Trip wrap, part 6: riding the rails

And so, the final day. It was an epic journey that lasted 16 hours, from when I left my hostel in Eugene to the arrival at my front door back in Vancouver. 12.5 hours of that was spent on a train. That might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the cost (USD 67.00 total) and the experience were enough for me to try it out.

Amtrak Cascades train after its arrival in Portland

This was the second time I’ve ridden Amtrak Cascades, but it will be the first doing the full route from Eugene to Vancouver, with a layover in Portland. Having ridden on some trains while I was in the UK and Ireland a couple of years ago (including the Eurostar from Paris to London), I feel that most of North America is missing a lot because the rail infrastructure isn’t there. To me, watching the scenery fly by (much different than trying to do that while driving) while comfortably seated in a train car has that allure of a forgotten era when this was the best way to get across the country.

The Cascades trip certainly has a lot scenery to pass through. The best part is when it hugs the coast between Tacoma and Bellingham. That alone was worth the ticket price, and for me, is the reason I will take the Cascades for my next trip to Seattle and/or Portland. Here’s one of sunset as the train was approaching Bellingham:

And so ends my travelogue for this trip. I’m not too sure where I’m going next, but I’ll certainly post it here when I know. All the pictures I’ve posted with the text are found in this flickr set.

Trip wrap, part 5: running in Eugene

Nearing the end of my trip, and I wasn’t sure if I should stay in Eugene, or just move on to Portland. And as much as I love Portland, I figured a night in Eugene wouldn’t hurt.

It rained most of the day, and I had to drag my suitcase through it all, since the hostel I was planning to stay at did not open until 3:00. I managed to make my way to the University of Oregon, in an attempt to visit Hayward Field, the legendary track that hosted the 2008 US Olympic trials, and will do so again in 2012. Unfortunately, I came during a heavy downpour. Clearly, it wasn’t a good time for a visit.

I wasn’t going to be deterred, however. On the way back to the hostel, I remembered about Pre’s Trail, the running trail that was inspired by Steve Prefontaine’s visits to similar trails while competing in Europe.

portion of Pre's trail

Luckily, the rain stopped briefly, with some hints of sun, during my visit to the trail in the early evening. Apart from a couple of information boards, I wasn’t too sure if I was running on the trail or not. But as long as the trail composition was the same, I thought, I should be OK. Just being there, on a pilgrimage of sorts, reinforced for me the reasons I’m still running after four years: the simplicity, the quiet solitude (for me at least), and the sheer fun of it. And in the end, it was the highlight of my trip to Eugene.

Trip wrap, part 4: the appeal of Ashland

Ah, Ashland. I came here for culture, and I got culture, and then some. For me, this was the high-school trip I missed out on. My school organized a yearly trip to Ashland at the beginning of the year to take in some Shakespeare (and go on a really long trip away from home; I think it was for a week). Back then, I was the typical math nerd who really didn’t like English class. As the year progressed, I started to take an appreciation in Hamlet, which was what my English class was reading that year. It also coincided with Kenneth Branagh’s verbatim film adaptation that I somehow endured when I watched it in the theatre.

Dan Donohue as Hamlet in a promo poster for OSF

Evidently, fate must have stepped in, as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was presenting Hamlet in this, the 75th anniversary of the first productions held in Ashland. And for this small town to celebrate such a milestone is something great indeed. This year’s festival produces 11 plays (half of which aren’t Shakespearean in origin) in rotation in three theatres. What I missed while I was there was the outdoor Elizabethan Stage, which doesn’t open until June. You can bet that I’m coming back to experience that.

The OSF production of Hamlet is given a modern setting, and I think it’s quite effective, similar to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s recent production. The OSF version modernizes it further, with the play-within-a-play given a hip-hop context. (I personally can’t wait for the full version, using the original Shakespearean text!) Maybe it’s to give the primarily student audience something to latch on, but it still works.

In addition to Hamlet, I took in a staging of Pride and Prejudice. As a fan of Jane Austen, this was another one I couldn’t miss while I was here. This adaptation was enjoyable; the plot flowed rather nicely, and the simple staging (only chairs and a piano rotating in and out) contributed to it. Sitting at front row corner, I did get to see it up close, but at a not-so-desirable angle. On the other hand, I could see some of the actors’ spittle flying as they spoke; that’s probably to be expected when they have to project their voices inside the theatre.

As I mentioned, Ashland and the OSF were quite fun to experience and I definitely recommend a visit.

