“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food, it’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch. Move”
About Me
I am a Canadian-born Australian third culture kid, growing up as an expat in a number of countries. As part of my upbringing, my family travelled extensively around the world. My late mother instilled a lust for travel and a desire to learn about other cultures through immersing oneself in their world.
I have lived in many countries, and travelled to many more. I have been to every continent, except the elusive Antarctica, and am constantly planning new adventures.
My goals for travel usually involve seeing and photographing wildlife, learning about the history and culture of a country and its people, and almost most importantly eating local food. I have a number of strong allergies, so understanding the local ingredients is always important.
My Style of Travel
I like off-the-beaten-track travel, full of adventure and excitement - not resort-style lounging. I’m a fan of self-guided travel, and I try to write my notes to help others do the same. Since my first international trip in 1984, the world has changed with accessibility and information.
Me with the statue of David Livingstone - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
I enjoy including cultural reading and references for locations, music or podcasts to listen to, and always what to eat.
As many parts of the world have opened up to tourism in my lifetime, a certain level of loss of culture has certainly occurred. The touristy centres and souvenir stores all tend to converge towards a similar point.
I genuinely enjoy helping others experience travel the way I do. While it was daunting for me when I first started travelling solo, even after I’d had been all over the world, it has certainly become significantly easier with the internet.
This is why I started this site, and why I am producing general Travel Advice as well.
My plan is to produce travel guides for people to use for travel planning. I love creating itineraries for others, and will attempt to curate some here. I will be using ads to help pay for the site, in theory.
Me looking over Bergen, Norway
What is this? Why did I do this?
Over the years, friends of mine would ask me for travel advice for countries that I had visited. I would give standard advice - where to go, what to do, what to eat - and the advice would balloon out to long emails. Then I started drafting word documents and PDFs about locations, providing histories and maps, adding common phrases, and ending up with giant guides.
I have used TripAdvisor over the years, and have added many of my own reviews. For some reason, in the last few years many have been rejected. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back with regards to putting my travel notes on a website.
For now, I am living my mountain life in Cranbrook BC, saving for my next trip!
