Canada

The Toronto FC joined Major League Soccer (MLS) on April 7th, 2007. In their first 4 games, Toronto had not managed to find the back of the net. They started their 5th match a little after 3:30 on May 12th, a tilt against the Chicago Fire, at BMO Field in Toronto, only their second home game at the new soccer stadium. The fans, in frustration of the long goal-less streak, started chanting, to the tune of "Give Peace a Chance," "All we are saying... Is give us a goal."

In the 24th minute, after what appeared like a game of ping-pong between the Chicago defenders and Toronto forwards, Edson Buddle kicked the ball through the goal crease. Danny Dichio, the 6 foot 3 English striker better known for his rough play than finese in front of the net, slide towards the ball. Over 20,000 fans held their breath. Would this be the moment that Toronto FC gave us that goal?

FIFA, the governing body of soccer worldwide (where mostly it's called football), wanted to expand the presence of the beautiful game in the USA, which mostly choose to ignore the sport. FIFA granted the USA the right to host the World Cup of Soccer in 1994, on the condition that the USA launch a premier professional soccer league. In 1994, Major League Soccer (MLS) was founded to fulfill this goal.

World Cup soccer statues, Orlando, Florida, one of the hosts of the 1994 World Cup

The Toronto FC expansion team joined the league in 2007, and played their home opener on Saturday, April 28th at BMO Field. BMO Field is a new stadium, built to host both the FC home games and the 2007 Under 20 FIFA World Cup (currently going on). The Field is in the west end of Toronto, easily accessible by public transit, being on both the Bathurst (511) and Harbourfront (509) street car lines, and the GO Transit Lakeshore West route.

BMO Field. BMO is the Bank of Montreal's catchy new "hip" name. BMO sponsors the FC club.

A nice view of downtown from the west end stands

The west end stands, full up for the game. Stadium holds 20,500 people, and has had close to capacity crowds for both their games

The match on May 12th was against the Chicago Fire, who coming into the game with a 3 win, 1 loss and 1 tie record, looked to provide some stiff competition for a team that couldn't score a goal. But I decided that I needed to support the home side, no matter how bad they had looked in their first 4 games, and put on my Toronto FC gear and went down to the stadium.

Tickets can be purchased from the MLS website. My seats, in section 224, cost $60 Canadian.

The teams took the field, and after playing both the national anthems, the game began.

In the 24th minute, Danny Dichio made contact with that pass from Buddle, and the ball went past the out of place Chicago goal keeper. Toronto had scored, and the crowds went crazy. As a promotion, BMO had given out seat cushions to every fan, that just happened to be perfectly shaped for maximium flight distance. The crowd was soon launching the frisbee-shaped seat cushions onto the field.

GOOOOAAAAALLLL!

Danny Dichio was ejected some 10 minutes later after a scuffle with the Chicago goal keeper, but no matter. He was elected the man of the match. Toronto, after seeing Chicago tie the match near the end of the first half, got two insurance goals in the second half, and went on to win the game 3 to 1. Not only did the FC fans get their first goal, but they also got their first win.

I haven’t written much in the blog lately, because I haven’t been travelling. My last entry ended with me running through a sun-shower in New Jersey. Three days later, I was on a plane from Newark back to Toronto, and have spent the last 5 weeks here at home in Toronto.

My time at home ends on Monday, when I get back on a plane for a new project. Ah, yes, a new project means a fun new location! So where, you are asking, am I off to next. What exotic location? Dallas? London? Dubai? Sydney?

Nope. New Jersey.

Back to New Jersey, though a different client and a different location in the state (though still within 30 minutes of Newark airport). It’s just an 8 week project, but if things go well, I could be heading back to New Jersey for the next year. Hmmm, the glamour of this job has not been evident as of late. I miss last year, with it’s San Francisco and Paris trips.

While I haven’t been travelling the last 5 weeks, I have been thinking of travelling, because I have spent much of this time shopping for travel gear. Gear is very important in travel, as you spend much of your time lugging it around. I still haven’t managed to quite get the hang of leisure trip packing, and always seem to end up carrying around 5 shirts and 3 pairs of pants that I never end up wearing, but I have business travel down to a science. I can pack for a business trip in about 3 minutes, fit everything in the carry-on space on an airplane and travel with only what I really need.