Trip wrap, part 3: driving the redwood coast

I knew when I headed to San Francisco that this would be the part of the trip that could test me mentally. In case you can’t tell, I’m doing this trip by myself. While I did do a coastal detour from Seattle to Portland two years ago (at least 500 km through nine hours of driving), I’d have to do this two days in a row and get distracted with impressive vistas of oceans and redwood forests. Now who wouldn’t want that?

After leaving San Francisco, I paused at Healdsburg, at the edge of wine country. While taking in a winery tour would have been nice, I wasn’t risking going back on the road after some tastings. I settled instead to buy a local bottle for my dad. I also had a cup of French-pressed coffee at a cafe that had St Vincent and the Be Good Tanyas as background music. Lovely!

After Healdsburg, I took Highway 128 to get to the coast. This road was curvy beyond belief, but fun to drive. It was along here that I experienced the first of many, many redwoods along this drive:

Indeed, the forest continued right until Highway 128 meets up with the coastal road, Highway 1. And the awe-inspiring scenery continued with the Pacific on my left side for a number of miles before it curved inland. Just before Highway 1 ended, all the curves finally got to me; I had to pull over to the side (no mean feat, as nature dictated simple two-lane roads most of the way) and succumb to carsickness.

After refueling the car and myself in Garberville (the guidebook description of a “pot”-ville did hold true), I got to the Avenue of the Giants. This is one of two scenic detours of the main Highway 101, and I highly recommend both. There are enough pull-outs to attempt explorations on hiking trails, but the views are just as good on the road itself:

Along the Avenue of the Giants

The second day started a bit rainier than the first, but the coast and the redwoods are still there. I paused quite a lot early on, such as this one shot, right at the ocean. I briefly soaked my feet in the water soon after taking this photo; it wasn’t as cold as I was expecting.

On the coast at Redwoods National Park

By mid-afternoon, I veered inland; the redwoods mixed with other trees the closer I got to Oregon, then thinned out completely. By this point, I was just driving; after almost 500 miles, I got to the point of exhaustion and felt all the awesome bits were behind me now. But aren’t trip odometers awesome? My first day, I drove 314.4 miles (506 km) from San Francisco to Arcata. The second day was much shorter, but no less epic: 221.6 miles (357 km) from Arcata to Ashland. Here’s a map of the general route I took.

So 537 miles later, I arrive in Ashland, but my day wasn’t done.

Trip wrap, part 2: just four days?

Looking back at the four days I’ve spent in San Francisco, I’m amazed at how much I wasn’t able to see. But I’ll summarize instead what I did do, and maybe you can tell me what I should see or do next time.

• Day 1: I stayed close to my hostel when I arrived; nevertheless, I did manage to walk quite far, going through a dodgy area to pick up my shirt and bib for the Bay to Breakers race. I ended up going back to that neighbourhood (SoMa) for a pub crawl.

• Day 2 started with a walking tour organized by the hostel. This was a slightly different tour, as the tour guide pointed out the various events in San Francisco’s history that certainly won’t be found in the standard history texts. Howard Zinn would be proud of this tour. After lunch I took the California Street cable car. Even though I read a description of it as the route the tourists don’t take because they don’t know where it goes, it was nevertheless quite busy. I decided to hang out of the side of the car the whole time; it was quite exhilarating to try it!

Hanging out of the cable car

• Day 3: Bay to Breakers day. Lots of costumes, some none at all, but all fun. I wrote more about it here. I relaxed until the evening, when I took the cable car to and from Fisherman’s Wharf. I maximized this by taking one route there and the other one back, so at least I’ve experienced them all. My tip: since riding the cable car costs disturbingly high relative to the rest of SF Muni ($5.00 single trip vs. $2.00 for bus/Metro/streetcar), a single- or multi-day passport will certainly pay for itself if you intend to use the cable car while in SF.

• Day 4 was a complete rainout, but I still managed to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge and return by ferry from Sausalito. I was quite surprised at how many tourists still managed to make it out despite the weather. Luckily, most of them only made it to the first tower before going back, so I had most of the rest of the bridge to myself.

Ensconced in rain and fog

• All four days have been punctuated with copious amounts of food and/or alcohol. Even all the walking and biking I’ve done would have offset the disturbing (even for me) amount of caloric intake. Even though I think I controlled my budget (ie. I still had USD spending money when I left), everything was just cheap and plentiful; I couldn’t help myself!

Trip wrap: the plane, train, and automobile tour (and a few other modes as well!)

