Tentanda VIA

Between the "eastern triangle" of Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal, the Air Canada Rapidair planes depart as frequently as city buses. Perhaps that's the source of the ennui: No room on this flight? Just wait for the next one. Any minor delay, and the flight that's supposed to be leaving half an hour after yours will arrive at your destination 15 minutes before you. The flight times are so short, that you can't really do much at all. But add in getting to the airport, going through security, and heading downtown from the airport, and you might as well spend five hours on a train. Worst of all - the dreaded domestic Tango fare classes which earn no status miles or segments, no matter how many weekly trips you suffer through.

I decided to dig out my old VIA Rail Préférence account number. Surprisingly, it was still in the system when I checked online:

Point Balance: 0
Last Transaction: Mar 25, 1998

And so it begins...

Commercial Fun

I've been catching up on the Super Bowl XL commercials this weekend. The advertisers have finally realized that the Internet can give their major investments some additional distribution and staying power. Simulcasting in Canada means we don't normally get to see the originals which air in the US anyways. Not having cable TV or an antenna means I don't even get to see the lamer domestic alternative ads either.

Last year, the German subsidiary of IKEA aired some commercials to promote their Midsommar sale. These played upon the German stereotypes of Swedes in party mode. IKEA HQ in Sweden quickly banned these, and had them pulled from the airwaves, and the IKEA Germany Web site. Most Swedes seem to take it in stride, and think they're hilarious, because they're not entirely untrue. They're still available for viewing on the Internet, at the Swedish Aftonbladet Web site:

Essen (Eating)
Feiern (Celebrating)
Morgen (the morning - after)

And here is the quickly-made replacement ad.
I can verify that the song Små grodorna (little frogs) is really sung at Midsommar, as Swedes dance around the maypole.

Midsommar Celebrations

Akureyri by Night

It seemed a waste of daylight not to go out exploring the town. Never mind that I'd been travelling non-stop all day, and hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime in Vík.

Downtown Akureyri

Helgi the Lean and wife Thorunn (first settlers of the area)

Fishing Boy

At 11 pm, almost everything downtown is closed - the 66° Norður store, the restaurants, even the 10-11 (naturally). Young people are drag racing down the main street.

Akureyrarkirkja

Our favourite supermarket chain

I reached the edge of town, just as the Domino's Pizza closed. The Bónus supermarket was long shut, so it looks like granola bars back at the hostel for dinner, and then a few hours of sleep before another long day tomorrow.

Hostel territory

As the second city of Iceland, and a popular summer destination for locals, Akureyri is supposed to be quite crowded at this time of year. Certainly the two main hotels were full, and I was fortunate to get a room at the Stórholt hostel.

Akureyri HI Hostel

I had learned that Hart had stayed there when he visited Akureyri a few weeks earlier, while driving around the country in his rented Yaris. He gave it a very positive review. Of all things, his assigned room-mate's name had also been Hartmut, visiting from Germany.

Since I would be arriving at 10 pm, after the hostel closed, the proprietress was kind enough to leave the main door unlocked, to allow me to pick up my room key, and then lock up for them. I can also say that the place is very clean, very Scandinavian. Too bad I would only be there for mere hours.

Single room - 2750 ISK in high season

I regret very much not having taken some time after finishing school, to do the obligatory backpacking through Europe thing. In some sense, I was making up for it on this trip. I might still be able to pass for a student at first glance, but just couldn't think or act like one any more. I had considered pretending to be a student if I met any fellow travellers there, but the only thing more ludicrous would have been to walk in with Star Alliance Gold luggage tags on my rucksack.

Thankfully (and mysteriously), there was no one else around when I arrived.

To Akureyri

The Icelandic language is spoken with a certain cadence, which some Icelanders also use when speaking English. Combined with the bored and rushed delivery of something recited several times a day, every day, the safety announcements on board the plane are not 100% clear to me.

Still, knowing where everything is won't be of much help if we need to land somewhere other than a runway. Here there are no neatly divided plots of cultivated prairie fields. No English cottages, row upon row. Just a fire-blasted landscape, with ice on top.

Lava Fields

Craggy Terrain

Langjökull

Approaching Akureyri

Canyon to the right of them,
Canyon to the left of them,
A quick bank and dive,
Then straight down the Eyjafjörður
And onto the runway,
Flew the F-50.

