To Greece

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Today we arrived in Greece.

We had all sorts of plans.

And it looks like things aren’t going to go quite according to plan.

First of all, Pokin was really sick the whole flight. She tried to rest a tonne before the flight, but after all sorts of flight delays and missed flights we arrived to Santorini airport at 12:30AM and she was exhausted.

In order to get to bed as soon as possible, Pokin booked us a car transport to our hotel so we would have someone to pick us up.

Except when we got to Santorini there wasn’t anyone there for us.

Confused, Pokin called the hotel only to be informed the driver had just left, after waiting for a while.

After some back and forth with the hotel reception, it turns out not only did we have no ride, but actually our travel agent had booked us a hotel in Katikies Mykonos, instead of Katikies Chromata.

By now it’s like 1:30AM in the morning as we are trying to figure out what to do. The airport is deserted. The travel agent is closed and no one is answering the emergency line.

As we are at the airport trying to figure out what to do as the Katikies hotels try to figure out if there’s any way to accommodate us, Nicholas was approached by a fellow.

“You need a room to stay?” He asks.

Nick eyes him suspiciously. “I think we’re ok,” Nicholas answers.

“Well if you need something, I’m just 7 minutes away. I’ll give you a special price, 50 euro.” Pokin gets a phonecall from the hotel – they are are still figuring things out as they need permission from our travel agent.

“What’s the name of your place?” Nicholas asks, and tries to look it up online.

Everyone is exhausted. We don’t have our lodging resolved.

“Screw it, let’s just go stay at this sketchy guy’s place for 50 euro, we probably won’t die.” Nicholas decides.

And in we pile into a white van drive by the fellow, who introduces himself as Artemis.

We drive through the dark, past the airport and down all sorts of windy roads. A few minutes later we arrive at a property.

Artemis takes us to this room, gives us a quick run down on the room, and we pass out.

We wake up the next morning and it turns out we actually had a pretty incredible view. We were situated beside the ocean with this view.

Pokin was pretty sick so Nicholas went and scouted the property. He ordered some breakfast boxes, talked to Ana (Artemis’ wife) and learned more about their property. Artemis grew up nearby and this was the land his family would come to view the ocean. When he grew up, his mother spilt the property between all his siblings and he converted his parcel into a hotel. Artemis frequently goes to the airport late because many hotels shut down during the pandemic, and he often finds travellers that land only to discover their hotel doesn’t exist anymore.

By this time, the original hotel situation was getting partially resolved, and Pokin and my bud decided to move early to Oia to make transiting the next day go easier. Artemis waited till we actually got a ride before we all waved goodbye to continue to our next destination.

Grand Canyon Pt. 3

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Remember last year when I said I was going to make my bud run the Grand Canyon next time? Well, I did it. Here he is all sweaty after running back up. New year, new attempt at the Bright Angel Trail. Pokin and Wing didn’t do the whole hike last year, so they went back to try again.

The morning started bright and early. We were taking the shuttle over and because Pokin was worried about having enough time to do the hike, she made them take the first shuttle out. It meant they started the hike when it was still dark.

It being dark apparently didn’t prevent all the runners from booking it as soon as we got off the shuttle. I was trying to be considering and so I was with Pokin as I watched all the lights blink and rapidly disappear down the canyon.

I could see my bud was feeling jealous and feeling impatient. But we all stuck together at first.

Soon the sun came out, and it appears like it’ll be an overcast cloudy day! Lucky for Pokin, as it’d be otherwise a scorcher of a day.

What started out as relief of the cool day turned into worry as it looked like it was going to start to pour. I wasn’t feeling thrilled.

My bud though – he got the opportunity to run! Wing and his friend weren’t feeling great from the hike (because they started injured) so my bud ended up running up Grand Canyon – first back to the hotel to drop off his bags to come back and assist.

In the end we all made it up, and I managed to stay dry, so everyone was happy. Grand Canyon 2023 edition was a success!

Bear in Glacier Bay

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I am back on a boat. In Alaska. With my bud.

It’s been a while. Apparently 9 years ago was when I went on the same route as the Titanic from London to Boston.

Despite growing up in the Northwest in the Vancouver Costal Mountains, I’d never been up to Alaska.

