I found myself in Eilat for the second time in five days. I had made a mad dash to Cairo to see the Egyptian Museum and the pyramids, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I had made it this far without seeing them, but finally it was time to relax after two weeks in the always challenging but also extremely rewarding Arabic countries of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. I was only in town for the night, the next day I was headed up to the beaches of the Dead Sea. I was on a completely different schedule from [View Full Entry]

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Most aspiring adventurers often get their starts in conventional settings. While the exoticism of India, or the orientalism of Japan can be very enticing, the settings themselves are often very challenging for the inexperienced traveler. And so many travelers have their humble beginnings in Europe, with its concentration of culture, relatively small distances and its comprehensive transportation web. While there are those that beat the common path from city to city, experiencing museum fatigue and hostel burnout, there are also those that seek something a little off the beaten path. I had [View Full Entry]

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I had made plans to travel to Peru for my summer vacation, and as I was going alone, my mother asked if she might join me so she could see Macchu Picchu. After hearing numerous others experiences of traveling with their parents as adults, I figured that it could only enhance the journey. So after picking her up at the airport in Lima, we set out on a condensed version of the southern Gringo Trail, with our advetures leading us through Nazca, Arequipa, Puno and finally Cuzco on the way to Macchu Picchu. We had arranged two days at the archaeological [View Full Entry]

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Just like every traveler who returns from their first big journey with the travel bug, I sat for months pondering how I should proceed from my first humble steps as an explorer of the world. One thing was sure though - after my first big journey I was in no way prepared financially for a return to the road so quickly. And so while I hastened to finish off my university degree, numerous ideas ran through my head. First of all I considered an exploration of the United States. After all Canada’s partner to the south while very similar, nonetheless [View Full Entry]

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My plan for the day was a relatively modest one. While some of the days in my past involved neck-breaking tours of cities or sites, I was in the Barbados for a four day weekend, that I had more or less taken spontaneously in November. A few years previous I had acquired my SCUBA diving license and finally I was eager to give it a try. A refresher course in Montreal at the Olympic Stadium brought back those basic skills which I would need to dive. I did remember some more personal things about diving though. I knew that more [View Full Entry]

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My family had, as a whole, displaced themselves to Charlottetown in the early 1980s. The move from the large city of Ottawa to the much smaller city of Charlottetown brought with it some challenges. Gone were the regular routines, friends and pathways, and in their place stood ones from a smaller and more isolated place. It was here that I first remember ever having been in a used book store. In all likelihood I had been in one before. My parents were dedicated bibliophiles and books around my house were as regular to me as cable television in other households. [View Full Entry]

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If there is one thing that the budget traveler knows the least about a place it is often the food. Whereas traveling cheaply often opens up many more doors in terms of meeting people and seeing more, the first thing cut most budgets is the food. In a sense this makes the occasional feast all the more memorable, for the regular traveler it is not as irregular of an occurrence, for the budget traveler it happens so infrequently that it becomes a highlight. The following is my account of the most memorable feasts I had on my first journey backpacking [View Full Entry]

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The first day of travel is always the most confusing and often the most tiring. It is when the traveler has to deal with new languages and new customs in new surroundings, all the while often being jet lagged. I recall reading in a travel guide about the amount of culture shock that you can expect in any given place. Georgia wasn’t listed as one of the countries with the most expected travel shock, though by rights it should have been. The hardest countries to travel in were those with both cultural differences and incompatible languages. Some countries expect visitors [View Full Entry]

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It must be said that when considering the myriad of cultures and peoples across the world that there will always be some sort of preconceptions, generalizations or biases. I even find myself, despite my rather extensive travel record, occasionally making statements which I cannot back up with fact. But nowhere did I come against so much unfair prejudice as when I dealt with Syrians. It seemed that most people assumed that when I walked across the border that the entire country would launch a mujahideen against me. In fact I found the opposite was the case. Of all the people [View Full Entry]

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I love to travel, and it should be noted first that I fall into that sub-category of travelers that actually revels in counting countries traveled to and collecting stamps in passports. However, as someone who fastidiously keeps records of where and when I have been, I had to set myself certain guidelines. First of all what counts as an actual experience and what not. Essentially I devised myself a rule whereby if I have an experience within the confines of a country, from ground level, I can realistically claim that I have been there. This means unfortunately also leaving the [View Full Entry]

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