Landing in Akureyri

Inn og Ut

Flashback: Monday, July 26, 2004

It's never easy saying goodbye, especially to a new group of friends. Perhaps 15 days is just the right amount of time to keep an assorted bunch of initial strangers together. Before the idiosyncrasies that each of us have become too noticeable and irritating. We hope to be able to meet up again someday, but life, money, personal schedules, and the distances involved make it a bit of a challenge [I later saw a photo of one last hurrah in an ice bar - sorry I couldn't be there. I did manage to meet up with one person since then, so more reunions are possible.].

Some of us have already left, and unfortunately, now that we've finally arrived at the Bus Terminal, it is my turn- I've got a plane to catch! A quick stop at the baggage counter, and I'm now travelling a lot lighter, ready for a day trip to Akureyri and environs. Unlike the international airport, which is 50 km out of town, the domestic airport is just down the street. There's time to re-confirm my hotel booking for the following day (wasn't in the system, but luckily, there's room) and my hostel room in Akureyri for this evening (all set, but only after a couple of tries to figure out how to use the pay phones again).

I've been in the country for over two weeks now, and I still haven't been to downtown Reykjavík yet. I'll have to be content with suburbia and office complexes, and looking at the city from afar.

Just some computer company's office building

Halgrímskirkja

And then there's the museum and fancy restaurant built on top of the city's water reservoir tanks.

Perlan

It's a refreshing experience to travel through the small domestic airport. No checking in more than 45 minutes before departure (when it's time, they pull out a sign for the destination, and hang it above the counter). No security lines or screening. No jets (only Fokker F-50's in the fleet). No running through endless halls to distant gates.

After a brief wait, an announcement is made, with the magic word "Akureyri" in it. Follow the other people aboard, and then we're off!

I was walking home this evening...

...when a young woman asked me which direction it was to Bathurst Street. I pointed west, and mentioned that it was rather a long way, asking if she was planning on walking it. When she replied in the affirmative, I told her it would probably take about half an hour to get there (over 2 km from where we were).

She then thanked me, and walked a respectable distance ahead, before breaking into a quick jog. Not the silly "it's for your own good" type jogging that I can sometimes muster on a treadmill, after a long sedentary day, but the pace of someone who has done some training, and takes it seriously. She even outran a bus which had stopped to let off passengers. Quite literally, she was out of sight and "gone in 60 seconds".

In my defence, I was carrying a backpack of sporting equipment, and two bags of groceries, but still, it was sub-zero temperatures. Even under ideal spring weather conditions, and in the best shape of my life (back in Grade 12), it would have taken me over ten minutes to travel that distance, and I'd be pretty drained at the end. I know I need to get more exercise...

Dr.Garth Taylor

Some people use their blogs to rant, or to broadcast their beliefs and opinions. Most are personal projects, with varying degrees of vanity and comprehensibility. I'm just writing down some of my travel experiences, and trying to do something fun. However, this is a serious post.

Recently, I had gotten acquainted with Dr. Garth Taylor. I'd seen him around the neighbourhood a couple of times, and we'd even spoken briefly over the phone about some business, but we never met face to face, for a proper chat. Late last year, I heard the sad news that he had passed away suddenly.

Dr. Taylor had seemed to me a very decent and honourable gentleman. But it was only after his passing that I came to realize what this man had accomplished in his life, and how tragic it is that it was cut short. Because of his humility, one would never have guessed from simply looking at him or speaking with him, but this man actually made a life-changing difference to a great number of underprivileged people. The sort of difference most of us never even aspire to or could hope to match. This is the dictionary definition of a true humanitarian.

I find it chilling to read how as a physician, he knew the seriousness of his own condition as he diagnosed it himself. It's some comfort to know that he and his family were able to spend some time together before the end, and that his good works continue, even if he isn't there.

I'm not going to get on a soapbox here or start speaking in clichés, but this all serves to remind me that life is too short. I need to take a break more often from work and self-absorption, and simply do something useful, outside my normal circles, especially with the specialized skills I have. Not necessarily anything grand, but just helpful.

Dentist, heal thyself

On the road recently, I found myself in need of some dental work repair. You'd think that our corporate business travel insurance would cover such things. I called their toll-free number, and found that you must be in pain and in the emergency room before they get involved. You also need to fax a few forms in before they start taking care of you. Moral of this story: don't ever get sick or hurt while on business travel, or at least make sure you're always in the vicinity of a fax machine.

