Caribbean 2023
| Category | Type | Name/Description | Notes | Cost | Origin | Destination | Kms | To Date | Total |
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| 2023-02-07: Prep | |||||||||
| Tip | General Info | Google Codes | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Reminder | Wifi and other info Grab Wifi info (etc) from AirBnB | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Reminder | Confirm Nancy driving to airport | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Reminder | Send postcard to Erik Häring | 0 | ||||||
| 2023-02-08: Fly to Toronto | |||||||||
| Tip | General Info | Polarsteps for Location and Photos | 0 | ||||||
| Travel | Bus | To the airport | 14:19: 915 to WEM: 9011 182 St (across from school) 14:36: 056 towards Mill Woods: WEM Bay D (middle of back / main row) 15:15: Get off the 056 at Century Park, walk to Bay P (slightly N on 111 St) 15:18: 747 to YEG. Arrive 15:40 $3.50/ea for regular busses and $5/ea for bus 747 | 17 | Home | YEG | |||
| Travel | Flight | Edmonton to Toronto | AC174: YEG-YYZ 19:00 - 00:50 Cost is for two people, round trip - ALL AC flights | 2138.42 | Edmonton | Toronto | |||
| Travel | Vehicle | Nancy drive to airport | Pick up at 15:15 | 0 | |||||
| Note: See Polarsteps for location and photos during trip. Photos will be added here after the trip. Note: It’s been very spring-like here lately, including the sad, sagging, rotting old snow. This morning we woke up to a fresh winter wonderland. How beautiful.
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| 2023-02-09: Fly to Barbados | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Valere Apartment | Host: Valere Check-in via Lockbox Laundry available Free cancellation for 48 hours. Cancel before 1:00 p.m. on Feb. 2 for a partial refund. Have to leave two days earlier than originally planned because of InterCaribbean flight cancelation | 481.75 | Bridgetown | ||||
| Travel | Flight | Toronto to Barbados | AC480: YYZ-YUL 06:20 - 07:40 AC962: YUL-BGI 09:00-15:20 See cost on Feb 8 | 0 | Toronto | Barbados | |||
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| 2023-02-10: Barbados: Bridgetown, St Lawrence Gap | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Valere Apartment again | |||||||
| Tip | Reminder | It's Friday - call Sheila! | 0 | ||||||
| Note: This morning we walked into Bridgetown from our Airbnb, which is in Hastings (a suburb). We were able to walk almost all the way on beach until we reached a small section owned by private resorts (boo). We were looking for a store to buy a Flow (or Digicel) SIM card but ended up finding one at a random store instead. Brent had a nice chat with the clerk, encouraging her to travel. \n\n To get back ‘home’ we took a bus, and, alas, I lost my bifocal sunglasses on the bus. \n\n Now the plan is to have a coffee date with Sheila, have an afternoon nap, then head out to Oistens for some night life (or, in my case, evening life) Note: This evening we walked down to St Lawrence Gap for dinner (at Castaway’s), including the Richard Haynes Boardwalk. It was very nice, and the meal was excellent, but very expensive. Barbados is more expensive than it used to be.
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| 2023-02-11: Barbados - Cliffs of Awe | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Valere Apartment again | |||||||
| Note: Today it was raining through the morning so we hung out at our AirBnB. Then, we took a bus almost all the way to Sam Lord’s Castle (there was a little rain when we were waiting for the bus). It was really rural that far east of the airport and the going was really slow because of road construction so we bailed on the bus a little early. \n\n We walked out to the Cliffs of Awe. I told Brent that I wanted to be awed by the cliffs. He told me he was sure I’d be odd no matter where I was. Thanks Hunny!\n\n After the cliffs, we took a bus back toward the airport and found our next AirBnB in Gemswick, which, as it turns out, is near Rock Hall Sports Bar where Brent and I walked for a beer many years ago. \n\n Then, off to Pug’s where… you guessed it… another beer. Then, a bus back to the boardwalk where we had dinner at the Backyaad restaurant, which is reggae-themed.
