Life Advice from the Mind of a Pilot

Howdy everyone, I do apologize for the lack of posts as of late, the last few weeks for me has been quite busy between work, getting ready for school and the Stampede. This summer has been going by way too fast and it's hard to believe that August is already a week away. Soon we'll all be back at school and busy once again and I look forward to every moment of it.

Yesterday I made a trip to the Aerospace Museum here in Calgary and it was an awesome experience, especially for an huge aviation for me. They have numerous aircraft on static display including a fully rebuilt Lancaster Bomber that was used in the Second World War. I highly recommend anyone visiting Calgary who is a huge aviation buff to make a stop there. While I was there, I found a picture that was sort of like a Pilots Creed to life and while it may be aimed towards pilots, I thought a lot of them could be rules for us to live by and I thought I would share those tips to life, courtesy of Thomas Legg:

-Discover your far horizon, but embrace the sky softly, quietly so that others of your kind may follow.

-Know your limitations from moment to moment and be humble when the elements are against you.

-Accept advice from those before you, seeking out their truths

-Use your temper as a catalyst to keep you advancing, guarding it with vigilance though lest you be obliged to bite your tongue

-Leave your mistakes behind you, noting their lessons as part of your tuition for learning

-If you quit and you will want to, beginning again will be lonely

-You cannot know the color of truth unless you wear its cloth; therefore let honesty itch your mind, gleaming conspicuous in the eyes


-If you become a hostage to the fear of the unknown, challenge it with tenacity; keeping in mind however that only a fool is fearless


-Remember how lucky you are to see and touch the sky, the blind may only dream


-Be the opportunist, the forever hesitant are losers


-In each of us there is a conflict, daydreaming versus reality. May dreaming prod your curiosity but reality wield the sword.


-You are entitled to complain, use maturity if you do 


-Expect the unexpected. It will develop an awareness for Murphy's Law; If something can go wrong - It Will

A Final Review on Cancun and the Mexican Adventure

We've talked about our flights to and from Cancun, now in the final part of this story I thought I would focus on the main part of my visit to Cancun including my thoughts on the city, the hotel we stayed at and just a bit of an overview of the trip as a whole. If you've been reading my trip posts from earlier, you can gander that it wasn't exactly the greatest trip, but in the end there were some important lessons that were learned and at the end of this post I will share some of what was learned on this trip.

So I've talked about the flights to and from Cancun, let us dive in the main adventure itself. Once leaving customs at Cancun, we were out in the open sun and feeling the warmth. Cancun airport is situated on the far south end of the city, far away from the main city centre and close to all the hotels and resorts; likely to keep the tourists from seeing what Mexico is truly like. Your first instinct upon arriving in Cancun is how beautiful and luscious the city is; from the airport and all throughout the hotel zone is filled with green lawns, huge palm trees and lots of different kinds of flowers. As our bus rolled out of the airport and through the hotel zone, me sipping on a Corona, I couldn't help but think that this is far from the real Mexico that I've learned about in Geography class. Towering hotels, condos and lots of development? This wasn't Mexico, it was an Americanized version of Mexico.

Our bus pulled into the hotel that we were staying at, the Oasis Cancun. This hotel was chosen not only for its price, but also its fun atmosphere. I was a little nervous staying here for a wide variety of reasons. The night before leaving, I mistakenly decided to go onto Trip Advisor and had seen all the horrible reviews that previous customers had left about the hotel and how much of a big drunken party resort that it is. Also, when I had booked this trip I thought arriving 4 or 5 days prior to the start of Canadian Spring Break would be a safe bet. How wrong I was on that on; the place was already packed with youngsters from all over Canada. I had a bad feeling that this week was going to really rough. We checked-in and got the keys to our rooms and soon we were on our way to our home for the week.

When I opened the door to my room, I was quite impressed with how modern it was. It didn't compare to most hotels I've stayed at before, but it was still pretty modern. Apart from my in-room safe not working, everything was in good condition. I just ended up burying my valuables deep in my luggage and checking to ensure they were still there every time I came to my room. I would find out on my first night there that my room was in the worst possible location, right next to the nightclub. The music from that place kept baring till 3 or 4 in the morning and boy it was super loud. I tried everything I could to either change rooms or upgrade to the nearby Grand Oasis Resort, but to no luck and with screaming parties in both rooms next to me, it wasn't going to be a fun week sleep wise.

