The admin panel is still a bit unfamiliar (although I have seen it in its process of development always checking the latest version via SVN) but I think I am going to like it… I will write later an inventory of the new features, for now I am really enjoying the (not-so-new) automatic plugin upgrade. When I was done with upgrading WordPress, I just went to the Plugins page and clicked on the “upgrade now” links. A few minutes later all my active plugins have been updated to the latest. Many times I am against the automatic gizmos offered by different hosts (like automatic install and upgrade) but this one really, really works! And it saves a lot of time. I just love it.

Now it is time to update some links in the sidebar, add new affiliate links and activate the OIO Publisher plugin to be able to sell directly links and ad space on this site.

You may ask why did I start this unusual project. Here is my answer:

I have been working on three continents, in several countries, where I worked a few years and moved on. Never thought about pension or retirement. Had enough money and spent it (almost) all. Later some countries just disappeared (or got divided like the cells)… Wars. Lost records. New system. Even if there are records in their economic situation a pension would be worth, maybe, an average dinner in North America, where I live now.

Then I started to work in Canada where we have a state pension (CPP). After a few years one day I got a letter from these guys that take away about half of my income (they call it tax) that if I continue to contribute to the pension plan with the pace I did till then - my pension will be $73.50/month. I was shocked and humiliated. That was the first moment I started to think about my retirement.

You see, I am coming from a place where the small shop and store of my grandfather has been nationalized by the Communists. Nationalization means it was stolen from us officially. And he died a few years later. Then came my father’s turn. In the world of the free enterprise he would have been a millionaire: he was a born entrepreneur. Over there he went to jail because he didn’t play by the communist rule. I ran away from that country, started businesses, did humanitarian aid work in war zones, had an interesting life.

Then I arrived to what is the dreamland for many people around the world: North America. Freedom, free trade, free enterprise. Paradise… until the day you receive that letter saying your pension will be $73.50.

In that moment I knew I had to do something about it. I have to take it in my own hands.
Well, I did. And now I am decided to share it with all my fellow baby boomers to help them to figure out how to survive when retired.

I am at least for one week behind with blogging. Sometimes the lack of internet connection, other times the tiredness after an eventful day or just the need for a few days distance to let the impressions to settle - prevented me from writing. I will try today to catch up with the last week’s journey through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and NB again.

On August 21 we left Quebec behind and looking back at the pictures, here comes the one million dollars question — where did I take these pictures:

This little falls and the “sculpture” next to it is in the centre of a small(er?) city. I remember the French signs on the road leading to it (Le Parc des Chutes), so it must be in Quebec. They didn’t buy into the bilingualism as the rest of Canada did — for their sake, of course. Anyway, our guess is Rivière-du-Loup…
[Update: yes, it was Rivière-du-Loup]

Then, finally, came the historic moment for both of us: on August the 21st at 3:00 pm (EST) or, more exactly, at 4:00pm (Atlantic Time) we entered the Maritime provinces first time in our life.

Our arrival to the beautiful Atlantic provinces was way more peaceful than what happened exactly 40 years ago in Prague (Czechoslovakia, at that time): the invasion by the Soviet troops. I have very vivid memories of those events, perhaps one day I should write about them… I was 17 years old and hitchhiking to the Black Sea in Romania (the only Warsaw Pact country that did not take part in the invasion). But now back to the Maritimes!

New Brunswick: River Valley Scenic Drive

Since we are both coming from hilly, mountainous regions, we started to feel an immediate familiarity with the landscape in New Brunswick: the road goes along the river valley, through villages, the back roads (where the scenic route goes) are not-so-well-maintained… just like at home. Although it wouldn’t be fair not mentioning that the main highway, the Transcanada Hwy in NB is in excellent shape and it is a delight to drive on it, but we chose to drive on what is called the River Valley Scenic Drive - and we didn’t regret it at all. After a few days of travelling I realized what was so different in the Atlantic region. For us, coming from much smaller countries, the immense space from Quebec onward to West, the huge wilderness beyond imagination… is almost irrealistic. In the much smaller Maritime provinces the “scale”, if you wish, is somehow closer to what we got used to in our former life, hence the familiar feeling. Actually, most of the time we had that much “at-home” feeling that we even forgot to take pictures. It seems the “tourist brain” works in the way that you stop the car and jump out of it to take a picture when you see something unusual, unexpected, different. On the other hand, whenever we travel even when seeing the most beautiful places I never have a desire to return or to revisit those places. But in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI to the greatest surprise of my wife I started to say things like “one day we could come back and spend some more time here…”.

