Just read about a town named "Hyder" in Alaska yesterday. Apparently it's the only place in the US where you can enter without going through immigration and therefore, without a passport.
Of course there's a catch, and the catch is that it is only accessible by road from Canada, or a seaplane from elsewhere nearby on the US side, and it is the road entry that doesn't require a passport, although there is a Canadian immigration office on the way back.
That makes me very curious, so maybe someday I'll try that road trip from Vancouver that's going to take over 20 hours. Obviously it will be split into multiple days.
21 Dec 2018
So the two Thaksin siblings were in Singapore recently. One thought led to another, and I ended up wondering if any exiled leaders throughout history have been open to selling state secrets.
4th week of P90X3, first time trying out Pilates since I rarely actually do any of the sessions for the rest weeks. Pilates X is tough despite its simplicity (maybe the Pretzel was slightly complicated) and uses a lot of core, and I found the moves utilising the butt to be particularly tough. All my training has prepared me in moving my legs forward, but there has been extremely little focus on moving my legs backwards, and the pilates session has shown me how weak my butt and back of my thighs are.
This is important because from what I recall from skiing and snowboarding, pushing my legs backwards does play a part in stopping and turning.
23 Dec 2018
Just discovered electric violins and they're so affordable. Probably not a new thing but saw one going for S$600 at Yamaha recently and I'm very interested now. Too bad there are other things that are higher in priority so I'm going to resist this temptation for now. It may be just $600 but there are also the lessons to take into account after buying one.
Main reason for my interest is because I've always been curious about it but the noise that a new player makes is something I'd rather avoid. With the electric one, I can just plug in my headphones and no one else would even be aware of its existence, and if I ever want anyone else to hear it, I plug it into speakers.
30 Dec 2018
Researching on ski trips for the mid-year but options are limited. Looked up South America several times but no matter what, the airfare kills the mood with a minimum of S$1.7k. Current target is roughly S$3k.
So it's Aus and NZ, but no matter how I look and how affordable Aus may be, wet snow and chance of rain even at the best areas turned me off.
It's below S$600 to fly to either Sydney or Melbourne, with 20kg luggage, as compared to S$1.1k to either Queenstown or Christchurch.
Anyway, I don't feel like making my research notes on a spreadsheet today, and this will be something of a record of how my research goes, so for now, the numbers are typed here. No guarantee I will book anything since Van can't confirm anything until much closer to the dates, probably June. It will not be good but I will try to find the best options.
Current possible options are Porters and Roundhill.
Just finished Porters, and it's reachable from even Christchurch, with a direct bus from a tour agency offering NZ$55 for a one-way trip, or $35 from Springfield, a town along the way. Funny thing is the website didn't mention a return journey at all, no price, no time, no pickup point. How do those people get back?
EDIT: Nvm they phrased it properly on their "tour and charter" page, as $35 per pax for return between Springfield and Porters, 8.30am pickup at the former, 4pm departure at the latter.
Ski passes are reasonable at NZ$99 for a weekend day pass, or $79 for a weekday one, or $59 for a newbie lift pass. For an eleven-day trip, we might go there for 8. At least the first day, if not three, will be on the newbie slopes, so it will just be $(59*3 + 79*3 + 99*2) = $612 at most.
Accommodation is quite affordable too, if you're willing to stay some distance away, like Springfield, which I am. There are a few places listed on Airbnb that are only S$220 for 6 pax per night at most, and this is considered rather low as far as ski accommodation goes. One of the farm cottages are even going for as low as $100 per night, but it's just the guest house for 4 pax, although I have a feeling the others listed as "entire house" that are part of the owners' farms are probably the same.
All in all, the cost will be $1100 to fly per pax, $2200 for 10 nights, $612 for lift passes per pax, $
A little too high, mainly due to the transport. If we could get another 2 pax, it would really cut it down.
But getting accommodation close enough to the ski area is even more expensive and without a kitchen to cook meals in.
Or we could get this Springfield Eco Retreat that's $140 per night for 10 nights, with 2 bedrooms to accommodate 4 pax. With this, we could cut it down to $70 per pax per night, ie shave $1500 off accommodation, bringing costs down to $1592 per pax per night before food and rental.
Since this place comes with breakfast, we just need to settle lunch and dinner. With a safe estimate of $20 per meal, we're looking at 40 meals, so $800 for food, bringing costs back up to $2392.
Moreover, there's the transport to Springfield from Christchurch so it could hit $2600.
03 Jan 2019
Forget Roundhill. Nobody told me you could ski in the Northern Hemisphere in the summer months!
Looked at Hintertux, Austria, but it's beyond my budget.
Norway, on the other hand, Fonna Glacier or Folgefonna in particular, seems quite within my $3k budget.
Found that an inn in Jondal charges S$132 per pax per night plus ALL THREE MEALS, and Jondal has a bus that goes to Fonna one round trip a day that takes 45 mins each direction. Flight to Bergen will cost just under S$1.1k via Finnair, and a bus + ferry from Bergen to Jondal will probably cost $10-20 each way. Ski passes are quite affordable, with a 1-day pass costing $61, a 5-run pass costing $57, a 3-hr pass costing $54, and a 6-day pass which seems perfect for this costing $254.
Assuming no overnight stays or stopovers anywhere else, plus one free night with my card, a 10 day trip consisting of 9 days in Jondal will cost $132*8 + $1.1k + $40 +$254 = $2450, only excluding equipment rental which I don't need.
However, overnight stays may be required. The Finnair flight here arrives in Bergen at 10.45am, and departs at 11.25am. A direct bus 930 from the bus station in Bergen (we're not even talking about immigration, luggage collection and transport from the airport to the bus station) departs only at 11.45am, with the following one at 8.10pm arriving at the ferry quay at 11pm. On the return trip, the first bus at 6.15am is the only one that goes directly to the bus station in time to catch some form of transport to the airport barely 2 hours ahead of departure, and I don't even know if there's a ferry that early. We can technically suck it up and either go for a bus route that will take 1-2 more changes, or wait till 8pm, but the way back is wholly dependent on whether there will be a ferry that will bring us across by 6am.
