in the first flight today at 7am. I woke up at 430am and catched the shuttle bus from the hotel at 5am to the airport (New Liberty Airport). I proceeded to the security checkpoint. I dont know why, Im always being selected for the random inspection which is really time consuming! Every personal item contained in my handcarry bag was inspected by swiping a white filter paper to the item and the paper is being feed to the computer for examination for any dust or powder. They want to know if I have a metal implant in my body!

Before I left the airport last night, I asked the Continental customer service staff about the details of my bookings, including my luggage claim. I was told that it will be on the same flight with me and nothing to worry about. Well, this is true but my big bag was flewn to Toronto last night in good condition.

New Liberty Airport is a huge airport and takes a while to reach the designated gate of my flight. It is very ironic to find out that the gate indicated in the boarding pass was changed and then I have to went back where I had my inspection. First flight will always empty and only few people really book to wake up early, but with my experience, it is worth to be there early to avoid traffic along the road, less people queuing in the security points and it is not crowded inside the aircraft.

Leaving New Jersey in a clear sky is showing good condition above with less turbulence and preventing my ears to ache. I was able to continue reading the book of Sarah Waters. By the way, every time I travel abroad, the visit is not complete without grabbing a good read from a bookstore at the airport, so I bought a hardbound pocket book entitled Heroes, Saving Charlie (inspired from the TV series with the same title) to be added in book collections.

It took almost 2 hours to reach Pearson Airport. While approaching the airport, I could see the whiteness in the landscape of Toronto from top view after a snow storm over the weekend. The airport is not grand compare to New Liberty Airport, but the former's arrival area is like a mall's lobby but less people. Immigration inspection was easy and not much of questions regarding my itinerary. After 30 minutes of waiting, my cousin's husband arrived and I finally have a glimpse of the vicinity of the airport. It takes 15 minutes to reach my cousin's house (in Missisauga) and along the way, patches of snow can be seen along the road and roof's houses.



It was an emotional meeting with my cousin and her parents after 15 years of not seeing each other since we left our hometown. Her parents were my former high school teachers. Im tired and hungry and immediately they prepared my breakfast with Filipino food on the table! Im excited to meet my cousin's kids, ages 4 and 5. We are planning to make a Snowman as soon as they will arrive from school's Xmas party later today.

I realised that travelling during Xmas time especially going to America requires careful planning especially for connecting flights. I booked with Continental airlines for the reason of having cheaper flights during the season. I tried with Zoom.com but my preferred flights were already fully booked with no seats available, and while Air transat does not have flights in December from Belfast, otherwise fly via Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Next journal...shopping at the downtown area of Toronto!

Day 1 (Dec 19): Departure from Belfast for Toronto

Finally, after several trips abroad during the past years, I don’t have much difficulty in packing up my stuff despite the fact that I have other things to do one day prior to my departure. I had a meeting with my supervisors to discuss my 3rd revision of my research methodology and of course to plan my progress while I am away for almost 4 weeks. I sorted out whatever commitments I have while Im away from the university. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to revised my report as I promised to email it to my supervisors prior to my flight today. I have time to do it when I arrive Toronto. My supervisors can wait anyway, and I know they are busy with their admin tasks for the first term break.

I stayed in my friend's place in Belfast and did a final wrap-up of my 20-kg luggage, including a small bag and the back-pack for my laptop. I woke up in a relaxed feeling – ready to take on board with Continental Airlines (an American carrier). I did final run down of my personal things just to make sure that I carry everything that I need for my 4 weeks holiday.

Belfast International is quite far from the city where my friend's lives, or even if I will be coming from the place where I live near the university. I was little bit conscious of the traffic along the way, so we left as early as 830am for my 1115am flight. It was a smooth quiet journey to the airport with a chilly breeze of winter, while the Backstreet Boys' song, "As long as you love me" is playing over the car radio. It reminded of my participation in the final round of the singing competition in Brisbane (Australia), 4 years ago! It was fun though and of course I bought a DVD copy of that event just to remind me of my interest in music…up to now Im still dreaming to have a record deal and be in the top chart someday (joke only)!

