Thursday, October 29, 2009

Just sayin'





9 days to go. Don't get flu, don't get flu, don't get flu...

15 comments:

  1. Heh - as a USAian, my brain is programmed to think of temperature in Fahrenheit, so my first reaction on seeing temperatures of 28 or 31 degrees is "Oh, she must be going on a skiing vacation".

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  2. Finally! Someone else on the North American continent that uses Celsius! It's the only sane way to go.

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  3. haha, the temperature disregarded that looks like my city the last couple of weeks (let's say 5 weeks to err on the side of caution).

    I wish you a happy trip to the warm climate!!

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  4. I don't know...those thunderstorms in the forecast could be unpleasant....

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  5. RPS, yeah, I have trouble converting in the other direction, too! I don't think Cuba is known for its skiing, though, and I'm very glad that Vancouver is not at 7F right now!

    PiT, I know, right?! Water freezes at zero and boils at 100. So much easier and more logical. I'm so glad that Canada uses Celsius (and kilometres. Being British I'm used to miles, but kms tick down so much faster on long drives. Even though it's the exact same distance, it feels like you're making more progress).

    Not only do Canadians have the logical metric system, we're also allowed to go to Cuba! Yay!

    Chall, sorry to hear that! Warm rain is (marginally) better than cold rain though. Vancouver is settling into the Great November Drizzle. It's the worst month of the year - dark and getting darker, wet, cold, and no skiing - hence the timing of the trip! (It also had to fit around grant deadlines and movie shooting schedules, an unusual combination).

    Thanks for the well wishes! I am soooooo looking forward to this vacation - the last one I had was 2 days skiing in February, and before that the last one was Christmas in England, when it was cold, dark, and wet, and everyone got norovirus. Maybe that's why I'm so paranoid about getting swine flu and not being able to fly!

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  6. Alyssa, looks like our comments crossed. Well, it is the end of hurricane season...

    the forecast keeps showing thunderstorms in the long range forecast, but sun in the short range forecast. This pattern hasn't changed in the last couple of weeks. So I'm guessing we'll get predominantly sun, with maybe some tropical storms thrown in to mix things up! I like thunder and lightning though, we rarely get any of either in Vancouver and I miss it.

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  7. The freezing:0/boiling:100 in celcius is obviously too logical a concept for most Americans to grasp.

    And my passport from the land far, far away also allows me to go to Cuba whenever I like ... I would probably just have to go via another country first.

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  8. :)

    Yeah, you will have to fly from Canada or Mexico or somewhere else. AFAIK there are no direct flights from the US.

    What really annoyed me when we were looking for flights was that I could only buy them through the Air Canada website. expedia.ca and orbitz.ca and various other cheap flight sites are not allowed to sell direct flights from Canada to Cuba to Canadians - even though there is absolutely no travel restriction on Canadians visiting Cuba - because the parent companies are American. Aarrgghh!

    As it turns out, we got an all-inclusive deal (flights + accommodation) for the 1st week that only cost $200 each more than buying just the flights from Air Canada. We'll be on our own for the 2nd week. A good combination, I think! I haven't done the all-inclusive thing before, but I have to admit the thought of being served "free" mojitos on a beach and not having to think about anything for a week is rather attractive right now.

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  9. Sigh. I'm jealous. It's cold and snowing here today ... wet snow ... ugh ... no snowshoeing or skiing yet.

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  10. So, you’re going to Cuba? Have a great time! My parents honeymooned in Varadero a long time ago. (Back when Cubans were permitted to stay in similar resorts … but that’s another story.)

    There are direct flights to Cuba from Miami, but they are only available to people who have special permission from the US (and Cuban) government(s) to visit (e.g., people with relatives on the island, those on trips organized by educational or religious institutions).

    Will you be staying in the resort the whole time or venturing into other parts of the island? If you do venture out, just exercise due caution. Cubans are very poor, comparatively speaking, and tourists are targets. But seeing the contrast between the resort and the non-tourist-sanitized parts of the island is probably worth it.

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  11. Oh, we'll definitely be venturing outside the resort! During the first week we'll do at least one day trip to Havana (friends have advised us to discretely ask the resort staff if they have any friends or relatives who could take us & probably one other couple in a private car, rather than going on the official resort tour - cheaper, more authentic, and gets money to locals rather than the resort company), and during our 2nd week we'll be checking out of the resort and have nothing else booked at all. I'd like to visit Trinidad, but Mr E Man is keen to get away from the cities and into the more remote areas. He's been reading the guide book and has a couple of ideas! He has way more experience than I do of traveling in poorer areas (mostly Asia), plus he speaks some Spanish (I'm trying to learn some basics), and is a big(ish) dude who people generally don't want to mess with.

    Friends who've been to Cuba have recommended that we take some small gifts to give to resort staff and other people we meet - candy, coloured pencils, batteries etc., which seems like good advice.

    We've had multiple warnings about scam artists, bad food, repressive laws etc. But I'm really keen to see such a unique system before it changes (which it will, sooner or later).

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  12. Sorry, EGF! You'll be able to visit sometime soon, I suspect!

    Thanks, SG!

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  13. If I knew the how to write the equivalent of a raspberry, I would be doing so right now. Let me try anyway: Thrpppppppppppt.

    (hope you have a great time....don't mind the comment - just jealous!)

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