OK, I did take some pictures, like in Grand Falls/Grand-Sault with the falls in the middle of the town and in Hartland that has the world’s longest covered bridge.

We spent the night at Fredericton Delta in a very nice room and had a good sea food dinner.
Unfortunately, in the next morning we had a very unpleasant surprise: the windshield of our car cracked without any visible reason. No signs of stone chips or anything. Just an approx. 30 cm long crack starting from the very margin of it in the lower left side. We immediately went to the closest Subaru dealer to have it checked and they told us they have never seen anything like that - it must be a defect from the factory. The bad news: nobody has in stock that kind of parts, it would take at least a week to order and get a new one - so, they advised us to continue our trip because it is not a safety risk. Just unpleasant to have it right in the front of your eyes while driving. The service manager also predicted that the crack will slowly go further and further… and it happened just like that: every day it is a few millimeters longer. We will have to deal with it when we get home. I hope it is included in the manufacturer warranty; the car is quite new, will not have yet 20,000 km when we get home!

Next post will be about the Bay of Fundy, Hopewell Rocks and arriving to Halifax, NS.

The whole city is full of attractions and shows that celebrate the 400 years. One of the most unusual shows is a projection show in the harbour. The Old Mill is used as the background for it and the multimedia show is projected on the mill building and the silos. (see some more reports about it.)
Technically, it was something mindblowing. However, the content, at least for me, it was a bit too politicized and obviously biased. Nevertheless, the show was fantastic. I wasn’t really prepared for it, so my pictures are not of the best quality.

The Show:

This wasn’t the only “light show”. On the way from the parking place we have also seen the Visionaries Garden on roof of the Musée de la civilisation. Although, you can turn in any directions in the evening, and you will see a city dressed in light… No doubt, one of the most spectacular displays was the Visionaries Garden by Franco Dragone.

Somebody asked me, so it seems I need to clarify: this series of posts is written on the way to Maritimes, the final point of our long trip toward East.

Yesterday afternoon we arrived to Québec City. This is not the first time we are here, since we have relatives in the city that just celebrates its 400 years.

As we crossed the (Ontario-Quebec) “border” into the French land you can say good-bye to the politically correct (PC): No more bilingualism anywhere, only French signs and directions, no Canadian flag only the lilies… and at the first Tim Hortons where we stopped for a coffee the PC is definitely screwed up — if you are shorter than I am then you cannot pee because the urinal is so high placed on the wall that only people 5′10″ and higher can use it. And yes, it is the only one! And no, I don’t have a picture of it…

Despite my innate aversion toward everything that has to do with French politics (and in this regard the Quebec French are just French…) this time I decided to be more patient, more tolerant: 400 years is a venerable age in this continent’s history, so let’s enjoy their fête, I said. Our hosts took us to the beautiful newly built “promenade Samuel-De Champlain“. (see some pictures below) It is really a pleasant, nice place. There is a lookout tower and regardless to my high anxiety I went up to take a few pictures and to enjoy the view of the magnificent St. Lawrence river. Inside there are lots of old photos and explanations about the history of the place, the building of the first bridge etc. Only if I could read and understand it. I was really, honestly interested in the historical details (I always am!). I really wanted to know more about the place. Unfortunately, the chauvinistic policy of this province decided that anglophone Canadians are not welcome, even if tourists. If it wasn’t for the relatives of my wife, I would never return to this damned city.