Fortunately, I soon discovered that pharmacies in the US carry do-it-yourself dental supplies, from various non-toxic repair compounds to instruments like picks and scalers. For a mere $4.95, I was all set until I returned home, and got to my dentist's office. Of course, I removed all the evidence before I got there. No sense in showing up the professionals... ;-)

Photographic Preparations

Over the last five years, I've spent more than I probably should have on camera equipment. A significant portion of the Iceland Trip Fund was spent in going digital for the first time. This meant a whole other set of devices to lug around, but which could complement the SLR camera.

Rather surprisingly, in the end I had brought just about everything that I needed on the trip, and thankfully, it all fit snugly into one small camera bag:

Canon PowerShot A80
Sandisk Extreme CompactFlash 512 MB
Transcend CompactFlash 256 MB
Panasonic BQ-390A NiMH quick charger

Canon Rebel G (EOS 500N)
Canon EF 22-55 mm/f3.5-5.6 USM (default lens)
Canon EF 28 mm/f2.8
Canon EF 50 mm/f1.8 Mk II

Decided not to bring, and regretted it:
52 mm circular polarizer

Decided not to bring, and wouldn't have used anyway:
Canon EF 75-300 mm/f4.0-5.6 USM Mk III
Tripod (throwing one into the car trunk for a road trip is not the same as carrying one up a mountain or around Europe!)

Let's try that again

Here is a re-post of the post which got lost in this weekend's Blogger outages. Maybe if I use a different title, it'll stick around? Blogger/Google seem to have narrowed it down to old network hardware. It's interesting (and probably good public relations) how they blog about their system down crit-sits.

Information Super-Highway

Now there's a term that has quickly fallen into dis-use...

I've spent more time than I'd like on Highway 401 this week. It certainly wasn't as bad as it could have been, and the weather was quite good for winter. Still, if I was ever in a position where I'd have to commute on it every day, I'd rather move. When out house-hunting one time, I happened to be in a neighbourhood just adjacent to the highway. At ground level, thereis a constant, dull roar, which can be heard in spite of the noise barriers. A friend who lives in one of the towers overlooking the road can't hear a thing with the windows shut, but just looking out the window at the constant stream of traffic is enough to raise your blood pressure...

It's often claimed that the stretch of the 401 running through Toronto is the busiest highway in the world, surpassing even the Santa Monica Freeway in L.A. Based on a small sample size of three visits to Los Angeles, I'd say this is true. But what are the real numbers to back this claim?

Since visiting the library is passé, we go to Google - the sum total of Web-crawlable content, filtered by your ability to sponsor your links, or your government's ability to block them. Initial search results suggest variously that Highway 401 is the busiest roadway in Canada (duh!), and the busiest/second busiest in North America/the world. So, it's definitely way up on the list. More links from seemingly diverse/unrelated and "authoritative/official" sites say it's the busiest. I'll consider that a de facto consensus, taken with the standard grain of salt for anything Internet-related.

Increasingly, Wikipedia is making its Internet presence felt. I guess it's the sum total of knowledge contributed by people who care enough about a particular topic (or have too much time on their hands), filtered by some semblance of public debate, by people who care enough about their side of the story (or have too much time on their hands), to reach another de facto consensus.

The article on the 401 is quite educational, especially regarding the history of the 400-series highways. I could spend way too much time clicking through various links, learning about parclos and jughandles (been there, driven that, no longer get a blank look when asked to use one).

Test Post #2

The e-mail submission feature needs some serious work. First, posts created this way are badly formatted. Second, they have a tendency to disappear, on subsequent posts or updates.

Recommended Reading

Before heading to Iceland, I visited Chapters and Amazon, and spent yet more money out of my indefinable Iceland Fund. To this day, I do not know, nor want to know, precisely how much it all cost. However, the following books were well worth it (including the cost of additional unrelated books needed to get free shipping):

Lonely Planet Iceland, 5th ed., 2004.
$18.16 CAD
Dependable Lonely Planet - indispensible to have on the road, and filled with just the right information that you need.

Insight Guides Iceland, 4th ed. updated, 2003.
$23.51 CAD
Prettier than the mostly-monochrome Lonely Planet, but larger and heavier. More focus on background information (politics and history). Great photos, but one to leave at home on the coffee table.

Krakauer, John, and David Roberts, Iceland: Land of the Sagas, 1998.
$22.36 CAD
A real coffee table book. Delves into the legends, history, and culture of the land. Krakauer is better known for his later book, Into Thin Air.