“Do you need a push?” “Yes!” And four young people, total strangers, went to the front of our car. “Ok, now!” Scott put it in reverse. It didn’t help. Now here came a blonde middle-aged woman with a bag of road salt on her shoulder. She’d gone and got it from the trucker who was … Continue reading A Canadian Winter Adventure
Scott swam to the beach and went for a run. I lounge on the catamaran with my book, dipping beskuit in my coffee. Our host Christine had baked the delicious, traditional South African rusks. She makes our breakfast while her husband Roux does boat chores. Early morning run Our sailing trip in the Grenadines at … Continue reading Sailing in the Grenadines
I find myself being still. At first I was jittery. When I was not in the lounges on the ship, being social, when I was in my room, I would shuffle through the papers on my desk. Should I write in my trip journal? No, that was all caught up. Could I play a game … Continue reading The Silence of the North
“Listen.” I hear the ice: the rustling crackle of the small floating pieces against our hulls; the swoosh-bang of water sloshing over a shelf on an iceberg; faint, distant crashes, muted to the point where direction was uncertain, only that it came from the frozen reaches of Icefjord. Paddling through the ice at Ilullisset Here … Continue reading In the Ice: Kayaking in the Arctic
“Saint Lucia dropped their entry test and quarantine requirement for vaccinated travellers!” “Let’s book it!” So this weekend we are heading to a different Caribbean island. We had originally planned to travel there in December of 2020. After three months based in Barbados, we were looking forward to exploring nearby islands. Covid numbers were low: … Continue reading Flying Back to “Normal”
“Wow,” messaged Ruochen, a former student who had just seen my blog. “There’s a lot of content!” It’s true. As I write this post, on December 2, 2021, the third anniversary of my first post, it is my 120th. I started my blog as writing practice, and it was supposed to be a travelogue for … Continue reading Welcome to Brave Travels!
We had a hard time finding coffee. In March 2020 it was because nothing was open. So novel that I took a picture. March 2020 We’d arrived two days before and all seemed normal. Restaurants were open but there was hand sanitizer on the counter, and only every second table was being used. Yes, there … Continue reading Two Trips to Tofino: Pandemic Progress
My beach at Freight’s Bay is different again this morning. The tide is low, but some of the sand that had returned after the scouring of the winter storms has been scooped away again. The beach is angled instead of flat, and fist sized pieces of coral lay scattered on the soft sand. The same … Continue reading On the Beach in Barbados
Some of you have been on this journey with me for a while; here’s updates on a few posts! Learning to Surf: (February) Yes, that’s me on my board, this week! Letting Go, Yet Again: (January) My apartment in Canada is rented for the first time, a 6 week stay. Yay! Slacking Off, Tightening Up: … Continue reading A Few Updates to my Brave Travels
“So what are your stories going to be, from Barbados?” Richard and I were swapping accidental travel stories: my participation in a parade and horse race in Italy, his in a small French village’s wine festival; my travels on a local water taxi on Aberdeen harbour in Hong Kong, his line dancing at a small-town … Continue reading Not a Tourist any Longer
Brave Travels 