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Feeling
Not gonna lie these last two months have been an emotional rollercoaster and a half. I’ve been feeling all the feels sadness, anger, disappointment, frustration, fury, love, depression, elation, happiness, pain, bliss, optimism, longing, and so many others. It’s been terribly wonderful. A necessary journey of growth and learning. It’s not my first rodeo, I’ve felt all of these things before, during a variety of different life events, and I can guarantee I’ll feel them again, but each time is different, unique in its own right. I’m sharing this not for empathy or support, I’m sharing this because I want to normalize being open and honest about how we feel. …
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Getting to Know London
Public transport in London is absolutely amazing, yet I find myself walking everywhere all the time. It’s not even about saving money, it’s just about a general feeling of ease and the discovery of hidden gems made possible only by walking around London. When Shannon and I did our two-month backpacking trip in Europe, we dedicated four days to this lovely city. During that time, we saw a lot because we walked pretty much everywhere. June 2015 The bus ride from Inverness to London was supposed to take twelve hours, but due to traffic, it took fourteen. Our forty-five-minute stopover in Edinburgh ended up being twenty, leaving us little time…
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Acclimating to New Places: When Moving Becomes Normal
I’ve always been astounded at how quickly one can acclimate to new places. Forget about jet lag and travel fatigue. I’m talking about that familiar feeling you get once you’ve grown accustomed to a place. The first time I left the US was in 2012. I moved to South Korea on a yearlong contract to teach English. Although I had traveled quite a bit within the US, I’d had never been to a foreign country. Not even Mexico or Canada—and I’m half Canadian for goodness sakes! After a couple of months in Korea, it became my life. It was almost as if nothing existed before that, although obviously it had.…
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The Te Araroa Was Great but What Happened to the Rest of 2020?
To say 2020 didn’t quite go the way most people planned would be an understatement. Along with travel restrictions and lockdowns, loved ones were lost, weddings cancelled, and ordinary life completely disheveled. After returning from New Zealand, I struggled in finding a new normal. I stopped working on my travel blog and did my best to separate myself from social media. I just needed a break from it all, a moment to reset and find balance, but I wasn’t quite sure how. It was a difficult journey but beautiful in countless ways. I’ve got a lot planned for 2021, but for now I’ll do a quick flash back on the…
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Road Trip: The Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon
This post is the first part of a two month road trip I took around The States. September 2017 I got the family discount, even though I wasn’t exactly family. Ross and I had known each other since we were ten, having moved to Big Bear the same year, and given each other shit for our entire acquaintance…so in a way we were absolutely family. I hadn’t been to the Grand Canyon since I was three and didn’t have the keenest memory of the experience. In fact, I remembered absolutely nothing other than a story mum told about how I nearly gave her a heart attack by climbing up the…
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Pompeii
This Throwback Thursday posts took place during one of my favorite trips. It was my first time in Europe and I was travelling with my best friend, who was the ideal travelling companion. This story takes place on the very first day in Italy. May 2015 It was our first day in Italy and with only a thirty-minute train ride between us and Pompeii, the ruins of a city once drowned in the ashes of the volcano Vesuvius, we knew exactly how we wanted to spend it. After a complimentary breakfast of Nutella croissants, espresso, and orange juice, we hopped (literary we were bouncing) onto a train south. Little to…
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Te Araroa: The Storm That Ends All
Te Araroa: The Storm That Ends All 22.03.2020 Day 146 (16km) Thank goodness it was a short day, because the wind was howling as we walked a pebbly beach towards coastal farmland. One of my gaiters came loose, allowing the tiny rocks to fling themselves into my shoe. With the temperamental weather, I wasn’t keen to stop and remove them. After our final climb of the TA, which was only a couple hundred meters up to a viewpoint, we descended into Riverton’s residential neighborhoods. Alex had booked us an AirBnb, which was so lovely that within a few minutes we decided to reserve it for another day. The weather was…
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Te Araroa: Final Forests
17.03.2020 Day 141 (32km) If my pace matched the time estimate in the trail notes, I would arrive at the hut at 9pm. There was nothing appealing about arriving that late. Not to mention the temperatures had been dropping over the last week or so and I was not keen to lose the use of my hands to the cold, which was a common occurrence on the TA. After leaving Te Anau I planned to push several big days in a row, cause to be honest I’m over tenting. It’s gotten colder and I don’t want to deal with a wet tent in the mornings anymore. However, in order to…
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Te Araroa: Storm on the Horizon
13.03.2020 Day 137 (38km) I really love it when things just work out. My original plan had been to hitch out to the Kepler Track two days in a row and do day hikes on either end of the circular track. Upon arriving in Te Anau, I discovered that Aliss had a similar but far superior plan. Her friend Amy was driving down from Wanaka. They were going to start early and hike as far as they could then back out. This eliminated time required for hitching and the risk of having to walk back if no lift could be found. The three of us set out in the wee…
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Te Araroa: The Greenstone Track
09.03.2020 Day 133 (16km) After two nights in a row of hostel horror stories, I took my sweet time getting out of bed. The plan was to hitch as far as I could back to the track, which picked up on the other side of Lake Wakatip. If the hitches went poorly, I would stay at the YHA in Kinloch; if they went well, I’d hike out to the first hut. After ten minutes of waiting on the outskirts of Queenstown, a lovely Kiwi couple pulled over and offered me a lift to Glenorchy. They were on holiday from Wellington, and had nothing planned other than a leisurely day drive.…
Insights and Stories Through the Eyes of a Wanderer
