White Point Manor Blog

I picked up my son at Halifax International Airport yesterday and saw the forlorn tail of a Zoom 767 on the tarmac going nowhere because the company owes the airport scads of money. Travel officials were “caught off-guard” by the grounding of Zoom which finally succumbed to the malady of high fuel prices.

What is it with the airline industry in this country? Canada 2000 went belly up in 2001 and Jetsgo in March of this year but no one in the industry saw fit to let the travelers know beforehand? At least Alitalia is letting everyone know that it is filing for bankruptcy.

What bothers me is the way the stranded travelers are being treated here in Halifax and by the rest of the industry. These are people on summer vacation with full-paid tickets waiting to home. All of a sudden their tickets are worthless and they are stranded in an u familiar surrounding waiting to back home to Europe and other parts. And it seems that the great hospitality of Halifax that was so highly bugled for helping people in the days after Sept. 1, 2001 was somehow misplaced during this time of great frustration for these weary travelers. It’s like they are lepers and very few people and airline personnel were willing to help.

So what does this show about the airline industry as a whole?

1) They gouged full last-minute fare from the helpless travelers.

2) They left these people and their kids sleep in the airport.

3) The agev out minimal information about other flights.

4) Few if any put on other equipment even though they were gouging them $2500 for a $600 fare.

Think of the tour companies, connecting flights, people stranded in Europe and other persons who are going to be almost wiped out by Zoom’s sudden demise. Couldn’t the Halifax Airport authorities put a high-paid cop on board to let the British authorities know that this aircraft owes money? Do they are abut money so badly that they would crucify the holidays of hundreds of people?

The government should make airlines and airports have a system just like law office have where clients are reimbursed for the crooked practices of bad lawyers. They should also make allowances to fly these people home or put them up in good accommodations until this can happen.

Again, the good will that Halifax accrued during the disaster after 9/11 has been poured out on the tarmac this week. Because if was Brit or other nationality, I wouldn’t come back.

NOTE: Pay for tickets with credit cards. It is rumored that those who paid with Visa and Amex will get refunds. This might take the sting off paying $1900 for a $600 ticket home.

One of the hardest thing to do when moving to a new area to is secure a place to live. This is because, in a lot of cases, there isn’t enough time to make an informed decision. Either the job starts less than a week after you can get there or b7 the time you find out you are going, there isn’t much choice left. All the great deals are gone.

In Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley a site called ValleyRent.ca is making inroads into the rental market by giving apartment and home searchers and organized way of getting a rental. In addition, for landlords there is a special area to place your add with photos. And the nice thing about this service is that it’s free. So while other nationwide services cost about $1 a day ValleyRent.ca is bucking the system and charging zilch.

Here’s how it works: A prospective tenant or landlord goes onto the site and chooses between two huge buttons which then takes you to a filed to put in your information. For landlords such as me there is a sign-in page and then a control panel for editing, changing my profile, adding listings and even a forum for landlords to air their concerns and to share information.

For the next year ValleyRent.ca will be free and then it will go into a paid membership. For you renters the service will always be free.

This is a great matching service which puts both renter and landlord in the drivers’ seat.

One of the jewels of the south shore, Mouton Island, is for sale again. The German owners who once envisioned a Shangri-La in Nova Scotia have put it on the market. They came with high hopes and lots of money but, as I hear, situations in Germany changed and they fell short of finishing it. This is reminiscent of the spa at Aspotogan, also started by Germans.

For those of you who haven’t heard of it Mouton island is situated 3 km outside the village of Port Mouton, which is about 15 km south of Liverpool. Roughly speaking it is about 988 acres and over 700 of this is woods. It says that “some of the forest could be cleared to make space for an airstrip” but i think this was already done years ago and has grown over. The sandy beaches make it a Mecca for sea kayakers and day trippers.

Unlike many islands this one has lots of fresh water. One can be classed as being a bit “brackish” but the other is good water.

I’ve never been there but the skinny on the place is that there are structures there that have been ransacked over the years.

“U.S. citizens residing and traveling in Mexico should exercise caution
when in unfamiliar areas and be aware of their surroundings at all times.”

