A look back at my Passport...?

So back in the fall of 2013 I started the fun process of renewing my passport because somehow it had been ten years since I got my first one and I was getting everything ready for my upcoming cruise in January of 2014 (yeah) and I also may need one for future adventures....

Looking back at all the stamps I had gotten (and wishing I hadn't missed out on others) I took a few photos and well, now I'm making a rambly blog post about it. Yaayyy

So back in 2003 I tried to plan a trip to Russia, for the spring of 2004.... Things didn't work out with Russia but I ended up going on a whirlwind trip across Central Europe with one of my best friends on one of those "trip of a lifetime" sort of adventure. Two years later I got the chance to visit England with a side trip Scandinavia and the year after, Spain...... with a whole bunch of trips to Canada in-between. So uh, lets look at stamps and stuff from the past 10 years.

 As lame as it sounds... I always felt so cool using my passport as my ID when at airports vs using a state ID or something (lame, I know.. but it was neat to me)

Ah, me... from 10 years ago.
It was super fun having green-ish hair on my passport (and blue on my license and in-person having a third, different color!) made for some interesting looks by officials (and the piercings didn't help either)

So I didn't realize not everyone stamps... and was kinda bummed to only get a few in passing... but here's the ones I did have.

(in fact, on my last trip, none of the countries stamped :( ) 

2004

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Luchthaven Schiphol) was the first stamp I ever got.

Having flown in from Detroit, MI.... red-eye. 

Nickelsdorf road crossing stamp from Austria into Hegyeshalom, Hungary

Munich Airport (Flughafen München) flying to Zürich, Switzerland

2006

London Heathrow Airport, coming in non-stop from Boston <3

Entering and Exiting stamps from Göteborg City Airport

 (Säve Flygplats)

Yup... just there for a day (and I visited Norway as well!)

London Stansted Airport stamp from my Sweden return.

(Hm, Stansted and Heathrow? I should work on getting Gatwick...)

Oh hey look, I even got the America stamp! Woo, America!

2007

I was super amused the the Ireland stamp... was in fact, green.

<3

Although the process in getting to and from Dublin Airport (Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath) was awful

Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport 

(Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas)

Uh, entering and exiting Spain.

And... another US stamp, returning to the states from Düsseldorf by way of Madrid again.

yaayyy... So after 10 years of service it was time to replace my passport with a new one... Now I should add some lame phrase like "I wonder where it'll take me".. but that would be stupid. 

and for what its worth, I visited Canada, The Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, England, Wales, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and Spain with it as well as reentering the US. (a bunch) 

((and my now current passport as taken me to Haiti, Jamaica, British Overseas Territories, and Mexico so far!))

Adventures <3

Random closed Church Fair..... with SANDHILL CRANES!!!

So we found this fair out in Orange County that was reviewed 

 last year

Well, uh... it was going on again this year... but it was closed when we got to it so I was pretty bummed. Mostly because this year there was a rare Chance Rok-N-Rol ride setup. Oh well, I'll have to wait until the State Fair next year to see it again. Anyways.... I took a few photos and then we found some Sandhill Cranes walking around the fairgrounds! <3

The fun slide labels the show as 21st century shows but last year while looking around we determined that the show was made up of 2 or 3 small shows that combined

The Carousel looked better than last year.

 So did the train....

but I guess thats because it wasnt laying in the mud this time...

The Tilt now has a Spiderman theme... I think.

 Freshly painted too

 Paratrooper

Random Chance Wipeout that wasn't here last year

 Never seen this Ghost Manor ride before either...

In fact... I've never seen a darkride with cars like this before...

 ever.

 Mini-Enterprise looking kinda... odd, painted all black now.

and then we saw this......

newly painted? A Chance Rok-N-Rol!

Yup.

As I was taking my last few photos.. I looked just past the fair and saw a family of Sandhill Cranes enjoying a walk past the fairgrounds <3

 

OH! And they had babies! 

 So while it kinda sucked to see a fair and not be able to enjoy any of the rides.... (mostly just missing out on the Rok)

but I do enjoy Sandhill Cranes :)

SunRail FUNRAIL!!

Well, SunRail is finally up and running (since work began in 2007!) and is giving away free rides for its first two weeks of operations.. With nothing better to do on my day off (that I was still going to be working on...) I went for a ride end-to-end with Jeff from Sand Lake to DeBary and back. The trip should have taken about two hours but ended up being nearly three. We got on at the southern most station, Sand Lake Road for the 1:45 train (that arrived late but was announced over the PA as being late) the arrival in DeBary should have been 2:48 but ended up being after 3. We stayed on the train that should have been the 3pm return run but didn't leave until 3:30 (or when the train after ours should have been departing DeBary) and we got back to Sand Lake around 5... Hiccups aside, the train is rather nice and the hopefulness of those riding make it seem like SunRail is here to stay (and expand)

There it is, Sand Lake Road Station, the current southern terminus for SunRail.