Make no mistake! I am coming from an ethnic minority background and my community has been also fighting for preserving their language and cultural heritage against assimilating political pressure. The ironic twist is that we made it against the “best disciples” of the French in Eastern Europe, the Roumanians, a distant linguistic cousin of the quebecois… So, I am all for minority rights. But against language madness.

Excellent “junior suite” (or something like that) in the Downtown Novotel on our 4th day of travel.

Went for a walk early afternoon to the By Ward Market, unfortunately, this time the weatherman was right: a huge thunderstorm and lots of rain happened exactly as it was predicted… and got stuck in the market.
During a short break had a quick walk toward the Parliement Hill and ended up having a dinner at the Irish Pub. Good beers and acceptable food. Too bad, at the neighbouring table some drunk young people made the stay unbearable. I kept myself busy watching two black females at another table: you know, the types that get government jobs because of their gender and colour, and proudly advertize their “importance” even in a pub, pulling out legal size printed documents, making important decision while waiting for their Perrier water (what else?)… No, I am not racist or misogynist (I swear I love women!) — it’s just a fact that they don’t let you to disregard. Lets’ forget them and enjoy the trip. See some Ottawa pictures:

Having a few weeks between the treatments we decided to go on a long break… a trip from Winnipeg to the Maritimes. The plan was that there is no plan — we go as much a day as we can, we stop where we like the place, visit some friends and relatives on the way and do whatever is fun. No rush, no pressure, not running as the truck drivers because we don’t have to be anywhere on a fix schedule… just a relaxed, nice trip to enjoy it. So, on the 15th of August we left Winnipeg, leaving the house and our cat, Vilmos, in the good hands of our friend Craig.

Day #1. Winnipeg — Thunder Bay

It seems you can never leave as early as planned: there are always some last minute things to do, to pack and so on. Anyway, close to noon we were on our way toward East, driving on the Transcanada Highway. We knew that the first two days we have to have some kind of plan to arrive at a populated area where we can find a hotel or motel because there are quite long stratches of the road where there is nothing just the wilderness. The tentative goal was Thunder Bay.

It is always just a “tentative” goal because we like to stop if there is a scenic view, we wanted to have breaks for having a coffee or a snack, plus we both need some streching and exercise. The week before leaving I had to go twice to see a physiotherapist with my low back, and hist most important recommendation was “don’t sit”. Or, at least, not for long.

There we are at our very first stop, admiring the chained bench that I used for my exercises. Especially, till Kenora the road is very familiar to us, we used to go for short vacations and trips to the Lake of Woods area. Unfortunately, it got already late when we arrived to Thunder Bay and started to find a hotel.

My wife always has the Tourbooks from CAA which contains a big list of recommended accomodations, rating them by diamonds. According to her, the good places start at 3 diamonds. The problem is when you arrive to a place where there are no 3 diamonds accomodations… Then you have to go around even if it is 10 pm (22:00 for those that can count up to 24), and try to pick the best available hotel or motel. OK, we were kind of picky but there was a reason for that: with my back pain I didn’t want to haul the suitcases on stairs, so we wanted first (ground) floor, preferably with a parking lot right in the front of the door or, in case of higher buildings, to have elevator and trolley for the luggage.
Guess what? Most 2 storey motels/hotels have none. And not in one place that we “researched” has anybody ever offered help with the luggage (which, for places priced over $100 should be mandatory… or at least, expected!). In this way Travelodge, Comfort Inn, Best Western was cut quickly from the list in Thunder Bay. They all behaved as if they were making us a favour by, eventually, renting a room.
Next stop was the Valhalla Inn: not very fancy and older than all of the above - but excellent service. Whatever extra request we hade (as, for example, keeping our ice “batteries” in their freezer) they were eager to offer every help to accomodate them. We’ve got even a late, last minute dinner in their restaurant. All in all, in was a pleasant finish for the day.

