Articles by Susanne Pacher on ArticleSnatch.com

Hello From Sicily Presenting: The Sciglio Family 55 Years Of Hotel Ownership In Taormina

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

I really enjoyed my location at Hotel Villa Nettuno, this 13-room family run hotel on the north side of Taormina. Since it was a rainy day today anyway, I decided to find out a bit more about this hardworking family who have dedicated their lives towards making foreign travelers feel welcome in Taormina. So I sat down with Vincenzo and Salvatore, the father and son team that together with Maria, Salvatore's mother, runs Hotel Villa Nettuno. Naturally the interview was conducted in Italian, and I sometimes had to use my dictionary plus my hands and feet to get my point across. Vincenzo took me over to some family photos in the living room and started to explain the family's long-standing history to me. Vincenzo, himself in his eighties, explained that his great grandfather born in 1833 while his grandfather was born in 1867. The villa came into being circa 1850 and originally consisted of only 4 rooms. In 1887 Vincenzo's grandfather initiated an expansion and added a 4-room addition above the original rooms. The white stone surrounding the windows and doors was imported from Siracusa and Vincenzo's grandfather was an expert stone carver. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> sicily]]> travel]]> italy]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections.

Hello From Sicily: My Italian Language Learning Adventure - Exploring The Beauty Of Sicily And Saili

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Sicily the name alone conjures up images of an exotic island, a mysterious and fascinating past. I have wanted to explore Italy for some time now since I had not been there for a long, long time, and when I was pondering which region of Italy to explore Sicily came to mind. I figured this island would offer a combination of fascinating history, rich culture, scenic beauty, and an opportunity for a wide variety of activities. One activity I definitely wanted to pursue was to combine my journey with language studies: my earlier language study trips to Havana and Cuernavaca, Mexico, not only got me closer to the Spanish language, but these on-site language learning experiences really allowed me to explore the culture from within. So this time I was going to focus on learning Italian, and I was able to locate two language schools in Sicily that would both provide a totally different experience and a different way of exploring the island. Armed with no prior knowledge other than having read through an Italian grammar book, I was going to see how much of this beautiful language I would pick up in my three weeks in Sicily. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> sicily]]> travel]]> italy]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections.

Hello From Ottawa - A Brisk Morning Walk To Parliament Hill

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

One of the interesting features of Ottawa is its architecture and Ottawa has many heritage sites. Parliament Hill with its historical neo-Gothic buildings was an area I wanted to discover in more detail. Friday night, just after we arrived in town I was able to snap a few pictures, just before the sun went down. Saturday morning I got up and out by 7:30 am and it was a crisp morning, with perfect blue sky. It was definitely on the cold side, not a good idea to venture out without a hat or a thick scarf. So it was going to be a bad hair day again, but who cares¦. I started off with the area immediately in front of the Lord Elgin Hotel, which includes the National Arts Center, the Government Conference Centre (the former Union Station, Ottawa's main railway terminal), the War Memorial and the Chateau Laurier. Then I marched up to Parliament Hill from where you have an absolutely perfect view over to Hull and the Gatineau Hills. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> ottawa]]> travel]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Ottawa - Skating On The Rideau Canal - Officially The World's Largest Skating Rink

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

There is no denying it: Ottawa is known is one of the coldest capitals in the world (only as far as temperatures are concerned though). But does that mean you stay at home during the winter and mope? Absolutely not! Ottawa has turned a potential liability into a key asset and really shows us how to celebrate winter. First there is Winterlude, Ottawa's winter festival, which is being held this year from February 3 to 19, 2006. Winterlude is apparently attended by more than 650,000 winter revellers and encompasses a myriad of events: concerts, special events, culinary demonstrations, restaurant festivals and the list goes on. Skating on the Rideau Skateway, at almost 8 km the world's largest icerink., was our main reason for coming to Ottawa. Indeed we had travelled to Ottawa about 3 years ago and due to warm weather Winterlude was a total washout for us that year (I guess the appropriate term for that event would be "Waterlude"). **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> ottawa]]> travel]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando: Golf In Orlando - Playing Links-style At The Royal St. Cloud - Unpretentious Gol