I said good bye to my friend and extended my arms for my warmest hugs and Xmas greetings. He will be coming back to pick me up again on Jan 08 from Toronto. He is really a kindest person on earth and who will always there to extend his help for people who are in need. Unfortunately, I only handed a personalised Xmas card last night to him, and say, "surprise, surprise!" He was puzzled of what I was saying…Anyway, I bought my gifts from Amazon and be delivered to his place before Xmas day! I hope he will enjoy watching the film which I want to watch it as well when I come back. It is very convenient to purchase on-line (like Amazon) using vouchers or gift certificates, without really bothering to disclose my credit card details.

Back to my trip, I checked-in and presented all my travel documents. It is a surprise for me again, even with my complete documents to be interrogated by the ground steward about my itinerary and other identification cards to prove that Im a legal traveller with permanent address in the UK, and without any "equipment of destruction" in my bags! Well, being an American airline, Continental is strict to ensuring its passengers safety and convenient journey, which every carrier wants to do. The airline is also strict in terms of the number of hand-carry bags which I was forced to check-in my other small bag without any extra cost since I still maintain the 23kg (50 lbs) maximum allowable weight per passenger.

Since the bank notes in Northern Ireland are not recognised abroad, I already got some English notes (Bank of England) from my bank (Ulster Bank) day before my departure. I did not withdraw much of my budget for my travel, considering that my bursary (allowance) from the university is not yet deposited in my account. I don’t want to spend beyond my savings, even though that I have much of the overdraft from the bank. Anyway, I was happy to find out that my allowance was deposited today which prompted me again to withdraw and changed it to Canadian dollars at the airport. I have cash now far, far below from the maximum amount allowed to be carried abroad especially in the US.

Being satisfied with the dollar-pound conversion, I immediately walked towards the coffee shop inside the departure area. As usual not having a breakfast, I had my hot choco, banana and bread (with walnut on top. While sipping my hot drink, the teller of the shop approached me and handed a palm organizer for a quick customer survey. It is cool doing it electronically, not the traditional paper format survey. Quickly, I was able to expressed by positive evaluation about the food and service of the shop.

It is time now to go inside the boarding area for the final examination of my hand carry. There was not much of interrogation in the immigration area, except that all my stuff inside my back-pack were inspected individually and being swiped with a thin filter paper and being examined in the computer if there are dusts or powders from any "equipment of destruction" or illegal drugs. It took several minutes and finally the old staff was happy to tell me that everything is fine and he briefly told me that his son lives in Toronto! Frankly, I was impatient to do this thorough inspection which I did not encounter in my previous travels. Well, on the other hand, being an optimistic Archer, I am comforting myself to undergo this inspection to my own safety.

Finally, I boarded the plane and accidentally, I met someone from my university who happened to be on the same PhD programme with mine and who is going back to Canada (her permanent residence) for the Xmas holiday. The plane was supposed to take-off at 1115am, but due to the mechanical problem, we finally left the airport one hour late of the scheduled departure time. I seated comfortably with my laptop, while listening the music from my iPod. The aircraft does not have an individual monitor for the in-flight programmes but I was not really bothered about it because I will busy writing this journal and later I will start reading a book, Tripping the Velvet by Sarah Waters – a gift from a member of the bookcrossing club during my Xmas dinner.

While writing the first part of this journal, I had also my on-board lunch! It was a lovely meal… 3:08pm (UK time). Expected arrival to Newark Airport (New Jersey) is around 2pm (US time) on the same day I left Belfast.



…Unexpected happened that the aircraft touched down at 3pm, one hour late from the original schedule. Having said that, I missed my connecting flight to Toronto and rebooked for the next flights as "standby" or chance passenger. I waited for 5 hours and I was not successfull to get a seat in the flights. To make my story short, I was stranded in New Jersey (US) and while writing this last paragraph of my journal, I will be staying for almost 6 hours at Howard Johnson Hotel (www.howardjohnson.com) with free dinner and breakfast vouchers. The hotel is just few minutes from the airport via Airtrain service and using the hotel shuttle bus. Well, my tiredness and disappointment were gone when I found out that the hotel has a free wireless service, and this is the reason why I was able to write this section and successfully posted the entire journal in my travel blog. Hopefully, I have 4 hours to sleep to catch up with the first flight at 7am.