Pender Island Review - Gulf Islands

We absolutely love Pender and Salt Spring Islands in the Gulf islands. That's why today and the next couple of posts are going to be discussing Pender Island, places we've stayed, things we do, where we eat, etc...

Pender Island is one of the larger Gulf Islands second largest in terms of population.  The island is split into a North and South Pender Island.  The north island is where most people live and the south island is much more remote with less services.

Food

There are many cute restaurants on Pender Island.  In addition there is a co-op grocery store that has the normal selection of food.  We normally like to stop at this store and pick up stuff from the deli and bakery for breakfast and lunch.

Activities

There is PLENTY of things to do on Pender Island.

Disc Golfing: Pender Island has one of the nicest disc golf courses in Canada. Nestled in the forest with plenty of short challenging holes makes it a great disc golf course for any skill level.  Highly recommended.

Art Studios: There are lots of high quality art studios on Pender Island.  These art studios range from painters, sculptors and potters.  Although, if you're looking for pottery studios then Salt Spring might be your island of choice.

Hiking and Wildlife Viewing: Pender Island is one of the most scenic places we've ever been.  Spending the day sight seeing and looking at all the wonderful views of the ocean and other islands is a terrific way to spend the day.  While exploring spending a few hours walking along the beach and looking at sea life is always a nice way to spend a day.

Hotels / Motels / Inns / Bed and Breakfasts

I will do a full write up on the places we've stayed but for now let's quickly talk about the places to stay.  There are really no hotels or motels on Pender Island.  There are PLENTY of Bed and Breakfasts and Inn's though.    We've stayed at the Pender Island Inn (which includes a breakfast) and also at Sahhali Serenity Bed and Breakfast (spectacular).

The camping on Pender Island is difficult to find and we've never really had much luck camping.  We've been told by many locals that you can find great places to camp along the beaches near the ocean.  However, when looking for these camp spots we've never been able to find them.  If you do find a camping spot (or know of one) can you please leave a comment to let everyone know!

We absolutely love Pender Island and can't wait for our next vacation to the Island.  If you have other recommendations of places to stay or things to do please leave a comment!

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Five Must Do Things in Vegas for $20 or under!

Here is my list of the top five things to do in Vegas.

Bellagio Fountains - At the Fontana Lounge - Everyone knows the Bellagio Fountains but seeing them from the Fontana Lounge and having a nice glass of wine makes the whole experience even better.

Horse Racing at the MGM Grand - The MGM Grand has one of those Old School horse racing games where you insert the quarters and pick your horses based on the odds. The horses then race around the track and you cheer them on. It sounds simple but it's really fun and a great way to spend a few hours. See how excited the people are in the video below!

Roulette at Casino Royale - I say playing Roulette at Casino Royale because Casino Royale has cheap roulette. Our first few times to Vegas we were plaing $0.25 roulette. I believe they've now upped the price to a minimum $0.50 table. This still makes it fairly resonable and if you sit with $20 and play patiently you can be there for an hour or two.

Crepes at Paris - When you walk in the front door of Paris if you go to the back of the casino and turn left there is a crepe place down the corridor. The crepes are authentic crepes as if they were straight from France and the prices are actually fairly reasonable. Highly recommended.

People Watching - You can people watch at any casino or even on the street. Our favorite spot on the street is at the Starbucks right besides MGM grand (next door to the Coke store). You can sit right by the window and watch everyone walk by. The best casino is really any of them... MGM Grand is good, Ceasers Palace and Bellagio are our favorite people watching hotels.

Those are our top five favorite things to do in Las Vegas. What's your favorite thing to do in Vegas? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Vegas Money Saving Tip - Bring Breakfast!

As we all know Las Vegas is expensive! Gone are the days of cheap food and cheap hotels all in a lure to get you in the door gambling. Today's Vegas includes monstrous resorts where the casino is NOT the main attraction anymore. With this comes increasing prices.

I remember I was shocked the first time I went to Vegas and had 1 muffin, 1 banana and a large coffee for $8.00. This was over 8 years ago and now probably costs $10.

So what's the solution? We bring our own breakfast!

The day before we're about to fly we make a batch of muffins for the trip. These muffins are just plain old banana chocolate chip muffins. You can make whatever kind you want just be sure that they'll pack 'ok'. If you're looking for a muffin recipe then you can get one from this site here.

When we wake up in the morning we have fresh muffins and then we head down to the casino floor and have two options for our morning coffee!

1. Buy a coffee from the local coffee shop. (There is a Starbucks in every hotel in seems! ) The approximate cost is $6 for two regular coffee's and nothing fancy like a latte.
2. Sit down and using the free drink technique order a Bailey's and coffee in a 'to go' cup. The approximate cost is $2 for a tip and whatever you spend on a slot machine waiting ($~5).

As you can see we still get a similar breakfast for half the cost of paying for breakfast. Another great thing about bringing muffins is that they're a great healthy snack later in the day. Just be sure to pack some ziplock bags to carry the muffins around with you.