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| 2023-02-12: Fly to St. Vincent | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Saint George | Cost is for two nights Check-in: Building staff, after 3PM. Check-out before 12:00 | 110.31 | St. Vincent | ||||
| Travel | Flight | Babados to St. Vincent | See entry on Feb 14 for more complete information JY 716 12:30-13:15 | 0 | Barbados | St. Vincent | |||
| Note: We took our first collectivo ride of this trip today - to the airport. Interestingly, the collectivo goes around the back side of the airport first. We hadn’t seen what was back there before and it was interesting. Little houses, a field full of sheep, random cows. \n\n We got to the airport super early. There was wayyyy less traffic than yesterday. I really love the pre-security part of this airport - it’s open-air, modern and spacious. The waiting area after security… is none of those things. Note: Departure Gate 9 was a complete non-hellscape compared to last time. Last time, there were several planes’ worth of people waiting here for delayed flights, on a sweltering day, with broken AC. This is not bad at all! Yay! Note: The flight to St Vincent was fast and uneventful, in spite of the strong winds today. One of the building caretakers of where we’re staying picked us up at the airport, took us to a grocery store, and then to our Airbnb. Our host upgraded us to his new building, which is a lot further up into the hills than where we we’re supposed to be, so it will be a 4km walk down to the main road (or back up again), which is fine. I love St Vincent. It’s just so darned beautiful. Where we’re staying is close to ‘Mesopotamia Valley’, which comes by its name honestly. Maybe we’ll walk up there tomorrow. Note: We walked from our place up to Belmont Lookout, which looks down on Mesopotamia Valley. It’s not very far from our new AirBnB. Just before we got to the top it started raining. We decided to keep going, and a lady who runs a dry goods shop invites us in to wait out the rain. We went in but we weren’t in for five minutes when the rain let up so we kept going… and there was the lookout, about 50’ from the store. We had a quick look and then came back down.
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| 2023-02-13: St. Vincent - Fort Charlotte | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Saint George again | |||||||
| Note: Today we walked down the hill from our place at Belmont, took a collectivo into Kingstown, then walked up to Fort Charlotte. \n\n On our way down in the morning, we saw a taxi go by and it was our friend, Deborah!! I’m so happy we found her! I had messaged her a couple weeks before our trip but not heard back. She’s going to come get us tomorrow and take us down to the ferry to go to Bequia. \n\n On our way up to Fort Charlotte, Brent got to chatting with a work crew who were digging a hole so they cajoled him into helping with some digging. And a good time was had by all. \n\n Fort Charlotte is unique in that, instead of the cannons facing out to sea, they face inland. The British built it to protect against the indigenous, the French, and slaves. \n\n We walked back to Kingstown for lunch at Veejays before catching a collectivo back to Arnos Vale and walking back up to our Airbnb. Altogether about 13km, including climbing a couple of crazy hills. It’s a volcanic island, after all - it’s all crazy hills.
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| 2023-02-14: Ferry to Bequia | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Lower Bay Guest House | Located behind behind the Mango Tree bar. As you enter into the village of Lower Bay you just keep traveling straight as you enter more into the village you will past the Reef restaurant after you past there you will come to a gap on your left hand side, come up that gap and then it's the second building on the right. Host: Eetonia Check-in: 9:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m. | 349.49 | Cemetery Hill, Port Elizabeth | ||||
| Tip | Reminder | Use WhatsApp to let Eetonia know when we're confirmed on a ferry | 0 | ||||||
| Travel | Ferry | Ferries to Bequia | Bequia Express: 8:00, 10:30, 13:00, or 16:00 Admiralty: 7:45, 11:30, 16:00 (not 16:30, per Eetonia) | 0 | Kingstown | Port Elizabeth | |||
| Travel | Flight | Barbados to St. Vincent | JY 0714: 11:05 - 11:50 Cost is for two people, return. $975 is approximate CAD based on $727.54USD THIS FLIGHT WAS CANCELED - WE'RE FLYING ON THE 12TH INSTEAD | 975 | Barbados | St. Vincent | |||
| Note: Today we took the ferry over to Bequia. We’re staying in Lower Bay for the first time. We’re in a guest house with a very small room and shared bathroom, kitchen, etc. Sort of like a hostel. But there’s a big deck and some goats. We love goats. \n\n Once we’re settled in we’ll head over to La Pompe to visit Brent’s sister, Sue, who has lived on the island for about 40 years. Note: We walked from Lower Bay to La Pompe via the beach and the bar to have snacks with Susan and her neighbor, John. Brent and Susan discussed some ideas for the rest of our time on Bequia. A very nice evening. Then we walked back to Lower Bay.
