Before I do today's post, about my frivolous goings-on in Montreal, I wanna take a bit more time to explain why I've decided to go no-flying for this particular trip.
Firstly, this is not a vow that I will never fly again. I very well may. Heck, under extenuating circumstances, I may fly during this trip, but that's not in the plan, of course.
I think there are a number of reasons to want to abstain from the flight industry. Not least of which is the greenhouse emissions they are responsible for. I'm not gonna cite research here, so my numbers may be slightly off (maybe I'll come back with research in a later post), but all-in-all consumer flight is responsible for about 3-5% of human-made emissions. While this is a smaller chunk than many other things - including motor vehicles - the fact is, it's a preventable amount; just as one likely spends more on food than on alcohol in a month; this doesn't suggest that the best way to save money is to stop eating - obviously, the better choice is to reduce the amount that is preventable. True, motor vehicle travel is also preventable, to a very large extent, so perhaps that argument doesn't perfectly hold. However, flying is basically the biggest and quickest way to increase your carbon emissions for the year.
Rough-calculation example: Suppose you want to congratulate yourself for cycling, not driving, the 6 km to and from work for a whole year, so you fly to Florida for a vacation and fly back. In this mere few hours in the air, your personal emissions (as divided equally among all passengers on a full flight) are greater than what you saved in the whole year.
Now, I'm not condemning flight - like I said, I may do it again. I just find it interesting that many of the travelers I have met are the type of people who are concerned about environmental issues, but still choose to fly. This is why I feel like an important question on this trip is this: Is world travel a right, or is it something that we should just accept is not easily part of a sustainable lifestyle?
Anyway, that's my thoughts on that.
I aslo wanna quickly acknowledge that I'm aware that shipping makes up about the same percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions as flight. This is on an absolute comparison. There are, however, a number of factors that make travel by one different from travel by the other. I won't go deep into it now, but consider the following two things: Supply-and-demand, and efficiency - specifically fuel efficiency.
Okay, on to the Montreal post...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
First Two Real Days in Montreal
Gonna make this short, since I feel like this blog will have little appeal until I finally get on that boat in a few days - that's when the excitement starts! Nine days of continuous, unbridled excitement!
Anyway, first day in Montreal, my host shows me around Old Montreal, which is a very, very European part of town - very nice. We check out the Port from where my boat will depart. It's good to know where you've gotta be, you know?
I've still got some last-minute travel items to purchase - will do that soon.
Second day, I buy a 3-day metro pass and meet up with some couch surfers with whom I was put in contact by... another couch surfer. Checked out Jean-Talon market - a huge market place with cheap and delicious produce. Man, I wish there was something like this in Toronto. Was gonna take pictures, but my camera was being finicky. No pictures.
Then I went with a second couch surfer to an open-doors event at the Cirque du Soleil campus. He was kinda late in arriving at the meeting point, so I hung out with other people who were also there to meet up, though there was a bit of a language barrier, we still got along just fine. Surfer showed up and took us to the campus. Oh, and he drives like a madman. Kind of fun, kind of scary.
The best part of the open-doors event was getting to watch them practice in their training facility. These people are insane. Cirque du soleil is everything. No question. There was a dude on a trapeze, 20 feet in the air - no mats! None. And he's just all flipping around like it's nothing. Me, I get nervous walking out onto high tree branches. Insane. I knew I should take a picture, so I pushed past my finicky camera's insecurities, and snapped some bad ones. I need to learn to use this thing.
Cirque du Soleil was great, but now I'm late for my 5 pm meeting with my last surfer of the day, since we were a little later in leaving than we thought we'd be. The Madman (and I use that term affectionately) recognizes the situation, and drives me to the meeting point - only now he's in a rush. Ever seen a madman in a rush? Pretty scary ride. But I could hardly complain, since I was happy to get to my destination just in time to catch the surfer, who was in the process of writing me a note that she had left. Hooray! Finished off a good night with a sandwich and a great conversation, and came back.