I bought some business casual slacks to replace the pairs that have holes in the pockets and frayed cuffs. I threw out a few pairs of black dress socks with holes in the heels and toes, and bought some new pairs. Replacing and updating the wardrobe is pretty standard stuff, though. I’ve been forced into a few big purchases as some of my bigger travel gear has worn out or disappeared.

First was my watch. In 2000, I bought a nice Citizen Eco-Drive watch in Denver for around $US 250. It was a manly watch with a metallic band and a blue face. It was water resistant up to 200 metres, though I always figured if I was 200 m under the water, my biggest problem wouldn’t be what time it was. Most interestingly, it was solar powered. Unlike the digital watches that were very popular when I was kid, this one had no stupid solar panel and could hold a charge for up to 60 days. The only problem I would have is every year in mid-December the watch would stop because I’d had it hidden under long-sleeves for the past three months without any sun, and I would always forget to leave it out in the sun to charge. But one sunny afternoon, and the watch would be charged again and I wouldn’t have any trouble with it.

What time is it? A freckle past a hair!

A few weeks ago, in what can be attributed to either a broken band, a light-fingered thief or drunken misplacement, my watch went missing, and after a week of searching, I have not been able to find it anywhere. So I’ve been shopping around to try and find a replacement. Unfortunately, it appears that the specific model I owned is no longer available, and none of the other watches look JUST LIKE IT. I am coming to grips with the fact that I will have to buy a watch that doesn’t look like my old one, but it’s a tough uphill climb.

I also bought a couple pairs of work shoes. Back in 2004, I was training for my Kilimanjaro climb, and would walk to and from work every day, about an hour and a quarter walk each way. Because I was going to work, I would wear my work shoes. After my climb, I continued to walk to and from work out of habit more than anything else. In April of 2005, I woke up one morning with an incredible pain in my right foot. I went to the doctor, and he said that I have Metatarsalgia, an inflammation of the balls of the feet that comes from over-use, especially if one is wearing shoes without adequate arch support.

So, after some extensive research, I went out and bought a couple pairs of shoes, both well known for their comfort and support, a pair of Eccos and a pair of Rockports. The Rockports are a bit more dressy, the Eccos a bit more casual. I’m in the process of breaking them both in, and both seem pretty decent so far. It’ll be nice to have a pair of business shoes I can walk in, as it will save me from having to lug an extra pair of shoes in my luggage. As I said, the lighter the luggage, the better off you are.

New shoes!

I also bought a 19 inch roller-bag last week, a $60 Eddie Bauer bag (regularly $120). It’s nice, though seems a big tippy when the handle is fully extended, and the colour isn’t as bright as I would have liked. Of course, I was inclined not to like the bag too much right from the start, as it is replacing a very old friend.

In 1997, when I first started travelling, I bought myself a 19 inch bright green Jaguar roller bag. While I have all manner of luggage, from suit bags to backpacks to duffle bags that could easily hold 2 dead bodies, my little green bag was my most common travel companion. It’s probably travelled close to a quarter of a million miles with me, most often sharing the overhead space of the airplanes I was on, but sometimes relegated to the luggage hold (especially recently, when liquids were banned on flights). In addition to it’s duties as a transporter of my clothes, it’s served as a camera tripod, foot rest, door stopper and dinner table.

Over time, though, it's started to fall apart. The front zipper is broken, the main zipper sticks, the foot on the bottom is barely holding on, the bag tips over all the time, the handle is almost falling off and the fabric is frayed and thining.

My little green bag (retired) on the left, my new bag on the right

I’m a little surprised that I have become so attached to my little green bag. Unlike other members of my family (you know who you are), I am not usually a pack rat and things usually go into the garbage pretty quickly once their usefulness is through. The old pairs of pants, socks and shoes have gone in the garbage already, replaced by their newly bought counterparts, but I haven’t managed to throw out the little green bag yet. I will, probably this weekend.

Before I did, though, I felt that my little green bag deserved to be remembered somehow. So I present this blog entry, as a goodbye to an old friend and travel companion. I shall miss you, my little green bag.