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| 2023-02-15: Bequia - Port Elizabeth and Susan's | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Lower Bay Guest House again | |||||||
| Note: We had coffee on our deck and breakfast at Keegan’s, then we walked from Lower Bay along the path to Princess Elizabeth beach, then along the Belmont Walkway to Port Elizabeth. There’s a cruise ship in the Harbour right now so the island is like an anthill of tourists. Brent stopped in at the dive shop and signed up for a dive tomorrow. We took a collectivo back to Susan’s for a picnic lunch. Note: After we got back from Susan’s, we went down to the beach at Lower Bay. Brent snorkeled and I waded. Brent found some Jumbie Beads and I took some photos of the colorful water taxi named ‘Peaches’.
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| 2023-02-16: Bequia - Brent goes Scuba Diving | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Lower Bay Guest House again | |||||||
| Note: This morning Brent is going off to do some scuba diving. We had breakfast together, then he went off for his dive and I walked the beach. \n\n I’ve been thinking about removing my one long lock of hair (my ‘swoop’) before we go on our long cycle tour, but since we got to the Caribbean it has been just a sweaty, greasy, limp, flopping-in-the-wind annoyance, so I decided to take it off now. Thankfully, Brent brought some scissors along.
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| 2023-02-17: Bequia - South Walk and Rhum Tour | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Lower Bay Guest House again | |||||||
| Tip | Reminder | It's Friday - call Sheila! | 0 | ||||||
| Note: This morning we walked up the hill and then took a combi bus down to the small Bequia airport, then walked down to Moonhole, which is essentially as far south as you can walk on Bequia. We then turned around and walked back to our place at Lower Bay, with a quick stop in at Sue’s. \n\n We saw the new Limings resort that sprung up since the last time we were here, and met a very friendly young man named ‘Simple’ (real name Oliver) who told me to go ahead and take all the pictures I wanted, so I took a picture of him. Note: Rhum Tour with Nate\n Susan knows the guy who does the Rhum tours here. He wasn’t planning on doing one this week, but she pressured him into doing one while we’re here. I am SO GLAD this happened. The first stop was the new ‘Bush Bar’, which is, literally, out in the bush. A young man named Ken has taken it upon himself to build a bar up in the bush. You have to take a hiking trail to get there. The trail is fun, and the bar is quite beautiful. What a fun thing. The rest of the tour was good too, but that was really the highlight. Nate is fantastic and I hope he takes me up on the offer of Pro Bono computer work. \n\n Nate gave us a couple of challenges for ice breakers with the group. The first challenge was that we had to speak in an accent that is not our own at the first bar. The second challenge was to take the best photo with our ‘group’ that he assigned us to randomly. My group (myself, Myles, Cathy and Jill) made a totem pole pic.
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| 2023-02-18: Bequia - Provisions, Beach and Susan's | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Lower Bay Guest House again | |||||||
| Note: This morning we had breakfast at Provisions and splashed around in the ocean with Sue. Note: We walked over to La Pompe and had dinner with Sue. A lovely evening and great conversation.
