Nova Scotia Canada has been my home for the vast majority of my life. Although in my childhood we did live in a number of different Provinces across the country we settled here when I was about seven years old.
Throughout my life I recall hearing about how Maritimers are the friendliest people in the world. A person I met in Boston, after telling them where I was from, told a story about how some people from away were ended up in a small town in the Maritimes and asked directions to their friends. The person who gave them directions promptly gave them their car to get to where they needed to go and simply told them to drop it off when they were done. I’m not sure the story if the story is really true or not, but I wouldn’t doubt it.
Working for a number of years in the Call Centre industry our manners and kindness were cited as one of the reasons so many centres set up shop here as well.
Hard examples escape me at this point in time, but there have been many occasions where I’ve heard about the rude Americans. It would seem to me that for a lot of people in this area that is the general feeling about our neighbours.
Throughout the years I’ve been lucky enough to travel a number of times to the United States. My wife an I were even married in New Orleans. Every single trip I’ve made I’ve had some of the best in person customer service I’ve ever experienced.
During this past week on our vacation it really hit me. There was not one interaction I had that wasn’t extremely pleasant. It didn’t matter if it was on the ferry, at a gas station, grocery store, Dunkin Donuts, or just walking down the street. Even before I left calling into a T-Mobile Call Centre was a great experience. People were friendly and very helpful, every single time. This has generally been my experience throughout my travels in the States. This trip we went through five states and it was all the same. Even a previous trip to New York City I didn’t find anyone I would consider rude. People did seem to be in a hurry and there was less small talk in general, but nothing rude.
To be honest I think there are a lot of people who could take some lessons from every person I dealt with on this last trip. Granted I’ve only been back a few days, but in the few encounters I’ve had in stores / gas stations I’ve been less than impressed. It’s almost seemed like I was putting someone out by coming and purchasing something from their place of work.
Also lets be honest about the Call Centre industry here in Nova Scotia. A lot of the companies setup shop here because of the unemployment rate, so there are lots of employees, and government incentives. I’m sure the fact that we speak English and are genuinely nice play into it as well, but that is not the main reason.
I truly love the area where I live in the world and the people here as well. I know the majority of people are kind and friendly. But if I was going to do a general comparison from my personal experience, I really believe the customer service I received everywhere I went during this trip was at a higher level than what I receive on a daily basis here in Nova Scotia. That makes me sad as I want people, when they come to visit our Province or Country, to have the same great experience I had when traveling. Not just tourists here either, we should always strive to provide great customer service to everyone we deal with.
Personally I know I will work even harder to make sure I leave people feeling the way I did after leaving any establishment I was in. It made me happy and it genuinely felt like they were happy as well. I fail to see any downside in that.
We made it through our big family vacation this year. I figured I’d try to write out a bit of an overview of what we did. There was so much packed into a short time that it could be easy to forget if I don’t get it down somewhere.
Day 1 – Traveling Day
I wrote a bit about this already in this post Traveling Day.
Day 2 – Shopping and Getting Settled
As we got in so late the night before we decided to take it fairly easy on this day. We didn’t even really get a chance to see the cottage and yard we were staying in.
So slept in a bit and took our time in the morning.
The backyard is beautiful right on an inlet in the Ocean making it almost like a lake. The kids had a great surprise when they were outside and a couple of swans swam right up and came out of the water to see them.
I loved the fact that there was a hammock already setup so I could sit and relax watching them play around.
Wareham MA, where we were staying had a bit of an outlet shopping so we also headed in there to get some things for the kids and also some much needed groceries.
Day 3 – Rhode Island
None of us had ever been to Rhode Island before. We were a bit worried about rain so my wife found us a Natural History Museum which had a planetarium inside for us to visit and explore. It is right in the middle of Roger Williams Park in Providence. We were lucky that it didn’t rain so we could explore this park a bit. It’s pretty amazing. Our first stop was a playground sponsored by Hasbro. We were greeted by a Mister Potato Head which the kids loved. They also had a mini Candy Land path you could hop along. Probably their favourite thing in the playground though was a slide made out of rollers.