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

For a real links-style golf experience we discovered the Royal St. Cloud Golf Links, located in St. Cloud, about 25 minutes southeast of the Orlando airport or the Disney area. The Royal St. Cloud Links greet you with a rolling layout of links-style fairways, punctuated by classic links bunkers that feature names such as Hell, Spectacles, Devil's Pocket and Hoofprint. True to its link heritage, every club in the bag will be utilized as the terrain is naturally varied. Unlike other Orlando golf courses, the Royal St. Cloud is free of any residential developments and offers a pure golf experience. The design features four sets of tees and from the blue tee offers a championship length of 7,111 yards and a 74.6 rating, all on flawless fairways and silky-smooth Tifeagle greens. Its motto, as printed above the entrance to the club house is "Original Golf Played Here", and indeed the Royal St. Cloud features original style golf at its unpretentious best. I had a chance to talk to Bill Filson, the Director of Golf and since 2002 co-owner of this facility. Bill has an extensive teaching background. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> orlando]]> florida]]> travel]]> golf]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando: Golf In Orlando - The Links-style International Course At Championsgate

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Several days after attending the Father-Son-Challenge at ChampionsGate we actually got out and played the International Course ourselves. It was an exciting experience to play a championship golf course just shortly after a major tournament, when it was still in tournament condition with just a few extra degrees of difficulty. The open wind-swept design features a multitude of bunkers and a variety of water hazards, and with a difficulty rating of 76.3, one of the highest ratings in the state, we were duly humbled by the challenges that this course threw at us. ChampionsGate is an impressive facility with 36 holes designed by famous golf legend Greg Norman. What sets ChampionsGate apart is that its International layout and the National course have totally different designs. The hard, fast fairways of the International course are reminiscent of the great old Scottish and Irish links, while the more modern American-style National course winds through citrus groves and stands of pines, emphasizing challenging shot-making choices and a range of memorable par-3s. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> orlando]]> florida]]> travel]]> golf]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando - Golf's Ultimate Theme Park

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

My husband loves playing golf and I am myself am pretty decent at the sport. So it was a given that we would be playing a few rounds in Orlando. We had a chance to sample a number of golf courses first-hand and got a personal appreciation of the great number and variety of golf courses in the Orlando area. I had a chance to talk with Mike Jamison from Golf Orlando to get a better overview of the extensive golf facilities that the Orlando area has to offer. 1. Orlando is not only the world's No. 1 vacation destination, but it is also called "Golf's Ultimate Theme Park". Please tell us more about that. Isn't it interesting how sometimes the most obvious answer to a tough question is sitting right before your eyes, yet it takes you days, months, even years to see it? Officials of the marketing co-op GolfOrlando realized that recently when they finally nailed the perfect marketing tag line for their 25-course organization. For years the group had wrestled with various themes that might set Orlando apart from its competition in the golf destination wars. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> orlando]]> florida]]> travel]]> golf]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando - A Walk Through St. Augustine - The Oldest Continuously Inhabited City In The Un

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

On our way home from Orlando, a little more than an hour into our 20+ hour road trip back to Toronto, we stopped in St. Augustine, "the nation's oldest city", just north of Jacksonville - indeed the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States, having been founded by the Spanish in 1565. St. Augustin's founder, Don Pedro Menendez, came ashore on September 8, 1565, and chose to name the settlement after the patron saint whose feast day coincided with the day of landing. Of course, before the Spanish ever set foot on Florida soil, the Timacuan Indians had already been here and they watched Menendez and the roughly 1500 colonists and soldiers settle here. Over the last few centuries the city experienced governments from different countries, including Spain, Britain, and since 1821, the United States. The real rise of this community came in the late 1800s when Henry Flagler (1830 to 1913) built two hotels and took over a third as part of the Flagler hotel chain. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> orlando]]> florida]]> travel]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando - Central Florida's Wildlife: An Abundance Of Diversity