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| 2023-02-19: Bequia - Walk on the Wild Side | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Lower Bay Guest House again | |||||||
| Note: A Walk on the Wild Side\n This morning we walked into Port Elizabeth and then took a taxi to the far south end of the island. It’s the ‘country’ where there’s nothing but plantations, farms, wind… and rich people. After the taxi dropped us, we walked back to Port Elizabeth, then to Lower Bay, stopping at Maranne’s for homemade ice cream (I had ginger sorbet and Brent had mango frozen yogurt), and then for a ‘cheapest beer on the beach’.
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| 2023-02-20: Ferry to St. Vincent, fly to Barbados | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Airport Short Term Stays, Gemswick | Check-in: Mr.Selwyn (my dad) will be greeting you and giving you a tour of the apartment and the immediate environment. Jervais (taxi driver) knows the place. 1246 247-3277 Washing machine usage is to cease by 7pm and only designated clothes lines are to be used. Wash up dishes used & dispose of garbage Free cancellation before 10:00 a.m. on Feb. 19. After that, the reservation is non-refundable. | 84.66 | Gemswick | ||||
| Travel | Ferry | Ferries to St. Vincent | Bequia Express: 6:30, 8:30, 9:30. Fast Ferry 08:25 Admiralty: 6:30, 9:30 <-- or 0900, or not at all | 0 | Port Elizabeth | Kingstown | |||
| Travel | Flight | St. Vincent to Barbados | JY 0717: 13:45 - 14:25 | 0 | St. Vincent | Barbados | |||
| Note: Bye bye Bequia\n We ate the last of our groceries yesterday and left our Airbnb early this morning so we were a little hungry by the time we got to the St Vincent airport. The only food kiosk here was closed so we enjoyed a ‘breakfast of champions’ from the gift shop. Note: Pug’s for all the beer\n It was a strange experience leaving St Vincent today. The plane, crew, and passengers were all there a half-hour early, sooooo… they called us to the gate early and we left. We arrived in Barbados at the time we were supposed to depart St Vincent. I doubt that happens very often with big airlines. \n\n So, we’re back on Barbados for one night. First stop - Pug’s for lunch and ALL the beer (it was 4 for $10 Barnadan (about $7CAD) Note: We found a one-night AirBnB in Gemswick, which is walking distance from the Barbados airport. It’s very nice. The location isn’t vacation-ey, but it’s really convenient to the airport and very well set up and equipped. We have an afternoon flight to Montreal tomorrow so if we’re feeling ambitious in the morning we’ll walk out to Lavender Point. Note: Mosquito-free evening on our deck\n Barbados seems to have very few mosquitoes. St Vincent had some and Bequia, well… our time on Bequia was an adventure in avoiding the mosquitoes, sand fleas, and no-see-ums (flying midges). We were unsuccessful. It’s kinda nice to be back on Barbados where we can just sit without being tormented.
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| 2023-02-21: Fly to Montreal | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Hotel | Motel Pierre | 2375 Boulevard Marcel-Laurin, Ville Saint Laurent, Montréal 1-514-332-3060 | 85.01 | |||||
| Travel | Flight | Barbados to Montreal | AC963: BGI-YUL 16:20-21:10 | 0 | Barbados | Montreal | |||
| Note: Long Journey Home\n We walked from our AirBnB on Barbados to the airport. Flew to Montreal, caught a few hours’ sleep in a motel, and now we’re ready for the finale: fly to Edmonton and be whisked home by our friend, Michel. I don’t mind a drawn-out journey when it’s this long, and this many legs.
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| 2023-02-22: Fly Montreal to Edmonton | |||||||||
| Travel | Bus | From the airport | Bus 747 at 12:45 or 13:45. EIA Door 8. Takes us to Century Park TC. $5/ea Regular busses home after that. $3.50/ea | 17 | YEG | Home | |||
| Travel | Flight | Montreal to Edmonton | AC335: YUL-YEG 08:30-11:19 | 0 | Montreal | Edmonton | |||
| Travel | Vehicle | Michel will pick up at 11:30-ish | 0 | ||||||
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