WooHoo! I'm travelling again. AND on the train. I love travel by train. It is so stress free and handy. Only the Ottawa station is awkward to get to because it's not in the city's centre like every other train station in the country... in the world. Leave it up to this city's administrators to fly in the face of centuries of knowledgeable train station planning.
Anyway, once out of Ottawa it is so easy to travel by train... downtown to downtown. I'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon to take the train to Montreal and after a short one hour wait I get on the train to Halifax. I cashed in a bunch of my VIA Preference points and got the Montreal to Halifax and back portion of the trip for free (except that I had to use up my points). The round trip to and from Montreal ended up costing only $62.06 because I was able to get seat sales. The journey from Montreal to Halifax takes about 16 hours overnight. I haven't got a berth but that's fine... the price is right. I've slept sitting up on trains several times over the years and I know enough to take my sleeping mask and ear plugs.
I booked a private room at Dalhousie University Sexton Campus in O'Brien Hall residence for less than $39 per night. And it's right downtown in the midst of all the action. And only 1 1/2 blocks from the train station. Only glitch is I have to find a place to stay for the night of the 20th because they close down to the traveling public after the 19th in order to get ready for the incoming students. When I get there I'll see what's available. I might treat myself to a nice B&B for my last night of vacation. After all, I have to sleep sitting up all the way back to Montreal again.
With all these great deals I had enough money to go out and get myself a Core Warmer wetsuit so that I can go diving in the Atlantic Ocean while in Halifax. I've written to a couple of dive shops, including the famous Torpedo Rays SCUBA Adventure dive shop in Dartmouth, looking for dive trips. TRSA does Wednesday evening cheap dives for $30 but I want to get out on a boat dive for an entire day trip and two tank dive. I'm taking one suitcase just for dive gear and the fins are in the other bag.
I'm also taking my BeautiControl SPA kit with me. The idea is to do several SPAs while I'm there with the emphasis on recruiting as many new consultants as I can. There are none in Halifax right now so I hope to get the area started. If I can get 15 recruits, either direct or downline, BeautiControl will fly a trainer out to conduct a BeautiU training day. Otherwise we'll have to arrange for telephone & email training instead. Wish me luck. I already have the desire and drive.
Well all the packing is done except for those last few sundry items that have to wait until tomorrow. So now I'm off to bed. I'll try to update the Travel Blog a few times while I'm away... just like the old days when I travelled further afield. Good Night All...
Posted by gailene at August 14, 2005 12:05 AM