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

When you go to Florida, wildlife confronts you everywhere. Especially all the exotic birds fascinated me, often you come up close to subtropical bird species while playing golf or picnicking in a public park. Central Florida is actually a much more interesting destination for naturalists than I would ever have expected. Both Florida's plant life and wildlife are surprisingly diverse and Florida is the 3rd most ecologically diverse state after Hawaii and California. It is a nearly flat lowland that gently slopes to the sea on the east and west coasts. This lowland has unique physical features that are associated with the diverse ecosystems that exist here. The predominantly low-lying topography was created by fluctuating sea levels over time. Coastal features include dunes, barrier islands, lagoons and tidal rivers, which were formed by tides, currents and winds. The interior of Central Florida is characterized by swamps, marshlands and inland lakes, a haven for birds. South of Orlando is the Lake Wales Ridge, a ridge of sand hills paralleled by flatlands and sandy rolling hills. This ridge used to be an island in earlier geological times when ocean levels were higher. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> orlando]]> florida]]> travel]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando - Central Florida's Parks And Gardens Offer An Abundance Of Colours, Shapes, And

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Florida has a great amount of biodiversity and nature lovers will enjoy the great variety of plants found in the Sunshine State. On our recent trip to Orlando we had a chance to visit several locations with a beautiful parks and gardens, such as the Harry P. Leu Gardens and the Historical Bok Sanctuary. Even my excursion on the Scenic Boat Tour in Winter Park brought me up close to some of the fascinating flowers and plants found in the Orlando area. Florida has a mix of subtropical and tropical climates and the area around Orlando are more subtropical. Central Florida has a hot, but often stormy climate and experiences many thunderstorms with a frequent risk of hurricanes. Geographically, the Central Florida area encompasses Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Brevard, and Volusia counties, and some consider Polk and Sumter counties also to be part of Central Florida. This low-lying area is dominated by hundreds of lakes surrounded by marshland. Historically predominant industries include cotton, citrus and cattle-raising. The climate favours a great deal of plant and animal species. Nature lovers will revel in Central Florida's abundant gardens and parks which give them a perfect opportunity to enjoy nature up close. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> orlando]]> florida]]> travel]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando: Discovering Orlando's Historic Downtown Neighbourhoods And Parks

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Downtown Orlando offers a welcome reprieve from the purpose-built areas to the south-west of the city that have been created solely to accommodate tourists. In fact, many of the historic downtown neighborhoods are beautiful, offer a great variety of architecture, and give you a feeling of community where regular people actually live and work. Right around the downtown core are a number of beautiful neighbourhoods that lend themselves nicely to exploration on foot. Some of the streets are cobble-stoned, making them the perfect destination for a neighborhood walk. After visiting Loch Haven Park, on this grey and drizzly day, we decided to drive south, park our vehicle and explore some of the central neighbourhoods on foot. We parked in Lake Cherokee Park, walked all the way around the lake and delighted in admiring the upscale architecture and the wildlife on the lake. Bird lovers are able to see a great variety of water birds right in the middle of town and we observed one waterbird, as it sat quietly and then catapulted its head forward to catch its winged prey, all within a split second... **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> travel]]> orlando]]> florida]]> downtown orlando]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando: Exploring Orlando's Loch Haven Park: A Center Of Arts And Culture

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

On this overcast day we decided to explore other areas of Orlando in more detail. About 10 minutes north of downtown Orlando is Loch Haven Park, an area that holds a number of major attractions, including theOrlando Museum of Art, the Mennello Museum of American Art as well as the Orlando Repertory Theatre, the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orlando Science Center. We started our exploration off with a trip to the Leu Botanical Gardens. The centerpiece of the gardens is the Leu House Museum, a restored farmhouse dating back to 1888. It is located on Lake Rowena, one of the hundreds of lakes in Orlando, and surrounded by a 50 acre garden of roses, palms and camellias. The complex also features an orchid house with one of the best collections of orchids in the United States. The Leu Botanical Gardens also offer a new tropical stream garden, a kitchen garden complete with herbs and vegetables and a butterfly garden. Just 10 minutes away is Loch Haven Park, one of Orlando's centers of art, culture, and science. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> travel]]> orlando]]> florida]]> loch haven park]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando: A Walk Through Winter Park - A Hint Of New England In Florida