- US Department of State

If you were to investigate the most dangerous place for a Canadian to travel you would come up with enough enough facts to point to our NAFTA neighbor Mexico. Last Thursday 29-year-old Bouabal Bounthavorn was fatally shot after he opened the door of his room at the Hotel Riu and argued briefly with a man. His girlfriend was shot in the foot. This is just a month after a Canadian was run down and killed in a hit-and-run in Acapulco.

Now, this could be a drug deal gone south but this comes on the heels of the Brenda Martin case, Canadian woman held without formal charges in a Mexican jail for over 2 years. The fact that she may be guilty is overshadowed by the lack of due process in Mexico. There you are guilty until proven innocent. She has since been released to Canadian authorities and is now free in Canada. Now, if she was involved in bilking people out of money then she should pay. But in Mexico there’s no way to find this out because people rot in jails without receiiving a trial, fair or not.

The biggest murder case in the past few years is the murders of Dominic Ianiero, 59, and his wife Nancy, 55, of Woodbridge, Ont, in a five-star resort near Playa del Carmen on Feb. 20, 2006. Their throats were slashed, hardly a speedy death. Edward Greenspan, a prominent Canadian attorney, described Mexican attorney-general Bello Melchor Rodriguez as “arrogant, pompous and downright rude.”

Mexico is the worst possible outcome of NAFTA. If Canada had not been a British colony it might have suffered through the graft, corruption and pure poverty of Mexico. Because it seems like living south of the U.S. is no great perk and the U.S., who wants Iraq to be a pure democracy, keeps forgetting to look south to fix this rich country with all the wealth at the top. If they truly wanted stop illegals into the country I would suggest they start with the Mexican government. Their elections are as bad as those anywhere in the world.

And Canada is definitely not the only country whose citizens have been hurt. In the last few years dozens of U.S. citizens have been kidnapped and a lot of these incidents remain unresolved. As well, new cases of disappearances and kidnap-for-ransom go on all the time and now one can be considered safe from kidnapping regardless of occupation, nationality or race.

When there are so many safe places going to Mexico is like playing Russian roulette. And their legal system doesn’t want to do anything about it.

I grew up in Western Canada near an aboriginal community and played hockey and baseball with the kids. I took for granted the heritage around me but did learn some of the stories of how “the Hoodoos” were formed and other legends. It wasn’t until I formed a relationship with a German national that I realized what other people thought of the culture that was before my eyes.

Since 1996, Aboriginal Tourism Canada has been generating international interest in native activities and industries. In 1999 aboriginal activities in tourism had brought in close to $270 million in business and expectation are that it will be $1.2 billion in 2009. As of today, the industry employees 14,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit workers.

My German friend said her favorite activities were the Pow Wow and learning aboriginal lore: healing, natural foods, etc. She says acquaintances of her have traveled North America staying with Sioux, Blackfoot and Mi’kmaq peoples. They said it was as close to actually be one of the people back in the 1800’s as you could get.

In the North there are activities such as building igloos and ice fishing as well as mushing a dog sled team.

It’s a shame that we locals don’t appreciate the First nation’s lore as much as our European friends do. With the vision of the ATC this soon could change.

For more information go to: Aboriginal Tourism Canada

It used to be that a Canadian passport was the gold standard of passports the world over. Canada was viewed by friendly countries as a great friend and defeated enemies as a benevolent victor. The passport of this country was honored as a bastion of freedom and not-quite-the-Americans.

Agencies like Israel’s Moussad and the CIA used Canadian passports because of the reputation of this reputation because their agents would hardly be questioned while carrying one. The other places like Hong Kong, who saw the “Red Chinese” taking over their Island in 1997 as a death knell, had their wealthy citizens buying their way into Canada to get the valued passports. This way, when the time came, they could load up and fly back to “their new country.” Other countries, even European ones, found the value of the Canadian passport in the same way.

No, Canadian citizenship is a flag of convenience. But the real taxpayers are asked daily to bail out “citizens” who live back in their native countries if they get into trouble. These are ones who criticize Canada for not coming to their aid when their own crackpot leaders begin a killing spree.

But we in Canada are not to say a word or we are perceived as “unfriendly.” However, now our great, dark-blue passport is a far cry from the symbol of a valued country. Because too many unsavory types and “paid-up” Canadians” are using it.

However, if this is true, why is it one of most stolen passports in the world?