Trying to get away from all the noise, I decided to go off the resort and explore a bit of the city. Cancun's bus system is fairly good allowing for easy travel throughout the city. I had attempted to find the huge market on the north side of the hotel zone, however I had missed it and ended up staying on the bus hoping that it would eventually turn around. 2 and a half hours later, it hasn't turned around and I ended up on the West side of Cancun in our of the poorest neighborhoods in town. There were quite a few times where I was scared and nervous that something was going to happen, but I made it home safe and sound. But taking that bus gave me a deep insight into what Mexico is truly like and how the people here are living in such deep poverty. If you never  venture off the resort, than you'll never know what Mexico is really like.

Back at the resort, things weren't getting much better. More people started showing up and the drunkenness and loud music kept increasing and the lack of sleep had finally caught up to me. After 4 days of being there, it was just too much for me to handle. Peace, quiet and sleep was all I was looking for and the only way that would come to me was to head for home. Thanks to the friendly reception desk for giving me access to the hotel's computer, I was able to book a flight home the next day. It may have cost me another $300 to leave, but it was necessary. Spring Break in Mexico was just too much to handle for someone who doesn't party or get drunk often. The next morning, I checked out of my room and began the journey home.

So there are a few things I learned from my Mexico experience. First, never book a trip when you've been drinking all afternoon. Do it sober and make sure to do your research, still unsure why I didn't for this trip. Looking at Trip Advisor before booking would have made much more sense instead of the night before departure. Numerous red flags kicked in when I read the reviews and might have helped me pick a better hotel in Cancun instead of experiencing the nightmares first hand. Secondly, going to Mexico during Spring Break was not only stupidly expensive, but highly not recommended if you are looking for some peace and quiet. When you get a bunch of University students who like to drink massive amounts of booze, you might as well say goodbye to the peace. Next time, I'll be going during the off season when it isn't busy and picking a resort that restricts all the crazy stuff I saw there.

But we all have to make mistakes like that throughout our lives right? We learn from them and move on and ensure we don't make the same mistake twice. If anything positive came from this trip it was that it gave me a insight into what Mexico is really like and the conditions that people here are living in. As for my next trip, it will be lots of research like I've done for all my other trips. I wouldn't mind going back to Mexico, I'm just not sure if it'll be Cancun and if it is it won't be for quite a while that's for sure.  

It Sure Can Get Quiet Here at 35,000 Feet

So what do you do when you grounded in bed with nothing to do for the entire day? You write more blogs, that's what you did. Since I'm stuck in bed after a long night I figure I would try and write a few more posts.

It's been about a month since school ended and I have to admit its been a pretty interesting month that's for sure. I opted to stay in Calgary over the summer, mainly because its close to everything and works out perfect for my new job. Right now its a mixture of feelings I'm having about living at residence over the summer. On the one side, I'm quite happy to be living because it is centrally located to pretty much everything and it also always me quick access to the airport for my spotting trips. I now no longer have to wait for a day off and hope that the weather will be good. I also don't have to drive as much anymore since I have access to Transit right outside my door (though I will admit the cost of a Transit Pass is a little crazy).

But as always, there is a sad side to things like this. I have been feeling a little down since school ended and its been a mixture of stings. With school over and no more homework to do, I've had a little trouble finding things to do in my spare time off from work. I do realize that yes a good chunk of our class would be busy going on trips and working at new jobs for their internships or they have moved away for the summer so its been a little tough to meet up with them. I think that's part of the reason I like working so much; not only I'm I loving my job, it's also something to keep me occupied in my spare time off from school. If I had more days off from work I would most likely go crazy trying to find things to do. I do enjoy biking around the city (my favorite is biking from Bridlewood all the up to SAIT) and photography at the airport, but both of those things and my job are very weather dependent and when the weather goes sour, I'm left scrambling to find things to do. Although yesterday since I was stuck at home, I decided to sign up to become Proserve certified (The Alberta Government's Liquor Service Training Program) just for fun.

