Travel, Wine & Shoes

This past year has been a year of many changes, ups and downs, loss, bucket list items and establishing new goals for myself.  It has been wonderful, amazing, lonely and hard and I have had many experiences that I will never forget.

• Minus 1 job

• 1 Program Manager Professional (PgMP) certification
• 4 half-marathons and a 5k run

• 120,000 km travelled
• 41 countries visited
• 1 country that doesn’t exist
• 4 continents

• learned packing lessons the hard way

• 30,000+ pictures and videos
• crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary 2 ~ the only ocean liner in the world

• crossed the Drake Passage (twice!) and 1 polar plunge

• 1 motorcycle license

• 1 open water diving certification and 1 dry suit diving certification

• climbed Mount Olympus

• 3 new pairs of shoes

• 1 new tattoo and 1 henna tattoo

• many new friends, a lot of selfies, wine, ice cream, police officers, starbucks and a new love of fresh figs

• sailed on the Wind Surf

• one warning and post removal from Facebook

• an obsession with taking pictures of my hands and feet

• a life changing experience in Antarctica ~ it changed how I look at the world and my place in it

• Bosnia & Herzegovina was my favourite new place that I travelled to in Europe

• a 160 km long hike around the coast of Isle of Man

• the haunting images of Auschwitz will never leave me nor will the feeling of stepping into the gas chamber ~ I don’t believe the world has learned much

• attended the 100th Anniversary of D-Day in London, England

• The Highlands of Scotland remain a place I could call home

• it’s been a year of letting go and realizing that life really isn’t fair and sometimes there are no explanations of why and you need to look forward and believe that the best days of your life are ahead of you ~ my best moments have been with my family and friends

• the new year will be a year of more travel, changes and challenges ~ I’m starting 2019 in Panama and will spend time in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala before heading to Mexico and then back home to Canada

• my resolution for 2019 is to put an end to the non-stop yo-yo dieting and weight gains/losses that I continually let myself go through ~ I have lost and gained the same 10-15 pounds too many times ~ it is time to focus on me for me

• March 24, 2019 will be the first day I will step onto the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) to start my first thru-hike ~ the PCT travels from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington and is 4,265 km long ~ I’m anticipating it will take me 5 1/2 to 6 months to hike ~ I may last one night, one week, one month or complete the trail, but my only goal is to start ~ challenges will be sleeping by myself in a tent in the dark, my fear of bears, what to do if a rattlesnake bites me, navigation and my princess tendencies

• I haven’t thought a lot past the PCT ~ I may continue travelling or go back to work at that time ~ whatever will be will be and it will be the right thing for me (yes that rhymes)

• some of my favourite pictures

All the best in the New Year!  Happy Travels!  xo

Travel