The park was huge and we didn’t see all of it, but we did drive through and took a walk through parts of it. It was very well maintained and picturesque.
Day 4 – Boston
Boston is one of my favourite cities that I’ve ever visited. So when ever we go back I always enjoy it. My sister was a little nervous about driving into the city and being able to follow us to where we were going. Luckily my wife discovered a commuter ferry that goes between Hingham MA and Boston. It just so happens that Hingham is the location of Wahlburgers. My wife might have been a little obsessed with Donnie Wahlberg and so we were planning a trip there to eat anyway.
We had a rough time finding the ferry at first, but we made it and it was a great way to get into the city. The kids loved the boat ride and I loved the view coming in.
Once we got in we started walking towards the Boston Common. We happened on to a group of street performers just getting ready to perform their dance / comedy routine. My girls all love dance so we stayed to watch. They were very impressive and funny as well.
Once in the Common and Public Gardens we played in frog pond for a while and took a ride on the carousel. The swan boat ride is always a favourite thing to do so we made our way there as well.
It was kind of a whirlwind stop in the city so we didn’t stay long at any one place. From the Common we walked back down to the waterfront and went to the Children’s Museum. We’d been once before years ago but it was still fun to go through again.
Once we were done we hopped back on the ferry back to Hingham and we went to get supper at Wahlburgers. It was pretty neat to be eating in a restaurant owned by the Wahlberg’s and featured in their reality TV show. But the best part was that the burgers were actually really good as well.
Jen decided to remember the experience by picking up a Wahlburgers iPhone case, and of course lots of pictures.
Day 5 – New Hampshire
Today was supposed to be our New York City day. However as you can read about in the post Going with the Flow, that didn’t end up happening.
We decided 3.5 hours driving, with no traffic, and then a 40 minute train ride into New York, spending a few hours in the city, then taking the same route back to our cottage again wasn’t going to work.
We started by looking to see if we could find a place relatively affordable for us all to stay the night, but finding a last minute deal for 10 people isn’t easy so we called it off and started making other plans.
We decided we would head into New Hampshire and take the kids to a water park and then to my wife’s favourite place, Hampton Beach. After the traffic we ran into and the amount of time that we driving just to New Hampshire we were very glad that we didn’t try to drive into NYC.
We found Water Country which is very close to Hampton Beach and even found a pretty good deal online for the entrance cost. So we went and found some time there going on rides and getting wet.
We left there in time to go get some supper and then off to Hampton Beach to spend a bit of time before packing up the kids and heading back to the cottage for the night.
Day 6 – Connecticut
Connecticut is also a State that none of us had ever been in before this trip. We knew we wanted to take the kids to an Aquarium of some sort during this trip and after looking at a bunch with the kids they chose the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.
We’ve been to a few aquarium’s over the years, but this one was great. Probably the kids favourites would be the Beluga Whales, the Sea Lion show, and the Penguin area. We loved how the Sea Lion show was inside in an theater setting and they actually put on a skit with humans and the Sea Lions as the show.
The Beluga Whales were the biggest creatures in the aquarium and it was great seeing them from above and below the water. The kids loved being right up the glass and having them come right up and stare at them.
Penguins have always been my middle daughters favourite animal. So for her getting to be that close to them was very exciting.
Some of my favourites would be the sharks, the sting ray touch tank, different types of jelly fish, and the octopus. There were all kinds of other creatures, it was well worth the trip to explore.
Day 7 – Starting Home
We had to get off to an early start for starting our journey home. We left the cottage by 5:30 am hoping to avoid rush hour traffic as we drove past Boston on our way to our friends in New Brunswick. They were kind enough to offer to put us all up for the night and give us supper and we wanted to be able to spend at least some time with them. We were pretty lucky and Jen found a route that went out a little further past Boston, but we really avoided most of the traffic.
This was going to be a long day of traveling and we knew we would have to make some stops on the way, but we wanted to just hurry up and get there so we tried to keep the stops down.