There are a lot of times where I feel like I just moved to Calgary despite the fact I know the entire city like the back of my hand. Right now it feels like there is anyone out there who shares the same interests that I do. I will admit that some of the things that I do are a little different from those that a typical 21 year old would do such as going out clubbing and drinking like crazy. Those things are of no interest to me, I'm one who likes to be up early in the morning, love to watch airplanes and listen to country music (especially Taylor Swift). These are things you don't see a 21 year old doing. But I'm not going to start doing things that I don't like just to fit in with everyone else. I know at this point in my life is more of a transition period and I may still have to get this through my head, but I have to take time for myself. These 4 months will probably be one of the only times where I get a chance to do the things that I want to do because once school starts again the fall, there won't be much time for that. It feels like September is long ways away, but knowing me that time will fly by really fast, especially since today is the end of May already. I just need to stay on the path I'm on right now, so school will be in session and things will be a little more active. For now, its just a period of quiet time that I need to take advantage of.

Anyways, that's just a little bit of ranting from the flight deck, hope you all have a wonderful day and are enjoying the flight!

An Update from the Flight Deck

Good Morning from the Flight deck. First off, I want to apologize for the lack of updates recently, I've been quite busy over the last couple of week between preparing for exams, writing those exams and taking a road trip out to British Columbia. But now with school all finished, I'll have a little more time to write here. But I do start my new job on Saturday so if the lack of posts starts to show again, that's the reason why.

So last week I wrote all my final exams and on Monday got all the results back and I have to say I'm pretty happy with them. Guess we'll see what the second year has to bring us. But for now, I won't have to worry about school for another 4 months.

The Osprey 2000, one of 2 ferries that sail the waters of
Kootenay Lake

Last Friday I left on a road trip out to British Columbia on a 5 day tour of the interior, passing through Creston and the Kootenay Lake region. I even took the lake road north of Creston and took the Kootenay Lake Ferry (One of my favorite things to do out there) across the lake to Ainsworth Hot Springs and Nelson. I highly recommend visiting the Hot Springs if you are ever out there, it was so cool to swim through the caves they have there and just sit in the nice relaxing pool and just listen to sound of the waterfalls that run through the caves. I will have to admit that it is quite a long drive out there, especially if its just one person doing it and the weather isn't the greatest.

So we've been out of school for a week now and as much as everyone is probably happy to be out of school, I for one am not. I was so sad on the last day of school not only because the classes I loved were done, but also because all my friends in class would be heading off for the summer. They would off doing their new jobs or taking trips to exotic locations around the world. I know that I'll everyone back in class again in the fall (I sure hope that everyone does come back for Round 2), but now that everyone is gone for the summer, it feels like its the end of the good times. All the fun things that we did together of the past year, I feel like we won't have chance to get together since we'll all be too busy with work and everything else.

But I hope everyone is having a good start to their summer vacation so far, even though its only been one week. I'm quite happy that I'm living here in Calgary for the summer. I will be honest, I know I'm not much of a party person, but I do want to have another one of those epic nights that one will never forget, kind of like the one back in November we all had. Only problem is I'm not sure what to do so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to pretty much anything.

Anyways, have a wonderful day everybody! :)

Welcome Aboard! We Hope You Enjoy Your Flight

So I would like to welcome everyone to a new blog I have started. My user name may be Captain T-Swift, but I also like the name Captain Brad. I'm not only the biggest fan of Taylor Swift in all of Calgary, Alberta, but I have a huge passion for aviation, hence the name of the blog and the theme I have going here.

During this flight, you'll find a variety of tales and stories from my experiences in life, unique things I've done and seen and some of my travel experiences, especially when it comes to flying. You'll also enjoy some great flight entertainment as my goal is try and post a video every once in a while of me talking about pretty much anything.

Now y'all may be wondering why I gave this blog the name is has. Well 21 is obviously my age, but it's also those 5 words that starts a journey. A journey into the unknown filled with amazement, wonder and discovery. I've always thought of life is kind of like flying.

It won't always be the smoothest journey, there's gonna be turbulence along the way and at times you wonder if the storm clouds will ever clear away. But there's always blue sky behind those clouds and with the help of your flight crew (Family and Friends), it'll be smooth sailing once again!

Before we push-back from the gate, I just want to say I'm so thankful to have some the best friends, from work, from school and from everywhere and my amazing family along for the journey. They've helped me weather some of the most stormiest moments of my life and have helped me to find that proper flight path to be on, the flight path of Travel and Tourism at SAIT.

Now ensure your tray table and seat backs are in their up right position and all cabin baggage has been stowed in the overhead bins or underneath the seat in front of you. Sit back, relax and enjoy your flight...

Cleared for Takeoff Runway 21, Destination: Life and the Great Unknown!