Day #2. Thunder Bay — Wawa

Whenever I had to drive on the Hwy#1 in this area, I always went from Sault Ste Marie to Thunder Bay (or viceversa) and had never stop anywhere in between. Well, maybe for peeing and for gas…
In the morning, after a good, large breakfast we started on one of the most beautiful portions of our trip: the North shore of Lake Superior. We had quite frequent stops, took pictures, discovered amazing little places, like Rossport, where we will definitely return on our way home and just had fun. Oh, we saw depressing places, too, like Marathon… [I might write later about why we found this town "built on paper", according to its own motto, so unwelcoming]
Anyway, with stops in Rossport, Terrace Bay, Marathon, White River, at different scenic lookouts and with road constructions and lane reductions everywhere(!), the time went fast — and before Wawa a torrential rain started. It was already late afternoon, raining, getting darker… and everywhere signs of moose crossing danger on the road, so I decided there would be no driving till Sault Ste Marie and we should look for shelter in Wawa.

The woman was freaked out by this possibility but I refised to drive further. So, again, the hunt for a decent place started. We turned off from Hwy#17 and entered the town. There sin’t much to see, just motels on both sides of the road. Didn’t get excited by any of them. When in need for a washroom I entered the local tourist information center and asked the young girl there “which is the best motel in the town”. First she was confused by the question but then she recommended the Best Northern on the highway. It really is a neat place, unfortunately it was full. However, the owner/manager (with an accent for which we guessed Polish) was very helpful and recommended the newly renovated Mystic Isle just across the road. We were right in our guessing: both places are owned by Polish people and the whole “Wawa experiment” turned out to be of of the most pleasant evenings so far. The room was nice, clean and cute and the service excellent as you’d expect in a relaxed, familiy-run place. We returned for dinner to the Best Northern’s restuarant and were amazed by the quality of the food and service. They even had some “Hungarian” dish on their menu (and it was very tasty) and I didn’t tell them until I finished eating it that there is no such meal anywhere in Hungarian populated lands… I had a feeling they already knew it.
Don’t miss Wawa, if you are in the “neighbourhood”.

Day #3. Wawa — North Bay

A relatively smooth ride (except the lane closures and zillion stops due to road constructions) through Sault Ste Marie — only a short gas stop — and till North Bay. After Sault Ste Marie we had an echte German lunch/meal at the Bavarian Inn of Bruce Mines: Wurst, Kohl, Kartoffel. Good family restaurant. Worth to try it.



In North Bay we opted for a Comfort Inn motel: could park the car almost on the doorstep… Nothing special, just a place to sleep for one night. However, the White Owl Bistro is a good place to have a dinner. It has a beautful little patio on the lakeshore. Too bad it was a bit windy but the food was excellent.

I needed some professional graphics and found a nice guy on the web, I liked his work and conditions, so I ordered the work. He did an excellent job, I liked the final samples he sent me over, so I decided to pay him the agreed amount of US dollars. He doesn’t have a PayPal account (my preferred payment method) and his payment processor is 2Checkout.com but 2Checkout.com says you can use your PayPal account to pay. Great, I thought. Click on the pay button and suddenly I am faced with $77 and some change as the amount to be paid. OK, then I realized, they detected my IP and being a Canadian - they converted the original $70 USD into $77.71 CAD. Now I spent quite a time on that page trying to change this but there was no such option. The reason I wasn’t happy with the conversion:

1. these companies always use the worst possible conversion rate
2. I have USD funds in my Paypal account, so no need for conversion
3. I hate when a payment processor wants to decide for me what currency should I use

Since I wanted to pay the designer who worked hard… I just went through the whole idiotic process.

Of course, my Paypal account got the request to pay $77.71 CAD, so they again started to calculate how many US dollars should be taken from my account - at their own conversion rate at this time - to cover the requested amount, and they came up with $75.05 USD. All because I could not change back to USD the amount posted on 2Checkout.com payment page.

Now I officially demand from this company my $5.05 US dollars, the amount I overpaid because of the rigidity of their software: 2Checkout.com, I want back my $5.05 USD!