Travel Websites

Traveling can be super expensive, especially in these days of high priced oil and airlines nickel and diming for everything. Travel websites do a lot to relieve some of the high prices.

I've had pretty good luck with travel websites. I've found round trip tickets to Japan for roughly $600. That is a phenomenal deal. You don't always get that good of prices, but still you usually get cheaper deals than if you go through an airline's website.

Cheaptickets is a pretty good place to find tickets. They generally give prices that are about 100-200 bucks cheaper than normal.

If you're going to Japan the best site is JTBUSA. This is where I've found tickets to and from Japan for about $600. Once you order tickets you'll be contacted by someone from their office in New York. They are very helpful and will help you plan your trip. I've always had really good luck with this site.

I haven't had the opportunity to use cheapoair yet, but I've had a few friends who swear by it. One guy got a flight from Japan to London for roughly $500.

When using these sites you can greatly change your ticket price by altering your travel dates. It's been my experience that if you are traveling you should try to have your trip span over a weekend. For some reason if you depart on Thursday and return on Monday your price is greatly less than if you went on a Friday and came back on Sunday. The most important thing is to play with your dates. One day can take your ticket from $1000+ to about 500. I know it sounds amazing, but try it for yourself and see.

Here are a few links to some good sites.
http://www.cheaptickets.com/
http://www.kayak.com/
http://www.jtbusa.com/
http://www.cheapoair.com/
http://www.travelocity.com/

Road Trip to Ohio and Back

The Road Trip is an integral part of American society. Since the advent of the car, Americans have been roaming the highways and byways of our vast and diverse country. It's part of us, part of our mindset. When people in most other countries think of a car trip, they think of a couple hours in a car and that's it. In Europe, people drive two or three hours and they are in another country. We drive a couple hours and we're lucky to leave our own state. America is one of the few truly sprawling countries (others being Canada, Russia and Australia to name a few). Being raised in the States has imbued me with the love of travel especially car travel.

Another American tradition my family subscribes to is that of being spread out. I have family in about seven states. My brother lives in a small city in North-Western Ohio called Norwalk. Our father lives in an even smaller town about four miles away called Milan (Milan is where Thomas Edison was born). I live in Memphis, Tennessee. It's roughly 12 hours from where I live to where my brother lives by car.

I've done long car trips before. I've driven to Florida and back several times and more than once did I do that trip alone. I've driven to Texas and back and to other states in my region. This was the first time for me to be driving North in the winter. I had made the trip three previous times and once alone, but that was in the summer. I worried about getting stuck in the snow and ice. I was also a bit nervous because my car is new and I'm still paying the loan off. I did not want to wreck due to inclimate weather. I packed some emergency supplies and some food for the trip. I left pretty early, about 5:30 am.

The trip through Tennessee went very smoothly. I went through Nashville with no problems and began the long trip North. Kentucky was nice. It looks a lot like Tennessee, but with one difference: it was snowy. It wasn't too bad. Just a nice white layer to the scenery. I actually started to lose interest in it. That is until I crossed over into Cincinnati and Ohio.

When you're driving North into Ohio from Kentucky on I-71 you have to cross a river into Cincinnati. It's a bit of a tricky maneuver. You have to get immediately over to the right once you cross the bridge in order to make it onto the off ramp to Cleveland. Cars often zip and shoot through this area. More than once I came close to getting clipped on previous trips. This time, however, I had no problems. Only one car was getting onto the interstate where I needed to get over to make my turn.

I made it through the dreaded area and headed North-East towards Cleveland. I had a pretty smooth trip up. I caught some traffic outside of Cleveland, but other than that I was okay.

Once at my brother's house I started pounding back Cranberry and Vodkas like nothing else. I got drunk and went to bed. I would've stayed up longer, but I had yet another trip to take the next morning.

My brother is an avid outdoorsman. He loves anything to with the outdoors; camping, boating, fishing, hunting, snow mobiling, etc. To help facilitate his passion he bought a large trailer in order to haul his vehicles and gear. It was located about 4 hours North in Midland, Michigan. We left early in the morning and headed up. It was pretty mild. Once we got up to Michigan the scenery steadily got whiter and whiter. We got the trailer and headed back home.

On the way we grabbed a bite to eat at "Big John's" sandwich shop. It was pretty decent. I've had better sandwiches, but I can't complain too much about it. Our next stop was at Cabela's.

