Category: Travel

My actual travels, those I aspire to, and those of others

First impressions of NOLA

I have only been here 24 hours, but New Orleans (henceforth NOLA, as posting from iPhone) has displaced Dublin as the friendliest place I have visited.

Near my hostel, three random people asked me to take their photos, then warned me not to show the camera in that neighbourhood after dark.

I have already made a start into exploring local cuisine. Tonight, I am going to see live music on Frenchman Street. In addition to being friendly, NOLA seems very affordable in terms of food, accommodation, and transport. You can get an all-day bus and streetcar pass for $3.

It is hot here but not too humid and everywhere is air conditioned, including the brightly pleasant streetcars running up Canal Street.

If anyone knows any locals who might show me sights beyond the Lonely Planet collection, that would be amazing. Email is the only real way to reach me, as I float from WiFi island to WiFi island.

Roaming without roaming

Data roaming with Fido is ruinously expensive – about a dollar a meg – so I will be foregoing cellular network access while in the U.S.  I will probably find WiFi from time to time and thus be able to update my blog, post to Twitter, and upload photos to Flickr.

The meticulous documentation of my somewhat absurd journey will become punctuated rather than continuous.

Six more hours in Toronto

I dropped by Toronto and saw Rebecca’s play, which was thought provoking and well done. It is quite something to watch giant symbolic puppets fight to trombone accompaniment in the middle of Dufferin Grove Park.

Now, I have a 30 day ticket for unlimited Greyhound travel and a bus to Detroit to catch at 1:00am. With the unlimited ticket, I need to line up and get a new ticket at each city. That is a pain, but I think this will be a cheaper way to do Toronto to New Orleans to Washington to Ottawa to Toronto. I wish I had bought the unlimited ticket in Ottawa this morning. I would have saved myself $75.

The route to New Orleans runs through Detroit, Nashville, and Atlanta.

Will anyone be around downtown Toronto tonight between now and 1:00am?

Sticky: Latest Flickr uploads

Things are likely to stay busy for a while, with little priority accorded to blogging. This Flickr photostream widget should provide at least some novel content as I carry on with executing whatever version of the move/travel plan proves possible. It will stay at the top of the page while I am busy, so there may be new posts appearing underneath.

milan.ilnyckyj's items Go to milan.ilnyckyj’s photostream

I will also be updating Twitter and BuryCoal.

[Update: 24 August 2011] If you want information on the ongoing Keystone XL protest in Washington D.C., the best source of information is TarSandsAction.org.

Photos from the event are also being uploaded to Flickr frequently.

[Update: 5 September 2011] I still have lots of moving-related work to do, but at least I will be in Canada. As such, I am removing the ‘sticky’ property of this post. It will no longer stay perpetually at the top of the front page.

Two plans

On the morning of September 12th, I need to be in Toronto.

Between now and then, however, I actually don’t have any firm commitments. This raises the question of how to spend the time.

Plan 1: Safe and responsible

Move and apply to doctoral programs

I need to move to Toronto and applications to doctoral programs for the fall of 2012 are due this fall. I could stay in Ottawa and put together a research proposal. I could chase down people to serve as references. I could visit Toronto to look at apartments, choose one, and ship my things over.

I could also work on the great many semi-complete tasks that tend to get buried underneath trivial day-to-day stuff while I am working.

Plan 2: More adventurous

Explore

I could also push the moving stuff into the smallest amount of time possible and get myself a 30-day unlimited Greyhound ticket. I could go to New York City on my way to New Orleans. I could take photos, visit the campuses of schools I might apply to, and take advantage of the longest unstructured span of time I have had since Oxford.

Lately, I have been feeling a bit untethered and uncertain about what I should do with myself. I am dispirited by the way recent efforts to drive action on climate change have failed so completely in North America in recent years. Having some time spent in solitary travel could allow me to think things through, and perhaps reach a sense of clarity about how I should spend the next few years.

This would probably mean pushing back doctoral applications, but it might be unreasonable to aim for this fall anyhow. I need to write the GRE and do a pile of work. I am also not totally sure if a doctorate is really what I want to do.

So, readers, which plan do you endorse? Do you have other ideas?

One element that is common to both plans is my intention to go to Washington D.C. for the Stop the Pipeline Sit-In being organized by Bill McKibben, James Hansen, and others. As well as being a good opportunity to see climate change activism in person, it could provide some contacts and empirical data for subsequent academic work.

Grandfather birthday photos

On Flickr, I have uploaded photos from my paternal grandfather’s 90th birthday party.

For the most part, they are lit with two flashes – one in the back corner of the room and one in a window alcove. One flash was fired using a radio trigger, the other using an optical slave sensor. Both had their output set manually.

They can also be viewed as a slideshow.