Canada by Train, 1990
Introduction
...or
How I Became the Occidental Tourist
This represents the longest vacation I've ever taken. To me, a long
vacation might sound delightfully boring, but boredom is the sort of thing I
thrive on. So, what better place to be delightfully bored than in Canada?
I took this vacation while in a state of career crisis, so what better time to take nearly a month off from work. Sadly, the vacation did nothing to help my work, but happily, I did get out of that department within the year, and out of the company within two years. Ironically, I'm now back consulting with that same department in order to pay the bills. Fortunately, all the names (especially management) have changed for the better in the intervening half-decade.
This was a delightful vacation for me because:
- I got to see what touring by train was like for the first time
- I got to spend nearly a month away from work
- I got to see the newly proposed Canadian constitution disintegrate, up-close and personal
- At the time, it seemed like this might have been my last chance to trans-continental trains in Canada. (Fortunately, they haven't shut the line down.)
I really do hope to get back there and do it again sometime.
This vacation represents the first time that I made full documentation of one of my vacations. Robert and I had traveled to England the summer before, but I only wrote down half of what happened there, and that account was (impossibly) even more boring than this one. Because this is my first attempt at documenting a hellish holiday, it's pretty rough. If you haven't read anything of mine before, skip it, 'cause it ain't worth it.
On the other hand, if your a connoisseur of my writing, and strangely, some people are, you might want to read this just for completeness. Otherwise, I highly recommend trying Sail-93 first (by following the forward arrow link at the bottom of the page).
Read about how Robert and I came to decide on this stupid vacation...
Table of Contents:
- The Preparations
- Day 1: Planes, Trains, you get the idea
- Day 2: Boredom Modulated by Ethanol
- Day 3: More Exquisite Boredom
- Day 4: On the Road to Nowhere
- Day 5: Mall Fever
- Day 6: Ukrainian Refugee Camps
- Day 7: Wasting Away in Mallville
- Day 8: It's a Living Hell!
- Day 9: Back in the Saddle Again
- Day 10: Sleep Deprivation
- Day 11: It's Always Something!
- Day 12: Life Without Peking Duck
- Day 13: The Vancouver Glue Factory
- Day 14: Settling in to the Glitz and Doom
- Day 15: Boredom as a Religion
- Day 16: Vancouver Almost Exhausted
- Day 17: Getting Out of Town
- Day 18: Back to the Heartland
- Day 19: More Train Time
- Day 20: Almost the End of the Line
- Day 21: Train-Be-Gone
- Day 22: Sightseeing in Hotel Rooms
- Day 23: A Drive in the English Speaking Countryside
- Day 24: The End of the Line
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