Join us on this adventure talking about their 150-day road trip across Canada as well as some differences between Mexico (where Karla is from) and Canada, and what it’s like to balance remote work and travel. 

Jump right into my Awesome Interview Series videos on YouTube here – and please give it a thumbs up, leave comments and subscribe!

Other Interviews you Might be Interested In:
Pivoting to Podcasts after 9 Years of Full-Time Travel
Solo Travel over 50
Top 5 Travel Adventures (including an EPIC one in Canada)
Pros & Cons of Being a Digital Nomad vs. Having a Home Base

When I asked Matt and Karla for resources for people planning a trip to Canada, they said their site has it all! They worked very hard to make Must Do Canada a comprehensive resource with everything you need to know to plan your next trip to Canada. 

This post 150-Day Canadian Road Trip! With Matt and Karla Bailey of Must Do Canada appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

Over 10 days, I circumnavigated Newfoundland on an expedition cruise; here is the story of this wild and raw place as told through my Newfoundland cruise experience and some of the many colourful ports of call we visited. 

This post was originally published in 2019. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

Why Visit Newfoundland? 

Why do most people visit Newfoundland? For starters, it’s known for its rugged beauty, epic hiking, kind people, colourful architecture, and vibrant music scene. 

Me? I choose my destinations somewhat randomly, and Newfoundland was no exception. My initial inspiration for this trip was based on a musical, followed by a random conversation. 

The musical in question was “Come From Away”, which is my favourite musical – and that’s saying something (as a former professional actor/singer/dancer, I performed in my share of musical theatre). 

It’s based on the true story of how, when 9-11 happened and U.S. airspace was closed, all the planes in the air needed to land somewhere. That somewhere was Gander Newfoundland; a largely abandoned airport that used to be the refuelling point for all transatlantic flights. 38 airplanes and almost 7,000 people descended (literally) on this town of less than 10,000 people. The genuine hospitality of the locals who opened their homes and hearts to 7,000 displaced, confused, and grief-stricken passengers put Gander (and Newfoundland) on the international scene in a whole new way. 

I didn’t know how a topic like this would go over in a musical. (I mean seriously? A musical about 9-11?!) But it was brilliant, and after seeing it in Toronto, I saw it again in LA. It made me proud to be Canadian, and curious about Newfoundland. 

My second impetus for the trip was a chance conversation with a woman who lived in Newfoundland for 20 years, and the more she spoke of this quirky culture with a dialect all their own, the more I had to experience it.
The universe conspired shortly thereafter when I was invited on an Adventure Canada Newfoundland Cruise as a journalist (that means my expenses were paid). I had already decided that the best way to experience Newfoundland would be by boat, but as my first expedition cruise, I hadn’t the slightest idea how comprehensive and insightful the trip would end up being.
More on expedition cruising and Adventure Canada a bit later. First, Newfoundland.

PS: Bring a Hair Tie

The first thing I learned about Newfoundland is that it’s windy. Like, really windy. While staying in St. John’s Newfoundland prior to the cruise and visiting Cape Spear (the easternmost point of North America), I just couldn’t get a picture without my hair completely masking my face. This became the impetus for a photo essay, the theme of which will shortly become apparent.

The Nature of Expedition Cruising

“There are a few things you can count on with this cruise,” said Dan, our expedition leader, in the initial briefing after boarding the Ocean Endeavor – our home for the next 10 days. “One of which is the morning wake up call!”
We collectively groaned; a woman leaned towards me and whispered “and you can’t turn the bloody speakers down or off either.” She was a repeat customer with Adventure Canada, as were many of the passengers; the record holder on this trip had 11 Adventure Canada cruises under her belt.
While Adventure Canada creates an itinerary for every trip, it’s ultimately determined by the mood of the planet – aka the weather. But quite often, where one door closes another one opens. We experienced this many times over the next 10 days.
Some locations had to be dropped entirely from the itinerary, and others rescheduled for later. In one case we ended up stopping somewhere Adventure Canada had never before visited, which (although it came at the cost of a scheduled itinerary day) ended up being one of our most intrepid and adventurous excursions, and made us all feel like true explorers.
Each evening we received a briefing of the following day’s itinerary, and every briefing started with the weather, which ultimately dictated everything.

Newfoundland Culture and Vernacular

“Whaddya at?” Pronounced like it’s one word, this is a Newfoundlander’s way of saying “what are you up to”.
“Dis is it,” is the stock-standard reply, seemingly regardless of what the respondent is actually doing.
While I initially figured the above exchange is akin to “how are you/I’m fine thanks”, there’s another Newfoundland phrase for that.
“How you goin’?” comes the question, which is responded to with a simple “the best kind”, which generally equates to “great” or “excellent”; a phrase that can also be used outside of this particular context to simply say “awesome”.
Swarve. Scravel. Mauzy. Nich. Dunch. Dwoi.
Townie vs. Bayman.
Phrases like “Stay where you’re to, I’ll come where you’re at”.
Although we fundamentally spoke the same language, while in Newfoundland I often felt like I was in another country. Over the course of the trip I came to understand how insightful that feeling actually was.

Newfoundland’s history (and resulting unique dialect) is incredibly storied. It only became a part of Canada in 1949 (more on this later), and up to that point there were many incantations of government and rulings. While there’s history of habitation in Newfoundland dating back over 9,000 years, since the 1500’s, Newfoundland was the site of numerous European fishing and whaling outposts. The oil rendered from the Basque whaling station in Red Bay Labrador for example, provided enough oil to light most of Europe in the 16th century.
Newfoundland’s linguistic influence is thus also varied. Many phrases, music, and even the cadence of conversation closely reflects their Irish heritage. Music is a big part of Newfoundland culture, and whether you’re on a pub crawl on George Street in St. John’s (which I did), or having a party in the local town hall (I attended a few of those too), live music is the name of the game and the genre is very much folk music with a strong Irish influence.
This musical foundation trumps modern pop culture. While listening to music at a popular pub in St. John’s, I leaned over to my local (young, hip, well-traveled) friend and asked her how many of these songs she actually knew, expecting her to only admit to knowing a couple of songs. “Oh, all of them!” she emphatically replied.

In addition to the Irish imprint, you also see Newfoundland’s Basque influence resulted in places with French-spelled names, but pronounced by Newfoundlanders in utterly illogical ways. The town of Francois, which most people would recognize as a French name and pronounce as fran-swah, is pronounced by the locals as fran-sway.
Gros Morne national park? Don’t go all French and make the s silent. No. It’s said as “gr-oh-s morn”, almost phonetically.
My favourite was Facheux Bay, our unscheduled stop on the trip; a glacial fjord that is one of the deepest points on the continental shelf. I don’t even know how the locals came up with their pronunciation of it, as foo-shee Bay.

Oh, and it’s official. While you won’t offend many locals by using the term “Newfie”, some don’t take kindly to it, so it’s always best to say “Newfoundlander”.

A Culturally Immersive Cruise Experience

Given that a huge contingent of the expedition team for this cruise were Newfoundlanders, we were able to learn a lot about Newfoundland throughout the trip, both on and off the ship.
Adventure Canada makes a point of staffing each cruise with local talent, and I’m not talking about the kind of talent that performs Vegas-style revues and other typical forms of “cruise entertainment”. The local talent comes in the form of naturalists, historians, geologists, scientists in residence, musicians, novelists, cultural experts, and more.
Instead of cabaret shows, we had “kitchen parties” – informal social gatherings typical of Newfoundland with music, stories, dancing, limericks, and anything that anybody who wished to participate could contribute. During the day, the on-board entertainment came in the form of back-to-back workshops that could be enjoyed in the modest lounge, or even on television from the comfort of your cabin.
Off the boat, excursions were accompanied by these same experts, who provided a ton of information to help us put our experiences in context. While on a bus passing by a lake, our local naturalist educated us: “On yer left you’ll see a pond – we don’t often refer to bodies of water as lakes; we call ’em ponds. Lakes are what you have when you get water in yer boot.”

