Travel – Page 44 – a sibilant intake of breath

Emerald Isle arrival

After a nine hour delay at Gatwick Airport, I have finally arrived safely in Dublin. I spent the time reading Sweetness in the Belly, a novel that my mother sent me that has thus far been superb. It is making me feel as though I should learn a lot more about Islam. Also, it generated a certain calming effect while other passengers were howling for blood: especially after we got told we would have to wait another hour in our seats on the tarmac for a take-off slot.

My first impression of Isaac’s Hostel is that it is in a well run place, easy to reach, with a capable staff. I like the look of the room and of the crowd in the lobby. Showing up six hours after the check-in date specified for my reservation was not a problem. Far more details will follow, as internet access is quite cheap.

For now, I am off to buy film and explore. There is no HD400 to be had anywhere in the UK, it seems, so I am going to try one of the Fuji line of colour negative films for this trip.

Off to Ireland

In a few hours, I will be departing for Dublin, to return late on the 23rd of this month. Quite probably, I will have the chance to post something here while I am in Ireland, but please do not expect prompt responses to emails. My thanks to the many people who provided suggestions regarding what to do while I am over there. I still haven’t decided exactly where I will go for my away trip, but if Galway and the Aran Islands prove feasible, that would be my first choice at the moment.

All told, I don’t feel as though I am in the very greatest shape to be going on a solitary week-long trip. That said, I am generally anxious immediately before such travel, especially when it involves waking up so early and concerns about security and flights working out. That said, I am sure once I am there it will prove an interesting and worthwhile expedition.

Those looking for some entertainment in the interim should have a look at my brother Mica’s videos or my friend Alex’s ruminations on the papacy as an international actor (link removed 26 Sept 2006), according to taste.

[Update: 26 Sept 2006] Alex Stummvoll’s blog has been discontinued.

Planes and bicycles

Good thing I double-checked my flight booking: I am actually going to Dublin by Ryanair tomorrow, not Easyjet as I had previously written. That is, if Ryanair’s cancellation of flights does not affect it. The prospect of getting up at 3:00am, taking a three hour bus ride, and waiting two hours in security for a flight that may not happen is not a delightful one.

Also, with regard to my friend who was able to get to Madrid after all: she is now stranded there, until her flight is re-scheduled.

On an unrelated transport matter, the pedal of my bike broke off while I was riding to college to print tutorial essays. I have a nasty little bruise where my leg slammed down onto the top bar of the frame, and it looks like it will be making another maintenance visit to Beeline Cycles. While they are very kind about fixing things under warranty, I rather wish they would hold together a bit better in the first place. So far, they have had to repair the handlebars, replace the entire gear and chain system, replace one pedal and the shaft it is on (before today), and straighten out my rear tire (which may have been my fault).

[Update: 4:30pm] My flight to Dublin is meant to leave at 10:00am. They say to be there three hours early for security and, given how many people are missing flights because they get held up amidst the x-ray scanners and metal detectors, I mean to be at Gatwick at 7:00am. The coach ride is meant to take two hours but, mindful of how two successive coaches broke down when last I went to London, I am banking for three. Catching the 4:00am bus would mean waking at 3:00am to shower and lug my suitcase to Gloucester Green. Since that is only an hour later than I would probably go to sleep anyhow, the sensible thing seems to be to restrict sleep tonight to a short nap, and adopt a tax on my vitality for the first couple of days I will be in Dublin.

All that said, I need go go buy some film (since my digicam is still off at the repair centre) and a copy of The Dubliners to read while in the city.

[Update: 12 October 2006] The pedal fell of my bike again – the same one as before. I need to take it to Beeline Cycles on Monday.

I love Vancouver

Things I can’t wait to get in Vancouver:

All you can eat sushi
A cheap(er) 1GB stick of RAM for my iBook
Cobb’s bakery Twisted Delight
Dental care from someone I trust
Galleria sandwich
Coffee made with Vancouver water
Naan vegetarian poutine, with miso gravy
Delicious veggie curry, as made by my mother
Cheap Bic four-colour pens, to bolster my supply
Delicious peanut-sauce-saturated food from Tropika
Chilled sake at Hapa Izakaya
Tasty soup at Kintaro
Mountains to the north!
Additional sushi at Honjin
Photographic banter at Lens and Shutter
At least one dose of Curry Point curry. I still have my frequent customer card (half full).
Food, wine, and conversation generously granted to myself from the benevolent Ellan family
The view from the Lions Gate Bridge
The view from the northern end of Canada Place, at night
The view from atop Crown Mountain
99 cent pizza, downtown
Welts in my head from low-ceilinged Kitsilano basement suits
Episodes of 24 watched on Jonathan’s basement couch
Pure liquid funkiness: Commercial Drive
Granville Island Winter Ale
Thesis related books at Canadian prices
Proper, West Coast rain
A copy of The Georgia Strait to read on the bus
Competant barristas at Starbucks
More clothing and gear from Mountain Equipment Co-op

That is more or less the lot. Or did I forget something?

Vancouver music in September

One thing I would like to do while in Vancouver is see a concert by one of the city’s more distinctive musical acts: someone like Tegan and Sara, the Vincent Black Shadow, Melissa Ferrick, or Spirit of the West.

Does anybody know of such a concert between September 6th and 23rd, excluding the dates between the 10th and the 12th, when I will probably be taking part in Cabin Fever 2?

