A young Australian's views on travelling Australia and the world.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

More future planning.

After nearly a week, I've booked most of my accommodation and resolved
a near nightmare in one part of my itinerary and turned it into
something quite nice :)

Atlantic Canada was starting to turn
into a major headache. My initial choice would have resulted in seeing
almost nothing, doing long-haul bus journeys and exiting quickly. From
everything I've read, this would not do justice to the region, even if
it is so hard to get to and there's only one bus a day between some
places and they don't connect.

However, with two days' hard
work, I've found a way to do it that involves a lot of small, pleasant
towns, B&B establishments and fairly short bus journeys and even a
bit of time on the water. I still wonder how on earth people went on
holiday before the Net came about - maybe they were lazy and went
through travel agents or tour companies. :P


(Note: C$1 = A$1.10)

Day 1
Arrive Halifax by air 3pm
Arrange US currency/travel docs

Day 2
1:30pm Halifax -> 3:00pm Wolfville, NS (C$16, Acadian/SMT)
8:10pm Wolfville -> 10:35pm Digby, NS (C$23, Acadian/SMT)
Stay at B&B in Digby, NS (3 options)

Day 3
Spend day in Digby
4:30pm Digby, NS -> 7:30pm Saint John, NB (C$20, Bay Ferry)
Stay at B&B in Saint John (5 options, 3 budget)

Day 4
9:45pm (5:40pm) Saint John -> 11:15am (7:10pm) Fredericton (C$20, Acadian/SMT)
Stay at HI/YHA in Fredericton (621 Churchill Row, ~C$16)

Day 5
11:30am Fredericton -> 5:40pm* Bangor, ME ($39, Acadian/SMT)
- Set watch back one hour
- Cross US border

6:15pm Bangor -> 8:45pm Portland, ME (US$20, Vermont Transit)
Stay at Inn @ St John (939 Congress St, Portland) 2 nights

Day 7
Portland -> Boston, MA (Greyhound)

End sub-trip

Sunday, August 17, 2003

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

For those who haven't heard from me in the past 2 weeks or so, I've been planning a round-the-world trip and now the flights have been paid for. It's one of those things that came about almost purely on impulse - but I'm glad I've had something to get me through my recent illness. I'm sick of being sick, so to speak. Oh, and my parents having no life, and being stuck in a house with them. *sigh*

This holiday has been planned in typical Andrew fashion - i.e. it's madcap, busy and independent. Probably the main difference between this and other holidays I've had is the budget factor - I normally value my comfort quite highly, but this time, for the most part, it's budget accommodation all the way.

The basic plan is:

14/04/2004 - 22/05/2004 - Canada
22/05/2004 - 02/06/2004 - United States (north-east)
03/06/2004 - 06/06/2004 - Northern Ireland
07/06/2004 - 08/06/2004 - England (Liverpool, Manchester)
09/06/2004 - 12/06/2004 - Singapore

The eastern states trip at the end of the year (Mt Gambier, Apollo Bay, Melbourne, Launceston, Melbourne) is still going ahead. So my budget will look terrible come mid-next year :)

Anyway, back to being sick and bored. Oh and if you're a local of one of the above areas or have been there, feel free to provide any advice you think could be helpful to me - it will be appreciated. :)