Bonavista (With a Side of Trinity) Newfoundland

Dan had prepared us well. Our very first briefing involved an itinerary change. “With the winds, we can’t get into Bonavista bay safely,” he started.
Expedition cruising is done on small ships. Adventure Canada’s Ocean Endeavour is purpose-built for sailing in icy and remote environments, and has a passenger capacity of 198 plus crew. This smaller size allows the ship to visit places that larger ships wouldn’t stand a chance of getting into. In most cases, we anchored in the bay and used zodiacs to ferry ashore.
But smaller ship size and zodiac landings mean wind and waves are problematic. Passengers are all given waterproof/windproof expedition jackets (to keep!), and are categorically required to bring waterproof pants and highly encouraged to bring dry-bags/waterproof backpacks. After a few windy wavy – and wet – zodiac rides, I was grateful for the waterproof layers.
The upside of not being able to anchor in Bonavista Bay was that we anchored on the other side of the peninsula in Trinity Bay. This gave us a two-for-one experience for the day, exploring both towns that were a short bus ride apart.

This two-for-one thing happened a few times during our Newfoundland cruise, and I was consistently amazed at how efficiently the expedition staff could change the slate and make necessary last minute arrangements for us.
But visiting both towns with a one hour bus ride in between meant a long day. “I wonder if we’ll have a day at sea,” I mused. “I’d like that.”
But, would I really?

Taste of Place

Dinner after visiting Bonavista and Trinity Newfoundland was a feast. Adventure Canada newly launched their “Taste of Place” program, and this Newfoundland cruise was the inaugural run.
“Learning through culture, music, arts, and science has long been at the core of our expeditions. Now, we are thrilled to add food to this immersive collection of experiences,” says the Adventure Canada website, and this played out in many ways throughout the cruise, from nightly 3-course dinners, to random “Taste of Place pop-ups” on land with cups of homemade local fish chowder or craft beer tastings.
The Taste of Place menu on board was planned and executed by Newfoundland chefs, using grandma’s recipes. A lot of the dishes we were served weren’t things you could find in a restaurant, but were absolutely an intrinsic part of local culture. And just in case the Taste of Place menu didn’t float your boat on any given night, the kitchen had 3-4 other options to choose from.
Our first Taste of Place meal of the trip? Iconic local hand-line caught cod, fresh veggies, and a rhubarb pie using rhubarb picked just that morning.

Too bad for me I couldn’t eat dinner that first night.
Although the two-metre swells we were rolling about in didn’t initially phase me, shortly after sitting down to dinner I broke into a sweat and started calculating how long it would take me to get to the nearest bathroom in case I had to upchuck. Crew members were subtly placing sick bags around the ship for people like me.
I had brought over-the-counter natural homeopathic motion sickness tablets with me, and the previous night I thought they were doing a good job. But these swells were too much for my natural pills; I needed the big guns (like Gravol or Dramamine) and I didn’t have any, so I retreated to my room before dinner arrived and didn’t emerge until lunch the next day, after my cabin attendant found me still unwell in the morning and insisted I drink some tea and eat something (which made me feel better, to my surprise).
So if I can impart some contextual advice if you’re considering an expedition cruise, I’d suggest that you bring all the natural pills and pressure point bracelets you wish. But also, bring along a few hard-core anti-nausea pills; sea-sickness is no fun, and you’ll want to get the most out of your expedition cruise experience.
It’s ironic that I had earlier wished for a day at sea, because after 14 or so hours of being seasick, all I wanted – prayed for, even – was to get off the boat.

Doubling the Size of Conche, and the Small Town Newfoundland Situation

That opportunity eventually came the following afternoon, when we arrived in the town of Conche. “Conche: The Beauty Spot of the North,” remarked a bumper sticker on a passing truck. While it’s a great slogan, the run on such bumper stickers had to be small.
“You’ve just doubled our population,” remarked Mary, our emcee of the afternoon and evening’s events, and later on, our mascot for Conche. She was a fiery high-energy redhead in her 60s who was unstoppable; if there was five minutes to kill, she’d take it upon herself to entertain us with an Irish jig, and she was still dancing long after the music finished at the end of the evening.
When asked where she gets her energy from, she replied “officially they say I have ADHD, but ’round here people just say I got a fly up me arse”.
Conche was our first experience visiting a tiny town (“we have a population of 180 people, on a good day that is”), but it wasn’t our last. Newfoundland is made up of many such small towns, each with their own flavour, and all founded upon the rich waters beyond.
But towns like Conche weren’t always so small, and in many such places I sensed the mourning of a life (and town) that once was.

Survival in Newfoundland has always (until quite recently) depended on access to the sea, with fishing – specifically cod fishing – being the main industry. The sea is woven into the culture in so many ways, large and small. For example, in St. John’s, on garbage days people put their trash bags on the sidewalk with fishing nets over them to prevent seagulls from getting into it. It’s actually legally mandated. Fishing net! Who would think of that outside of a fishing-based culture?

So when the cod fishing industry collapsed with the cod moratorium invoked in 1992, it had a devastating effect on all of Newfoundland, and small towns were hit the hardest. With 30,000 fishers and plant workers suddenly out of work, it was Canada’s largest mass layoff. Towns like Conche that existed almost solely on the cod fishing industry suffered mass attrition, which continues today.
In Francois (another small town), I asked a fellow from Halifax who lives there part time why he doesn’t just stay full-time. “No jobs, and no women,” came his inarguable reply.
One of the Newfoundland expedition staff who lives in a small town was a bit more eloquent. “If you study to become a lab tech at the hospital, but the only hospital in town employs two lab techs and they’ve both got 20 working years ahead of them, you’ve got to leave if you want work, plain and simple.” And once people leave, they rarely come back (to live).
While Conche and other fishing towns are resilient and have found other ways to survive (for example by fishing and processing other critters like crab and shrimp), there’s just not enough to go around.
Newfoundlanders are a bit bitter about all this (understandably). It wasn’t “ma and pa” fishers, but the grand-scale international commercial fishing off the coast of Newfoundland was responsible for the mass depletion of fish stocks and ultimately the cod moratorium. But it was “ma and pa” who were hit the hardest.

Another hot topic in some small towns is Confederation (Newfoundland joining Canada in 1949). It’s debatable whether things would actually have played out differently if Newfoundland had not confederated, but it all simmers in the same bitter-soup. Only 52% of Newfoundlanders voted in favour of Confederation, which leaves a very large number of people pretty unhappy about it all.
Who can blame them. With seafaring roots and outpost life, Newfoundland’s small towns have been dealt a pretty crappy hand. Shortly after Confederation, through the 1950’s and 60’s, the government realized the cost of providing services for remote outlying communities (such as those only accessible by ferry) was prohibitive. Under one of the most controversial government programs, a resettlement was initiated that resulted in over 30,000 people being moved from over 300 communities which today remain abandoned.
It makes sense on paper to have moved these communities, and the government provided (arguably) generous financial assistance, but it left a few scars nonetheless. Scars that were exacerbated by the cod moratorium which struck Newfoundland to the core, fishing being their very identity and industry for hundreds (even thousands) of years.

Walking along the road in Conche with an expedition staff member-cum-friend from Newfoundland, we locked eyes with a couple of local guys. “Let’s see what’s going on here,” he said while steering me towards them. Before I knew it I was standing in a wooden shed in Conche drinking beer with a few local lads.
“This is Nora,” started my friend. “She’s from Canada.”
I frowned. “Aren’t we all?”
“’Round here, if you’re not from Newfoundland, you’re from Canada,” he replied. This speaks to the sentiment of many Newfoundlanders who don’t support Confederation, and perhaps even blame Confederation for Newfoundland’s declined economy and population.

Contrarians to this attitude have a different approach. “What’s the capital of Newfoundland?” I was asked a few times. It was of course a setup.
“Fort McMurray” was the answer they were getting at. Newfoundlanders have migrated en masse, some temporarily, others permanently, to Fort McMurray (and other parts of Alberta) for the abundance of jobs in the oil and mining industries. In all it’s said that almost 20,000 Newfoundlanders have migrated to Alberta, and almost 20% of the population of Fort McMurray is from Newfoundland.
The ultimate point being made by the contrarians cracking jokes about the capital of Newfoundland, is that Newfoundland would have found itself hitting hard times regardless of politics, but that being a part of Canada was to their advantage in having the ability to get work in other provinces.

I’ll politely refrain from casting an opinion, as the waters run deep and two weeks in Newfoundland is about 20 years too short of long enough to make any kind of educated statement.