Last minute, Pokin’s mom decided she would like to go on a cruise, so my bud, my bud’s work bud Gabe, Pokin, and I hopped on a flight up to Anchorage for a cruise aboard the Majestic Princess down from Whittier Alaska down to Vancouver.

The first days were predictably very wet. No way I was going out anywhere.

Then we got lucky. The day we were supposed to be in Glacier Bay turned out beautiful.

After some time I decided I wanted some ice cream.

Turns out so did the rest of the ship.

Pokin had to wait a long time for my ice cream.

Eventually I got it.

It wasn’t very good.

Thank goodness I didn’t have to do the waiting in line. It took over an hour for her to get this sundae.

But I’m feeling good. Nice to be back in my home turf.

Big Bear Costa Rica Birthday WTF

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So my bud is turning the big 4-0. To celebrate we’re doing an epic guys trip to Costa Rica! I’m so excited, it’s going to be so much fu — wait what? I’m not going? HOW DARE. Apparently Nicholas and his other best bud Drew who is also turning 40 are going by themselves. The only reason I’m even posting some of these photos is to make Nicholas feel bad for excluding me and remind him of all the adventures he owes me.

First they landed in San Jose and chartered a small plane to take them to Corcovado National Refuge.

So angry.

Then they had a crazy driver take them in a jeep across the jungle over rivers to a boat that took them to a resort on the ocean and river called “Aguila de Osa”.

Real nice. Yeah, real nice guys.

They went hiking, kayaking, did a private tour through the jungle looking for wild animals including monkeys, bats, my nemesis coatis and other exotic things, and even went on a night tour looking for giant frogs, spiders and other jungle crawlies.

Blood boiling.

Then back to San Jose where they hung out in the city for a day before taking a bus to a family coffee plantation for breakfast and then to the next resort in the middle of the jungle that is only accessible via white water rafting. I guess given that it’s only accessible by water I feel a little less upset. But it was fleeting. I’m mad.

ANOTHER 5 STAR RESORT IN THE JUNGLE? Yeah this time it had a tree house with ziplines, buried in indigenous land where they were able to visit with the natives. It’s called Paquare Lodge and it’s situated on the Paquare river.

I’m not even going to talk about the rest. I’m too upset. There had better be an even better trip to make up to me. Soon. You hear me Nicholas??

Bear in at Hoshinoya Kyoto, Arashiyama

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Today we were headed to a hotel Pokin was excited to surprise Michael and Savannah with.

In her research of Kyoto, she came across a property near the Arashiyama bamboo forest that could only be accessed via a short river boat.

“Sounds middle of nowhere fun!” Thought Pokin. So she made the whole gang check out of their Kyoto hotel, take the transit system for 40 minutes to the edge of Kyoto, haul their luggage for 30 minutes over cobblestone, to check into some hotel for one night.

Arriving to the pick up spot for Hoshinoya involved heading to a small building across from the river with a couple covered river boats. We were told we could drop off our luggage, but that we couldn’t check in till later. No matter, there were things to see around here like monkeys and a bamboo forest.

We started with the Iwatayama Park since it was right beside us.

Rumours were there were monkeys. In a park. This park happened to be located on top of a hill. We we paid our admissions fee and started walking up and up a path.

Turns out the monkeys were all just hanging out near the top of this mountain, in a clearly with a purpose built feeding hut.

We got some apples to feed them. That was fun. The monkeys were kind of rude though.

After we had our fill of feeding monkeys we headed back down to what looked like a carnival stand.

Michael challenged my bud to a game, so they spent some time on that and ended up collecting all sorts of random things.

Then it was back across the bridge towards Arashiyama Bamboo Forest.

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, is one of the region’s main sites. It’s a grove of naturally occurring mōsō bamboo — some of the biggest bamboo stalks I’d ever seen. These are pretty cool.

By now, it was getting close to our check in time, so we started making our way back towards the Hoshinoya boat dock. As we were walking down the main street though, something caught my eye.

There was a whole store dedicated to a bear named Rilakkuma!

I was intrigued. We stopped in.

Not only was there a full store of things worshipping Rilakkuma, but there was even a shrine. Well this I can get behind!

After we paused long enough for me to appreciate how much other cultures appreciate bears, we made it back towards the Hoshinoya boat dock where we waited for our transport.

It was a pretty short wait. We had just enough time for tea and then it was time for our boat ride.