Four more stations to the south are planned for the second phase in 2016 (and one more for the north)

Rules, times, and routing infomation.

classy classy.

Oh, also...They have Sandhill Cranes as artwork in the parking lot! yeesss

(real ones were even seen from the train itself <3)

Woo

There was a CN Freight train parked on a sidetrack along the platform 

(woo, Canada!)

And while waiting on our train an Amtrak train passed us

I believe its the Silver Meteor or Silver Star

(and its covered in dead bugs)

 Uh.. and there it goes.

Woo, and here comes our train!

 Honk Honk!

The trains consist of two or three Bombardier BiLevel (double stacked) cars depending on the demand.

 When previews first started SunRail was only running with 2 cars and with over 10,000 people showing up daily quickly added the third car, the most it'll be able to run (sadly)

 Wabtec built locomotive.

Because its still shinny and new.. everyone has been coming out to go for a ride.. Most people had a camera or video camera.... this guy felt the need to mount his GoPro onto his video camera... and his wife had the DSLR (at least I wasn't that bad.....)

 Safety First!

With most riders just going for rides end-to-end they've had a lot of issues with lack of room and standing only, we were able to get a seat for our trip.

Although at stops in the middle, like here in Winter Park, most people weren't able to even get on.

Woo, Downtown Orlando!

If you couldnt tell... I was super excited to go for a ride.

Its almost like Orlando is becoming a real city :P

Not only does the train give people an option from taking their cars along I4, the media has been running lots of stories about local business' and developments springing up along the route. Here in Longwood a large apartment complex is being built right at the station.

Just past the Sanford station is the SunRail train yard. Seeing all the unused trains made some people on-board boo and such (I guess with the delays and lack of room people didn't like seeing unused cars) but once the newness is over... overcrowding shouldn't be an issue.

And.... were here, DeBary, the current northern terminus for SunRail, some 32 miles from Sand Lake station.

In two years DeLand station will be added and become the new end of the line.

  Well... now we just gotta make it back to Sand Lake.

Bahaha... Our train missed its stop at the station, over shooting and needing to back up

<3 just like the Monorail

Woo, trains!

After getting off, I really wanted to go home and play Chris Sawyer's Locomotion for hours on end.. but I had picked up an OT Shift to go drive a Monorail around in circles all night.

Uh, ok, bye SunRail! 

I'll likely not ride you again anytime soon.

Here's the problem 

(outside of no late hours OR weekend operations...)

 

Growing up in Metro Boston and having heavy rail, light rail, subway, buses, boats, and an international airport (Oh, and also a secondary regional airport as well!) all interlinked within the MBTA... SunRail seems rather lackluster. (although it does lineup with the Central Station for the LYNX bus as well as an Amtrak stop) That's not to say in time and with expansions it won't be good, clearly its a step in the right direction but poor urban planing in Orlando (make that, all of Florida) urban sprawl runs rampant, building a commuter rail system seemed like a pain in the ass and that's the problem itself. For myself at least, none of the stations are close to my house and there's no convenient way of getting to one without driving... The Sand Lake station is pretty close to MCO/Orlando International and there is a free shuttle bus but it seems a shame they couldn't have gotten a station out to the airport itself. Even worse is the fact the Sanford station is some 11 miles from that airport and without any sort of link. That sort of easy connection would massively change my opinion on SunRail... Not having to drive all the way out to Sanford and pay to park at an airport that sometimes has flights Orlando itself doesn't offer.... I also kinda feel the Orlando area would have benefited more from a light-rail system in and around downtown rather than just three stations a few blocks from each other on a line that doesn't really get you anywhere else, for now. The Winter Park station is likely the only one I see myself using if I find myself on the train again anytime soon. Since it seems to be the only station located within in area with shops and dinning rather than the outskirts of towns or in the middle of industrial parks. Ramble ramble and such..... My rant aside it was pretty amazing seeing the turn out for people who wanted to go for a ride and seeing their reactions "oh, I didn't know it stopped here!" and "we could bring the kids down for lunch or something" and its pretty refreshing to see interest in public transportation. Something I didn't realize how much I took for granted until I moved here in 2009 and found myself stuck with an overly complicated Bus system I've still yet to try and not much else.

 

But yeah.. Yay SunRail and here's hoping for the best 

(Now just build me that MAGLEV from the airport)