Newfoundland UNESCO Sites

Of the 18 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador have four, which is the highest concentration of sites in any Canadian province. We visited three of them on three consecutive days.

St Anthony Newfoundland (L’Anse Aux Meadows)

“Tomorrow, we’re visiting St. Anthony,” said an expedition staff member who was born and raised there. “But you people are saying it all wrong. To say it right, you gotta get it down to two syllables: Snantny.” We all repeated “Snantny” methodically in an effort to embrace our inner Newfoundlanders.
“We have 2,400 people in Snantny, so you can get everything you need,” he continued. “Except Amazon Prime. For that you gotta drive 45 minutes to a town with 100 people. Go figure.”
In addition to the local hospital which is the main industry for “Snanty”, 30-40,000 people per year come through enroute to L’Anse Aux Meadows (pronounced lants ah med-ohs kind of like it’s one word), which is the only authenticated Viking site and the earliest evidence of Europeans in North America, dating back 1,000 years.

Red Bay Basque Whaling Station Labrador

As our only stop in Labrador, this was an eventful one. In our briefing the night before we were shown a video of the moment when Red Bay Basque Whaling Station was designated as a UNESCO site, at a meeting in Cambodia of delegates from around the world. In the video, Mayor Wanita of Red Bay, a small woman with a large heart, bursts into tears and starts hugging everybody around her before delivering a heart-felt speech that imparts the passion of this tiny town for preserving this historic site that holds huge significance to Europe’s development in the 1500’s.
Many of us shed a tear watching this moving video, and all of us viewed Mayor Wanita as a minor celebrity when she boarded our ship in the morning to say hello before we went ashore. I inexplicably wanted to hug her.
Celebrity or not, “humble” is the best word I can conjure for the people of Newfoundland in general, and Wanita embodied it.
In the afternoon, when hiking with a small group of passengers to a lookout, the winds increased to such a fervour that the zodiacs were having trouble getting back to the ship. With a dire forecast, and another 90 minutes of hiking to reach the dock, we were running out of time. It was Mayor Wanita who came to our rescue and shuttled us in her car to the dock so we could return safely to the Ocean Endeavor.

Gros Morne National Park

Capping off our UNESCO trilogy was Gros Morne National Park, famed as one of the few places on earth where deep ocean crust and the earth’s mantle are exposed, showing evidence of continental drift, tectonic plates, and other geological wonders. (Our ship’s geologist was like a kid in a candy shop here, and one of the other staff members worked in this park as a Parks Canada manager for 33 years).
The park’s 180,000 annual visitors are served by eight nearby communities, one of which is Woody Point, with just 300 people. During the course of the trip we descended upon so many similar tiny towns with populations that our ship and crew rivalled, and yet they all took it in stride – and in many cases they prepared lunch or dinner for us no less. Despite the amount of UNESCO-visiting traffic some of these small towns get, I saw no tourist-trap style exploitation or commercial cash-grabs happening. Truly, we were welcomed as if we were the first people ever to pass through, with curiosity, warm smiles, and open hearts.

Taking an Adventure Canada Newfoundland Cruise

There was so much more to the adventure cruise.
There was our expedition landing in Little Garia Bay, our unscheduled stop in Facheux (foo-shee), and the crowning jewel of the whole trip: Francois (fran-sway) – a place only accessible by boat that is quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth and which epitomizes the spirit of community; a requirement for sheer survival in such a place.
Not to mention our trip to France! St. Pierre and Miquelon is the only French colony remaining in North America, and provided a huge cultural contrast to Newfoundland, a mere half a day away by boat.
Due to inclement weather, we also missed our stop in Conne River and our chance to spend time with and learn about the Miawpukek First Nations people.
This is the nature of expedition cruising, and if you end up taking an Adventure Canada Newfoundland Cruise, you’ll have a different experience from me. Every expedition cruise is distinct, and that’s one of the many things that make it special. (Click here for more info on their Newfoundland itinerary). 

Expedition Cruising as a Solo Traveler

If you’re like me, very idea of a cruise conjures visions of couples and families doing couple-and-family-things. This is not a great environment for a solo traveler to meet people and feel welcome.
I had a conversation with a colleague who was raving about a Disney Cruise she did. “How is it for solo travelers?” I asked.
“Oh it would be great!” she replied, and went on to describe all the ways Disney caters specifically to adults.
“But, how easy is it to meet people if you’re going solo? And do they offer a single supplement?” I pressed.
She blinked. “I don’t know. I was with my husband, and I didn’t pay much attention to the solo travelers, if there were any.”
Unlike most traditional cruises, Adventure Canada caters to solo travelers with valuable incentives like free single supplements. As one of many solo travelers on this trip, I had no trouble meeting people and there wasn’t the air of exclusivity that you might find on other cruises.

Okay. How Much?

If you look at some of the Adventure Canada expedition cruises (click here to see them all), you’ll see that these are bucket-list trips, with accompanying price tags (this trip starts at $4,000 USD for 10 days, all-inclusive). But most of the trips they offer can’t be experienced in any other way; the Northwest Passage is a perfect example, and is one of their signature trips exploring Arctic territory that can only be traveled by ship.
They also have some noteworthy incentives, including:

• 30% off for passengers under 30 years of age
• Free single supplement for solo travelers (basically a 50% savings to get a cabin to yourself)
• Children under four years of age only pay for charter airfare (if applicable)
• Children under two years of age travel free
• Multi-trip promotions and price guarantees
  
  

What Makes Adventure Canada Different

One thing that sets Adventure Canada apart for me, is the family vibe. The company had its humble beginnings over 30 years ago by a trio of two brothers and a friend who wanted to take travelers to off-the-map destinations. They’re still doing the same thing (albeit on a larger scale) and it is still entirely a family business, now run by the founders’ children who grew up on these ships.
Our expedition leader Dan? He’s the son of Dave, one of the co-founders. On this cruise, Dave was actually Dan’s assistant. Bill Swan, one of the other co-founders, was on board overseeing the inauguration of the Taste of Place program, and his nephew Matthew James, was working in a variety of capacities. A friend of mine did an Adventure Canada cruise earlier this year that had other Adventure Canada family members on board; what is consistent is the family vibe and humble roots.

The other noteworthy aspect of Adventure Canada that makes my heart flutter is their utter dedication to developing partnerships that improve our world. Be they social, cultural, or environmental, the causes actively supported by Adventure Canada are many.
When I challenged co-founder Bill Swan to tell me how adventure cruising (and Adventure Canada in particular) is different from some of the traditional cruise boats that are known to be egregious environmental offenders, he in turn challenged me to finish the cruise and tell him. (Though he did humour me with a 20-minute rapid-fire monologue detailing just a few of the ways they’re reducing and offsetting and even striving to create a positive environmental impact).

See also: How I Travel With Zero Waste

Well, Bill was right. By the end, I was a convert. I had watched 160 passengers positively affected by the daily educational workshops on topics like soil regeneration and wildlife management, who foraged on land with a Taste of Place expert who then used the food they gathered for our meals, and who embraced water conservation practices and eschewed single-use plastics.
There were no soapboxes. No evangelical rants. No guilt trips or pledge drives. But for those who wanted to learn and to make a difference there was no end of opportunity.
By visiting places people don’t normally get to see, leaving no trace, providing economic assistance to local communities, and interacting harmoniously with nature, it’s hard not to return from an Adventure Canada expedition cruise a changed person…..and it’s even harder not to dream of where the next trip will be.

Watch the Video! 

Before you Go…

In order to cruise with Adventure Canada, you must provide evidence of proper travel insurance including evacuation insurance.

Click Here for everything you need to know in general about the insurance you need (and don’t need). 

The Ultimate Packing List for Long-Term Travel

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I sailed with Adventure Canada free of charge, and if you click on the links in this post to book your trip, I’ll receive a small commission. As always, all opinions are my own an I was given complete editorial freedom in writing this article.
Learn more about Adventure Canada and book your trip here.

This post This is the Best Way to Visit Newfoundland appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

This post was originally published in 2019. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

For some reason I thought 2018 had been more sedentary than it was; I couldn’t possibly have visited six countries – including six different locations in one of the countries and two in another, in a sense visiting over 11 different places.