This may not seem like a large money saving tip but if you do this for 3-4 days it can start to add up. Plus this tip works great everywhere you travel and not just Vegas. (Except the free drinks part, of course!)

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Things I would like to see in Japan

We leave for Japan in approximately one month. One of the fun things I like to do before going anywhere is make a list of things that I'd like to see. We've been doing a lot of reading from the books from the library and wikitravel and have gathered a starting list of things to see in Japan.

Your list may be completely different as we all have different tastes and enjoyments but here is my list.

Mt. Fuji - Growing up we had a picture of Mt. Fuji on our wall. I always thought it was a cool looking mountain and it was also the name of a WWF's manager (Mr. Fuji). Weird how these things stick in your head growing up. Mt. Fuji Picture from (Travel in Japan)

Bullet Train (Shinkansen) - We're going to take the bullet train from the South of Japan (not exactly sure where yet) to Tokyo before we leave. The train travels up to 300 Km/hr. I'll be sure to keep my hands inside the vehicle at all times!

Car Ferris Wheel / Parking garage - The Japanese's parking garage is a car ferris wheel. I don't know the exact details but it sounds pretty neat. Optimizing space by reducing the size of your parking garage!

Hiroshima - This is for obvious reasons and will be quite moving.

Sushi Restaurants - We love sushi. It'll be great to go to the source where sushi originated. Plus, I already know most of the words so at least I can order in a restaurant! Did I mention we LOVE Sushi?

Tokyo - I've heard amazing things about the city from the Shinjuku and Shibuya districts to the other outlining ones like Chiyoda. Seeing the dense population and crowded streets to more touristy type things like the Imperial Palace. Should be neat visiting a city with almost half the amount of people as Canada! I think we'll be spending at least 2-3 days here at the end of our trip.

A couple other strange things I'd like to see for no particular reason are the Food Vending Machines and 100 yen stores (the Japanese equivalent of a dollar store). This doesn't include the obvious temples, gardens and budda's that we'll undoubtedly see.

When we get back I'm going to dedicate a post to each one of these topics as they are things that I think are super interesting. So, am I missing anything? Would you want to see something different?

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Luxor Las Vegas - Spa Room

We stayed at the Luxor in Las Vegas in May 2006. We ended up staying in a spa room in the pyramid tower. Although we heard that the pyramid was older then the two towers we wanted to ride in the inclinators and therefore asked for a pyramid room. Plus, it's pretty neat being able to stay in a pyramid.

Room

The spa room was only ok, had I paid full price for the room I would have been disappointed. It was simply a room with a bed and a little lounge area with another tv and fridge. The SPA was located in the same room as the bed and near the window so you could overlook the strip while in the tub.

The view from the hotel room overlooked the strip (always ask for this at every hotel in Las Vegas). However, because you are so far South at the Luxor our view overlooked the airport. Watching the planes fly in and out in the morning and at night while sitting in a hot tub is super nice!

Getting a spa room - Free upgrade!

We were able to get a free upgrade to a spa room quite easily. We found a lower priced deal on the internet then the Luxor's website had posted. We used itravel2000.com to find the lower priced room. Upon finding this better price we contacted and told them about the better price. They upgraded us to the SPA room free of charge. You can read the best priced guarantee at the luxor here.

Theme

The Luxor's theme is Egyptian. They've done quite a good job keeping to this theme. This ranges from the pyramid and lion at the front of the hotel. As well, the games and gift shops are all Egyptian themed. As well, some of the restaurants and lounges are based around the Egyptian theme.

Casino

As with most strip casinos the slot machines were fairly 'tight' with our machines. The poker room however was very loose. The players could be considered quite bad. If you have a general clue of how to play Texas Hold'em poker then you should be fine playing patiently and making some money.

Hotel Location

The hotel is located at the southern end of the strip. It's quite easy to get to the Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo, Ny Ny and MGM Grand. However, besides those hotels it's a bit more difficult to get around. The walk to the monorail takes approximately 10-15 minutes and walking to the Bellagio is also approximately 15 minutes. If you're fine with walking a bunch (outdoors) then you won't mind staying at the Luxor.

Special Luxor Notes

If staying in the Pyramid at the Luxor Las Vegas be sure to ask for a room closer to the inclinator on that floor. Our room was on the exact opposite end of the pyramid and it took approximately 5 minutes to walk from the inclinator to the room. This is NOT an exaggeration!

All in all I'd say that the Luxor is definitely an upgrade over the Excalibur. However, of the other four star hotels I've stayed at in Las Vegas it's lower on the list.

Best “Date” Location in Vegas

I thought I'd post the absolute best date location in Las Vegas today. The Fontana Lounge at the Bellagio is THE BEST place to bring a lady friend in Vegas.

When you go there be sure to dress quite nicely as it's a fancy place. I was wearing a suit and my wife was wearing a nice dress. We showed up around 9pm and asked for a table on the patio. No problem. I'd recommend calling and asking for a reservation on the patio. I'm uncertain for sure if you can reserve at the Fontana Lounge but it's worth a try.

