A New Chapter in My Life

It’s time to move onto another chapter in my life and change things up a lot. I’ve spent the past twelve years and four months doing what I love with great people. When I walked into Rogers Television back in October 2005 to volunteer in the community, doing what I was passionate about, I never thought it would turn out to be such a huge part of my life.

I began orientation and training as a thirteen year old, but it wasn’t until my fourteenth birthday, November 12th, 2005, that I was allowed to sign up and help with OUA Hockey at the JLC. I operated the set camera with my sister. That was my first production with Rogers Television.

Fast forward twelve years and four months into the future. This past Friday evening. I was sitting in the mobile at Budweiser Gardens, running graphics for my last Rogers TV production, London Knights Hockey and The Wrap. It was certainly a tough evening for me. For something that I’d been doing my entire adult life, and I couldn’t do it anymore. I had volunteered with Rogers TV on about five hundred OHL Hockey games. Whether it be at the John Labatt Centre or Budweiser Gardens or even a road trip to another city. We as a crew had gone as far as Sault Ste. Marie to ensure fans back in London saw the Knights play in the playoffs.

But it wasn’t just OHL. I tried helping on everything I could, whether it be in the studio, on the mobile or ENG. If I had the time, I’d go to Rogers and volunteer. It’s not just because I thought I was doing good for the community, it’s because I was working with awesome people everyday.

My last studio show, #LdnOntTV, was on Thursday and what happened there cemented the fact that I was surrounded by incredible people. I was asked to sit in the host chair to block shots for the show. Seconds later I was encircled by staff and volunteers who presented me with a card, pizza and cake. None of this had to be done, but it was a step above and I am so grateful for it.

So why you ask am I leaving Rogers TV if I love it so much? I’ve accepted a job with CTV London. Although I really wish I didn’t have to leave the people and the familiarities of 800 York behind, a new chapter in a paying position in an industry I love is necessary for me to grow as an individual.

Thanks to everyone at Rogers TV for curating my passion for Television and allowing me to become who I am today.

Okay Blue Jays, Let's Play Ball!

We've arrived in Downtown Toronto! Arriving by train Wednesday afternoon, we had lunch and then made our way to the hotel. After resting for a bit, we streetcar-ed over to the Eaton Centre to grab some supplies and get some dinner.

The view from our fourteenth floor hotel room.

Next it was off to the Air Canada Centre where we'd be taking in the concert of a legend. I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. Bob Dylan and his Band performed two hours of his vast catalogue. Videos/Pictures and cellphones were banned and the staging was simple. He didn't play many of his big hits, but it was still great to see the legend in person.

The very simple Bob Dylan staging.

Today we grabbed lunch at restaurant nearby called the Chickery. I had a delicious meal. We then took in the Toronto Blue Jays game versus the #1 Houston Astros. Everyone expected the Blue Jays to be beaten badly as Liriano started, but the Jays pulled out the victory 7-4.

The Lunch at the Chickery.

View from our seats.

Super awesome selfie.

Sorry for the short blog today, not too much I can elaborated on in writing. See you in the next post.

Bonus photo.

To Quebec City & Beyond!

So where I have been? I've been exploring and checking out new sites to the point of exhaustion. That is why there have been a distinct lack of daily blogs. Not to worry, I'll go over everything we did, but I'm think I'll keep this blog to every couple of days.

So what have we done? As you read in the last blog, we had just settled into our hotel room in Quebec City for the night. That was Sunday night, today is Wednesday. On Monday we enjoyed our lovely continental breakfast supplied by the fine folks at Travelodge. It wasn't the greatest selection, but we also showed up towards the end of service. Next we walked to the local mall and picked up some RTC Quebec day passes. These allowed us unlimited travel on all buses in the capital for only $8.50 each. When you visit Quebec City, you immediately realise that the language barrier is a whole lot bigger than Montreal. It felt like we had entered another country and it was awesome. Despite not knowing French, we still managed to get lucky with people who talked a bit of English. In Montreal, 65% of the population are anglophones and speak English as their first language. I couldn't find the same type of data on Quebec City but only 1% of the population have English as their mother tongue.

