2020 in 12 Photos

2020 hasn’t been the best year for travelling, which has been my main theme and focus for the last ten years. Despite that, I did manage to visit five new countries at the beginning of the year before the coronavirus turned into a pandemic and I’ve also learned a new language – español. While I couldn’t travel during most of the year, staying put in Canada gave me the opportunity to explore my own backyard and to spend time with my loved ones.

El 2020 no ha sido el mejor año para viajar, lo que a mí más me gusta hacer. Sin embargo, logré visitar cinco nuevos países y he aprendido a hablar un nuevo idioma – el hermoso español. No pude viajar durante gran parte del año pero eso me permitió conocer mejor mi propia tierra y pasar más tiempo valioso con mis queridos familiares.

– January – A tea ceremony welcomes us to Kinosaki Onsen, Japan
– Enero – ¡Bienvenidos a Kinosaki Onsen, Japón! Una ceremonia de té nos da la bienvenida más cálida

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How a pandemic brought me back home

How a pandemic brought me back home

Cómo una pandemia me trajo de regreso a casa

Sometimes life takes us in directions we’d never anticipated. Eight months ago I thought I’d be travelling through South America right now. My plan was to visit all the Spanish-speaking countries on the continent. But that was not to be. All of a sudden, a now infamous virus appeared, completely changing my plans. That’s how I found myself back in Canada, surrounded by beautiful mountains and one of the most celebrated mountain biking trails in the world. Continue reading “How a pandemic brought me back home”

2019 in 12 Photos

As I look back over photos from the past 12 months, my year looks a little inside-out. I spent the winter in nice warm New Zealand walking the 1200-km long Te Araroa. It was a great year for long-distance hiking. In the spring I returned to Canada to hike the Great Divide Trail – which looked a lot more like winter even though it was summer! I spent the second half of the year travelling around the world – my first ever circumnavigation of the earth. Cycling in the Netherlands, exploring the ever mysterious North Korea, celebrating China’s 70th anniversary in Beijing, learning yoga in Sri Lanka, scuba diving with sharks in the Maldives, and eating everything possible in Singapore.

January – Hiking length of New Zealand’s South Island on the Te Araroa trail

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The Real Brooklyn

The Real Brooklyn

Day 9 – Utrecht to Hilversum – 36 km

After visiting the vibrant collage town of Utrecht, we join a cycling path along the Dutch Water Line. Now a peaceful greenway, this series of sluices, dikes, and forts was constructed beginning in the 1620s as a military defense against the Spanish, French, and English. It took until 1815 to complete! When you live in such a low country, flooding low-lying areas to keep attackers out is a brilliant idea.

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