Thank goodness I do these annual summaries of where I’ve been; I’d be lost (literally!) without them!

Please enjoy this summary of the places I visited in 2018 along with the adventures (and mis-adventures!) I got up to. Previous annual summaries can be found at the end of this article.

2018 in Summary

14 planes, two ferries, and countless buses and taxis shuttled me between six different countries in 2018. While none of the countries were new to me on the whole, I discovered some new haunts. The biggest surprise of the year (a surprise to me as much as anybody else) was that I set up a home base in my home town of Toronto.

And still, I traveled over 51,148 kilometers (31,782 miles), which puts 2018 in 4^th place for biggest distances traveled in the last 12 years, while remaining on the lower end of country counts for me. (Good thing I don’t actually care about ticking off countries for the sake of ticking them off)!

Here’s how 2018 rolled:

JANUARY: Chiang Mai (Thailand)

I rang in the new year in my cozy apartment in Chiang Mai Thailand where I had been since late November 2017.

While it was my second visit to Chiang Mai (the first being in 2008), it was almost unrecognizable from my previous visit. This was due in part to my staying in another part of town which had (since 2008) blossomed into “the digital nomad centre of the universe”. During my first visit, the term “digital nomad” hadn’t even yet been coined.

Chiang Mai, 10 Years Later: The Impossible Search

How to Find an Apartment in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai’s Nimman: The Unapologetic Bubble

FEBRUARY: Hoi An (Vietnam)

My first trip to Vietnam was in 2011 as the final stage of completing the Ultimate Train Challenge which was a crazy mission involving 30 days of trains from Lisbon to Saigon. I fell in love with the food and the people, and vowed to return.

So in 2018, inspired by some verbal and written accounts of Hoi An’s beauty and friendliness towards digital nomads, the hop/skip/jump was made from Thailand.

In the areas of food and friendliness, I wasn’t disappointed with my return visit. Despite my complete inability to communicate with the locals, I felt an uncommonly friendly vibe and enjoyed miming with a few of the “market ladies” from whom I regularly bought my produce.

February 2018 also coincided with the Vietnamese New Year, which was a mixed blessing. The upshot was an invitation from my landlord to a family feast that was one of those “victories” for travelers (well at least, for me) in participating in an inherently local festivity. While the evening required extensive use of Google Translate (one of my go-to smartphone apps), it was one where I felt an almost unprecedented level of warmth and welcome from a local family.

The bad news for the month was the weather, which involved solid cloud cover and periodic rain for the entire month. I didn’t realize how badly the lack of sunshine was affecting me until one day it came out and my disposition changed entirely. Unfortunately by that point, I’d already made onward travel plans since I’d lost the will to live.

6 Weeks in Hoi An, Vietnam

Expat Life in Hoi An

MARCH: Koh Phangan (Thailand)

Since my visit to India in late 2017, I had been wrestling with a host of physical and emotional challenges that, by this time, had bled me dry. So visiting the southern Thai island of Koh Phangan was in part a sun-seeking experience, and in part a chance to participate in an intensive detox retreat which I hoped would be a way to hit “reset” on my body (and spirit) and clear it of the variety of ailments it was suffering from.

All I can say is I hope to return to Koh Phangan one day and not do a detox retreat. While I’m sure it was beneficial on the whole, it was a slugfest the entire way, and an exercise in irony and deprivation on this idyllic (even hedonistic) island.

All Life is Suffering: A Month in Koh Phangan, Thailand – incidentally one of my favourite and more entertaining pieces of writing

APRIL: Melbourne (Australia)

This detour Down Under may come as a surprise to some readers, as I never wrote about it. It was “part two” in my attempt to recover from the physical and emotional effects of what I (by this time) realized was a severe case of burnout.

Long-time readers will know that I spent 1.5 years living outside of Melbourne Australia back in 2008/09, and in that time I criss-crossed the country a few times (by campervan and then by train), survived their worst-ever natural disaster, had my first breakup on the road, and other adventures.

During that first stint I befriended a couple with whom I stayed in touch over the years, and who (knowing of my burnout) invited me to stay with them as a personalized healing retreat of sorts.

While I didn’t know this couple very well, the invitation was serendipitous, and I immediately booked a ticket. It was one of the best decisions I made, as their loving care and regular healing treatments in their clinic was instrumental – if not life-changing – for me.

It gave me the rest I sorely needed after almost 10 months of bouncing around just as many Asian countries, recovery from a variety of physical ailments, and strength to start pursuing some business and personal projects over the course of the rest of the year.

Somewhere in all this recovery, I started reflecting on what I’d learned in the last 12 years of travel. Here it is: one lesson for each year on the road: 12 Truths About Travel – and Life

MAY: NYC (USA), Toronto (Canada), London (England)

My frequent flyer mile prowess allowed me to fly from Melbourne to New York in business class for a grand total of about $600. NYC was a glorified layover enroute to my hometown of Toronto, where I planned to spend the summer.

But not before a bit more traipsing! After dropping my checked luggage in Toronto, I packed a wee bag and hopped on a flight to London for a couple of weeks of staying with some friends who had just bought a lovely house.

It rained. A lot.

JUNE: Hollywood FL (USA), Toronto (Canada)

I’m no stranger to Hollywood (in South Florida), where a dear friend of mine lives and where I have a home base of sorts. So while it’s certainly out-of-the-way between London and Toronto, I detoured anyway to visit for a couple of weeks.

JULY-OCTOBER: Toronto (Canada)

I love summers in Toronto, and the summer of 2018 was a glorious one by all accounts. Even locals (who are renowned for their weather-driven running commentary) had little to gripe about.

What was surprising was how a simple plan to spend a couple of months there evolved into getting an apartment and setting up a home base. While I never thought I would live in Toronto again, it clicked for me on a variety of levels, and I’m pleased to have made the decision.

My Epic Search for a Home Base

NOVEMBER: San Diego, Desert Hot Springs, LA, Palmdale CA (USA)

While I would have liked more time to enjoy my new place in Toronto, I have this thing about winter: I don’t do it. I grew up with it, and I loathe it. I spent the last 12 years hemisphere-hopping to avoid it, and my cozy apartment wasn’t about to sway me from maintaining my record.

So, coincidentally (or not), on the day the temperatures plummeted and it started to snow in Toronto in early November, I boarded a plane for San Diego to visit a friend. We did a wee road trip to Desert Hot Springs and Joshua Tree – which was my first taste of the American desert.

From San Diego, I bussed up to Palmdale (near LA) to visit with my boyfriend’s family; included was a little trip into LA to film a video and do a bit of sightseeing.

DECEMBER: Hollywood FL (USA) (again)

Can’t see the picture? Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

One of the reasons why Hollywood has been a frequently-visited base for me over the years is because of its proximity to Central and South America where I’ve spent the majority my time since 2014. (Well, that, and my friend there is super-cool and I have my own room at her house).

So while my visit to Hollywood in June was a detour between London and Toronto, my visit in December was perfectly enroute to Guatemala (!), where I’ll be spending the first quarter of 2019.

Summary Notes: Progress! 

In the summary of my 2017 annual travel report, I wrote the following:

It’s like every single aspect of my life has been thrown up in the air (lifestyle, location, health, relationships, career, etc), and I’m watching all the pieces float around and am waiting to see where they land. It’s simultaneously exciting and agonizing. 

If 2017 was my unraveling, then 2018 was my year for putting everything back together again (well, with a bit more unraveling for good measure in the first quarter or so of the year – as was evidenced in Koh Phangan).

In addition to my personal recovery, you’ll read soon in my annual income report for 2018 that my online business also underwent a significant overhaul and recovery process.

It was a year for many big changes, both personal and professional, not the least of which was setting up a new home base in my home town. After a dozen years of exploring expat life in a many different places, I’m enjoying the close proximity of family and friends when I’m in town (which, in the coming years, I expect will be a little over half of each year).

I own a couch now! And desk, and a bed, and a tv. And I have Canadian health care again! Most importantly, I have a place to return to after every trip, to unpack, unwind, and assimilate my experiences. Already, my travels feel lighter – literally and figuratively.