The Glorious Montmorency Falls

The first place we decided to head with our bus passes was the Montmorency Falls. The entrance itself isn't very well marked, but there is a bus terminal. After a short walk down a forested trail, you're greeted with a suspension bridge. This bridge goes over the very top of the falls. At 84 meters, these falls are the tallest in the province and a spectacular sight that needs to be seen. After a whole lot of snapchat, photos, and Facebook livestreams (here & here) we grabbed some lunch and headed downtown.

#Selfie

After a short bus ride we boarded a ferry and crossed the St. Lawrence River to Levis. We were greeted with an awesome view of Old Quebec and downtown. The weather was a little rough, with tons of rain and wind, but we made the most of it. We crossed back over to the city and contemplated what we should do next. It was decided that we would hang around Old Quebec for bit. After another short bus ride, we went to the Chateau Frontenac Hotel and took lots of photos.

Chateau Frontenac

Our day in Quebec City was rapidly winding down, but we had one last thing to do, go to a baseball game. We boarded another bus and made our way to Stade Canac to watch the Ottawa Champions take on the Quebec Capitales in Can-Am league action. The ballpark had a very nice atmosphere and the game was a blast. That was it for our time in Quebec City. What an amazing place, I'm definitely going back at some point.

Stade Canac

On to the next morning. After a late night at the baseball game you'd normally like to sleep in, right? Well not us. Our train was at 5:53 and we'd have to Uber there. After roughly three hours of sleep we were back on the road. Where will it take us next? Montreal, that's where!

MONTREAL!

We arrived at Montreal Central station just before nine and grabbed some breakfast. Our hotel check-in was not until three, so we brought our bag in to drop them off. Much to our surprise, we were offered a room right away with no early check-in fee. The hotel was centrally located a couple of blocks from the train station and directly between two metro stations. Our first stop in Montreal was a roadside attraction that Sonia read about online, Gibeau Orange Julep. It's basically an old school walk up fast food restaurant shaped like and orange. The food was pretty average, but the unique selling point was their orange drink. It kind of tasted slightly like a creamsicle.

An Orange

After lunch we made our way on the metro over to Parc Jean-Drapeau. It's a couple of islands in the St. Lawrence River that were used as the site of Expo 67 fifty years ago. Think of it as Montreal's version of the Toronto Islands. There is a ton of green space and panoramic views of the city. We spent an hour or so just sitting on a bench looking at the city. Next up was way up to the top of the city.

Biosphere

After some metro and bus action we were atop Mont Royal. In previous trips we visited a lookout point that had some amazing views of the east end of the city, but not downtown. We discovered on this trip that if you stay on the bus for one more stop, you'll end up and another lookout. This one with the best views of the city you can get. There is about a 600m walk from the road, but it is completely worth it. There is a very large patio like area for viewing that gets very hot and sunny. Also beware that the pop is $4 for a bottle on the mountain.

A great lookout

Once our fill of city viewing was completed, we went for some dinner. Name a place you have to eat at once every time you visit Quebec. My answer is St. Hubert. Very much like a Quebecois version of Swiss Chalet, I find St. Hubert is much better.

It was getting late and our time in Montreal was coming to an end, so we went back to the hotel. After a very refreshing sleep we enjoyed some hot breakfast from the hotel. Next it was off to the train station. As I write this blog going 160 km/h on a train, I ask you where am I heading next? You'll have to read the next blog to find out.

Canada Day Yesterday, Quebec City Day Tomorrow

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting Ottawa for Canada Day celebrations. I had all these crazy ideas of what I would do during the day, but several obstacles popped up.

The day began with a 6:30 am Uber ride to London train station. We boarded train 70 to Toronto and arrived without much incident. After a short forty-minute layover at Union Station, we boarded train 40 to Ottawa. Again not much happened on the train. I do want thank Via Rail and its staff for acknowledging Canada 150 in their own way. On both legs of the trip, special pins and chocolate was handed out to all passengers.

Proudly wearing my new pins!

Train 40 arriving in Ottawa.

