Post #1 - Sept 28

Earlier this year, planning began for my travel buddy Judith and I to go check out Sri Lanka.  It's been on Judith's list of places to visit due to its wildlife.  The fact that it’s a Buddhist country didn't hurt either.  And it would be another country to check off on her growing list of countries (43? so far) that she's been to.  And she likes warm temperatures.  It will be over 30 degrees when we’re there and the night time temperatures will only drop to around 24. 

When I let people know about my awesome travel buddy, they always curious of how we met and how we got traveling to all these off the beaten track places.  We first met in 1989 when I came to work in the TD Bank Inspection division on the 21st floor of the TD Tower in downtown Toronto.  I ended up bonding with an established group of 3 friends Judith, Susan and Debbie and they were gracious in letting me be a part of their escapades.  We had lunch together every day in the TD Bank cafeteria where you could purchase a full lunch meal for a bargain price of $2.00.  I don't remember the meals being gourmet but no one got food poisoning so that was a win.  

I worked there for just over a year before Steve finished his MBA program at Western in 1990 and we headed back to BC, settling in the Vancouver area.  I was able to transfer with TD Bank so I could still correspond with the three.  That lasted until I left TD in 1994.  I saw Judith once the next 20 years when she came out to the west coast to visit Susan who was then working in Vancouver and had some sporadic calls and she sent me Christmas cards every year.  In 2014 Judith called me out of the blue to ask if I wanted to go to India and Nepal.  Up to this point Susan and her had travelled and cruised extensively throughout Europe, Australia and the Caribbean.  But Susan wasn't keen to go to India or any place off the beaten track.   I'm OK with being Judith's second pick -- if that kind of thing bothered me, I'd be staying home a lot.  My real concern was whether we could get along for 3 1/2 weeks.  I know of others who went on their first trip with a friend and they aren't friends anymore.  I figured if it didn't work out, it would be over in a few weeks and we could move on.  But it was a fabulous trip and we now have a growing number of places we’ve gone to and checked out:

2015:  India (Rajasthan/Agra/Veranasi

2016:  Peru, Galapagos, Equador

2017:   Malasia, Borneo

2018:  Indonesia

2019:  South Aftrica, Botswana and Zimbabwe

2022:  Cambodia, Laos

and now 2023 Sri Lanka

These trips have all been guided with usually a driver and a local tour guide.  Judith uses a tour company to set up the itinerary and then she lets me know how much to pay and when to show up.  This works out great for me as I'm not interested in the planning and its a nice surprise to examine the itinerary when I get it.  

Our trip was supposed to include both Sri Lanka for 12 days) and India (Kerala for 16 days).  You need to apply for Visas but for India, you can only apply 30 days before you arrive there.  So 30 days before, we applied and on that same day there was something in the news about Canada announcing that India was responsible for killing a Sikh separatist in Vancouver.  A few days later, visas applications were suspended (including ours) and foreign diplomats kicked out.  So without a visa for India, 16 days of our planned vacation can’t happen.  Dang.  Since then, Judith and our tour company are scrambling to make a plan B.  

So for now we will spend our time in Sri Lanka and plan for a few more fun filled days exploring the country.  Since our flights route through Dubai, we may even spend a couple of days there exploring that place.  

To avoid an early morning start (it’s ridiculous how early you have to get up to get a flight to Vancouver from Victoria to catch the flight to Toronto), I took the ferry the day before.  The best part of this strategy is that I get to connect with all my family living in the lower mainland.  That includes my kids Jennifer (and her partner Gabe) and Cameron, my sisters Patsy and Cynthia, and my second cousin Yvonne.  We all met for a lovely dinner at B House on Commercial Drive.  

Thanks to my good friend Catherine for the ride out to the ferry.  She did accuse me of being a teenager, because I was on my phone on the drive.  And a thanks to Patsy for picking me up on the Vancouver side.  She didn’t accuse me of anything, but then again, I wasn’t on my phone.  

I’ll be spending a day in Toronto to meet up with Judith and go and visit our aforementioned mutual friend, Debb, who I haven’t seen for many years except on Zoom. 





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