Room With A View

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Fri Jul 25

"roomwithaview.tumblr.com" comes to an end.

It’s a bit sad but after 342 days of travel across 5 continents, visiting 20 different countries and 78 different towns and cities we have returned home to Ottawa. I thought of the idea for “roomwithaview” AFTER we had left Ottawa and I was sitting looking out of the hotel window in New York City - our first night away. I borrowed the idea from “Conde Nast Traveler Magazine”, the back page that each month featured a view. Usually, though, these hotels cost in the range of 100’s if not 1000’s of dollars.

Our “roomwithaview” has 121 postings. In other words we stayed or slept in 121 different places. These locations were hostels, hotels, guest houses, jet aircraft, rented apartments, trains or even buses. Here are some rules that were followed:

each photo was taken from the location that we slept
most photos were taken from the window of the room
if there was no window in the room the photo was taken from “down the hall”; once in China the photo was taken of the wall outside the room … interesting graffiti
sometimes the photo was taken from the balcony or terrace at the hotel, out of the door of the room or out of the window across the hall
the photo was ALWAYS a scene that could be seen from the location
occasionally the digital telephoto feature of the camera was used; for example the photo was a “sneak peak” between a gap in the leaves of the adjacent tree like in the photo in Banff, Alberta
NO photos were re-touched using “Photoshop” or other software
NO photo was straightened or trimmed
in fact only ONE photo in “snowfree” was ever cropped - one in Mexico City of the Segway Scooters
occasionally a photo might be slightly out of focus due to low lighting conditions
ALL photos were taken using the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3, a very versatile, very portable camera (it was on my belt 99% of our waking hours)

We received a great deal of feedback regarding “roomwithaview”, some travellers even chose to use the same idea. Occasionally taking the photo wsa a real challenge. At some locations I might have taken 15 or 20 shots. IT WAS TREMENDOUS FUN ! ! !

Thanks for following “roomwithaview”. Thanks for the input. Thanks for being with us as we made our way 1.4 times around the world.

Warren, Janice, Connor and Alannah McBride

PS: Feel free to contact us at snowfreemcbride@gmail.com if you have comments or questions.

PPS: ALWAYS remember to somehow back up your travel photos daily. The question you must ask yourself is “How many photos are you willing to lose?”

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Tue Jul 22

“Back home in our own beds”, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. CDN$0.00 per person per night (well actually I guess we should factor in mortgage payments). July 19, 2008. Note: Photo was taken by neighbour Tom Lismer from our front steps looking into our front yard garden. A HUGE thankyou to Tom for being the person in Ottawa who received our photos throughout the year, verifying that they were safe and then backing them up on multiple hard drives. Thanks a million Tom. WE’RE BACK HOME.

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Room 529, Hilton Airport Suites, 1800 Wellington Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3H 1B2, Canada. CDN$40.00. July 18, 2008. Note: You might ask … “What’s going on in this photo?”. Beside the Hilton, which is located in a business park close to the airport, is a small office buiding. I had taken many photos of downtown Winnipeg using the telephoto, and also a couple of photos of the football stadium. It was approaching sunset and the when the sun was going down it was reflected in the window of this adjacent office building. If you look close you can see the sun, the horizon and clouds. One of the stranger postings for “roomwithaview” but I thought I’d include it.

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Fri Jul 18

“The room upstairs, second on the right”, Rob and Barb McBride’s house, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. CDN$0.00 per person per night. July 16, 2008. Note: Rob McBride is Warren’s cousin. He has owned this 1968 Corvette since 1978. The Corvette has a 427 cubic inch V8 engine and is neither a Sting Ray (up to 1967) or a Stingray (1969 and newer) … it is just named “Corvette”. It is very fast. This “roomwithaview” was taken from the garage.

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Mon Jul 14

“The room down the hall on the right”, Val and Jim’s House (Janice’s sister and brother-in-law), Northwest Calgary, Alberta, Canada. CDN$0.00 per person per night. July 13, 2008. Note: We have returned to Calgary after visiting Edmonton, Jasper, the Columbia Icefields and Banff. Photo taken on Val and Jim’s deck. Uncle Jim has proven to be an excellent chess instructor. Connor won this game.

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Room 102, Banff Avenue Inn, 433 Banff Avenue, Banff, Alberta, T1L 1B4, Canada. CDN$ 55.31 per person per night. July 12, 2008. Note: When I am deciding on the photo for the “roomwithaview” posting I like it to represent the place we are visiting. In this case it represents Banff but as you can see some of the trees and branches are slightly out of focus.

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Sat Jul 12

Room 102, Whistler’s Inn, 105 Miette Ave., Jasper, Alberta, T0E 1E0, Canada. CDN$48.61 per person per night. July 11, 2008. Note: This building is the Jasper Train Station late in the day.

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“The bedroom downstairs”, Claudette James’ mother’s house, Coloniale Gate, Beaumont, Alberta, Canada (Beaumont is about 30 Km southwest of Edmonton). CDN$0.00 per person per night. July 9, 2008.

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Sat Jul 5

“The room down the hall on the right”, Val and Jim’s House (Janice’s sister and brother-in-law), Northwest Calgary, Alberta, Canada. CDN$0.00 per person per night. July 4, 2008. Note: Photo taken on the house deck the day before the Stampede Party.

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Fri Jul 4

Room 2412, Sheraton Centro Historico, Avenica Juarez, No. 70, Col. Centro 06010, Mexico, D.F. CDN$11.25 per person per night plus Starwood Points. July 3, 2008. Note: This photo was taken looking west in Mexico City.