I thought I'd check out Parliament Hill, The Museum of History in Gatineau and lot of other free stuff including the fireworks. The first hurdle occurred when it was discovered what was involved in trying to get on the hill. There was a several hour wait in line just for a security check point. Because our train got into Ottawa just before three, this was reluctantly taken off the plans for the day. Next came our trip to the museum. My sister and I planned to stay at our brother & his girlfriend's apartment. After dropping off the bags there, we grabbed a bus to Gatineau. There was a nice little festival with a stage and some vendors setup outside the Museum. We went inside and were greeted with a very long line to get into the exhibits. We just walked around and checked out the non long-line stuff.

Canadian Museum of History's Grand Hall.

The shear amount of people later ruled out our visit deeper inside the museum. We did check out some music on the small stage outside. Just as we were about to head to the bus back to Ottawa, the skies opened up. After about twenty minutes in torrential rain, it began to let up. Soaked through we grabbed a bus back to Ottawa and went to my brother Kris and his girlfriend Jackie's apartment to dry off. Jackie spent the whole day with my sister and I and I'm very grateful for this. My brother had to work almost the whole time we were there.

It was bright and sunny five minutes ago.

Now everyone is wet.

After watching some of the ceremony on TV, we headed out to a prime viewing location for the fireworks. Once the twenty-minute, seventeen-second show wrapped up, we headed back to the apartment to get some well needed R&R. The next day we said goodbye to Kris early in the morning, who had to again work. After thanking and saying goodbye to Jackie, we grabbed an Uber to the train station.

Part of an awesome firework show.

The next leg of our travel began at 10:15 am aboard train 624. After a pretty uneventful six hours (except for more pins and chocolate), we arrived in Quebec City. In retrospect, it would have been better for us to use Sainte-Foy station in the suburbs as it is way closer to the hotel. Going downtown did allow us to scope out some stuff downtown though. After a short wait, we were on a bus to the Sainte-Foy area for our hotel.

On the train to Quebec City.

I love the Via Rail Ham Croissant!

Leaving the train.

Gare du Palais is very nice.

That is where we stand as I write this from my cozy bed in the hotel. See you in the next post...

Time for bed

Hi all,

As I write this, the train to Ottawa via Toronto departs London in just over five hours. I should be fast asleep, but I'm not. I'm just too excited. The plans for the next week are set and we are ready for an awesome trip. I'll be filling you in as I go through these blogs and various social media. In twelve hours I'll be in Ottawa to celebrate Canada. The forecast isn't looking too favourable, but we have backup plans just in case. More to come.

Max looking at me while I write this blog.

Okay, time for bed. See you in the next post...

My Canada 150 Plans

It has been almost exactly one year since I posted on this blog. I've decided it's about time that I changed that. My last post came as I was in England getting ready to head to Glastonbury Festival. I planned on blogging every day of my trip, but it didn't work out and my blog fell into disrepair.

Today I write this with renewed hopes that I can keep this blog updated every couple of days. I plan to deliver how I see the world through my eyes. Whether it be how my day as volunteer went or what I think of current affairs or some news. I also plan on bringing back daily blogs while I'm travelling.

So, what are my upcoming plans? You may or may not have heard through me or my Facebook that I was one of the lucky 1,867 recipients of the Via Rail Canada 150 Youth Pass. For only $150, I'm afforded the opportunity to unlimited travel anywhere on the Via Rail network for the month of July. Starting July 1st, I'm heading to Ottawa for Canada Day Celebrations. I'll keep you updated through daily blogs and maybe even some vlogs, where I am and what I'm up to. Just to give you an idea, I'll only be in London for 11 days in all of July.

So that's where this blog and I stand as of today. See you in the next post...

Day 2 - Off to Glasto

I want to first off apologize for the lack of pictures and formatting in this post. I am typing from my phone and will be doing so until Sunday. Regular blogs will return from my laptop on Monday.