Ah, all caught up.
Tomorrow is shopping and poutine in Montreal.
Anyway, first day in Montreal, my host shows me around Old Montreal, which is a very, very European part of town - very nice. We check out the Port from where my boat will depart. It's good to know where you've gotta be, you know?
I've still got some last-minute travel items to purchase - will do that soon.
Second day, I buy a 3-day metro pass and meet up with some couch surfers with whom I was put in contact by... another couch surfer. Checked out Jean-Talon market - a huge market place with cheap and delicious produce. Man, I wish there was something like this in Toronto. Was gonna take pictures, but my camera was being finicky. No pictures.
Then I went with a second couch surfer to an open-doors event at the Cirque du Soleil campus. He was kinda late in arriving at the meeting point, so I hung out with other people who were also there to meet up, though there was a bit of a language barrier, we still got along just fine. Surfer showed up and took us to the campus. Oh, and he drives like a madman. Kind of fun, kind of scary.
The best part of the open-doors event was getting to watch them practice in their training facility. These people are insane. Cirque du soleil is everything. No question. There was a dude on a trapeze, 20 feet in the air - no mats! None. And he's just all flipping around like it's nothing. Me, I get nervous walking out onto high tree branches. Insane. I knew I should take a picture, so I pushed past my finicky camera's insecurities, and snapped some bad ones. I need to learn to use this thing.
Cirque du Soleil was great, but now I'm late for my 5 pm meeting with my last surfer of the day, since we were a little later in leaving than we thought we'd be. The Madman (and I use that term affectionately) recognizes the situation, and drives me to the meeting point - only now he's in a rush. Ever seen a madman in a rush? Pretty scary ride. But I could hardly complain, since I was happy to get to my destination just in time to catch the surfer, who was in the process of writing me a note that she had left. Hooray! Finished off a good night with a sandwich and a great conversation, and came back.
Ah, all caught up.
Tomorrow is shopping and poutine in Montreal.
The Long Dark Busride of the Soul
Okay, time to pick up where I left off.
Also, just a note, I want to modify the format of this blog - maybe put it in, like, a calendar format, so a date can be clicked, and the entry from that date will come up. Can computers do that kind of thing? I'll figure it out.
Okay - bus to Montreal. Me - shy.
So why don't we talk more to strangers? With me, it's shyness. I wonder with other people if it's the same thing, or if there's a genuine disinterest in talking to people. I've gotta say, from my experience talking to people, it rarely goes disastrously, and often goes pleasantly. So do we just not want to talk? What motivates us to talk to each other? Why are there people who we are simply not motivated to talk to? And then, the alternate question, why would we talk to anyone in the first place? Is there an evaluative "this person has nothing to offer me," and so engaging such a person is simply not worth the effort? Do we think this way? Tough questions. Especially for a shy person.
So anyway, I'm sitting by myself on the bus until we get to the Scarborough Town Centre stop. A whole bunch of people load in, and one sits beside me. She happens to be an extraordinarily beautiful girl. Great. That makes her simultaneously the person I want most to talk to, and paradoxically, the person I'm least likely to talk to. Here's why - well, shyness ranks right up there as a reason why I can't talk to pretty girls, but there's also an element of not-wanting-her-to-think-that-I'm-hitting-on-her in play. I feel guilty if I talk to someone and there's a possibility that I'm just doing it because I find that person attractive - so to battle this guilt, my usual recourse is to not talk to such people, lest I risk acting with impurity. Pretty boring, huh?
So I'm sitting there the whole bus ride going back and forth about whether or not - and how - to talk to this person. There is almost no down side - so why is it so difficult to muster it up? And don't get me wrong - I only want a friendly conversation with a fellow human being, but the fact is, this is an attractive person, and I'm afraid of letting that get in the way of my otherwise quite innocent motivation. Does anyone else relate to this?