Looking into my magic crystal ball, I would say that 2019 will be a year for more transitions and transformations. I’m just not sure how yet. Let’s see! It’s far from the end of the trail for me…..rather, it’s the start of a new one.

Prior Travel Summaries

My First Four Years of Full-Time Travel (2007-2010, including Canada, Hawaii, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, USA, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Nepal)

What I did in 2011 (13 countries, 73,000 kms, including New Zealand, Canada, USA, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, China, Vietnam, Grenada)

What I did in 2012 (8 countries and 20,000 miles, including Grenada, St. Martin, BVIs, USA, Switzerland, France, England, Canada)

What I did in 2013 (12 countries and 29,000 miles, including Grenada, USA, Canada, England, Scotland, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Ukraine, France, Panama)

What I did in 2014 (7 countries and 34,000 miles, including Panama, USA, Canada, Peru, Spain, Gibraltar, Italy)

What I did in 2015 (6 countries and 35,000 miles, including Peru, Colombia, USA, Costa Rica, Canada, Bolivia)

What I did in 2016 (5 countries and 30,000 miles, including Peru, USA, Canada, Ireland, and Ecuador)

What I did in 2017 (10 countries and 29,000 miles, including USA, Ecuador, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macau, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand)

This post 2018: 6 Countries, 32k Miles, And Some BIG Changes appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

Come along for the journey! I’m recapping all that was 2016 for better and worse.

This post was originally published in 2017. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

January – February: Peru

I rang in the new year in my cozy house in the Sacred Valley in Peru; a place that had been my home base for almost two years. I continued to work with my teacher as his assistant with plant medicine ceremonies. I also did a few excursions, notably to The Ruins of Tipon (A Marvel in Irrigation).

To make space for my shamanic pursuits, I was also in the process scaling down my online activities (and thus, income). Interestingly, I didn’t feel the pinch, and it inspired me to reflect on past incomes and lifestyles and write about Lifestyle Inflation (How Earning Money Sucks the Life Outta You).

From January through April, I was also running around like a decapitated chicken collecting and translating, notarizing, etc a dizzying array of documents required to apply for residency in Peru.

March: Canada, Ireland

I won a trip to Ireland! Yessiree, I won a trip, through a random sweepstakes. The trip included flights, accommodation, and rental car for two people, departing from Canada. There was no contest in deciding who to invite; I took my Mum.

So I hopped on a plane from Peru to Canada to pick Mum up and off we flitted through Ireland for a week of incredible scenery, beautiful drives, a few pints, and lots of indulging in the melodic Irish accent – which is probably my favourite accent, and one I can’t help but imitate when I’m in the presence of it.

April-June: Peru

I returned to Peru with a(nother) suitcase of odds and ends to facilitate my “nesting” process there. Unfortunately, a surprising and heartbreaking turn of events awaited my arrival. The day I got back I was informed by my teacher/landlord/boss/friend that our arrangement was over. I had two weeks to move out, I lost all the efforts (and funds) expended to get my residency, and I felt pretty lost and confused.

Thus was triggered a massive process of healing for me, which lasted a few months. (Months that, with a dose of hindsight, flew by, but of course in the throes of it I was a total mess).

But I had people and angels alike looking out for me. I was offered places to stay, warm company, and lots of support. Knowing that I would soon be hitting the road again in a proverbially homeless way, I also needed to kick up my income again, and as if by magic, I was offered a new monthly column at Ingle International, in addition to my longstanding “Dear Nora” column on CreditWalk.

June-August: USA (Florida)

By mid-June, my Peruvian visa was running out, and I knew I had to cut myself loose from Peru in order to continue healing. So I left Peru, as well as my ideas of working with plant medicine, knowing that I would be led back to one or the other (or both) if it were meant to be.

I capped off my 2+ years in Peru with a hike to Mount Pitusiray with the first two friends I made with in Peru. It was a trip full of poetry, and a few tears shed amongst the three of us.

From Peru, I chose to “land” at the house of a friend I’ve known for over 20 years, who always keeps me laughing and with whom I can share anything. That friend lives in south Florida (Hollywood, to be exact), and two months with her were paramount to getting back on my feet again. I’m ever grateful to her for everything she did for me in that time, and for helping me see the levity in it all.

And as anticipated, my time in Florida was fraught with lessons and emotions – old and new. I was curiously amused at myself when I experienced many of the same core fears and challenges that plagued me (and most travelers) when I started traveling so many years ago now. Here’s a post about these challenges, as well as my quirky life in Florida: Hobo Update: Relearning Travel’s Inherent Lessons.

August: Canada

Before I left Florida I just had to stop in to meet the Anatomie crew (designers of my favourite travel clothing) and stock up on a few new pieces. Then, I returned to Canada to visit family and friends for a few weeks, and to celebrate my 40^th birthday, along with my two oldest friends who were turning 40 at the same time. We did the spa, partied it up in Niagara Falls, and topped it off with some winery tours. We even got matching tattoos!

September: Ecuador

I arrived in Ecuador (a new country for me) in early September for a house-sitting gig, and I loved it. I was in Cuenca, which is similar to Cusco in Peru (but better).

When I wasn’t taking in the sites, foods, and pace of life, I was taking a hard look at my business in search some new inspiration. I participated in a daily challenge to get me thinking about these things, and out of it popped the idea to start a new video podcast (or vlog – a term I’m reluctantly acclimatizing to). You can learn more about what led me to this in my first episode, here: Stairway to Freedom.

October: Ecuador

My house-sitting gig ended mid-October, at which point I headed to a plant medicine retreat centre about an hour outside of Cuenca in the mountains. My introduction to the place was quite serendipitous, and it was a way for me to say “hello” to plant medicine again.

I participated in two consecutive retreats there over the next month or so, and was given countless signs that I was in the right place, and I was encouraged to pursue my shamanic endeavours there.

I also filmed and published my second popular vlog: Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About The Professional Hobo.

November: Ecuador

As November drew to a close, so too did my Ecuadorian visa. After almost three months in Ecuador, I gained a unique sense of the place. Overall I loved every part of it. But there were a few things that confused me about the place, which I wrote in a post called Cuenca Ecuador: A City of Confusing Contrast.

Before I left, I was invited to return to Gaia Sagrada in the new year to volunteer and help run the place. The shamans all expressed their desire for me to return and continue to work with them, which was heartwarming.

So after packing my stuff (See Vlog Episode 3: Travel Packing – How to Pack For Full-Time Travel), I said “see ya later” (instead of “goodbye”) to Ecuador and my new friends there, with intentions of returning in January on an extended visa.

December: USA (San Diego, LA, Florida)

Where to go for the 2016 holiday season? After the amazing time I had in Florida with my friend earlier in the year, the choice seemed easy. Back to Florida!

But I wasn’t just staying local this time; shortly after releasing my annual Giant Travel Gear Roundup of travel clothes/gear/services/books/etc I’ve tested throughout the year, I hopped on a plane to visit a friend in San Diego for a week, and another friend in LA for a few days.

The rest of the month was spent in Florida, visiting with a variety of friends from other lands who also thought that spending the holiday season in Florida was a pretty fine idea.

What’s Next?

That’s a good question. At the moment, I’m still in Florida, but in a few weeks I’ll be returning to Ecuador to spend a few months (up to six) at Gaia Sagrada. I don’t know where all this plant medicine work will lead, but I also don’t need to know. I’ll stay there as long as it feels good, and I’ll move on when it’s time. I’m pretty zen about it at the moment!

Previous Annual Summaries

My First Four Years of Full-Time Travel (2007-2010, including Canada, Hawaii, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, USA, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Nepal)

What I did in 2011 (13 countries, 73,000 kms, including New Zealand, Canada, USA, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, China, Vietnam, Grenada)

What I did in 2012 (8 countries and 20,000 miles, including Grenada, St. Martin, BVIs, USA, Switzerland, France, England, Canada)

What I did in 2013 (12 countries and 29,000 miles, including Grenada, USA, Canada, England, Scotland, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Ukraine, France, Panama)

What I did in 2014 (7 countries and 34,000 miles, including Panama, USA, Canada, Peru, Spain, Gibraltar, Italy)

What I did in 2015 (6 countries and 35,000 miles, including Peru, Colombia, USA, Costa Rica, Canada, Bolivia)

This post 5 Countries and 30,000 Miles: This Was 2016! appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

You may not end up in Guinness for it, but you’re sure to have a memorable experience.

