op is the coolest

Pics please!

Thanks everyone Haha gonna try upload some stuff soon. Missing poker since I pretty much haven't played in nearly a month now (and can't until the 29th when I arrive in Canada) but loving Los Angeles and Hollywood so much! Gone to a theme park (Knotts Berry Farm) so far, watched Iris - Cirque Du Soleil at the Kodak Theatre (where the Oscars are held), walked through the walk of fame a lot of times, and a few more things already, still gonna go Disneyland, watch a movie in the Chinese theatre (biggest screen in America I think) and a few other things like the famous Venice/Malibu beaches. Will post some pics soon hopefully, and also confirm Canada plans

Loving the time here but still looking forward to going to Canada to play heap on PokerStars..

Gonna be doing at least one trip to a students place for some intense coaching, and that will be interesting. I have very positive hopes for this and think it will work out well for the students. Will post about how that goes (and maybe the student/s themself/ves will too) when it happens..

Also going to give couch surfing a try! I have basically all of my Canada accommodation sorted, and there are poker guys (mostly on 2p2) who can give me a place to stay but I think couch surfing will be a unique experience where I can meet people. I prefer that to a hostel or bar as I think it should hopefully be more personable, and I like small or individual groups rather than large random crowds...

I love America! (But F DOJ) Seriously, if poker would be legal here, it would be the nuts..

Once you have finished traveling around North America, I invite you to Central Europe! Give Poland a try

updates?

Lol, sorry!!
Definitely will do it by the end of Saturday evening (Canadian time)
It's gonna be pretty long though, might split it into a couple of posts..
Not thaaat much in terms of poker (only on 310k, behind pace for the lose?), but travel has been awesome and have met a fair amount of poker players (and a few more to go)...

Have met bigbluffzinc, frenzuh, sandmanness, golfnutz88, stickfawk to date.. AWice tomorrow, Curious George/winwinwinnnn, probably silent_one, the_most10 etc in the next few days too. Will post some pics/details in the update.

Alrighty, so I'll try keep this short..

LA/Hollywood:

LA/Hollywood was really nice, my friend and I heard from a lot of people before going that it was disappointing, "dirty" etc and I wasn't expecting that much because of this (although I'm generally not someone who takes this kind of recommendation seriously anyway). I actually did really like it though, and seeing all the buildings and people that you kind of see in TV/Movies was really cool. If I haven't mentioned it already I'm much more of a city guy and prefer big cities to quiet, remote beaches.

We did a decent number of the must-dos, Knox Berry Farm (amusement park), Disneyland, Venice Beach, Warner Bros. Studio Tour, the Walk of Fame was right in front of our hostel, etc. Also went to walk around UCLA a bit which was cool.


Sushi on Hollywood Boullevard


Disney castle fireworks at Disneyland


Cirque DU Soleil (Iris) in the Kodak theatre

Canada:

So I farewelled my friend who I was travelling with after LA - she's volunteering in Arizona for some nature programme for a few weeks before going back to start University. I started off in Vancouver for about a week, and stayed with Sandmanness.

I thought the city was really beautiful, even on the way to downtown from the airport you can see a lot of nice sites (like houses near the water, with the mountains right behind them). I also liked the chilly weather (call me a Grinch but I don't really like the sun, lol) and just the city in general.

I also got to meet up with frenzuh and bigbluffzinc for dinner and like I've mentioned throughout the blog, I love meeting people (and seeing players who you've played against online is just cool in general) so that was nice. Unfortunately I forgot to get a photo with them. I also went to Grouse mountain and saw snow for the first time (probably shocking for some of you), and also saw some other things (for the first time) like grizzly bears, an American bald eagle, etc.

On the last day I went to Stanley park (roughly the same size as Central Park in New York from what I've heard) and visited the aquarium there. I was by myself so it was a quiet day, but still quite nice to get some fresh air instead of just grinding non stop.

I also couchsurfed for a night and the girl I met there was really nice - she was the one who took me to Grouse mountain, and I had a great experience overall


Typical view in downtown Vancouver





View of (dirty) snow and Vancouver from Grouse mountain. I know the weather makes it look not so nice but, oh well.


Waterfront


View of the city from this really tall building (forgot the name..) Purposely ignored the sky because it wasn't looking very nice.


Beluga Whale at the aquarium! #Baluga Whale


Sandmanness and I

If anyone wants to ask anything about details for anything I did (or didn't mention) feel free.

Leaving Awice's place in Toronto for some grinders in Hamilton so will update the rest shortly..
A couple more updates to come, and yes I will talk about poker soon!

Calgary and Edmonton

Next stop was Calgary. I went to visit someone I had coached previously; golfnutz88. I stayed with him and his wife (and their 3 dogs) and mostly chilled at home. It was pretty luxurious (the home and general experience) and I felt really spoilt, for example dinner was king crab legs + rib eye steak with gorgonzola cheese sauce the first night and lobster tails and pork chops with gorgonzola cheese sauce the second That sauce was amazing, lol, and they were both very good cooks. I really enjoyed my time here as they were both really nice people and it was great just chilling out and talking. We also went to Banff for lunch one afternoon and I saw snow falling for the first time.

We played some MTTs on Sunday but no binks from either of us.


Snow on the way to Banff


Golfnutz88 and I just before I left for Edmonton at the airport

After this I went to Edmonton to visit and coach a new student, stickfawk. This was my first experience doing live coaching (for more than a few hours) and I really enjoyed it. I discussed with him prior the benefits of live coaching; as opposed to online/Skype/etc, and why I personally prefer it where possible (i.e. if I'm getting coaching I'd prefer to get it live - but obviously that usually isn't realistic) and I think there are benefits. It's just generally easier to both teach and learn and even though we didn't finish as many hours as I would have liked, I think it worked out pretty well. We also found out during my stay that he was one of the guys I was heads up with in one of my earlier DC videos

Again I enjoyed his company and the hospitality he offered, I feel fortunate that everyone I've met so far was so easy to get along with.

I didn't really do much in Edmonton itself, but we went to the West Edmonton mall (the largest mall in North America) and that was pretty interesting... It has so many random things most malls wouldn't, like a skating rink in the middle of it, a small amusement park inside and a water park.. It's almost like a small town.

I didn't really take any photos but here is a photo of the ice skating rink the mall..

Very nice pics, def a bit jelly

sick life dude. you take my sister, and il do the traveling?

you're a sick ****

gl reaching your goal.

subed

You're tempting me to post photos of her.

LOL - MrBubbleBoy's sister (seriously)


[4:58:14 p.m.] ryan (QuadVQuadMe): lolol
[4:58:21 p.m.] ryan (QuadVQuadMe): sure its not my face going up
[4:58:25 p.m.] ryan (QuadVQuadMe): by all means lol



Montréal

I went to Montreal for about a week, and decided to couchsurf again, ended up staying with a really nice young girl (just turned 18) and her family (sister, parents, and little dog). Montreal was a very nice city - I really liked how it was part of "French Canada" and the main language is French, signs are in French, etc. I don't speak or understand any French but it's still pretty cool and the language sounds nice.. Saw quite a lot of the city, the girl I stayed with showed me a lot... I went to Cirque Du Soleil again - Amaluna this time, and that was cool because Montreal is where it originated, and where Guy Laliberté is from

We also went Bunjee jumping and to Ottawa for a day.


Olympic Stadium in Montreal


Port in Montreal, first night (Long Exposure)


City of Montreal from Mont Royal (I think)