Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Interested in Living Abroad? Caveat . . .

When you are doing some online research, there's a site to watch out for :: Inter Nation al Liv ing. I came across this site when looking for information about real estate and long stay options for Uruguay.

I fell in love with the Punta del Este (photo, below) and Montevideo areas when I was there, and was seriously contemplating a long stay return.

So, naively, perhaps, I signed up for updates, thinking I could always cancel.

WRONG!

When 'helpful email notices' began arriving several times a day, for destinations far from my wonderful Uruguay, I clicked to cancel my subscription.

Didn't do a blind bit of good. Reminds me of the Cl ass mates site -- and to get rid of them, I had to close my ISP and get a new email. Same thing with this place.

So if you are interested in getting several emails each and every day from this site, then by all means, sign up. Otherwise, give it a miss. Wish I had.


Emirates Airline Adding Toronto in October 2007!

Effective October 29, 2007, Emirates Airline will add Toronto as its second North American destination, joining New York.

I personally am very excited to hear of this, as I had wanted to fly Emirates from Toronto (via Dubai, the hub) to Addis Ababa last trip. A friend in the travel agency biz had spoken of Emirates in-cabin service as top of the line, and I was anxious to get some of that for myself. And Dubai and Abu Dhabi are high on my list of must-see places. As well, I could add on flights to Nairobi, and points south in Africa. It seemed a perfect choice.

But, at that time, I didn't want to have to go to New York to pick up the flight (Why add an extra country, and extra layer of airport hassles if you don't have to?), so I routed the conventional way via London's Heathrow, which has issues of its own vis airport security. As well, flights out of LHR can book up early over the busy Christmas season as Ethiopians return home for the holidays.

But come this fall, I have a great option, and I will start planning a great trip now!

Here's a photo of my reason for traveling back to Ethiopia :: The Black Family. You can read about their work in Bahir Dar on snapshotjourneys.com under travel in Ethiopia.




Right now, they are back in Canada for a few weeks on their annual repatriation visit. They are doing remarkable work in Ethiopia, and I support them wholeheartedly.

Update: March 2008 Bob and Sue and the girls are returning to Canada this summer, as the programs are now up and running smoothly with local staff.