Links to posts about each of these experience – as well as videos! – are included. Enjoy!  

World’s Most Dangerous Beach

We don’t normally think of beaches as being dangerous, but Sunset Beach in St Martin in the Caribbean will set your heart aflutter. It’s directly at the end of the island’s airport strip, and you can watch planes come in on top of you. Thrill seekers like to hold on to the fence at the end of the runway and be mangled by the prop blast as jets land mere meters away. (I settled for taking pictures from a mildly respectful distance).

The Most Dangerous Beach in the World

World’s Highest (Commercial) Skydive

As a skydiver with almost 300 jumps (from a life that seems lifetimes away now), I dropped my license when I started traveling full-time. But when I was in New Zealand, I was treated to a tandem jump that allowed me to experience the world’s highest commercial skydive, exiting the plane at 15,000 feet.

World’s Highest (Commercial) Fixed Line Abseil (Rappel)

This was an absolute highlight of all my travels. In Waitomo New Zealand, this full day event involved a 100 meter abseil (rappel) into a cave, followed by five hours of venturing through this extensive watery cave system. In our wetsuits, we squeezed, swam, jumped, and shimmied through this cave, and hung out with Waitomo’s famous glow worms (which have their own funny story).

Abseiling, Caving, and Spotting Glow Worms in New Zealand

World’s Highest (Commercially) Rafted Waterfall

New Zealand is home to all kinds of world’s [whatevers], and I experienced a lot of them whilst filming a tv show there in 2010. Even after a day of sledging (which is like white-water rafting on a glorified boogie board), I was shaking in my wetsuit in anticipation of the 7 meter (23 foot) drop that flips a good percentage of rafts. Ironically we survived the drop, and then almost sank the raft whilst caught in a rapid that is apparently more dangerous than the waterfall itself.

World’s Longest Train Ride

When I did the Ultimate Train Challenge in 2011 (30 days from Lisbon to Saigon, all by train), it included a solid week on the Trans-Manchurian between Moscow and Beijing. It’s better known as the Trans-Siberian, the difference being the particular route the train takes. Either way, it’s long.

A Week on the Trans-Manchurian Railway

World’s Fastest Train

Hot on the heels of the world’s longest train ride, I embarked on the world’s fastest train from Beijing to Shanghai. Watching the world whizz by at speeds close to what planes manage was an experience. And with stations on either side that were more like airports than train stations, at times I had to wonder if I was actually flying.

13 Random Experiences on Asian Trains

World’s Longest Wall/Biggest Ancient Architecture

You got it – this is the Great Wall of China. I’ve had the good fortune to have been there not once – but twice.

Beijing – Then and Now

World’s Shortest Ferry Ride

If you fly into Toronto’s Island Airport (officially known as Toronto City Centre Airport), a ferry will deliver you to the “mainland” downtown core of Toronto. It’s a whopping 120 meters (400 feet), and the ferry itself is about a third of the size of passage it runs.

World’s Most Isolated Major City

There are a few contenders for the world’s most isolated/remote major cities (depending on your criteria such as by population size or accessibility), including Auckland New Zealand, Honolulu Hawaii, and Iquitos Peru. Regardless of the measuring stick you use, I can say I’ve been to all of them.

But Perth Australia is most eager to wear this banner, and it’s an isolated city indeed. Bonus: it also boasts the largest inner city park in the world.

Perth in 24 Hours

World’s Most Dangerous Airport

When I was filming a television show in Nepal in 2010, we flew from Kathmandu to Lukla, which is the gateway to Everest and the Himalayas for trekkers. Tenzing Hilary Airport earns its moniker as the world’s most dangerous airport due to the short runway with absolutely no margin for error. The runway is on an incline so planes coming in can stop before hitting the mountain behind it, and so planes taking off can gather sufficient speed before the runway drops off into a valley of nothingness.

The other danger factor at this airport is the weather, which comes in out of nowhere. It took us two days of waiting at Kathmandu airport for enough clear sky to allow us to fly in, and we were stuck there for three days longer than scheduled waiting for the clouds to clear so we could take off. The only other way out would have been to hike for 2 days to the nearest city where we could catch ground transportation back to Kathmandu.

World’s Most Expensive City

Oslo Norway takes this prize, and spectacularly so. I went to a middle-of-the-road thai restaurant for lunch and paid almost $50 for a green curry and a glass of wine. This was pretty average for my meals in Oslo. Now, if you live in Oslo and earn money in the local currency, you can get by pretty well. But with Norway’s strong currency, visiting there with foreign currency in your pocket will result in your pockets being empty pretty quickly.

Travel Lessons and Surprises: Oslo

World’s Top City for Cyclists AND World’s Happiest City

Again there are a few contenders for this title (not the least of which is Amsterdam), but the prize – for both bike friendly city and happiest city – goes to Copenhagen Denmark. I don’t know that bicycling and happiness are related, but there you go.

Copenhagen: A Modern-Day Fairy Tale

Largest Beer-Producing Area in the World

If you think Germany takes this cake, think again. When I was in Boulder Colorado, I learned that it’s part of the largest beer-producing triangle in the world, with micro-breweries at every turn. Boulder tops a bunch of other lists (in America) mostly in the realm of being active, bike-friendly, dog-friendly, rich, and skinny. Guess you have to burn off the beer somehow, and with the Rocky Mountains at your doorstep it’s not too difficult.

A Curious Bubble in Boulder, Colorado

World’s Largest Techno Party

The annual Street Parade in Zurich Switzerland is actually officially billed as a political demonstration (dating back to its humble beginnings in 1992 as a demonstration for peace, love, and tolerance. Back then there were 1,000 attendees; now it sees about a million attendees, hitting the streets to party, show off their costumes, and get their groove on.

The World’s Largest Techno Party: Street Parade in Zurich

World’s Highest Bungee Jump

The world’s highest bungee jump is currently the Macau Tower at 233 metres. However in 2005 when I was in the Western Cape of South Africa, I took a leap (a few, actually) off Bloukrans Bridge which was at the time the world’s highest bungee jump at 216 metres. So considering this is a list of my own world [whatevers], I think it still counts. So there. Bite me, Macau.

World’s Highest Navigable Lake

Lake Titicaca (bordered by Bolivia and Peru) is the largest lake in South America, and the highest navigable lake in the world. I spent a few days on Isla del Sol, and even though I live at an incredibly high altitude in Peru, I marvelled at just how close to the sun this island really was.

Visiting Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca, in Bolivia

World’s Longest Standing Protest

Since 1972, a small fire has been burning in front of Australia’s parliament building. Along with the small collection of derelict looking tents off to the side housing anywhere from a few to a few hundred Australian Aboriginals who tend to the fire, this is the world’s longest standing protest. Stumbling on to this with a friend while walking around Canberra one afternoon led to one of the most enlightening days I’ve had in all my travels.

The Australian Aboriginal Tent Embassy

World’s Worst Smelling Food

This prize goes to Surstromming, a canned fermented fish that is popular in Sweden. It’s a love-it-or-hate-it kind of food, that actually doesn’t taste nearly as repulsive as it smells. (There. I’m sure you want to try it now, don’t you)?

Northern Swedish Delicacies, Including Surstromming

Do you have any World’s fastest, highest, longest, smallest, deepest, craziest WHATEVERs in your travel repertoire?

This post 18 of the World’s Fastest, Highest, Longest (etc) Things to Do appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

This came from a friend who I was visiting whilst recently spending two weeks in my hometown of Toronto. When I tried to pay for our coffee with cash, she looked at me like I was from the moon; she shook her head and handed the cashier a plastic card.

“Is that a Tim Horton’s credit card?” I asked, confused as to why coffee shops would be in the credit card business.

“Um…no, Nora. It’s just a store card. You load it up with credit, and just pay for your coffee quickly and easily with it; no messing with cash.”

As I relayed this revelation to another person, they too, looked at me like I was from the moon. “All kinds of stores have these cards now, Nora.”

Right.