On the drive we were talking about the vacation and how great it was, but also how we were disappointed we didn’t make it into New York. We started planning next years vacation already. In fact Jen booked our first place to stay in Washington DC to make sure we will have a great place to stay for our whole family at a good cost.
As one of the stops Jen looked up a playground. It sounded really cool having a maze and castle like towers for the kids to play in. Shortly before we made it there she did some more reading about it and discovered that it was no longer there. It was at a school though so we kept going figuring the school would still have a playground for the kids to play in. When we arrived there was a playground and there was a day camp there playing on it. The kids were excited because in the yard right beside us there was construction going on with big excavators and heavy equipment.
As the kids were going down the slide the group leader from the day camp came over and told us that the construction was just getting ready to do blasting. It was no big deal just that it was going to be loud so be prepared. They had been doing it all week and the campers were used to it. Right after that the construction crew told us that no we would have to evacuate the playground for safety. This didn’t sit well with kids who had been trapped in the car for quite a while already. What are the chances of this happening?
We did good for a while more but then found another park with a playground in it for the kids to play in. We also ate lunch at the same time as there was a nice picnic area.
In the end we made it across the border and to our friends house shortly before supper and ended up getting to take the kids to the community pool for an evening swim. It was a great way to cool off and release some energy before bed after being in the car all day.
Day 8 – The final leg
My sister had to have her kids home for a wedding they were part of later this day. So we had another early morning and this time were on the road by 5:00am to make sure we would have enough time.
We went for 3 hours before we stopped and got breakfast and stretched our legs which was great to get that good a start on the day.
We decided to split off and let my sister head home while we did a bit more shopping with the kids who had some money left over, and to stop at the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park on the way home.
It was weird when we did split off. It had been days of having my sister in the car behind us for many hours. To not have to worry about not losing someone made the drive seem that much less stressful.
We made it home in time to make supper, get things cleaned up and unpacked and get the kids to bed.
It was a fantastic vacation but it was also great to be home and climb into my own bed at the end of the day. Can’t wait til our vacation next year, which is already shaping up quite nicely.
Last post I made near the beginning of our vacation I was pretty optimistic that I would arrive home and be at my goal weight.
Things were going well. I was behaving myself when it came to eating, I had gotten out on a run and our daily activities were keeping me going.
That didn’t last long enough. I only made it out on one more run after that, and my eating habits sucked. We ended up eating out a fair amount, and that was things like greasy pizza and big hamburgers.
We also ended up buying more snack foods and taking them with us in the car. This made it way to easy for me to grab something and eat it down. I did it way to often.
Now we’re home and I’m pretty sure I actually ended up gaining weight on this vacation. What a disappointment that is all my own fault. I’m going to have to work hard just to get back to where I was.
I’ll weigh in tomorrow morning and then I’ll know for sure just how much I’ve set myself back.
Some of our vacation hasn’t gone exactly as planned, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been great so far.
We ended up cancelling our trip into NYC yesterday as everyone felt it was going to be just too much traveling for too little time in the city.This was after we had already started driving. Instead, on the fly, we changed plans and went to a water park for the kids and then hit up a beautiful beach.
Hampton Beach has been my wife’s favorite beach for quite a while now, so no trio to New England for us would be complete with out at least a shirt visit there.
Everyone was a but disappointed that we didn’t get to go into New York, but we all had great fun anyway.
Today is our last full day here before we start making our way home. It’s a good thing we live in such a beautiful part of the world or else it would be even harder to leave this place.
Before we left for this vacation I knew one part was going to be rough for me in particular. It’s a very rare occasion where I’m not able to pull out my phone and be connected to everyone and everything.
Traveling to the US with a Canadian cell phone makes that very cost prohibitive. Luckily my wife has an unlocked phone so when we arrived in of the first things we did was to sign up for a prepaid account for her phone.