Hoshinoya Kyoto is a small 25-room resort perched on the side of a river. The grounds were peaceful and groomed the way you would expect Japanese gardens to get groomed.

While we were overlooking the river, the balcony wood deck in front of us made it a little difficult to see the river, but we could definitely hear it.

Since you get in and out of the hotel via a boat ride, we pre-arranged dinner reservations. Interestingly it’s not included so the poor souls who don’t know to book in advanced are left with instant noodles? Not really sure. We had reservations for a kaiseki dinner which had all sorts of mystery foods for my bud.

We took some time to enjoy the property and then relaxed for the night. Me, with the incense making kit, my bud, in the wooden bathtub they had in the room.

Kill Bill

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After a day of cafes, I checked into a new hotel. Not bad, except that they didn’t have the matching jammies in my size. Unacceptable.

For dinner we went out to the restaurant that inspired Kill Bill. It looked pretty awesome. They didn’t give out katanas though. Disappointing. My bud will just need to make me a katana to make up for it.

The Best Cafe

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Day 2 in Tokyo and we ended up in some cafe. Meh, thought I.

What I didn’t know was that this was an art cafe, where the staff are trained to create 3D foam art with your drinks. With the choice of drawing anything, Nicholas had the smarts to pick the only real option.

I love this place.

We also went to some crazy animal cafe where they had a bunch of strange pets you could hold. I already have way too many pets, so I just asked if we could go back to the other cafe.

Back to Tokyo

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After a long hiatus, it’s back to Japan I go!

The last time my bud took me, he was tired.  It was wet.  I remember we slept in the hotel a lot.

This time we were determined for it to be different. Less sleep, more exploration.

I checked into a nice hotel, have a good view of the palace. Let’s go!

This time we’re traveling with Michael and Savannah, it’s their first time in Japan and they are super excited. In addition to that, Pokin will be busy for a few days in a work conference and another friend, Reesa, will be joining us. This is starting to sound like a crowd, but I’ll roll with it.

The first thing Nicholas, Reesa, Michael and Savannah did was book a food tour. Normally Pokin would handle this sort of thing, but since she isn’t here, we’ll have to make do with a regular guide. Unfortunately nobody told the guide about my allergy to anything non-chocolate, so he picked traditional japanese places instead. The rest of the gang seemed to love it though, they ate and drank all evening at different places.

After successfully navigating our way back to the hotel, we decided to call it a night.

A bear in whale camp

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For almost my whole life, Pokin’s been talking about wanting to pet baby whales.  I don’t know what the big fuss is with them, but this year we finally actually made plans to see them.

Gray whales migrate south during the winter to have their calves, and apparently one year, some baby whale got the idea that it’d be a good idea to swim up to humans on boats and get pets.  Other whales got FOMO, and pretty soon, generations of whales got used to swimming up to humans.  Of course the humans loved it, and now it’s a tourist hot spot where people from around the world come to touch whale.

Within the Sea of Cortez, there are multiple places to visit whales. The two main places are San Ignacio Lagoon, and Magdalena Bay.  Based on the logistics of where we had to go, Pokin went with Magdalena Bay (although whale sighting odds are apparently better up north in San Ignacio.) Pokin picked an outfitter called Magdalena Bay Whales, and booked it.

That was the easy part. Now we had to get there. The getting there took 3 full days.

First we got up.  Too early.

Then we took a connecting flight from Phoenix to Loreto. 

We got in too late to make a transfer so we slept for a night in Loreto. Loreto’s one of the best places to go Blue Whale watching, but we decided to ration our whale watching time and opted to wander around the town and the malecon instead. Outside of whale watching, Loreto is definitely primarily a tourist sports fishing town.

The next morning, we got a car hire to take us 3.5 hours across the peninsula over to San Carlos, where we were to spend another night. I didn’t know what to expect of San Carlos. It was also mostly a fishing town. We got dropped off at the Isabella B&B (which is affiliated with Magdalena Bay Whale Camp), my bud paid for the tour with money he raided from my bin, and we were left to our own devices for the rest of the day. 

The town was pretty small, but fairly spread out.  The roads were paved with sand, and it was really windy, so walking around took a while.  It was also incredibly exfoliating as fine sand particles continually blasted us in the face.  We took a loop, ate sand, snorted sand, spit out sand, and went back to the hostel. 