After nine years of living abroad and returning to Canada for periodic visits, I no longer suffer from reverse culture shock or other standard traveler ailments, but apparently I’m stuck in a bit of a time-warp. While living in idyllic (and often rural) little corners of the world, I’ve lost touch with what daily life in Canada (and to a greater extent, North America) is like – for better and worse.

Here are some other differences in daily life between Canada and Peru, as observed during my visit. It’s Peru vs Canada. (I wonder who will win.)

This post was originally published in 2015. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

Plumbing

In Canada, you don’t think twice about flushing toilet paper down the toilet. This is a big no-no in Peru (with the exception of some establishments in major cities like Lima). Peruvian plumbing and water treatment systems just can’t handle toilet paper, so you quickly adapt to the habit of putting toilet paper in a garbage bin.

While in Canada, I actually felt strange about putting my toilet paper in the toilet; a sign that I’d adapted to Peruvian daily life more than I thought.

Water Water Everywhere

Along the lines of plumbing, I was delighted to return to Canada and actually be able to drink the tap water and use it for brushing my teeth. You have to be incredibly careful about tap water in Peru; even rinsing a cup with tap water and reusing it (without drying it thoroughly) is begging for a stomach full of crippling parasites and bacteria. Filtered/treated/bottled water is used for everything – even brushing your teeth. (Here’s how I deal with my water in Peru: Dealing With Parasites – A Guide to Clean Water Around the World).

And since you can drink the tap water in most places in Canada (which some people might argue isn’t potable, but trust me, after experiencing Peruvian water – it is), I was also delighted to see public water fountains. In Peru if I’m out for the day and don’t want to buy a bottle of water (and I detest the plastic waste from bottled water so much so that I’d rather go thirsty), I have to carry around my own bottle of filtered water from home. Not having to do this saved me lots of room in my purse…for buying stuff.

Treatment (and Generation) of Garbage

Speaking of stuff, there’s so much more of it in Canada. And all the stuff you get is packaged ten ways to Sunday, which generates garbage. This garbage from packaging is in addition to the waste generated by the stuff you throw away when buying new stuff to replace old stuff – a seemingly endless cycle that doesn’t exist to nearly the same extent in Peru. My mind boggled at the number of curbside waste bins filled to the brim each and every week.

Despite this little rant about the amount of waste generated in Canada, Peru is not squeaky clean (neither literally nor figuratively) in this example. In (many parts of) Canada, recyclables and organic waste is separated out and treated accordingly. In Peru this isn’t the case, and what’s more, litter is a bit of a problem.

Cash is King vs Plastic Payments

It ires me that cash is king in Peru, since it means I generally suffer ATM withdrawal fees and have frequent flyer mile  woes since I can’t charge regular expenses to my credit card and accumulate miles.

Contrast that with my trip to Canada, where I withdrew $100 in cash for good measure….and then redeposited it all back into my account when I left, since I was able to put everything on plastic.

“Do You Have Change?”

I have to ask this question (in Spanish, of course) every time I pull out a crisp 100SOL bill (worth about $30) in Peru – usually the smallest denomination the ATMs will spit out. As with many developing countries, it’s difficult to get change for large bills in Peru (I also experienced this while living in Grenada).

Even if I had used cash in Canada, I wouldn’t have had any trouble getting change.

Smiling at Strangers (or Not)

The picture above was a sad commentary for me on the public state of affairs in Canada (or at least in Toronto). Normally known as a country of friendly outgoing people, I’ve interacted less and less with strangers in Canada as the years have gone by. People are more entranced with looking at their smartphones, e-readers, the ceiling, the floor, these billboards, and everywhere else they can manage, rather than making eye contact and smiling. I know this is a general city-symptom (since I’d like to think that in more rural areas of Canada, small-town friendliness still exists), but it saddens me nonetheless.

In small-town Peru, by contrast, you smile and say hello to just about everybody you pass in the streets.

Do You Deliver?

Living rurally in Peru, there is no such thing as home delivery – of food, mail, or anything else. If I haven’t shopped for groceries, and don’t feel like going out for a meal, I don’t eat.

In Canada, you can order a pizza (or groceries, or sushi, or Ethiopian food) at just about any time. Not only that, but if you’re willing to hit the streets for a meal, in Toronto you can eat just about any world cuisine imaginable. I miss this – and whilst in Toronto, did my best to overdose on favourite ethnic foods.

Disclaimer

Many of the differences of daily life explored in this post aren’t solely applicable to Peru and Canada. In some of the above examples, Peru is a representation for life in many developing countries, as is Canada for life in many Western countries. Also, my life in Peru is largely rural, whereas my time in Canada is urban; another barometer for these differences in daily life.

I was discussing some of these differences with a friend who also lived in Peru and returned to her home town of San Diego. We turned on the camera to have this fun conversation for you!

Click here to view this on YouTube

This post Peru vs Canada: Differences in Daily Life appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

All in all I covered over 34,000 miles, and seven countries. Please enjoy this 2014 travel summary!

This post was originally published in 2014. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

January: Panama, USA

After saying goodbye to a hellish year in 2013, I greeted 2014 near Panama City, where I was house-sitting. I stayed on through mid-January continuing to discover this country of contrast (See also: Panama: A Wild West), before flying to Hollywood Florida to visit a long-time friend.

For a couple of weeks we had a great time catching up, however I was craving some personal space, so I left to indulge in some alone time in Gulfport Florida.

February: USA

The first week or so of February I explored the very pretty town of Gulfport before hopping over to Santa Rosa Beach (Florida) to stay the rest of the month with another long-time friend.

Santa Rosa Beach is one of the most consistent places I’ve visited in all of my full-time travels (having visited the last three years running), and although the weather was cold, the company of my friends was warm and fun.

March: USA, Canada, Peru

A series of very serendipitous events led me from Florida to Peru in March. But in order to get there, I flew up to Toronto for a few days, not only to say a quick hello to my family and friends, but also to catch a mystery shopping flight to Peru, which saved me 50% on the cost of airfare.

April: Peru

April saw me settling into my digs in Peru and discovering the magic of the Sacred Valley. I started off with a five day trek through the Andes ending up in Machu Picchu.

I also got to know the little town of Pisac where I was living, and explored some of the prevalent spiritual opportunities which included receiving the rites of the Munay Ki.

May: Peru

My exploration of Peru continued through May with more Andean treks including the high Andean lakes of Kinsa Cocha, the ancient agricultural lab (or alien landing pad?) of Moray, and the incredible salt mines of Maras.

I also got a strange email from a reader who wanted to move in with me, and I started to learn about plant medicines in Peru such as San Pedro and Ayahuasca.

June: Peru, Canada

After doing one last three-day trek through the mountains to Lares Hot Springs, and making a quick stop in Lima to overdose on ceviche, I left Peru to enjoy summer in the northern hemisphere. Having been on a permanent mission to avoid winter for the last eight years, I’m accustomed to hopping hemispheres according to season (or sticking close to the equator).

July: Canada, USA

For July and part of August, I based my operations in Toronto while visiting family and friends.

I made a quick trip to the Florida Keys where I discovered the magic of Key West and met all kinds of people who visited the Keys and never left.

On my return to Canada, I spent a couple of weeks with my Mum in the cottage country area of Muskoka; a very special place for me with a lifetime of memories.

August: Canada, Spain, Gibraltar, Italy

In August I decided to “pop” over to Europe (via Istanbul) to visit some friends on the south coast of Spain. Having been to Spain many times, I was least impressed with the Costa del Sol, but I nevertheless appreciated spending time with my friends and exploring new places, including Gibraltar.

I capped off my European adventures with a visit to another friend in Pesaro Italy, where I was treated to amazing local hospitality and culture, and home-cooked food so good that I will never look at Italian food (outside of Italy) the same way again. (See also: Living Like a Local in Italy)

September: Peru

After spending my end-of-August birthday with my family and friends in Canada, I returned to a place that resonated me as a new home: Peru (See also: I’m Going Back to Peru: Here’s Why). After a hectic summer travel itinerary, I spent most of September relaxing and settling back into my Peruvian digs. I did get out of the house a few times though(!), including a trip to the Barratio market in Cusco.

October: Peru

I branched out a little more in October, attending a Peruvian wedding, and also making an attempted climb up mount Pachatusan, which ended very differently – but possibly more rewardingly – than I could possibly have imagined.

