So, keeping up with the latest Internet trends, I’ve started a blog. Maybe one day, I’ll even get around to watching Babylon 5.
And it’s a travel blog, for my first major overseas trip. Technically, I’ve been overseas for 30 years, having moved from NZ to Australia in 1996, but, outside a holiday to Fiji and Tonga when I was a kid, this will be my first time outside Oceania, into Canada.
Why Canada? It looks like an interesting country with plenty to see, many things to experience and not too many lunatics. I also have a few friends and relatives there whom I haven’t seen for a few decades. Why now? Partly it’s for wanting new experiences in my life; mostly it’s because I now have the money.
Booking travel and accommodation took much of my free time in January and February. Especially annoying was booking tickets on VIARail, Canada’s national railway.

Every step in a booking worked fine up until confirming payment, then—“An unexpected error occurred.” Checking out other travel sites revealed several complaints about VIARail’s problems with non-Canadian credit cards. I contacted its “Australian partner”, Momento Travel Services in Sydney. They knew of the problem too, but couldn’t offer much advice. Eventually, I was able to complete bookings by:
• Using Microsoft Edge browser
• Creating an on-site profile
• Booking after 11:00 Australian Eastern Daylight Time
Dealing with VIARail is like casting a spell.

After bookings were complete, I looked for a check-in case. I found this neat silver number on FB Marketplace:

Unfortunately, after I bought it, I dropped it on concrete and cracked two corners. I’ve fixed them up with superglue fairly well, but I’m no longer confident about the case’s durability for air travel.

Luckily, another case turned up for free. You’ve all seen this type of case at op shops: dull, dark grey, a bit too large, but you know they’ll last.

Of course, this can blend in with every other anonymous black bag at luggage collection, so, with the help of a little fluoro paint (thank you, Hearns Hobbies), it’ll now easily stand out amongst other anonymous black bags on luggage carousels and bus storage.

I take the same approach with my phone case.
The silver suitcase shan’t be wasted: it’s replaced a few cardboard boxes in underbed storage and will be a handy carry-case for my desktop computer if I decide to move house.
I’ll be spending all May and some of June in Canada, travelling across the country, so I might encounter many climates. With that in mind, I bought a ski jacket at Waverley Antiques Bazaar, warm and colourfully ‘90s.

A test packing with this and the other clothes I plan to take showed that the dark case was the better size choice anyway.