The food at the hostel at least was pretty good.  There were plenty of chips that everyone liked.  Pokin ordered all sorts of weird seafood stuff, and since there wasn’t much to do everyone went to bed early, because we were told the boats would depart the next morning at 6am.

Oh she also ordered some sort of weird margarita.

The next morning, before sunrise, we got up to wait for our guides.  Breakfast was included, but everyone was nervous about being on a boat so only Pokin ate much of anything.  She got huevos rancheros. Brave. The sensible people got oatmeal. I decided to fast.

As the sun started to rise, our guides in gumboots showed up, and it was time to make it to whale camp!

We loaded up on these small boats, and zipped across the bay as the sun rose.  What a sight!  I would have loved it if I wasn’t freezing so much.  I guess even freezing, I loved it and made an exception for being on the water again.

I thought we were going to unload our luggage but it turned out we were starting to whale watch right away. Whales are morning mammals, so no time was to be wasted to the whale meet and greet.

I didn’t know what to expect as the boat headed out to the ocean, but pretty soon I realized there were blowholes and spouts all across the bay. Everywhere I looked there were whale spouts.  Whales everywhere!

While this area has the best chances of having whales, it turns out it’s not a given that whales will swim up to you, or that you can every touch one. We later ran into a family that has been back 3 times, but has yet to touch a whale. Well the big goal is to be able to pet a whale. They swam close, but not close enough…

And then one swam up to my bud and got a quick pat.

“How was it?” I asked my bud

“It was alright’ he said

“Cool.”  Good enough for me.  Glad my bud got to pet one. For me, I came to see whale.  No need to paw one.

A few more hours out at sea, and I was done . I was cold, I was sleepy, and I think the rest of the boat felt the same.  We saw plenty of whale and got lots of video, so it was time to head to whale camp.

Our boat starts speeding towards shore, and soon enough, we pull up to a number of glamping yurts flanked by two giant whale bone carcasses.  Epic!

I loved it, my bud loved it.  This is going to be cool.

My bud turns to Pokin “why didn’t you book us more nights here?”

“I had no idea how much you guys would like it,” was her rather unsatisfactory answer.

I got in, claimed my bed, then decided I’d rather see what was available for lunch. They actually had hot cocoa on the menu. I like the spirit-bear-friendly menu. But Pokin went for more disgusting seafood instead.

Whale watching was only once a day, so we were left to our own devices for the rest of the day. Anna and Adam explored camp, and my bud, Pokin and I went on a short trek from camp to the other side of the bay.

In all, it was maybe a 1 hour round trip.

The next morning, we got out on the boat for more whale action. Compared to yesterday, it was much quieter. We didn’t see any whales who wanted to play for quite a while. Jerks! Luckily they eventually came around.

No one got to pet any whales today, but at least they came by pretty close.

Everyone started getting pretty cold (because no one told us it’d actually be cold in February in Mexico — apparently we should have known that. I blame Pokin for not sufficiently communicating this to the group, even though I guess she did tell us it’d be windy and to dress warm. I still blame her.), so because everyone was cold we decided to head back to camp for a quick last break, before getting back to the mainland.

Whale watching was pretty fun. I’d hang with whales again.

From San Carlos, it was a 3.5 hour drive to La Paz. Onwards!

My bud learns to fly

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It’s been a while since we had a good adventure, so I told my bud we needed more bear and bud adventure time.

Off to camping we go — we’re headed to the valley of fire to do some solo camping. Annoyingly, my bud seems to have misplaced the poles for my Sumi tent. Fine, I’ll share his. The red rocks look pretty nice, I’ll accept the shared accommodations compromise.

Suddenly I hear – “Clomp, clomp clomp”. What is that? I look out from our tent to find wild big horn sheep trotting around my camp like they own it.

I guess they were kind of cool. They climbed up the rocky mountains super quick. Time to tuck in for the night since we have plans in the morning.

We wake up early and drive to the nearest little airport. Nicholas has decided to finally learn to fly like I do, and there’s no better way to learn than trial by fire. Time to jump out of a plane! That’s right – Nicholas couldn’t find anybody that wanted to go skydiving with him, so it’s just me and him. The instructor wouldn’t let me go in the plane for some reason. I told him that I was a pro and I should be the one teaching people to fly, but he ignored me. Jerk. I guess I’ll just see Nicholas in the air.

Really I’m the real pro and they should have brought me.