So the busride goes on, and I happen to glance over and see that the book she's reading has an evolution chart of humans and their closest relatives, or something like that. Man, I'm all about evolution. There's your conversation-starter. But I keep to myself.
Much of the ride goes by, and this thought process obnoxiously continues, making it even less likely that I'm gonna say anything, since nobody likes doing anything when they've overanalyzed it like this. Especially not me.
Finally, about 20 or 30 minutes before we reached Kingston, long after she's put her books away and is sitting doing nothing, like me, she starts walking her fingers along the seat in front of her like a little person. Okay - we both wanna talk. And I muster a friendly "You bored?" and a rather pleasant conversation ensues. She was indeed a lovely person.
I gave her my blog address, since she was interested in the idea of cargo freighter travel (so, yes, I'm writing with the awareness that she may read, but I don't think I've said anything that might fundamentally alter the conversation.) She got off at Kingston, and the rest of the ride to Montreal was somewhat uneventful.
I get to Montreal, call up the step-uncle (?) who will be hosting me for my stay, and make my way to his place for the night.
That boat still seems far off.
Also, just a note, I want to modify the format of this blog - maybe put it in, like, a calendar format, so a date can be clicked, and the entry from that date will come up. Can computers do that kind of thing? I'll figure it out.
Okay - bus to Montreal. Me - shy.
So why don't we talk more to strangers? With me, it's shyness. I wonder with other people if it's the same thing, or if there's a genuine disinterest in talking to people. I've gotta say, from my experience talking to people, it rarely goes disastrously, and often goes pleasantly. So do we just not want to talk? What motivates us to talk to each other? Why are there people who we are simply not motivated to talk to? And then, the alternate question, why would we talk to anyone in the first place? Is there an evaluative "this person has nothing to offer me," and so engaging such a person is simply not worth the effort? Do we think this way? Tough questions. Especially for a shy person.
So anyway, I'm sitting by myself on the bus until we get to the Scarborough Town Centre stop. A whole bunch of people load in, and one sits beside me. She happens to be an extraordinarily beautiful girl. Great. That makes her simultaneously the person I want most to talk to, and paradoxically, the person I'm least likely to talk to. Here's why - well, shyness ranks right up there as a reason why I can't talk to pretty girls, but there's also an element of not-wanting-her-to-think-that-I'm-hitting-on-her in play. I feel guilty if I talk to someone and there's a possibility that I'm just doing it because I find that person attractive - so to battle this guilt, my usual recourse is to not talk to such people, lest I risk acting with impurity. Pretty boring, huh?
So I'm sitting there the whole bus ride going back and forth about whether or not - and how - to talk to this person. There is almost no down side - so why is it so difficult to muster it up? And don't get me wrong - I only want a friendly conversation with a fellow human being, but the fact is, this is an attractive person, and I'm afraid of letting that get in the way of my otherwise quite innocent motivation. Does anyone else relate to this?
So the busride goes on, and I happen to glance over and see that the book she's reading has an evolution chart of humans and their closest relatives, or something like that. Man, I'm all about evolution. There's your conversation-starter. But I keep to myself.
Much of the ride goes by, and this thought process obnoxiously continues, making it even less likely that I'm gonna say anything, since nobody likes doing anything when they've overanalyzed it like this. Especially not me.
Finally, about 20 or 30 minutes before we reached Kingston, long after she's put her books away and is sitting doing nothing, like me, she starts walking her fingers along the seat in front of her like a little person. Okay - we both wanna talk. And I muster a friendly "You bored?" and a rather pleasant conversation ensues. She was indeed a lovely person.
I gave her my blog address, since she was interested in the idea of cargo freighter travel (so, yes, I'm writing with the awareness that she may read, but I don't think I've said anything that might fundamentally alter the conversation.) She got off at Kingston, and the rest of the ride to Montreal was somewhat uneventful.
I get to Montreal, call up the step-uncle (?) who will be hosting me for my stay, and make my way to his place for the night.