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Just a few minutes north of downtown Orlando awaits Winter Park, a charming picturesque suburb steeped in history. After my excursion on the Scenic Boat Tour, my local expert Wanda Salerno took me on a little walk through town past beautiful historic neighbourhoods. With is origins as a citrus growing region, Winter Park became a major destination for wealthy northerners during the early 1900s, who came into town by train to reach their elegant winter retreats, seeking shelter from the cold winters of the north. Elegant mansions and and stately old oak trees draped with Spanish moss bear witness to this historic era. Wanda then took me through some of Winter Park's hidden courtyards, which are filled with specialty retail stores and galleries. Winter Park features a large variety of galleries and I had a chance to sample three of them, all of which carried vastly different artwork: - Scott Laurent Collections - Native Visions Gallery - Timothy's Our walk took us out on to Winter Park's main street, Park Avenue, which houses 10 blocks of specialty retailers, galleries and ecclectic restaurants. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> travel]]> orlando]]> florida]]> winter park]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Hello From Orlando: An Orlando Jewel, The Wells Built Museum Of African American History And Culture

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

After I had received a general overview of the history of the Orlando area in the Orange County Regional History Center, I wanted to delve a little deeper into the social history of the Orlando area, and the Wells Built Museum of African American History and Culture was going to give me a more in-depth look into Orlando's African American history. To this day this area west of I-4 is primarily inhabited by African Americans and the difference in housing and facilities between this area and the downtown area is quite notable. As a matter of fact, the very name "Division Street" points to a distinct historical line of demarcation between black and white residential areas. The origins of the Wells Built Museum date back to a prominent local African physician by the name of Dr. William Monroe Wells who started building the Well's Built Hotel in 1926 to provide lodging to African Americans during an era of segregation when accommodations were not available to them in other areas of Central Florida. **End Summary** Topics: hello from]]> orlando]]> florida]]> museum of african american history]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

Orlando - Off The Beaten Path: Discovering Central Florida Without Visiting Any Theme Parks... Can I

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

One of my husband's favourite places is Florida, since he is an avid golfer and likes to get away from the cold Canadian winter for his birthday in early December. For a while now we had planned to visit Orlando, but neither one of us are into theme parks. So there was the challenge for me: would we be able to visit Orlando without setting foot into Disney or Universal Studios? For someone as curious as me this was a suitable challenge and I had been doing weeks of searches on the Internet and communicating with the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau to find out about interesting destinations off the beaten path. Well, I am happy to say, we arrived back safely yesterday from our trip, and the trip itself was quite an adventure since we decided to drive from Toronto to Orlando, about 2100 km each way! Actually, the drive was not as painful as I expected. **End Summary** Topics: travel]]> florida]]> orlando]]> hello from]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com , a web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new FREE ebooks about travel .

A Walk Along Kingston Road To Discover A Wealth Of Creativity And Shopping Choices

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

My recent history tour with Gene Domagala through the eastern and northern part of the Beach introduced me to the Kingston Road area and the historic significance that it played in the development of East Toronto. Gene also introduced me to Carolyn Pitre who helps to run the Kingston Road Business Community. Through an interview with Carolyn I discovered that the Kingston Road area between Main Street and Victoria Park Avenue is an interesting and diverse shopping district on its own right, so this sunny Saturday morning I set out to discover some of the merchants and products on offer along Kingston Road. The first place I visited is housed in a beautifully renovated former movie theatre; gorgeous picture windows light up the tasteful interior of Memories Now and Then, a high-end consignment store owned by Nadine Steinberg. Nadine welcomed me to her store and explained that her store features select pre-owned furniture, rugs, china, lamps as well as vintage jewelry. She added that all the pieces that she carries are upscale and hand-picked. Nadine has many years of experience in the china, crystal and silver retail business. **End Summary** Topics: toronto]]> travel to toronto]]> toronto travel]]> ]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

55 Division A Lesson In Community Policing In The Beach

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

As always, Gene Domagala is the perfect person to make connections. With the date for my photo exhibition rapidly approaching and the need to finalize my articles and get the photos ready, I had not planned to do any further interviews, but Gene suggested that one organization could not be missing from my article series about the Beach: Toronto Police Service 55 Division, an organization with whom all the special events organizers work regularly. In his words 55 Division is extremely supportive of the Beach and a very positive force in the community. Gene made a phone call to the station, and within minutes of the phone call I hopped in my car to drive to Dundas and Coxwell Avenues to meet the officers at 55 Division. Gene introduced me to Superintendent Wayne Peden, the head of the station and after introducing the Celebrate Toronto project Superintendend Peden started to give me a general overview of 55 Division. He explained that the policing area of 55 Division extends from the Don River in the west and to Victoria Park Avenue in the east, and from Danforth Avenue in the north to Lake Ontario in the south. **End Summary** Topics: police]]> community policing]]> toronto]]> ]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