October also marked the end of a very long battle with lawyers and insurance companies in the aftermath of a near-fatal accident I suffered in Grenada in February 2013. I lost the battle, but in so doing I won my life back. (See also: Cutting Your Losses: Why I’m Losing, in Order to Win)

November: Peru

In November I continued to do work with the various plant medicines of Peru, I did a beautiful walk from Cusco to the ancient ruins of Huchuy Qosqo, and I kept working hard on becoming fluent in Spanish.

I also started planning a two-month trip to escape the rainy season in Peru (January through March), and although my intention was to visit Australia and New Zealand with a frequent flyer mile ticket, I ended up spending $1700 on absolutely nothing – not even flights. But I got over that pretty quickly, when I realized there were even better travel opportunities around the next corner – which you’ll learn about soon.

December: Peru

I laid relatively low in December, partly because my purse was stolen in Cusco, leaving me without any money (other than what I could borrow from friends, which I limited to necessities only). Although I learned a lot from the incident, it wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it might be, and in fact, I saw more blessings than curses come of it.

December marks eight years since I sold everything I owned in Canada and started my full-time travel adventures, and I spent some time reflecting on this amazing journey that has allowed me to live and travel through over 50 countries. If you’d have asked me 10 years ago where I would be now, my wildest imagination wouldn’t have placed me in the Sacred Valley of Peru with the repertoire of experiences (good, bad, and otherwise) that I now have.

And life continues to change and evolve; with a home base in Peru (at least for now), I’m changing the way I travel and how I work. I have some local focuses here in Peru that are taking more of my time in an incredibly satisfying way; things that I will write about more soon enough, when I find the right words.

Happy Holiday Season, and here’s to an amazing year in 2015!

Other Annual Travel Summaries

2013: 12 Countries and 29,000 miles

2012: 8 Countries and 20,000 miles (video here)

2011: 13 Countries and 73,000 kms

2010: 9 Countries (unknown miles/kms)

My First Four Years of Full-Time Travel (2007-2010)

This post 7 Countries and 34,000 Miles: 2014 Travel Summary appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

I’ve just had the good fortune to spend the last couple of weeks with family at a friend’s cottage, during one of my visits back to Canada; a sojourn of sorts from my full-time travels.

This post was originally published in 2014. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

I have a lifetime of memories in Muskoka.

Visiting cottages owned by family friends since I was a child, Muskoka is responsible for planting a lot of seeds of discovery:

• It’s where, as a child, I first learned to appreciate a beautiful sunset.
• I had my first canoe ride (and later, motorboat ride).
• I learned to waterski.
• I developed a fierce love of water lilies and lily pads.
• I discovered that perception of distance is skewed on water, after nearly drowning trying to swim across a bay.
• I fed chipmunks peanuts until their cheeks were stuffed so disproportionately full that they couldn’t walk straight.
• I learned to sail, and had fun with my teenage girlfriends overturning our little sunfish and pretending to have trouble righting it so we could meet cute boys in passing boats.
• I fell in love with hummingbirds and frogs, and learned to hate mosquitos.

Later, in my 20s, I discovered how much fun the roads in Muskoka are to ride on a motorcycle, and I attended the annual Sportbike Rally in Parry Sound (pictured above – that’s me, circa 2004).

Muskoka is Unique

A childhood friend of mine who lived in London (England) for a while and worked at a travel agency laughed when they sat all the employees down one day and said “today we’re going to learn about ‘Cottage Country’ – a world famous place in Ontario, which is in Canada”. Growing up in Toronto as we did, Muskoka was just next door; I guess sometimes we have to travel around the world to find out what we’ve got on our own doorstep.

After traveling around the world – a few times over – here are some pictures of what I discovered in Muskoka:

This post Muskoka, Ontario: A Lifetime of Memories in Cottage Country appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

This post was originally published in 2011. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. 

After just a few weeks back in Toronto, I’ve noticed a few trends, one of which is the opulence of iPhones and similar devices on the subway. Most – if not all – passengers are glued to some sort of device – a phone, a tablet, a smartphone, MP3 player, etc. The lady on my left is sending a text message. The guy to my right is scrolling through his music collection. Across from me is a couple watching a video, and somebody else checking their emails.

Everybody has one. The peer pressure is palpable.

Lucky for me, I have one too. And although I was initially skeptical about how I’d incorporate an iTouch into my routine, I’ve done so and continue to push my boundaries by attempting to go “paperless”.

Back to my ride on the Toronto subway. Today, like so many other passengers, I’m mesmerized by my own device, watching some inspirational TED talks that I’ve downloaded.

When I look up, I’m surprised to see two people talking across from me. I can tell they’re strangers; you wouldn’t expect to see these two keeping company.

The woman is plump and dark-skinned, wearing an orange wig that couldn’t possibly be assumed to be natural. I figure she’s in her early 20’s, and I wonder why she’s wearing such huge fake eyelashes at two o’clock in the afternoon.

Her unlikely conversation partner is a lanky elderly oriental man, wearing clothes that he’s likely worn for the last 20 years but maintained as lovingly as possible. He has a broad cheeky smile and a thick accent.

There is one thing they both have in common: bags. Lots and lots of bags. His are filled with groceries and knick-knacks, and hers appear to be from clothing and accessory stores.

“You got iPhone?” he says to her in what I assume is the middle of an involved conversation about such technology.

“No,” she replies as she produces an iPhone-looking device. “But I have this, which is almost the same. It even looks like an iPhone.”

They go on to discuss price and features at some length. I watch as he asks her a series of simple questions, followed by a pause and thoughtful batting of eyelashes while she considers the question and gives him a patient answer. I keep looking for a sign of impatience or lack of interest on her part for being pestered with such questions, but all signs point to her generally tolerating – if not downright enjoying – the conversation.

“You have music on that?” he asks.

She nods.

“You like Bob Marley? I think you like Bob Marley.”

A flickr of a bemused smile floats across her face as she bats her eyelashes with a polite “No, I don’t usually listen to Bob Marley.”

“Oh. I do. I like Bobby,” he says in a vain attempt to appear hip and find more common ground with his subway seatmate.

I meet eyes with the woman, who can see that I’ve been eavesdropping on their conversation. With a mutual smile and understanding wink, I leave the train and wonder how much longer these two will carry on their chat, how it will end, and what will come of it.

The last time I rode the Toronto subway two years ago, I had a great conversation with an Indian lady who invited me to stay with her family in India.

This time around, I’ve noticed sadly that the increased abundance of iPhones and similar devices has shut people up and drawn them into their own worlds. Which is why it’s so refreshing to see a couple of strangers with such diverse backgrounds conversing and relating and having fun.

That’s the Toronto I missed.

This post A Moment in Time on a Toronto Subway appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!

As I walk towards downtown Toronto for lunch, I see a large woman (?) clad in a red ball gown and a sparkly tiara, speaking animatedly on her cell phone. Simultaneously walking by her is a shirtless man singing at the top of his lungs and dancing wildly while listening to his mp3 player.

Aahh….Toronto in summer, on the day of the Pride Parade. This is nothing; I’m still five kilometers from the downtown core (and the parade route itself).

This post was originally published in 2011. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content.

I’ve always appreciated my hometown of Toronto for being among the most eclectic and multicultural cities in the world. Growing up here, I was pretty much a minority as a Canadian-born Caucasian, and I identified Canadian culture with that of many backgrounds. Perhaps it is part of the reason why traveling full-time has come so easily to me; I’m used to coexisting with so many other ethnicities and cultures. Racism is (or rather, was)  not in my vocabulary.

It’s in this spirit of openness and acceptance that Toronto has also become a major player in the world gay and lesbian community. In North America, Toronto is among the most progressive for setting policies, including legalizing same-sex marriage (which happened in 2003).

And for over 30 years, Toronto has hosted a Pride Week Festival (one of the world’s longest running organized Pride celebrations), attracting almost 1.5 million people. This annual festival culminates in the Pride Parade; a colourful extravaganza of expression and flambuoyance that takes over downtown Toronto.

Here are some impressions of the Toronto Pride Parade on this hot and sunny Sunday afternoon:

This post Toronto Pride Parade: A Photo Essay appeared first on The Professional Hobo. Please click through to read it in full!