We left our first hotel at 6:45am enroute to Paddington station. The two of us grabbed some quick breakfast and boarded the GWR 7:15 service to Castle Cary station. After a 90 minute ride we joined the queue for a shuttle bus to Glasto. There were major delays and traffic problems due to the weather on site. After about two hours, we were on our way. Upon getting off the bus we quickly realized why there were delays. The mud was a couple inches deep and being made worse with drizzle. After the lengthy walk through the mud, we decided to camp a lot closer to the gate. We chose to camp in pylon ground and rested after the long trip. For dinner Sonia and I shared a pepperoni and jalapeno pizza. It was getting late, so we went back to camp.

Day 0 into Day 1

The time finally came. I am now in England sitting in a very small hotel room writing this blog. The internet is very bad, but I'll try my best. Let's start with Day 0.

The day started out with me making a quick trip to the bank to pick up my £ from the bank. I ventured out into the very humid and hot London, Ontario and walked down to my bank and No Frills to pick up some last minute stuff. I got back in plenty of time to rest up before venturing out. Sonia and I left home at 2pm and headed downtown. We stopped by Arby's™for some lunch in the Citi Plaza.

Bags packed and ready to go!

Our next stop was the train station. Upon arriving we learned that the train was about and hour behind due to an earlier incident in Toronto. This made us worry a little bit as our schedule was already pretty tight. Our flight was scheduled for 10:05 and we like to arrive three hours prior to departure. The delayed train didn't arrive in Toronto until five after seven.

Hour late train made us a little nervous.

Next step, the Union-Pearson Express. With trains running every fifteen minutes, we caught the 7:15 departure. The train was comfortable and journey time was 25 minutes to the airport. Arriving at 7:40, we quickly found a kiosk and checked in. Next we waited in line to drop our bags. After the bags were dropped we proceeded to the CATSA screening point and were through in ten minutes.

View from the Union Pearson Express.

We got to the gate (Terminal 3 - C35) and waited for approximately an hour for boarding. The take off was a little rough, to be expected with the storms in the area, and we were airborne at about 10:20pm EST. In enjoyed the view out the window as we passed directly over downtown Toronto and over the lake. With thunderstorms in the area, there was a spectacular display of almost constant nocturnal lighting over the lake. The overall flight was mostly smooth with some moderate turbulence in small pockets.

The wing somewhere over the North Atlantic.

The landing at Gatwick was a little rough as the aircraft had a massive headwind. Once down we proceeded through the long halls of Gatwick to passport control and were in nice and easy. We were through customs at about 11:00am BST. We decided to grab some drinks and hang at the airport for a bit as our hotel check-in wasn't until 2pm. Sonia and I took the 12:52 Southern train to London Victoria; a trip that took about 45 minutes. Our next step was to find bus stop H in the maze that is London Victoria during the multiple construction projects underway. We found it and boarded bus 436 towards Paddington station, which took about fifteen minutes. Sonia and I checked into the hotel and relaxed a bit until heading out again for more supplies for Glastonbury.

Our small room.

I needed a water bottle and Sonia needed a bed sheet for her air mattress. We walked down Edgware road a bit until we found a Tesco Metro. Unfortunately the location only carried food. I used my phone to search for a Tesco Superstore. The closest location was Earl's Court. I next used what I've discovered to be a very useful app: City Mapper. You just type in a destination and it'll give you multiple options and costs on how to get there.

An amazing app!

The best option the app gave us, was to walk down to Marble Arch and catch a route 74 bus towards Putney. We did exactly that and found ourselves at Tesco shopping away. I used the app again to get back to the hotel and it suggested the District line tube from Earl's Court to Paddington. We were at the hotel fifteen minutes later. To get around London, Sonia and I have been using Oyster Cards. They are contactless cards that can be used on Tubes, Trams, Buses, Trains and more in London. The cards are capped at a set daily limit, so you won't use your entire balance in a day. Hope you enjoyed my long and rambling blog, it's 12:35am so I'm heading to bed. I'll try to blog from Worthy Farm daily, but no promises. Internet will likely be spotty.

Off to England in FIVE DAYS!

Five days. A work week. That is all that remains before I depart on my next adventure. A years worth of planning is about to come to an end. I am about to embark on another trip to England. The last time I was this excited for travel was three years ago, our last trip to England. Just as we did three years ago, we are heading to the largest greenfield music festival in the world. Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. At the time of me typing this, gates open in 7 days 1 hour and 30 minutes.