Hello From Ibiza -Part 2

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

September 28, 2004, 9:45 pm We just returned to the resort after a gorgeous evening and decent dinner in Santa Eularia del Riu. Today we spent the whole day driving from beach to beach, starting on the northwest side of the island, just north of Sant Antoni, continuing towards the north side of the island and ending up in Santa Eularia. The first we visited was La Salada, just north of Sant Antoni, a place only reached via a very stony road. After parking the car we had to walk another 10 or 15 minutes and we reached a very secluded beach with rocky platforms where a few people (mostly nudists) were sunning themselves. The view towards the sea included a rocky island off the coast - what an amazing vista! We continued on through the interior of the island and enjoyed the hilly, rather quiet road. Then we reached Sant Miquel, and the Port de Sant Miquel which is a very beautiful little town. The next beach, Cala de Benirras, is also very beautiful with a rocky outcrop in the middle of the bay. **End Summary** Topics: Travel]]> Spain]]> Ibiza]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

Hello From Graz

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

November 2, 2004, Internet Cafe SitÂ´n Surf, Graz, Austria, 2:05 pm I finally found Internet access here in Graz. Not the easiest thing I have to admit. Had to ask 3 people and finally went to the tourist info who competently directed me to an Internet Cafe. The last few days have been interesting. The first day my sister-in-law and I took a little tour through my home town of Weiz, and in the 8 years that I haven't been here there has been a lot of change. New buildings, renovations, traffic reorganization. It almost felt like being in a different place. On Saturday my brother, sister-in-law and I started our little weekend tour to Slovenia and Italy. We drove on the highway to Austria's border with Slovenia (only about 45 minutes from my home town). Then we continued on for about another hour and 15 minutes to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. We parked the car by the river and took a little walk to the central market. The place was just packed and you can buy anything from fresh bread to meat, sausages, fish, vegetables, fruit, flowers. **End Summary** Topics: Travel]]> Austria]]> Graz]]> ]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

Hello From Victoria- Part 1 - Reaching The West Coast

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Jetlag is an amazing thing. It's barely after 5 am and I have already been reading for an hour an a half. So I figured I might as well use this bout of sleeplessness and record my first impressions of British Columbia. My WestJet flight out of Toronto left a 7:15 am yesterday, so that meant I got up at 4:30 am, after 2.5 hours of sleep, to check all my luggage, eat a brief breakfast and get myself out to the airport. Sometimes a little travel savvy goes a long way, I had decided to use my Airmiles to go to BC and upon doing some research I found out that WestJet had a special on that only required me to use 1600 Airmiles instead of the regular 3900 Airmiles, so off I went and booked the trip, saving myself 60% of the Airmiles that I would have otherwise spent. When you travel frequently, you have to look at every available option of savings costs and my travel reward miles came through big for me. I was able to book a flight from Toronto to Calgary and another from Calgary to Vancouver. **End Summary** Topics: Travel]]> Victoria]]> British Columbia]]> Beacon Hill Park]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

Hello From Vancouver -Part 2 - Wheeling Around Stanley Park

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Stanley Park is Vancouver's famous urban paradise and I knew weeks in advance that I would need to explore it in detail, preferably on a bike. So this afternoon at about 1:30 pm I set off from the UBC Campus, and navigated my way downtown by bus, taking 3 buses to get to the eastern edge of Stanley Park. This was my first chance to glance at the city of Vancouver. It is a relatively new city and according to some accounts, its origins date back to 1792 , the year when Captain George Vancouver explored this region. Most buildings downtown west of Granville Avenue were built relatively recently as Vancouver has experienced a huge building boom over the last few years. A large part of downtown is covered by modern residential skyscrapers and Vancouver's building frenzy continues unabated. It's evident everywhere that this is a very popular place to live. My rental bicycle was waiting for me at a place called Spokes Bicycle Rentals, a place that had been mentioned to me several weeks ago by the Vancouver's Visitors Association. **End Summary** Topics: Travel]]> Vancouver]]> Stanley Park]]> Burrard Bridge]]> Kitsilano Beach]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