But that’s her phone, and besides where we are staying the signal is not great so it’s in and out. I find myself going through a bit of a withdraw. Even though I’m obviously still able to post blog updates and check email and social networks now and again, it’s sad how not having that constant connection is so noticeable and unpleasant.
During the day isn’t even so bad. But once the kids are in bed, or when we are trying to plan something for the day, it becomes annoying.
I’m hoping after a week of this I’ll be better, but that will be just in time to go home and be back to my connected world.
For now I’ll just enjoy my family and try to relax and enjoy this time away.
Coming on vacation had me a little worried about staying in a good routine. Running would still be relatively easy if I could get myself out of bed. However eating proper had me concerned.
So far that hasn’t been a problem. We’ve been packing lunches and coming back to the cottage for supper, so it’s been working out really well. In fact I’ve likely been snacking a whole lot less because of it. This morning I went for my first run and did 5k around the neighborhood our cottage is in. It’s a pretty nice area and running is a good way to get to see some of it.
The other thing that bothers me is that this is going to be the first Wednesday since New Years that I haven’t weighed in. I could of course find a scale, but I’ve used the same scale every week and I’m scared another one wouldn’t be calibrated the same.
Hopefully when I do get home and step on I’ll be at my goal. It very well could happen I’d say.
We did a bit of shopping yesterday and I bought a pair of size 32 shorts. I can’t believe I wore size 44 at one point in time.
We had quite the day of traveling yesterday. We had the alarm set for 4:30am to make sure we had everything ready to leave the house by 6:00am.
Things went pretty smooth except shortly after leaving the house we had to turn around because I forgot the laptop. However, we made it to Yarmouth right on time to catch the ferry.
The NovaStar was overall a pretty pleasant experience. The kids all enjoyed the fact that they could move around and not be trapped in the car for that long portion of the trip.
Everyone of the staff members we interacted with was extremely nice and helpful.
One of the activities for the kids was a scavenger hunt. Part of it was to find three different ways to say “hello” by talking to staff and finding out their first language and how to say hello in it. They all dealt with the kids like pros.
If I had two suggestions to make it would be to have more in the kids area including places for parents to sit, and a wider array of movies. The other would be to have places to charge your devices. All outlets were European and needed adapters. They did have some to borrow but they seemed to run out quickly.
It was a long ride though and we didn’t get into Portland until 7:00pm local time. By the time we got off and through customs it was after 8:00. We rushed to the mall and to the T-Mobile store to setup a prepaid plan.
From there we set out driving. With my sister following behind in her car we purposely neglected to tell her that we would be driving through the city of Boston to get to our cottage.
She was pretty nervous about the trip in general, but was a champ the whole way. We made it to our cottage in Wareham MA by about 12:30am and had everyone unloaded and in beds by 1:00.
It’s the night before our family vacation and the stress is starting to set in. I’m not entirely sure why. We’ve gone on a number of big vacations with the family and they always turn out fine.
This one feels different though. I’m not sure if it is the driving distance, it’s not much further than we’ve gone before. It might be the destination. We’re planing on several day trips around where we are staying and one of them is to go into New York City for the day. I’ve been there once myself but this time we’re going with the whole family. This includes my sister and her three little kids. Maybe it’s because I just don’t feel prepared enough.
Usually we spend a great deal of time planning out almost ever part of our trip months in advance. Due to certain circumstances we had to change up our plans and shorten the trip a little. This means that things were done more hastily than I’m used to. I used to love having no set plans and just going, but thanks to my wife I learned that things with kids go a lot smoother when there are some plans laid out. I think I’ve come to need that planning.
This is not to say that we don’t have plans. Things are still well planned, and I think they are even better planned in my wife’s head than they are in mine, so that does give me some comfort.
I know once we arrive we’re all going to have a great time so I just need to relax now and start enjoying. I’m going to get to spend lots of time with my family. We’ll be making lots of special memories and seeing lots of exciting things.
Just writing these feelings out, and reasoning them through, is already starting to make me feel better. So I’m off to finish packing and hopefully make sure we don’t forget anything important.
Sandy McFadden 