The poster!

UK Trip 2016: Biggest Purchase DONE!

I am writing this blog today with great excitement, for I have just spent $3747.21 in one go. So, you ask, what does $3747.21 get me? I just purchased the flight and hotel package for my sister and I. It includes two round trip flights and eleven nights in a four-star hotel. The trip itself lasts from June 20th till July 8th. Wait a minute. That's longer than eleven nights. I know, and there's good reason for it.

A little pricer than 2013, but worth it!

Our plan is expanded from what we did in 2013. The flight on the twentieth is overnight and doesn't arrive in London till the next morning. Next plan is to go to a reasonably priced hotel near Paddington Station and stay one night. In 2013 we stayed at the Days Inn for £89. The next morning (June 22nd) is when the real fun begins! If things go like they did in the past, we'll be hopping on the 7:06am train from London Paddington to Castle Cary. You may be thinking to yourself, what is there to do around the rural station of Castle Cary? Answer, The World's Biggest and Greatest Festival, Glastonbury!

The Famous Glastonbury sign

I first heard about Glastonbury Festival in the spring of 2012. The olympics were getting closer and closer and I was learning more about UK culture. I proposed the idea to my sister that we should try and save up and go to the festival in 2013. We did, and it was one of the greatest things I have ever done.

On the hill above The Park 

So, back to 2016. The plan is to camp at Glastonbury for five nights from June 22-26, just like in 2013. Some pretty big acts are strongly rumoured for the gig and it should be amazing. The first act was officially confirmed yesterday as being Jeff Lynne's ELO. The rest of the lineup is usually revealed closer to ticket day. Tickets were purchase on a £50 deposit scheme back in October. They sold out in thirty minutes. The balance £183 per ticket is due in April.

The Hives on the Other Stage in 2013

After Glastonbury is over, we make our way back to our eleven night hotel in the London neighbourhood of Cricklewood. We'll likely need a refresher day and then it'll be straight out to the tourist attractions! To help with the costs of all the tourist attractions, we have decided to purchase a London Pass for the second time. We were happy with how the pass worked in 2013 and will be getting ten day passes with travel this time around. The pass allows free access to many attractions for ten days, along with unlimited tube, bus and train travel in the capital.

The Elizabeth Clock Tower

The trip is sure to be a lot of fun. Check back here for regular updates. I've also thought about doing a daily VLOG while overseas. We'll have to see how it goes.

Let the planning begin!

Today is the beginning of a long and drawn-out process. Today is the beginning of almost a year of saving all extra money. Today is the day I taped some paper to my bedroom wall. If you go back through my blog archives, you will see exactly what taping some paper on the wall really means. Okay, I'll spill the beans for those of you who are not in the loop. This is my trip planning wall. It's something that I've reserved for only the biggest of trips that require planning. Each 8.5x11" page represents one day of my vacation. This format allows me to meticulously plan each day down to the hour in an analog format. Sure, I can and probably will also plan digitally with Google Calendar, but important information can easily get lost in a cloud within itself. Whereas with a schedule that forms most of my wall, things cannot get lost.

So what am I planning, you ask? Its been almost three years since I had the trip of my life to the English countryside, so why not go again? I'll be attempting to procure the almost impossible to get tickets from Glastonbury Festival for the 2016 edition in October. Then I'll spend eleven nights exploring the capital of the United Kingdom, London. In 2013, I got to see some amazing bands, like The Rolling Stones.

It has been over a year since I last posted here. I hope to keep this blog updated as much as possible leading up to and including the trip.

Another Great Weekend Ahead

As I type this, I prepare to head out to the Marconi Club here in London for the 2014 Ontario Volunteer Service Awards. Each year organizations around Ontario nominate some of their volunteers for years of service awards. I happen to be one of the lucky ones from Rogers TV London that was nominated to receive a five year award. As soon as the ceremony wraps up, I'll be heading to the station to direct and technical produce #LdnOnt. Why? Because television never takes a day off. My first year of college wraps up after my only exam which takes place tomorrow morning. The subject is: Understanding Media. On Saturday evening I head to the big smoke for some bowling and a Jays game on Sunday afternoon. Sunday happens to be R.A. Dickey bobblehead day, I cannot wait! I'll have more blog posts about the weekend hopefully after each day. I leave you now with a picture of my bus ticket for Saturday...