That boat still seems far off.
Friday, September 26, 2008
A journey begins with a thousand miles in one step. One big thousand-mile step.
Current mood: back-ache
Current hairstyle: The "Gregory"
So the trip has started, and everything was left to the last minute, including this post, which I really should have posted a while back, before the trip had started.
Why no flying? That's the question I should have written a post about. But now the trip has started, so this must become a dual post; about why no flying, and about the first day.
Why no flying? Greenhouse gas emissions. Boom - that's the short answer. Ships are 10-20 times more efficient than planes at transporting weight across a great distance. There's no question it's the better way to go, between the two. But another question is, why go at all? Is world travel a right? Wouldn't our impact be minimized by just eradicating that travel bug? Well, maybe I'll come to an answer to that one. This trip is not about being the most environmentally friendly possible, because things could always be a little more environmentally friendly, but it is a consideration, like many other things - and so I've drawn the line at no-flying. Trains, buses, boats - ground things (Yeah, water counts as ground).
Anyway, day 1 - here's the quick version, because it's late. Mad rush to pack. Shouldn't have played so much Mega Man 9. Shouldn't have blown up those 15 blue balloons for no reason. I get weird when I get nervous. Packing is tough. That's a short and easy thing to say, but it's an important thing to remember when you're packing; it's tough.
There was a brief moment of things sinking in, as I hoisted the filled backpack up for the first time, ready to leave the house. A strange feeling - this, here, on my back, is all I will have to call my own for the next little bit. Neat.
Anyway, bus ride. Remember when I said that many other things are considerations on this trip? I said that just a few paragraphs ago. Well, here's where that information becomes important in you understanding how I'm going to relate it to the next thing I'm going to say; that another consideration of this trip - one that has been de-emphasized by the no-flying thing - is the social aspect. I'm way too shy, I'm way too apologetic - I've gotta throw myself out there to improve this. This is gonna come up frequently, I feel.
So I hope to sit next to someone on the bus I can talk to.
Okay - it's super-late. I'll finish this later.
Current hairstyle: The "Gregory"
So the trip has started, and everything was left to the last minute, including this post, which I really should have posted a while back, before the trip had started.
Why no flying? That's the question I should have written a post about. But now the trip has started, so this must become a dual post; about why no flying, and about the first day.
Why no flying? Greenhouse gas emissions. Boom - that's the short answer. Ships are 10-20 times more efficient than planes at transporting weight across a great distance. There's no question it's the better way to go, between the two. But another question is, why go at all? Is world travel a right? Wouldn't our impact be minimized by just eradicating that travel bug? Well, maybe I'll come to an answer to that one. This trip is not about being the most environmentally friendly possible, because things could always be a little more environmentally friendly, but it is a consideration, like many other things - and so I've drawn the line at no-flying. Trains, buses, boats - ground things (Yeah, water counts as ground).
Anyway, day 1 - here's the quick version, because it's late. Mad rush to pack. Shouldn't have played so much Mega Man 9. Shouldn't have blown up those 15 blue balloons for no reason. I get weird when I get nervous. Packing is tough. That's a short and easy thing to say, but it's an important thing to remember when you're packing; it's tough.
There was a brief moment of things sinking in, as I hoisted the filled backpack up for the first time, ready to leave the house. A strange feeling - this, here, on my back, is all I will have to call my own for the next little bit. Neat.
Anyway, bus ride. Remember when I said that many other things are considerations on this trip? I said that just a few paragraphs ago. Well, here's where that information becomes important in you understanding how I'm going to relate it to the next thing I'm going to say; that another consideration of this trip - one that has been de-emphasized by the no-flying thing - is the social aspect. I'm way too shy, I'm way too apologetic - I've gotta throw myself out there to improve this. This is gonna come up frequently, I feel.
So I hope to sit next to someone on the bus I can talk to.
Okay - it's super-late. I'll finish this later.
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