Canada Trip (Blog)

[90802]

Hmm, time for slight derailment on the tips thing.

I'm an American that spent four months visiting Australia. It's an interesting trade-off. Here's what I've noticed.

1. American restaurants- Good service (most places). Waitstaff frequently checks in to see if you need anything (drinks, etc). Food seems to cost maybe 10-15% less that meals in Australia (it gets confusing when trying to do currency rates, etc).

2. Australian restaurants- Mostly nonexistent service (compared to US). This could be a good or bad thing. Being used to good service, it was rather disappointing to me. Being ready to leave and couldn't find the server, etc.

So it's basically a wash. US servers get paid horribly low wages and depend on tips. If you depend on tips, you'll offer better service. Australians earn a decent wage so they don't have to worry so much about service (unless it's REALLY bad and enough people complain).

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming

[roxyruby]

Originally Posted by 90802

Hmm, time for slight derailment on the tips thing.

I'm an American that spent four months visiting Australia. It's an interesting trade-off. Here's what I've noticed.

1. American restaurants- Good service (most places). Waitstaff frequently checks in to see if you need anything (drinks, etc). Food seems to cost maybe 10-15% less that meals in Australia (it gets confusing when trying to do currency rates, etc).

2. Australian restaurants- Mostly nonexistent service (compared to US). This could be a good or bad thing. Being used to good service, it was rather disappointing to me. Being ready to leave and couldn't find the server, etc.

So it's basically a wash. US servers get paid horribly low wages and depend on tips. If you depend on tips, you'll offer better service. Australians earn a decent wage so they don't have to worry so much about service (unless it's REALLY bad and enough people complain).

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming

oh so if I went to U.S I'd be like, "wow, I never imagined such good service at a restaurant!"

& @Steve, do you think I should get a job?

[zen]

I’ve been considering the idea of taking a year or more to devote to extended travel around the world (possibly in 2011), essentially running my business from the road. There are a lot of challenges to overcome to make that a reality.

Steve,

Read this

Ever wondered what being a digital nomad means? For me, this rather trendy (and almost overused) concept boils down to something really simple: a person who’s providing value through digital channels but who doesn’t have a fixed place to work. Doesn’t have an office and most of the time doesn’t have business cards either (the new dial tone being twitter, of course). For a digital nomad the world is the office. This person can work in a coffee shop, in a library, in airports or train stations. In today’s post I’ll talk about my experience as a digital nomad for almost 2 years now.

Full post here:
Being A Digital Nomad

[tatoeba]

Cool Steve ! Give us some more of your rusty French. It is SO funny.

[Brenden Cameron]

So Steve, any thoughts on that London meetup? I'm heading back into Toronto in a day or two, so if there's nothing planned here maybe I'll catch you there.

And hopefully I'll get to one of Rachelle's shows before I head off.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Brenden Cameron

So Steve, any thoughts on that London meetup? I'm heading back into Toronto in a day or two, so if there's nothing planned here maybe I'll catch you there.

And hopefully I'll get to one of Rachelle's shows before I head off.

We might do a meetup to correspond with a raw potluck on the 27th. It won't be in the next couple days though. London is a smaller city, so I'm not sure we'll do a meet-up here at all. Might just do one in Toronto.

Anyone who wants to meet us in London, however, can easily catch us before or after one of Rachelle's shows. Her show schedule can be found here:
London Fringe 2010 - Fringe Party of London

[Happiness]

oh man! I cannot believe that you were right here in Montreal and I did not get a chance to meet you! c'est bien regrettable!!!! Une prochaine fois alors! but at the same time, it was a pleasure to read your positive comments on our beautiful city! Too bad that Quebec City was not in the agenda also! it is such a beautiful city during the summer!

But, I hope in the near future you will reconsider and come here for a seminar. It would be really useful for us here...from the previous messages, I gather that there is a nice group of people from Montreal who would attend! Keep us posted if the opportunity presents itself! In the meantime, enjoy your time in Canada!

[Acting Like Godot]

Steve:

The most interesting, exciting and educational part of travelling is when you travel to a country that's very different from your own.

An American in Canada ... Well, that just doesn't quite cut it. The two countries are too similar.

For you, I would recommend countries like, say, China; India; Japan; Mauritius; South Africa; Thailand; Egypt or Turkey.

If you visit any one of the countries above, I assure you that you'll be blogging a heckuva lot more than just about the fact that some people you met were bilingual; and how your nuts were inspected by Customs etc.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

An American in Canada ... Well, that just doesn't quite cut it. The two countries are too similar.

For you, I would recommend countries like, say, China; India; Japan; Mauritius; South Africa; Thailand; Egypt or Turkey.

I don't have a g/f in those countries, so there isn't as much incentive to visit them. Canada has been more welcoming.

[James81]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I don't have a g/f in those countries, so there isn't as much incentive to visit them. Canada has been more welcoming.

But, hey, that's not to say that you can't find you a cute little Egyptian girl or a Chinese gal, right? Perhaps traveling to those countries would open up new opportunities in that regard.

Or are you monogamous these days?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by James81

Or are you monogamous these days?

I haven't found a label that describes my current situation. I'm simply following the path with a heart, wherever that may lead. The more I try to lock things down and label them, the more reality brings up experiences that break those labels.

This path is a very happy and rewarding one, but I'm frequently surprised by its twists.

Asking me if I'm monogamous is like asking me if I'm Christian or a Democrat. I can choose to view reality through those perspectives when I so desire, but it doesn't make sense to wrap them into my identity. I am more than a perspective.

If yes and no are the only choices though, then I'd answer no.

[James81]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Asking me if I'm monogamous is like asking me if I'm Christian or a Democrat.

Well, according to my dad, you can't be BOTH a christian and a Democrat.

(I know that really has nothing to do with this, but it did make me lol to think about.)

[secrets0stolen]

Originally Posted by James81

Well, according to my dad, you can't be BOTH a christian and a Democrat.

(I know that really has nothing to do with this, but it did make me lol to think about.)

LOL. Your family too, huh?

[seanner689]

You catch the earthquake today, Steve?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by seanner689

You catch the earthquake today, Steve?

Really sorry about those shifts we've been creating.

I'll try to tone it down a bit.

[secrets0stolen]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Really sorry about those shifts we've been creating.

I'll try to tone it down a bit.

Playin' Chopra on us, eh?

[RT Wolf]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I expect to be in London June 19-27 and Toronto June 28 afterwards. Not sure when I'll return to Vegas, but probably in the range of July 2 to July 6, flying back from Toronto.

You'll just miss the G20/G8 madness ending pretty much on Sunday.

[jtimar]

Hey Steve, looks like you are really enjoying Canada.

The reason why Debit cards are so popular in Canada is because up until recently, all debt transaction were handled by the non-profit Interac network (which is why Interac is used interchangably with "debit" in Canada, like Kleenex), which charged extremly low fees to merchants as compared to credit cards companies, and also bacuse every bank account comes with a debit card by default.

Of course now Visa and MasterCard are trying to get in the the debit card action, which is obviously not making business owners happy.