travel

I love to travel, and I noticed that I have never written about my experiences. This page is dedicated to mini travel blogs, which I will flesh out more as time goes on.

• Australia

  In 2019 my boyfriend and I decided to take an extra long trip of 6 weeks and go to Australia. The flight from Vancouver to Melbourne was 16 hours long, and by the time you land, you have lost all sense of time.

  It’s hard to compare Australia to anywhere else I’ve been. They seem a bit like the UK, but with nicer weather and less of a class system. One of the first things I noticed was that the cars do not stop for you. As a result people will jaywalk. We felt a bit silly as the polite Canadians who were often waiting for the walk signal.

  My favorite part of the trip was when we stayed in the tropical north in Cairns. This is the place to go if you want to visit the Great Barrier Reef. We took a (slightly) smaller, less touristy boat out to the reef and went snorkelling. It was so exciting to see all of the marine life, especially considering the reef is in danger from climate change. This was sort of a bucket list experience for me, even though I hadn’t thought about it ahead of time.

• Germany

  I visited Germany on my trip to Europe in 2016. First we went to Berlin. If you like World War II and Cold War history this is a great city to visit. You can see the remnants of the Berlin Wall, and even follow placks down some streets were the wall used to stand. The Holocaust memorial is a very interesting monument, and can be unsettling to walk through, but it was one of the highlights of Berlin for me.

  Later on in our trip we went to the Rhine river area. This was a sleepier part of Germany and I think most tourism was geared towards people older than myself, but I enjoyed having a more relaxed time. We stayed in the very charming town of Bacharach. It looks like a town from a fairy tale and has an almost magical feeling.

• Japan

  In 2017 a friend and I went to Japan. I arrived late, as my plane had to stop in Vancouver due to technical difficulties, so I lost most of my first day in Tokyo. In addition to Tokyo, we visted Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara.

  If someone has never travelled to Asia before, is a little unsure of where to start, and has a reasonable budget to work with, I recommend Japan. We felt very safe and I found the people really value order and politeness. In a megacity like Tokyo I can’t say I ever felt too crowded, aside from our time spent in Shinjuku station (one of the busiest train stations in Japan). In the big cities there is always something for you to explore. You never know what you may find if you start exploring the side streets.

  My favorite city was Kyoto. I loved the mixture of nature and city. There are many shrines and temples throughout the city, and beautiful monuments and hikes just a short train ride from the city.