Weekend getaway

The St. Patty's day weekend is generally one of lots of partying and green suds; definitely not the case for me this year. This weekend I was invited to a friend named Ally's place in Toronto to just relax for the weekend. I was humbled to receive the invitation and accepted immediately. The weekend began early Saturday morning. I caught the 7:36am VIA Rail train from London to Toronto set to arrive at 10:04am. After a sleepy ride to Toronto I met up with my sister and Ally, who had just seen Philip Phillips the night before, at the Starbucks at King and Yonge; we discussed what we should do for the weekend and decided on for the most part, relaxing. On our way to Ally's apartment, we stopped at Eglington subway station and got some cupcakes. Upon arriving at the apartment, we began playing games and relaxing. For dinner we ordered a plethora of Chinese take out, which was delicious. We had earlier decided that we'd like to go to a Marlies game at Ricoh Coliseum on the Sunday, so I bought tickets that night. The next morning we trekked outward towards Ricoh via the TTC. After a quick pitstop at an ATM and Starbucks we boarded the 509 replacement bus towards the exhibition. The game in question was the Hamilton Bulldogs at the Toronto Marlies. After sixty slightly boring minutes the Marlies won 4-1. We made our way back to the apartment after a quick pitstop at Dundas station. The lovely thrasher joined us for some big brother then was quickly on his way. After departure of the thrasher, Ally, Sonia and I discussed details of the trip in the summer of 2015. This discussion greatly renewed so of our excitement and anticipation for the trip to England next summer. The next morning (Monday) we packed our bags and were on our way. We departed Union station at 12:15 on VIA Rail train 73, or slated arrival time is 2:26pm. It's slated because I'm writing this from that train. Currently passing through Woodstock, I think it was a very successful relaxation trip and thank Ally very much!

Hamilton Bulldogs @ Toronto Marlies from Ricoh Coliseum

Blog Update

I started this blog last year to primarily cover my trip to England last June. My last post was on day 8 of that 13 day trip, due to poor internet connectivity. I have decided to go back to England and Glastonbury festival in the summer of 2015 for the 45th anniversary of the first festival, therefore I'll be starting my blog back up again. Hopefully I'll have solved the internet issues I had last time by next year. I'm not just going to use this blog for that specific trip. I will however try to stay true to the theme of the blog, traveling. Any major trips I make will be covered extensively in this blog, whether it be a weekend trip to Toronto or anywhere out of town. Last year in the lead-up to the England trip I started a little late in the planning phase. This time around I hope to have the entire process covered extensively. I want to have a method of sharing my opinionated travel experiences with the world, and this, along with Facebook and Twitter, is a great way.

Me at Glastonbury 2013

Day 8

Today was the first day we attempted anything a tourist would do. We left our hotel and caught a 189 towards Oxford Circus. The bus ride took about 45 minutes. Next we entered Baker Street tube station and boarded a southbound Bakerloo train towards Elephant and Castle. We left the train at Piccadilly Circus to go souvenir shopping. Next we grabbed some lunch and got back on the same train. We got off the Bakerloo train at The Embankment. After walking across the River Thames on the Golden Jubilee bridge, we queued for a river cruise. The first leg of the journey we spent on the lower deck, as the upper was full. When the vessel docked at The Tower of London, we went upstairs for better pictures. In the process we were able to witness a rarity; the tower bridge opening for a tall ship. The tower bridge used to open hundreds of times a week, since the downturn of the shipping industry and the London Harbour now being located between the bridge and the sea, the bridge only needs to lift ten times a week. Our vessel was short enough to go under the closed bridge. We continued on down the river, following tide. Our crew was very informative in describing local landmarks. The end of the line was Greenwich Pier. We got off here, grabbed a drink and headed over to the National Maritime Museum. It was a well laid out, free museum. After completing the museum we boarded our cruise again back to the city centre. Once we docked were we started, Millenium Pier, we made our way over to the free London Eye 4D Cinema. The cinema was home to a four minute film including bubbles, fog, snow and mist. Feeling quite tired after our journey thus far, we decided to head back. This time we took a slightly different route back to our hotel in North West London. We boarded the Bakerloo train northbound and got off at Baker Street. Next we transferred to the Jubilee Line and took it a number of stations to Kilburn. To end the journey we took a 189 towards Brent Cross to the hotel. Today we plan on visiting the Tower of London, HMS Belfast and maybe St. Paul's Cathedral.

