I spent a long weekend earlier this month in Busan. The city had been calling my name since I arrived in Korea nine months ago: it’s the second largest after Seoul, known for its laid-back vibes and plentiful beaches. Someone who has resided in both […]
Certain days of the year are etched in our minds as significant. February 14th, May 24th, July 1st… if you grew up near me you can translate that list easily: Valentine’s Day, Victoria Day, Canada Day. Another day that stands out as it approaches is November […]
Where were you at 3 am on Saturday? I was stumbling off a bus into the night under a blanket of stars. My friends and I had hopped on board four hours earlier to join a Seoul Hiking Group trip to Seoraksan National Park. […]
I’ve made some great friends in Incheon who’ve gone out of their way to show me around, and their tours have not skimped on the nightlife. Korean culture (and English-teacher-abroad culture, for that matter) is very social. There are some local beers on tap everywhere you […]
A week ago I left my house at 3:45 am with a suitcase, a backpack, and a one-way ticket to Korea. A short flight took me from Toronto to Chicago, and then a long flight took me from Chicago to Seoul. I’ve signed a one-year […]
We spent our last 24 hours in BC at Squamish Valley Music Festival. The scheduling was a fluke, but I think we may have stumbled upon the ideal way to end a trip. There was no time to feel sad about boarding the plane home, […]
“We’re pretty sure the bridge is actually this way.” So we were warned by the first three hikers we passed in Lynn Canyon Park. We’d ventured up to the north shore, via sky train, ferry, and bus, to experience some of the hiking that Vancouver […]
Vancouver always feels like home and it would be beautiful to me in any conditions, but during my last visit the city really put on a show. Each day Terra and I woke up to blazing sun and crystal blue skies. One afternoon we took a […]
Our first stop after Whistler was Vancouver Aquarium. I mean that literally: Terra’s parents kindly dropped us off there on the way to their flight home. We stashed our large backpacks in some convenient lockers and preoccupied ourselves with fish until my friend Jackie could […]
Whistler is enshrined in most of our minds as a winter paradise. The best skiing (and aprés-skiing) in Canada! When I visited in August, though, towering chairlifts stood empty in the sun, biding their time. The sight gave me an instant and intense desire to […]
For our last day hiking in Whistler we chose the Decker Loop on Backcomb Mountain. It was less of a challenge than our jaunt on the High Note Trail, but in place of physical exertion it offered us stunning vistas and a friendly cast of […]
The High Note Trail is an intermediate loop of Whistler Mountain. The trail map says to give yourself 4 hours to complete it, but with detours and lookouts (and the odd wrong turn) Terra and I stretched it into a full day hike. The route […]
airplane mode, always 