Also, would any Vancouver friends be interested in attending such a concert en masse?

Cabin Fever Redux

I don’t know who took this photo, but it is probably my favourite from the original Cabin Fever retreat, in the summer of 2005. Organized by Tristan, those 5 days were probably the best of that summer. Most fortuitously, he is planning a redux, to take place during the time when I will be in Vancouver. If enough of the friends who I really want to see are going along for the three days (September 10-12) I shall make a point of doing so. Surely nobody who went the first time can deny the appeal of a repetition?

I very much hope the thing will come together. To devote three of my eighteen days in Canada to such a venture seems most worthwhile, provided people who I really care about choose to come along.

More security, less freedom

While we can all be very glad this alleged plot was foiled, the new rules on carry-on baggage are going to make travelling long distances by plane truly hellish. Without more information, it is impossible to evaluate how justified they are, but they certainly appear to be quite onerous. No water; no books, magazines, or newspapers; no portable electronics of any kind. Of course, either the restrictions or all duty-free shopping will eventually have to go.

It also seems that all EasyJet flights out of all London airports are cancelled. With my EasyJet flight to Dublin in six days, I wonder what is going to happen. They seem to be offering refunds on tickets. Maybe I should take it, then pay the cancellation fee from the hostel.

Such is the power of terrorism: even when we win, we lose.

[Update: 6:52pm] Both of my current roommates have had to re-schedule flights over this: one to Austria and one to Barcelona. It seems likely that another friend’s trip to Madrid will not be happening, and that yet another friend’s flight to Canada tomorrow will be boring and uncomfortable.

[Update: 11 August] Flights from London to Dublin are back on schedule, according to EasyJet. My friend also made it to Madrid today, after all.

Travel plans and an old photo

Since my camera is still off in Stoke-on-Trent going through dust rehab, I am unable to produce new photos of the day. My stock of recent images has also been exhausted, as a slew of photos of high voltage towers might have indicated. For the next while, I will therefore use much older photos as photos of the day, with some explanation of why they are interesting.

This photo was taken of my by Kate’s friend Lucas, the morning after her seventeenth birthday party, on Mount Stephen Street, in Victoria. Given that the photo is six years old (27% of my whole life), I think I look remarkably similar. Eight months after this photo was taken, I started my undergraduate program at UBC. This is a period I think back to again and again because it strikes me as the point at which almost everything that has happened since became fairly obvious. That is to say, the probable course for the next decade or so was laid out.

With regard to the period after the M.Phil, there is enormously more doubt. Almost everyone has advised against me going straight into a PhD program. After six consecutive years of university education, attaching another four to six right on seems like a tall order. As for what could be done during a lapse, the obvious options are to work (somewhere interesting) and travel. To work for a year and a half or so, then travel for six months, is an idea with considerable appeal.

The travel plan would be a great arc across the Eurasian landmass: from coastal China through southeast asia to India, then up to Turkey, Russia, and through Eastern and Central Europe. Incorporating Africa, and perhaps Australia and New Zealand, would also be a big plus. One of the three planks of my eight year plan is to travel to at least every major area of the world. With only North America and Western Europe firmly under my belt, that leaves a lot of wandering to be done.

Canada trip

On the matter of the return to Canada, it seems quite likely that I will be able to see most of my friends in the area over the course of the nineteen days. On my last Saturday in Canada: the 16th of September, I am planning a gathering at my parents’ house in North Vancouver of a style akin to my departure and graduation parties. People should be sure to mark it on their calendars.

Scotland Velvia photos

I got the Velvia that I shot in Scotland back today. Velvia is a kind of slide film much praised by photographers for its ability to reproduce colour vividly. Above all, the shots I got back demonstrate how challenging it can be to use film with such a narrow exposure lattitude effectively. Even photos with overcast skies tend to include broad sheets of pure white pixels – though that seems to be much worse on the scans I had done than on the slides themselves. Also, the textures of rock and grass look like screen rips from the original Doom: even when the files are viewed at the original scan resolution. I suspect that something went wrong in the scanning process. If someone (Tristan?) cares to confirm my diagnosis, I will happily send a 30MB archive of all the original files.

The three photos that it seemed worthwhile to put on Photo.net are here, here, and here. Despite the lacklustre results, I remain thankful to Tristan for sending me the film in the first instance.

Does anybody know of somewhere in Oxford where I could gain access to a slide projector? Looking at the slides on top of a piece of white paper up against the MCR window is clearly not ideal and, as I said before, it looks as though the slides themselves came out rather better than the scans.
Due to a mistake on my part, the first roll of Velvia I shot was a comprehensive failure. That was a particular shame, since they were taken of some of the most photogenic things I know: the campus of UBC and Meghan Mathieson. For a better photo of each, see this and this.
People considering using DLab7.com for photo processing might appreciate knowing that their ‘8MB’ scans are actually only 700k or so. The jpg files are 2072×1390. Though the files are of comparable size and resolution to those produced by my A510, they are dramatically less sharp.

Euphoric

In my mind, the return to Vancouver has already become a mythic journey – far more exciting than the prospect of going anywhere else could be. It’s a return to arche, in both senses with which that word is impregnated.

On a seperate note, I am coming to realize that Mortal Engines may be the most interesting thing I have read entirely by chance since Ender’s Game. The translator, Michael Kandel, has been added to the list of people I hope to meet. I assume the author of the stories is already dead.