Where we plan to visit today. As shot from our cruise yesterday.

Day 7

It's been a while since I've posted, don't worry I have an excuse. When I started this blog, I planned on posting a blog every day of my trip. Once I arrived at Glastonbury, I quickly realized that it would be next to impossible. Due to the fact that Glastonbury was located in the middle of the country and there was a medium sized city on site, the local cell towers were overwhelmed. When I did get on the internet, it was only for a few minutes at a time. By the end of Thursday, the battery in both my MiFi device and back-up battery device had died. Nevertheless, the festival was an amazing experience. The pure awesomeness of getting to see legends like Sinead O'Connor, Kenny Rogers and The Rolling Stones all in one area, all in three days was amazing.  Instead of any pictures today, I have decided to share a video. Here are some of my highlights from Glastonbury Festival:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcMQXuzlzcs

I'll try and be back tomorrow with another update...

No blogs from glasto

I will only be blogging when the internet works. It has been really spotty. That makes sense when 170,000 try to use 3g at the festival. If there is a blog, I will also try to post it to facebook, no promises though.

Day 1 - Arrived in London

Day one of the trip kind of included last night in Toronto. We left Pearson enroute to London Gatwick at 9:55pm Toronto time. Here are a couple of shots from the on-board map system:

In the middle of the North Atlantic

Wow it was cold outside! The plane's ground speed got as high as 1029 km/h.

We arrived in London very tired at 9:55am London time, or 4:55am Toronto time. We discovered that the walk to customs was a long one. Gatwick is under renovation, making the journey from the gate long. Here is the the landing card you're supposed to fill out on the plane: 

The landing card required to enter the UK.


We made our way on the Southern Railway to London Victoria Station. We had time to kill, so we grabbed a drink from a cafe in the station. It was the first time I got to use my pounds and the first time I ever had someone say to me: "What can I get you love?" Here is a picture from inside the beautiful Victoria Station:

London's Victoria station during lunch.

Our next mode of transportation was the London Underground. I was completely surprised with how busy it was. We took the Circle Line from Victoria to Paddington Station. We still had an hour till check in at the hotel, so we went to McDonald's to sit and kill time. We later checked into our hotel and had a nap, being completely tired. It didn't really bother us that there was no power in the room, we just needed sleep. Flash forward to 7pm, still without power in the room we decided to go exploring in the neighbourhood and find somewhere to eat. Here is a shot of the phone booth outside the hotel.

Phone booth on Sussex Garden in Hyde Park.

We found a place called Garfunkels near the hotel which had reasonable prices. The food ended up being great. I had the Grilled Chicken Burger and Sonia had the Fish and Chips.

My delicious chicken burger!

Sonia's Fish & Chips.

When we got back to the hotel, I decided to inquire about the electricity in the room. Apparently in order for the room to have power, you have to insert your room key into a slot in the wall. Sure enough, on came the lights when I did as I was instructed. That was our crazy day one. It's midnight here now, so I better get some sleep so I can catch the train tomorrow at 7:06am to GLASTONBURY!!!!!! I'll be back tomorrow with another update!

10 Days

Today marks 10 days until Sonia and I leave home for Toronto. Our Flight leaves Pearson on the evening of June 24th. As you can see below; our Glastonbury Festival tickets arrived recently, our London Passes and Travel cards arrived about a week later. Today I received a device and sim card that I rented that will allow us to be connected to the internet anywhere in the UK. This is the device that will allow me to post photos and updates to this blog, facebook and twitter. I cannot begin to explain how excited I am for this trip. A ton more is to come on this blog, so stay tuned!