Travel – Page 4 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

Wandering Beautiful Halifax

Today I touched down in Halifax. My job is awesome in that it allows me to travel across the country every now and again to discuss drug studies (www.cnodes.ca). So I’m here in this great seaside city for a meeting and workshop tomorrow. It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to wander a new city, so once I checked into the Marriott Harbourfront, I was off to explore.

I grabbed myself a coffee from Starbucks and then headed to the Halifax Citadel, onward to the Public Gardens, admired the Dalhousie campus (I love wandering university campuses!), bought apples at the Farmer’s Market and then walked along the Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk.

It was a lot of walking, but the weather was pleasant and the air had a scent of the ocean. I miss the ocean. A lot. I also realized that while I like to visit and wander cities on my own, it’s a much more enjoyable experience with someone. When my co-worker arrived, I met up with her and we wandered around for a bit more, chatting and laughing about this, that and the other.

Had to take a photo of this :) — Had to take a photo of this 🙂

We retired early since we were both exhausted and had some reading to do for work. But instead of reading, I indulged in room service while watching I Robot on TV. It seemed much more exciting than reading papers for the workshop entitled “Minimizing Confounding Bias in Observational Studies: Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW).”

Eating dinner at The Five Fishermen. Yum!

Peru. Finally.

Machu Picchu, here I come! (Photo from GAdventures)

I’ll keep this post short and sweet. Peru… here I come! In a few short hours, I will be boarding a plane to Houston before taking another plane to Lima. I’ve been waiting for this trip for quite some time. With my Inca Trail permit ready to go, I will be completing that multi-day trek, following in the footsteps of the Inca, before seeing the sun rise above Machu Picchu. And then it will be off to the Amazon for a couple of days to stay at a rainforest lodge in the jungle. Of course, throughout the entire trip, it will also be a gastronomic adventure with the likes of alpaca heart and guinea pig (well, maybe I’ll try the guinea pig :S). I just can’t wait! More importantly, it will be great to spend time with my brother Ry and my mum, who I don’t see nearly enough. I may not have been checking items off of my 31 before 31 list, but soon I’ll be able to strike-through the most epic item of the list, number 31: Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. W00t!

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A New Passport for Many More Adventures!

It’s no secret that I love to travel. Like, I LOVE to travel. And not just any travel- I love adventure travel. Not that I’ve done a ton of it (compared to what I would like), but as my fondness for the outdoors and my desire for adventure grow, I find myself wanting to do more and more off-the-beaten-path kind of travel. Canada offers so many fantastic opportunities for that, especially living close to the mountains, but the world is a big place, and there are so many places to explore, adventures to experience, and shenaniganning to be had. And for that, one needs a passport :).

Today I picked up my brand new and shiny passport. It still has that new passport smell. The pages are crisp and in pristine condition and there are no stamps on any of the 24 pages. Obviously, those pages won’t remain blank for very long! It’s exciting to think about the next 5 years of seeing the world, but it also has me reflecting on the last few years. Looking through the immigration control stamps in my now cancelled passport, I’m reminded of many great memories:

Cancelled 😦

Visiting friends in Germany at the end of 2007 for an unforgettable New Year’s
Seeing a friend in Amsterdam and taking an impromptu trip to London where we saw Wicked and perused the Portobello Market in Notting Hill
Having some of the best, and freshest, salmon on the coast of Chile after taking a boat ride to see penguins in their natural habitat

A simple meal. The best and freshest salmon I’ve ever had.

Border crossing from Chile to Argentina en route to Bariloche

Discovering my love for Argentinian Malbec in Argentina, and learning to dance the tango!
Adventuring in Costa Rica: Zip-lining over the trees of a cloud forest, hearing my voice jump an entire octave higher than expected when bungee jumping, canyon rappelling down a waterfall, learning to surf in Manuel Antonio National Park, and somehow watching fireworks during a wedding reception on a hill over-looking San José!

Canyon rappelling down a waterfall

Zip-lining in the cloud forest

Sky-diving, lava-side yoga, lava-tube exploring, hiking in a crater, and taking a helicopter ride in Hawaii

My version of hot yoga

Sky-diving over the North Shore, Oahu

Enjoying a picnic of wine, cheese, prosciutto and a baguette on the grounds of the Louvre as the Eiffel Tower sparkled in the distance

A picnic at the Louvre 🙂

Savouring one of the best meals I’ve ever eating at a fine-dining seaside restaurant (Svinkløv Badehotel) in the north of Denmark

Fine-dining in Denmark

I’m so appreciative that I’ve had the opportunity to experience these things.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing” (Helen Keller)

I truly believe this. And so, God spare my life, I hope to experience many more daring adventures with my new 5 year passport. Such as? Well, to name a few…

Go scuba diving in Honduras
Visit South Africa to hike Mount Kilimanjaro. Cage diving with great white sharks is a must too.
Hike the 75 km West Coast Trail
Bungee Jump off of Kawarau Bridge in New Zealand (the original bungee jump!)
Trek (or marathon run??) The Great Wall of China

Kilimanjaro (Photo found on www.tryanythingonceblog.com)

It may not all be financially possible, and who knows what other exciting things life will bring, but I’ll aim high. And I’ll start the adventuring this year with something amazing:

Hike the Inca Trail in Peru and spend a few nights in the Amazon

Can’t wait until July *hopefully*! (Photo from Gadventures)

With all the spiders and critters that go bump in the night, how could I not be excited about this?? It’s totally worth the 4 day trek and view of the Machu Picchu :). Let the adventures begin!