Shore Excursions & Exploring (Part 3)

The conclusion of the Caribbean travel series goes back to where it started (and ended); that being Puerto Rico. While this Spanish colony – dating back to the days of Christopher Columbus – was invaded by the Americans in the late 19th century, Spanish remains the island’s official language. They also use a confusing mix of metric and imperial measurements, in which distances are in kilometres and speed limits are in miles per hour. Technical information aside, this Isla del Encanto (Isle of Enchantment) offers something for everyone.

Shore Excursions & Exploring (Part 2)

Truck-based jitneys in St. Thomas

Outside of the cruise excursion offerings (see previous post), taking time to casually explore the Islands is always a good thing to do, which is the focus of this post. There were two islands I couldn’t explore due to all day excursions; those being Barbados (for the Jolly Roger) and St. Lucia (for snorkelling).

So Close Yet So Far … March 2016 Bloor Update

Four weeks from today, the Bloor Street bike lane pilot project from Shaw Street to Avenue Road is expected to be debated at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC). The motion then goes to City Council in May with the pilot project installed this summer if approved. This represents the culmination of twenty five years of work done by city planners and cycling groups such as Bells on Bloor and Cycle Toronto. For my final Bloor update before this critical vote, let’s find out where we stand.

Bloor pilot project open house - March 9, 2016

Public Works Politicking

Today, I used my day off work to make a deputation at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC), which is responsible for Toronto's cycling infrastructure. For those working nine to five jobs (like me), taking time off is the only way to make a live deputation; leaving most people to resort to written submissions. The motion in question requested the City's Cycling Unit to study higher funding levels for the new bike plan ($20 million & $25 million) in order to fulfill Cycle Toronto's call for a Minimum Grid of 100 km of cycle tracks & 100 km of bicycle boulevards by 2018.

Cycle Toronto used these ribbons to spread the
word on the Minimum Grid campaign in 2014

Shore Excursions & Exploring (Part 1)

While the cruise experience on the Carnival Liberty offered many on board activities, delicious food, and exceptional service per the previous post, the real action occurs at the ports of call! Swimming at beaches, exploring the nearby town (or even the entire island), and shopping are safe bets regardless of the island. To ensure you enjoy your Caribbean experience to the fullest, you will want to go on at least a couple of excursions offered by the cruise line. Since it’s easy to go financially overboard with these excursions, I will discuss a few of the ones I’ve done and would recommend to others.

One of the beaches at St. Kitts

Just Cruisin' For Travel

To temporarily shift the focus away from cycling, the next few posts will discuss the Caribbean cruise I went on with my dad on the first week in February, the excursions, and the ports of call. The cruise ship – Carnival Liberty – started its journey at San Juan (Puerto Rico) and stopped at the following five ports: St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands), Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and Sint Maarten. I will start off with the general cruise experience.

Twelve Days of Bicycles – Twelve Tourists Touring

After over two months of covering a diversity of cycling topics from group rides to protected intersections, there remains one last post in the “Twelve Days of Bicycles” series. Since I recently returned from the Caribbean and found some cycling tourism inspiration there, let’s wrap up this series and kick off some new travel talk at the same time!

Bicycle tour in Sint Maarten