While going through the Canadian Tourism Commission site I came across an interesting item that pertains to U.S. travelers. The American going abroad, or to Canada or Mexico, can register before going on a trip. This travel registration is a free service provided by the American government to U.S. citizens who are “traveling to, or living in, a foreign country.” According to the State Department this registration allows the traveler to record information about upcoming trip so that the Department of State can be of assistance in case of an emergency. This also applies to Americans residing abroad.

If this smacks of “Big Brother” the possibility of the government knowing more about you that you want is quite slim. They already have your passport number and every time you buy a ticket it is scanned for peculiarities to see if you are a leaning toward a “eventful excursions.” (This is called “The no-fly-list”) So will offering more info more detrimental to the traveler or, as the U.S government says, “a big part of your travel planning and security.”

Here’s how it works:

1. Create an account: Click on the “Create an Account” link. Follow the instructions provided which makes you create an account by selecting a username and password.

2. Fill out the form: The account will also include basic information about the traveler and an emergency contact who is not traveling with you.

3. View your profile: Now the traveler can add trips or overseas residences to register with a specific US Embassy or Consulate in the area that the person will be visiting. There are two buttons: “Add Trip” button or “Add Overseas Residence” buttons.

4. Confirmation: An email will be sent to ensure that you are registered correctly.

I am not an American so I really am not able to comment on this. But it can’t be any worse than the security systems in place now.

Here’s a great site for those of you who want to try hostels. With the average price of an air ticket going up 20% staying in a posh place for a few hours a night is not on the radar for a lot of people. Hosteling is not  just for the young backpacker anymore although they always formed the core of the hostel stayers in the past. But that’s okay because a wide variety of people makes a hostel an interesting place to stay.

Hostelworld.com is a site where you can book rooms in a hostel online at thousands of hostels worldwide. On this site there are hostel reviews, photographs and detailed descriptions of all our hostels the world over. You can get reservations at international youth hostels, various independent hostels, backpacker hostels and , as well, budget hotels in every corner of the world.

You can sign up for a newsletter and to track your next trip online.

Give it a go: Hostelworld.com

Around 200 years ago ships traveling into the Bay of Fundy around Cape Sable were under constant danger from changing tides and weather. Many merchants, military men and politicians marveled at how the natives went from Halifax harbour to the Bay of Funday by canoe and began studying the cource.

For centuries, the Shubenacadie water path, a system of 115 rivers and lakes, had been like a highway for Mi’kmaq natives for travelng between the Bay of Fundy and Halifax harbour with few portages - having to pack the boat because of rapids or other obstructions. In fact the First Nations people had been doing this for almost 11,000 years.

It was not until 1824, when the Shubenacadie Canal Company had the motivation and money to build a canal was the opening up the inland areas for the merchants of Halifax. The locks were the built by masons were brought in from Scotland and laborers from Ireland and was designed with a draft of 8 feet for steam and sailing vessels. When it was finally finished over 30 years later it carried smaller boats and only ran for 20 years until the railroad put it out of business.

You can still canoe the Shubenacadie Canal and many do each year. The Shubenacadie Canal and waterway is being brought back to life by a volunteer commission. It is now a provincial treasure and is surrounded by a greenbelt, spanning the Province from Halifax Harbour to the Cobequid Bay and linking the communities enroute. In the northern part of the canal the tidal bore rapids offer a challenging environment for both canoing and rafting.

The Fairbanks Centre of the Shubenacadie Canal Commission offers a great tour of the history with maps and guides. they can also show you the best way to prepare for a canoe trip.

Just down the road from White Point Manor is the picturesque town of Port Mouton, Nova Scotia. A thriving lobstering town it is also the fulcrum point for some the best beaches in the country - all within a 10 miles radius! It is called Port Mouton International Hostel and it is an unbelievably big place!

Once a school built in 1961 the hostel has become a beehive of activity in the South Shore. Backpackers will appreciate the low rates and the stellar accommodations available.

Here are the places you can walk to:

• Carters Beach (3 crescent beaches)
• White Point Beach
• Summerville Beach
• Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct
• Port Joli Federal Migratory Bird Sanctuary
• Thomas Raddall Provincial Park
• White Point Beach Resort
• Quarterdeck Grill

The hostel is about half-way between the Yarmouth Backpackers Accommodations and Halifax.

Here is the website: Port Mouton International Hostel