Quebec, Canada

I decided to take a September trip to eastern Canada. This trip would cover three cities, Quebec City, Montreal, and Toronto. I was last in Toronto a couple years ago, but it’s been more than 10 years since I was in Quebec. Due to scheduling and cost of flights, we decided to start in Quebec City and work our way west to Toronto. I took a red-eye flight from Vancouver to Toronto. The flight to Toronto Pearson is only about 4 hours long, so it’s not much time to get any rest. I had to pick up my checked bag since the Ultrabasic fare class doesn’t allow carry-on bags. After getting my bag, I planned to re-check it for the next leg to Quebec City, but as the Flair counters had not opened, I decided to just carry it on.

I had to been to Quebec but never flown into the city. On the approach, you can see the St. Lawrence River and the narrow strips of land separated by the seigneurial system instituted in New France.

We took an Uber into town to save time. We dropped out bags and grabbed poutine for lunch.

We spent the rest of the day walking around Old Quebec. Old Quebec is very picturesque.

The next day, we picked up a rental car and headed to a few sights outside of the city. The first stop was Montmorency Falls. Next we drove up to Beaupre and had lunch there. We had a smoked meat sandwich.

Montreal, Quebec

Coming soon...

Fukuoka, Japan

Japan has been a very popular destination in recent years, especially with the lower exchange rate with the Japanese Yen. A few years ago, I visited Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyushu. I had started my trip to Japan in Tokyo but after staying for a couple days, I headed south. I took the Shinkansen, the Japanese high speed rail line, from Tokyo to Fukuoka. Train travel in Japan is very convenient and comfortable. It's frequent, fast and it usually take you straight to the city centre unlike flying. On the way down to Fukuoka, I stopped at the famous Himeji Castle for a few hours. The castle is located in Hyogo Prefecture and was originally built in the 1300s. It's designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After touring the castle, I caught the train down to Hakata Station in Fukuoka, the terminus of the Sanyo Shinkansen Line.

I stayed at a budget hostel near the city centre. As I arrived in the evening, after checking in and dropping my bag at the hostel, I went to get something to eat. Of course when in Fukuoka, ramen is a must eat. I found this place called Ramen Stadium inside the Canal City shopping centre that features many ramen shops inside the mall. Checking out the choices, it was a tough decision. I finally picked one spot and it didn't disappoint. The next day, I visited the Kushida Shrine, Ohori Park and remnants of the Fukuoka Castle. Tune in for later updates as I travel around the rest of Kyushu...

Weekend getaway in the Big Apple

I found fall to be a great time to visit New York as it's not as busy as the summer and the weather is cooler. To save money, I took the red-eye from the Vancouver and connected via Toronto Pearson. As the red-eye flights are only about 5 hours to Toronto, you don't get too much rest. However, grabbing a coffee in Pearson before the next flight to LaGuardia re-energized me. We took the taxi into Manhattan as we were a bit tired after catching the red-eye. Google maps showed that taking the bus and subway would take about 45 mins into Manhattan. Manhattan hotels are definitely more expensive than other areas, but you can't beat the convenience as most of the sights we wanted to see are located there. Over the next couple days, we visited these attractions:

• Central Park
• National 9/11 Memorial & Museum
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Empire State Building
• Wall Street
• Times Square
• Grand Central Terminal

One free attraction we did was the Staten Island Ferry. We took it from Lower Manhattan to Staten Island and got the see the Statue of Liberty from afar, it's pretty good for a free ferry. We walked around the island a bit before heading back to Manhattan.

We wrapped up the last day of the trip with breakfast and relaxing in Central Park before our early afternoon flight out of NY.

Bangkok and Ko Samui, Thailand

I had the chance to visit Thailand recently through an invite to a destination wedding on the island of Ko Samui in Thailand. I travelled through Hong Kong before heading down to Thailand. It was about a 3 hour journey down to Bangkok from Hong Kong. We flew on a budget airline, Hong Kong Express to save some money. We spent 3 days in Bangkok taking in the sights.Even though it was January, it's still quite warm and short sleeve weather.

• Wat Phra Chetuphon
• The Grand Palace
• Khaosan Road
• Terminal 21

We mostly relied on public transit such as the BTS Skytrain around the Thai capital.

It was a couple hours flight down to Ko Samui from Bangkok on an ATR turboprop plane. Ko Samui is a beautiful tropical island and it was bigger than I expected. I stayed 3 nights at the resort on the island. I did get a chance to head into the town and Fisherman's Village to check out the local restaurants.

Whistler

Whistler is a world-renowned ski resort about two hours north of Vancouver but it's both a summer and winter destination. We left Vancouver early and took the beautiful Sea to Sky highway up to Whistler. We stopped in Squamish briefly for breakfast and snow began to fall as we approached Whistler. We booked a lift ticket for the next day. We booked a hotel in the village just steps from the lifts. Although we got up early, the lines had already formed well before we got downstairs. Upload onto the mountain in the morning can take time but it's well worth it. Some of the alpine lifts were closed in the mornings due to high winds. The resort is located on two mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. There are over 200 runs of every difficult level to explore. The two mountains are connected by the Peak-to-Peak gondola. The following are my favourite runs at the massive resort.

1. Harmony Ridge
2. Green Line
3. Showcase

After a long day of skiing, we rested up before going to the village for dinner.

Toronto

Toronto is the largest city in Canada. Recently, I went there for a short trip. I took a red-eye flight there. The Union Express connects Pearson Airport with Downtown but it costs $12. So instead, I took the bus that connects to the subway to get downtown. I was quite tired after the overnight flight, so I dropped my bags and went to get something to eat. As I have been here a few times, this wasn't too much of a sightseeing trip. I had dinner with a friend at a nice izakaya downtown. The next day we went on a road trip to explore Prince Edward County to see the fall foliage. It's a beautiful time to year to travel and comfortable weather that's not too hot or cold and less busy than peak travel seasons. The day after, I took the ferry to visit the Toronto Islands. ...and then I couldn't come to Toronto and not visit the Jays shop to pick up some merchandise! I wrapped up the trip with a walk through Unionville in Markham. The historic neighbourhood is the backdrop for many movies and TV shows.

San Franciso & the Bay Area

A few years, I flew down to San Francisco for a spur of the moment weekend trip. It was to be for two nights only. I took an early morning flight into SFO. If you manage to get a window seat, the approach into SFO is always beautiful.I took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into downtown where I was staying. I dropped off my bag and walked around downtown a bit.

I took the famous cable car down to Pier 39 and had lunch at the famous Boudin Bakery known for their sourdough bread. I had the clam chowder in a bread bowl.

After lunch, I rented a bike to go across the Golden Gate Bridge. This was a bucket list item for me, so I was glad I had the chance to do it. As it was October, it wasn't too busy. It was beautiful ride across the bridge. You get to appreciate the scenary much more on bike vs. driving across the bridge.

Biking back across the bridge, I went to In-N-Out Burger. It wasn't my first time at In-N-Out but always nice to re-visit and ordering from their "secret menu".

The next day, I took the BART and Caltrain down to Silicon Valley. I visited the Apple Park Visitor Center in Cupertino. You can't quite appreciate the size of Apple Park at street level but the visitor center is beautiful as well. The next day I took the morning flight home.