Hello From Mexico City - A Relaxing Evening In CoyoacÃÂ¡n

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Last night after our big first discovery of Mexico City I had a couple of hours of rest before Vanessa and her mom took me to one of the most picturesque areas in the city: CoyoacÃ¡n, an area located south of the downtown core. The traffic to get there, as you can imagine, was absolutely incredible 4 lane streets with no markings, people squeezing in and out between cars as they pleased, trucks cutting in right in front of us with just millimeters to spare¦ Fortunately we made it without a scrape and we finally got to our destination: the well-preserved colonial area of CoyoacÃ¡n whose name literally means Place of the Coyotes. Sure enough, in the center of the JardÃn Centenario there is a big fountain featuring two coyotes. CoyoacÃ¡n is one of the most historic areas of Mexico City and almost 5 centuries ago, HernÃ¡n CortÃ©s, Mexico's conquistador, and his Indian mistress La Malinche spent a lot of time here. Today the whole area is full of cafÃ©s, restaurants and bars, and there are a variety of crafts and food markets to be visited here. **End Summary** Topics: Travel]]> Mexico]]> Mexico City]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

Hello From Ibiza -Part 1

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

September 27, 2004, 6:05 pm I am sitting here in the front entrance hall of the Ses Fontallas Plaza timeshare resort in Sant Antoni. We arrived on Saturday at about 5:30 in Ibiza and had to hang around for the luggage. 2 of our pieces actually didnÂ´t make it due to a technical problem with the cargo area on the plane and we had to wait an awefully long time at the baggage information area to find out that the baggage would be delivered the next day. We finally checked out our rental car, a VW Polo, at Hiper-Rent-A-Car, just outside the airport. Not a bad deal for about 158 Euros a week... On the way to our resort we stopped off in a huge supermarket, we called it the "Walmart of Spain" where we picked up the basics of groceries and we then made our way to the resort in the dark. Ses Fontanellas Plaza is a nice complex right in the tourist area of Sant Antoni and we got unit 308, a one-bedroom with partial seaview. **End Summary** Topics: Travel]]> Spain]]> Ibiza]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

Hello From Cuba - Part 3 - Hiking Vinales And Exploring Nature

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Hotel Havana Libre, Tuesday, April 5, 2005, 6:54 pm On Sunday it was gorgeous. The cold front had finally passed through, the rain was gone and we had a beautiful warm sunny day without any humidity. My hostess is also a guide for the National Park System and Vinales is a nationally protected natural habitat. She had a tour planned through a side valley of Vinales (Valle del Ancon) with 3 participants, an older couple from Germany and me. The tour was fabulous, we got picked up by a local in a taxi and went about 20 minutes outside of town and got dropped off at a local primary school, which had several communist slogans painted on the outside. Political graffiti, paintings and message boards are extremely common in Cuba. Although there is no western style advertising, there are plenty of political slogans (a collection of a few of which I will summarize at a later point). This is a very strange experience when you come from a Western capitalist country like Canada, and then you see all these political slogans about Communism and defending the Revolution. Truly fascinating indeed, a completely different world. **End Summary** Topics: Travel]]> Cuba]]> Havana]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

Hello From Toronto - A Culinary Tour Of The St. Lawrence Market & An Exploration Of Historic St. Law

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0500

October 6, 2005 Life works in really strange and wonderful ways. At the beginning of this week I talked to my brother in Austria on the phone, and he said he'd been reading this German travel magazine and there was a big write-up about a Toronto-based tour guide who provides culinary tours of the St. Lawrence Market, one of my brother's favourite places that he discovered on his recent trip to Toronto. I asked my brother what this fellow's name was and he looked it up and said "Bruce Bell". I did an internet search and within a few seconds I had located Bruce Bell Tours ; and I knew I had to meet this person. Bruce Bell, the popular history columnist for the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Community Bulletin, is also an award winning playwright, actor, standup comedian and the honourary curator of the most photographed building in the city of Toronto, the historic Gooderham Building better known as the Flatiron. Bruce just recently published a book on Toronto called "Toronto - A Pictorial Celebration". **End Summary** Topics: Travel]]> Toronto]]> St. Lawrence Market]]> St. Lawrence Hall]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions ( http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

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