Tag: not_travelling

2012 to 2020

In 2012, I set the goal of traveling less

In 2020, I think I will finalize achieve my goal (thank you coronavirus)

2012
> Jan LA with mum and dad
> Feb How to imagine St Petersburg in Toronto
> Apr Maybe I should go climb Mount Rainier this summer?
> Jun Chicago with James
> Aug Montreal with James
> Sep Iceland with mum and dad

2013
> Jan SF with James
> Apr Jordan with Denise
> Sep Namibia with mum and dad

2014
> May Utah with mum and dad
> Jun NY with James
> Aug Two years ago, I really wanted to visit Uyuni. Today, I’m more interested in exploring different parts of this continent
> Sep DC

2015
> Jan Louisiana with James
> Apr Bolivia with mum and dad
> Sep Oregon with James
> Oct Stay-cation
> Dec How to imagine Japan

2016
> Feb Colombia with mum and dad
> Mar How to imagine France
> Apr NY with James
> Sep Austria with James
> Oct Maybe castles are just a state of mind!
> Nov Time to start thinking about new year’s resolutions and I’m thinking 2017 can be the year to travel without traveling

2017
> Feb My year of traveling without traveling: 10% complete
> Mar Okay. I will be traveling during my year of traveling without traveling
> Jun Newfoundland with mum and dad
> Sep Japan with James (walking around Koyasan in the rain wow)

2018
> Jun Ireland with James
> Jul Boston with James
> Aug Italy with mum and dad
> Sep One reason to not travel in 2019 is that so much has happened the past year that I have accumulated so many unsorted travel pictures

2019
> May Chicago with James
> Jul Miami with James
> Aug Japan with James
> Oct Brugge for Athora half marathon
> Nov Paris

2020
> Nowhere 🙂

to travel or not to travel

Traveling can definitely create a dependency

Achingly beautiful landscape enthralls and as my flight takes off from New Chitose airport, a train of thoughts move towards the next time. For my fifth trip to Japan, should I go to Kitakyushu? Or Sensuijima? Or revisit Wakayama

But before the first train can explode with possibilities, another train of thoughts interjects. Is this real? Or another thing I do so that I can pretend to understand reality without really understanding anything

I think the magic of Japan is the immersion in the here now, eating local, drinking local, buying local. But what is local for someone like me who has lived in different places my entire life?

This final train brings me back to

greenwood (the location of my first school in canada): roast @ pilot

coxwell (the location of our first rental in canada): brew @ godspeed

main street (home sweet home): bbq @ beach hill smokehouse

unsorted

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One reason to not travel in 2019 is that so much has happened the past year that I have accumulated so many unsorted travel pictures. Above: sitting on the HP beach trying to decide whether to move to bermuda because I got 50% off on cyber monday

bermuda: 53 (just uploaded above)
bolzano: 99
cotopaxi: 99
gros morne: 71
hamilton ontario: 33

ireland: 33
koyasan: 31
kumano: 48
kyoto: 72 (just uploaded above)
london: 59

quilatoa: 75
quito: 85
twillingate: 99
vancouver: 18
venice: 35

grateful (COUNT=1520)

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Saturday
Him: Is it raining outside?
Me: O let’s go for a womantic coffee date!

Toronto is one of those (slightly) dysfunctional places where a little rain creates little oceans around the curb. By the end of the coffee date, my shoes were in the same condition as that day when we walked around cape lookout along the Oregon Coast (see picture above).

As we sat outside Rooster Coffee drinking cortado (as always) watching the reflections of the headlights, a pink balloon floated across Jarvis Street.

i++ Rooster Coffee Jarvis
i++ Headlights
i++ Pink Balloon
i++ The Rain
i++ Little Oceans

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mountaintop skating, the windiest spot in toronto, and perhaps fireflies

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In 2016, I celebrated my birthday at Black Sheep Inn and experienced a swirling sensation as we hiked the Quilotoa Loop. Our destination seemed well within reach but the path was obscured by the multitude of valleys between here and there. Then the low clouds came in and the lay of the land became even more mystifying.

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In 2018, how shall I celebrate my birthday? Well, birthdays are about believing in magic and magic is especially important in February, which may feel like the darkest and coldest month.

Option A: mountaintop skating because everything is more magical on top of a mountain

Option B: finding the windiest spot in Toronto for kite flying because life is about having a long volatility strategy

Option C: watching the night sky and believing that the stars are perhaps fireflies hovering just out of reach

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img src=Milliman Forum Nov 16, 2005 (wow twelve years) (trying to remember what it was like being twenty-two)