For those of you who don't know, Cabela's is a huge huge outdoors store. I was absolutely surprised and delighted by this place. It truly is a one stop outdoors shop. You can get anything from hunting to camping to boating. The prices are nice too. On top of their normal good prices they have a bargain cave where returned items await repurchase. Usually it's a case of not liking the item and then returning it. None of the items I saw had visible damage.

The rest of my visit was pretty low key.

The ride home was much nicer than the way up. For my return to Tennessee I purchased a couple audio books. I got World War Z and Shit My Dad Says. Having those on board made my trip go by in no time at all. It kept my mind busy and was constantly changing. A problem I had on the way to Ohio was having to listen to the same music over and over again. If you're traveling long distance in a car (especially alone), I highly recommend audio books.

Next trip

I recently bought a car. Actually a SUV. I didn't really want to, but the city where I live makes it hard for cyclists or non-traditional transportation users. So I broke down and bought a car. I figure since I have one and am paying good money each month for it, I should use it. And use it I shall. I've decided to start a series of car trips. My first one will be in mid-December to Oklahoma City. I haven't really thought of what I'll do, but I do know I want to try out some Oklahoman food, namely steak. Unfortunately I've heard the beer isn't anything special. I may have to bring my own. I think I'll check out the cowboy museum and maybe...well actually I think that might be the only thing I want to see. I have a buddy out there and so I'm sure I'll be able to get into some sort of adventure. Only time will tell.

The wandering bug has bitten again.

It's only been about 2 weeks since I went to Montreal and already I've been hit with the wanderlust. I've been finding myself fantasizing about my next trip and I've been scouring travel sites and airline sites looking for a cheap outlet for my traveling bug.

I'm bound to go to Ohio during the Christmas time, so I won't be able to go anywhere new during that time. However, I may try to shoot over to Pennsylvania for a day or so to check out Primanti Brothers' sandwiches. What I really want is a week or two hiking trip. I'm really wanting to go check out some of the Rocky Mountain states such as Wyoming or Colorado. I haven't been hiking in a few months so I'm aching to get on some trails. Unfortunately there aren't many good hikes in this part of the country. You can do some mild trails over in Shiloh, but really it's nothing but wandering through fields. I want to go up and down hills and to see some fantastic sights.

I'm seriously toying with the idea of going to California next summer and do some hiking in the Yosemite/King's Canyon area. It will be particularly nice since my uncle will be living in that area at that time. Also, I can hit up one of my favorite cities: San Francisco.

San Francisco is a great city. I truly believe it to be one of America's greatest. There is abundant culture and history, great food and just an overall atmosphere which promotes relaxing and calmness. I really enjoy the international feeling I get when I'm in SF. There's a little bit for everyone there.

Till next time, keep trekking on!

Montreal

Well today is my last day here in Montreal. I've had a really good albeit short trip. I actually made contact with an old friend who lives here shortly before leaving. I ended up staying at his place and without him, I doubt I would have had as great of a trip.

One thing about this trip is that nothing has really gone right. It's not a bad thing, but most of our plans went awry. First off, my plane from Atlanta to Montreal was delayed. There was a gate change and then no one really knew what time it was going to depart or when it would arrive. Finally about 30 minutes late the plane leaves. Once I met up with my friend we headed back to his house only to encounter construction and confusing detours. After about an hour we finally made it back to his place.

The next day my friend, his girl friend and myself went to the Tibetan restaurant that was mentioned in the last post. We work our way through China town and even more detours and we cruise around the block a couple times before finding a decent parking place. We arrive at the restaurant to find it closed due to an emergency. So after a quick walk around we choose a sandwich shop called Dagwood's. It's not too bad, but there is nothing really worthy of writing. After Dagwood's my friend and I headed to the old part of Montreal. There we saw the Basilique Notre-Dame. It was nice, but we encountered another problem: the area in front of the chapel was under construction, limiting good photography spots. I did manage a few good shots though. We bought tickets for the evening light show and then embarked on some souvenir shopping. I picked up some hockey shirts for myself and my roommate. I also got my girl friend some nice Canadiana stuff. I also toured the riverfront area and got some really nice pictures.