Those eight days were fun. Tiring, but fun. I timed my return, so that, had I been working, I’d have another two days in a long weekend to decompress before I get back to the real world. Even though I’m not working, I still allowed this decompression period before starting my reflection process for this trip.

I didn’t really explain why I chose the destinations I selected for this trip. The first half was in San Francisco. I vaguely recall visiting the city as a child, and I think the crooked block of Lombard Street was the only lasting memory. I felt it was about time I came back and gave myself a proper introduction.

I also decided to include Ashland, Oregon, in my trip. The Shakespeare festival was the big draw, and I did indeed go to two plays while I was there. How I planned to connect them was a roadtrip through the northern California coast, and then I return home, mostly via train.

In the posts that follow over the next few days, I will give you my thoughts and some accompanying pictures of what was a memorable trip.

The plane, train, and automobile tour

I’m typing this at YVR, waiting for my flight to SFO. This week-long trip has probably come at the worst possible time, being unemployed and having not enough money, but I’m going anyway.

The title of this post only came about yesterday, when I realized that after my plane trip and a few days in San Francisco, I’m doing a roadtrip along the Northern California coast and into Oregon. I will end my trip with a day-long train ride home.

My plane is boarding soon, so I have to cut this short. I will send at least one update from the road, pending available internet connections. I may bankrupt myself at the end, but I’ll have fun doing it!

Update, 07:30 PDT: No sooner did I publish this post that we were informed that the flight has been delayed for an hour. So, more thoughts right now!

The timing of this trip, of course, is unfortunate, given my unemployment status. At the company I had worked at, all employees were requested to have vacation days finalized at the beginning of the year. I happened to choose the middle of May because it would have fallen in a slow period for my department (month-ends for accountants are always hell!), and I would get a jump ahead of the start-of-summer holiday weekends that would take place later this month.

Strangely, this is not the first time I’ve taken a holiday soon after losing a job. Back in 2002, I had already booked flights to LAX to visit family in Orange County. Just weeks before I was set to leave, I was let go. And there’s 2008, but I voluntarily quit the job I had then to take a break and see bits of the USA, then the UK and Ireland. True, it’s never fun to come back from a holiday drowning in trip-related debt, but I’m hoping I can bounce back and find a job right away.

Retrospective: honoured hostels

Guardian: Hoscars’ top 10 UK hostels

It’s now been six months since I left for an amazing trip. During the month I traveled through Scotland, Ireland and Wales, I’ve stayed in a lot of hostels. Most of them were average; in most cases, I merely thought of them as a place to store your stuff and rest your head. Others I simply chose because it had wireless access (oh, net addiction!). So it came as a pleasant surprise that I stayed at two of the top ten in the UK, and across the street from a third (but that’s cold comfort now).

For the record, the two I stayed at were the Riverhouse Cardiff (#1) and the Skyewalker (#5). The Star Wars homage doesn’t end with the name; this is what greets you when you enter the Skyewalker:

There were people during and after my trip who curiously asked why I chose hostels as my accommodation. Apart from the price point and the opportunity to interact with other travellers from around the world, I think that part of the backpacking experience comes from staying in hostels of varying quality, and I definitely had my share of that. When (not if) I get another chance at it, I will definitely do it again. Happy travels!

Catching up with carbon offsets

Unbelievable. It’s now been three months since I finished that wonderful trip to the UK, Ireland, and Paris. While I’m expected to display my photo slideshow to the family on Christmas eve, the one thing still outstanding for me is to find out about offsetting the carbon used during my flights (and if possible, my bus and train trips – there was a lot more of them). This post merely reminds me (and serves as public record) to do some research: how offsets work, if offsets do any good, and if there are any additional costs from my end.

I’d appreciate any feedback if anyone has actually done this and felt it was worth it to have as a carbon-neutral trip.

What now?

It has been two months since I left for Europe, and almost a month since I’ve returned. In the correspondences I’ve been having with people I’ve met and have returned, they too still want to be travelling. I’m no exception, and that should have been the case.

Originally, I intended to travel to Japan and the Philippines for the second half of my half gap year; ie. mid-October to about late November. However, several factors (all of it financial or economic, on personal and macro levels) have conspired against this, which means I have to defer this trip… for now.

As for the future of this blog, I still want it to be a journal of my travels, especially into 2009 and beyond. Whenever I have an inkling of a pending trip, then it will show up here. If I look for anything even remotely interesting in the world of travel, then I might post about that too. In the meantime, my main blog is being constantly updated, so I’m not exactly idle. See you back on the road!