Travel Life

 This is an account from 2012 (approximately), the first time I visited the Waugh street bridge was with my parents on our way to Austin for my a family wedding. Needless to say, the experience was long, but necessary. We drove for about 2 days, and spent about a week in the states overall. We left Canada from the border of Buffalo,  New York. We were travelling with a family car, sedan. nothing breath-taking, but quite relaxing and comfortable for the kind of drive we were doing. Nearly a decade later, my family (now including my wife) returned, only this time we were arriving in Austin to visit my Uncle and Aunt after the birth of their first son (figure 1and 2). This was my wife's first time visitng the United States. (Figure 1, Sam, Carm and Lily) (Figure 2, Carm and Lily) All the trip and details aside, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the nature of this place in Austin Texas. This particular bat colony is one of the biggest in North America, (see included images fo...

 Holy Tolito! This past summer (July/Aug. 2024), my family and I made our return to Canada for a visit. This was our first visit in about 5 years. Needless to say, it was a fast and sastiable visit. While we were booking and organizing the trip to Ontario though, there was a slight issue that concerned my son's entry and exit permit for China. When we applied for his permit, it was seemingly a reasonable amount of time, given we were unaware how long it would take it receive it. When we were given it (pretty much within 72 hours), the expiry was touch earlier than we had actually anticipated, making it a bit worrisesome (needlessly), with regards to the return back to China.  While we were certain it wouldn't be an issue, my wife wanted to look into extending the permit. While contacting the government in China, it was stated that only in Canada my wife would be able to apply for an "extended" permit (2 years). Interesting, was the word that came to my mind as well. T...

 Take a moment to understand that the Royal York was originally constructed in 1929. Now nearly 100 years later, it sits within a kilometer (roughly) from Toronto's CN Tower, the Roger Centre and the Scotiabank arena. I would imagine that the individuals who have invested into the Royal York over the years couldn't agree more with a commonly associated phrase of one of thier well-known guests, Jeff Dunham, "location, location, location." Even without the "location" though, this place carries a great deal of swagger (even through the lens of the old iPhone 6 I took this shot with back in 2018). ( say what you want about hotel pools, I'm a sucker for an empty pool and great atmosphere, mainly empty cause most folks would have been gone to dinner by this time, we checked-in late, 2018 ) My wife and I stayed here in Toronto some year back, prior to COVID, heck, prior to the birth of our son. Needless to say, it left an impression, on me and indeed the wallet...