Ode To My Little Green Bag

Green and small, with wheels black.
A handy-dandy travel pack.
Full of clothes and toiletries,
like deodorant made by Degree.

You fit so nicely in the overhead
it makes me happy not check a bag instead.
You'll even fit underneath the seat
in a pinch, ain't that neat!

Kermit the Frog upon green did sling
the insult that it was like so many things.
And yet when I had to check, you were easy to find.
A green bag stands out against the other kinds.

So many bags of black complexion,
How could green not grab my affection?
Green with envy were the other flyers
as they saw the bag of their desires!

Green is the color associated with rookie players
But you quickly gained experience to quiet the naysayers
You travelled far and traveled wide
and soon became filled with pride.

But all of us age and grow tired
and soon you were dead and expired
and I say goodbye, my little green bag
travelling without you will be a drag.

- the end.

Lookin' back on the track for a little green bag,
Got to find just the kind or I'm losin' my mind

Out of sight in the night out of sight in the day,
Lookin' back on the track gonna do it my way.
- Little Green Bag, George Baker Selection

When I first started blogging about my travels, Travellerspoint didn't have blog functionality, so I was blogging at another site. As my friends already had that address, I continued to use that other site after TP launched their blogging functionality, using my TP blog just for travel advice and the odd entry of interest to TP members only.

However, the other blog site I was using has been acting weird as of late, including a recent 2 day outage. So I have decided going forward all my travel blog entries will be here on TP. And, because I don't want to lose the history, I have spent the past couple of days posting all my previous travel writing to this site.

If you are really bored, you can read them all. However, for those of you that have lives outside of the internet, I'll highlight a couple of the more interesting entries.

San Antonio and the 38 year old stripper grandmother is a sad (as in pathetic) story of me, too much booze, too many hormones and not enough common sense, but it always cracks people up at cocktail parties. The content is a little PG-13, so kids, make sure you get your parents' permission to read.

I have climbed highest mountains, I have run through the fields, but I still haven't found what I've been looking for. Like many travellers, I have a secret desire that my travels will provide me insight into the ultimate question, "what should I do with my life?" So far, the answer is still fuzzy as ever, but the closest I have come to an ultimate answer was on a long weekend ski trip, where I was hit with the epiphany that I need to go on a diet.

Speaking of climbing highest mountains, I attempted to climb up Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, and it didn't work out so well.

La Paz, Bolivia was the site of much drama due to altitude sickness and a mini-revolution. Thank god my mother is dead, because if she knew the danger I was in, she would have killed me.

And as those were all a little sad and serious, a happy story to end. When I was originally in Punta Arenas in 2003, I wrote that Punta Arenas was drab. But with the benefit of hindsight, I know realize that it is one of my favorite places in the world.

I hope you enjoy the new entries, and keep reading as I have more fun and more mishaps that I can document here in the future.

Cheers!

I have arrived home after transiting through Vancouver. Sadly, it turns out that I can't become rich by taking winning sports scores from Hong Kong and trying to bet on those games in Vancouver. Something about time zones and not really going into the past, actually.

Anyway, this closes out my first circumnavigation of the globe:

• Flight from Toronto to Paris on October 10th
  
• Train ride across Europe and Asia
  
• Flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, and then from Vancouver to Toronto on November 6th
  

Yay me. I'm like Magallean or Captain Cook. Well, maybe not just like them...

Dude, I look sad here. Compare against how I looked in Hong Kong:

Apparently not being on vacation depresses me...

In retrospect, deciding on the same day I was flying to wear a t-shirt with a guy holding a gun on it was probably not the brightest idea I've ever had.

Security took an unusual interest in me as I wandered through Pearson airport. After passing the metal detecting wand over me, the woman working security had one of her mail colleagues come over and run his fingers on the inside of the waist of my pants. It was all very strange, I thought, until I looked at myself in the mirror in the bathroom and noticed that the little green man on my t-shirt was holding an automatic weapon. That probably was a tip of some sort.

A dull entry, I know. However, I just want to put this in so my round the world adventure has an appropriate starting point.