Evening brought poutine. Poutine is a really simple dish and I'm very surprised we don't have it in the United States, something I want to change. It's french fries with gravy and chunks of white cheddar cheese. It makes for an awesome side dish or meal. I first had it in Toronto a few years back and had it once in Memphis (not very good I might add). What I had here though was awesome. I chose to get something a little different and opted for the Italian poutine. It basically substitutes tomato sauce for the gravy. It was nevertheless great. After dinner my friend and I headed back to the Basilique Notre-Dame. We watched our show and I took some shots of the Basilique. We left the building and I, feeling a bit thirsty and unwilling to give up the chance to enjoy some Canadian beer, asked to find a nice quiet bar in order to enjoy some beer. We found a place nearby and grabbed a couple beers. I had a nice dark ale, unfortunately I forget the name of it. The company was called Sleeman's though. If you ever have the chance you should try it. I asked the waiter if I could buy a glass to take home as I collect them and was told no. I unfortunately felt back to steal one even though he said it was ok. I left empty handed.

Saturday saw a late start. I was perfectly happy with that as I was tired and the whole point of this trip was to relax, which I did. We went for a late lunch to Schwartz's deli. It's famous for smoked meat sandwiches. I got a large plate which was a bit too much food for me, but it was pretty good. I was a bit surprised at the mild taste of the meat. I was expecting something more flavorful. I still enjoyed though. Be prepared to stand in line for a long while. We waited for about 30-45 minutes just to get a seat. We then headed to the Montreal Botanic Gardens. I've been to botanic gardens in the past, but this was definitely one of the best I've ever been too. They had a very large green house filled with various plants from around the globe and an insectarium. I found both very interesting. They also had a Japanese garden and a Chinese garden. Both were very nice and peaceful allowing for more relaxation. The Japanese garden was particularly nice as the last one I had been to in the Philippines left something to be desired. I really felt like I was back in Japan at some points. The evening finished with a great steak dinner at Baton Rouge. This place is classy and a bit expensive. Steaks range from $24 to $32. But they rock and are well worth the money. The only bad thing was that they seemed to run out of stuff fairly early. I originally wanted the prime rib, but had to get a sirloin instead. One of my friends wanted seafood linguini but they were out of the red sauce. A quick ride after dinner and we were at our last stop for the night: The Comedy Nest. It was a pretty cool place. The drinks were slightly above average for bars, but pretty decent on their booze level. The opening act/host was really funny as was the second act. The third act was sadly from the US and wasn't as funny as the others. Her stuff mainly revolved around sex jokes and race jokes. It was nothing I hadn't heard from junior high school students. The headliner was awesome. He was very funny and did some great stuff. If you ever get to see Winston Spear, you should.

Today was another slow start. Again I just rested up and got ready to return home. We ate a great breakfast at Tutti Frutti and are now back at my friend's house preparing to go to the airport.

All in all the trip has been awesome. One complaint that I have is that I brought too much money. I didn't come close to spending everything at all. Oh well. I guess it's better to have too much than not enough.

And that wraps up this adventure.

One more week until Montreal

So I have only about a week more until I head off to Montreal. I'm pretty excited. I've been biding my time looking at stuff to see and do there. I'm not quite sure yet what I'll be doing, but at least I have a rough idea. I'm definitely going to be hitting up a Tibetan restaurant that I've read about. I know I know, why eat Tibetan while up in Montreal? Well, I love that type of food and I haven't been able to find some where I live yet, so I've gotta take it where I can find it.

I booked my hostel today, so I'm all set in that aspect. It's down in Old Montreal so I'm pretty stoked about it. I hope that it gives me a great experience.

New trip is in the works.

Well, I've been sedentary for almost a month now and that's far too long. I found out that I have a small "fall break" from work in October. Actually it's the day before my birthday, so I decided a trip was in order. My destination? Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I will be there for the better part of 3 days.

So far my trip will entail me eating delicious French-Canadian food, drinking awesome beer and just trying to relax. One thing I really enjoy about traveling is seeing the architecture of the place I am in. For instance, I loved seeing the old Japanese temples and shrines and how the Japanese incorporated their culture into western design styles. I'm looking forward to seeing similar sights in Canada.

I've been to Canada, but it was for about 2 days for an interview. I really enjoyed my time there, so that is what is fueling my decision to go again.

I'll post my further preparations later.