Unlike Parasol Up at the Wynn Las Vegas we weren't told that there was a drink minimum. However, we were prepared to have a drink regardless. We sat down and ordered two glasses of wine and some nice chocolate covered strawberries (delightful!). The Fountains of Bellagio are the main attraction on the patio and you get a closer viewpoint of the fountains. If there is a slight breeze you may even feel a little mist on your face.

When I brought my wife (then girlfriend) to Fontana Lounge it was a very romantic time on the patio. As an added bonus at the time the Bellagio Fountains were doing shows every 3-5 minutes. A show would finish the tubes would go under the water, we'd chat for a couple of minutes and they'd re-appear. We still have no clue as to why the multitude of shows but it was a perfect night. Looking back this would have been a great time and place to propose but alas I wasn't prepared. One year later I was prepared and shocked my lovely lady.

August Long Weekend In Saskatoon

I just got back from the long weekend in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Although, doing a trip report of Saskatoon is not the most exciting report in the world it's still ourtravels so I'll do one anyway.

The drive from Calgary to Saskatoon is fairly quick taking approximately 6.5 hours with a couple of stops for gasoline. The drive is a two laned highway for most of the trip. With very little traffic and long straight stretches passing slower vehicles is relatively easy.

We were there for an Ultimate tournament so we didn't spend much time seeing the city. However, we did see downtown and around the University and both are very nice parts of town. We ate at the English Pub on 21st St. on the Friday night. It's a very classic English pub with many MANY draft beers and quite a few bottle import beers. As all bottle imports at a pub these are very expensive so be warned. The menu was classic english grub but it lacked consistency. My Guniess and Steak pie was delicisous but my friends Guiness and steak pie was terrible and looked like gravy.

Hotels

The Sheraton Saskatoon. The Sheraton Saskatoon is a very classy and nice hotel in downtown Saskatoon.

It's located directly across the street from the Saskatchewan river which runs through town. It's also minutes away from the University of Saskatchewan. If you're staying here I recommend asking for a room that overlooks the river as you'll have a beautiful view of the river and possibly the two very nice bridges in town. The Sheraton Saskatoon also has a tremendous waterpark, the best hotel waterpark in Saskatoon. This

includes two waterslides, two hot tubs, a kiddy pool and an adult pool. I highly recommend the Sheraton Saskatoon.

The Delta Saskatoon. This is an old castles style hotel very reminiscent of the Chateau Frontnac or Banff Springs, of course not on the same scale. We've been told that this is the nicest hotel in Saskatoon, however, it does have the smallest rooms and windows. This is fairly typical of those 'castle' style hotels.

The Hilton Saskatoon. We had some friends staying at the Hilton Saskatoon this weekend and they said it was quite nice. Clean, good sized rooms and resonably priced a good destination for a family in downtown Saskatoon.

All in all it was a great weekend in Saskatoon with great weather, good food and lots of waterslides!

Resources For Travel - Using The Local Library?

Libraries are a great way to get ton of books on a single subject quickly. The local library in Calgary allows us to take out 99 books at a time. 99 books! Obviously we don't need that many books but you can take out a large selection to learn a bit before traveling

If your trip is only for a short amount of time then you can often take the library book with you to the country. This saves you money by not having to purchase a book but still having the handy reference with you.

Tour Book

This is the most obvious choice to take out at your local library. The tour book is a great way to find out information about your destination of travel. You're looking for a tour book with a map, places to stay, places to eat, safety concerns, etc... Some recommended brands of tour books are the Fodor's and Lonely Planet. You should ensure that you're getting a rather up-to-date copy of the book though (depending on your destination).

Cultural Book

Depending on your destination of travel learning some basics about the culture is important. This is often found in your tour book, however, this is often not adequate. You'll find a book about the culture quite handy to ensure that you're not offending anyone or creating a fool out of yourself.
Translation Book

If you're traveling somewhere with a different language get a language book. Something that is very basic is a great way to start. I just got the book, "Japanese Made Easy" by Tazuko Ajiro Monane. It's a very basic guide to learning Japanese and actually surviving while over there.

Audio Tapes

Again, this is great for foreign countries with different languages. The local library will have tapes, CD's or DVD's that you can listen and learn the local language. The advantage of this method is that you'll hear the correct prounciation and get a feel for the language before arriving.

Check out your local library today and get prepared for your trip. Do you use the library when you're going on a trip? Or where do you get your travel books from? Leave a comment and let us know.

Luxor Las Vegas Inclinator Elevator

Before I do a review of the Luxor's hotel I thought I'd make a quick post regarding the elevators at the Luxor.

The Luxor as we know is a huge pyramid with hotel rooms throughout the pyramid. Instead of having an elevator shaft going right up the middle of the pyramid (which wouldn't look very good) the architects created inclinators. These inclinators are simply an elevator that goes up on an angle.

Being an Engineer I was curious to see how these inclinators worked and felt while riding. Sorry to disappoint everyone but these inclinators are actually kinda boring. Yes, boring. If you're really curious to take a ride all you need is a Luxor hotel room key. You don't need it to be working or anything you simply flash the card to the security person as you walk to the inclinator doors. Simple as that.