I spent the day in a boat on the waters between Vancouver and Bowen Island. At several points during the day I admired the scenery and thought of how lucky I am to live where I live. The mountains are stunning, and every way I looked I saw beauty.
People travel from all over the world to see the place where I choose to live. How lucky am I not just to live here, but to have opportunities to enjoy and share this space with family and friends.
I’ve been away 43 of the last 51 days. First I was in Tofino, then I did the West Coast Trail before heading back home… and then I took off to Ontario. In the last 22 days in Ontario I’ve moved 10 times and travelled 2,000km in a rental car.
I am thrilled about all my travel, and I can’t wait to get home. I can’t think of anything I would want to take away from my trip and simultaneously feel like I’ve been gone too long. Does that make sense?
I think I feel this way because it’s the longest I’ve travelled without my wife and kids. Meanwhile, I’ve had so many adventures with other people I love to spend time with.
All this to say that the trips I’ve taken have been wonderful, but I really want to go home.
I spent 3 nights in Tofino, a night on the West Coast Trail trailhead, 7 nights on different beaches on the trail, 8 nights at home, and now 2 weeks in Ontario, spending a maximum of 4 nights in any one place. In the coming 9 days I’m going to be visiting 6 cities and sleeping in 5 of them. Then I finally head home.
My sleep schedule is messed up, I’m not getting enough exercise, and I’m not eating regularly. That said, I still feel like things are going well. My mom and I had a wonderful visit with my uncle, his daughter and her husband for dinner today, I had a great conversations with both daughters and my wife back home, and I’m ready to spend 3 hours travelling to my next destination tomorrow.
It’s weird how I can feel a bit home sick, and also enjoy what I’m doing, while feeling like I’m constantly on the move. Am I going to enjoy my upcoming schedule? Absolutely. Am going to be excited to be back home when this is all done? Absolutely.
I was at a buddy’s house and he had a motivational quote on his wall, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”
I feel like although my schedule is a bit haywire, I’m on the move and somehow keeping balance.
I don’t miss much about living in Ontario, but the fall colours are an exception to this. Yes, the leaves change colour in British Columbia as well, but with evergreens being the predominant type of tree, it doesn’t have the same impact as you see in Ontario. A couple days ago I drove into Bancroft, and on the drive up from Toronto there were many areas covered with leaves turned hues of yellow, orange, and red.
I’m definitely here right on the cusp of fall, with a noticeable increase in the colouration as I headed north, and in just a couple days here I’m already seeing even more of a change. My trip to Ontario still has a couple weeks to go, and so I’m sure I’ll get to see even more dramatic colours and contrasts.
It’s absolutely beautiful.
I’m on a plane headed to Toronto. It’s about to land. I’m going for a vacation to visit family and friends for a few weeks. The last time I did a holiday in October, I was living in China working at a school that had a week off in the month. It still feels weird taking a trip like this during the school year. I’m feeling like I’ve just had an extended summer, which will come to an end after this trip. It’s not.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be visiting at least 6 different cities/towns and will likely drive well over 1,500 km. The longest I’ll stay in any one place is 4 days, so I’ll be living out of a suitcase. Maybe this trip will be the thing that changes the gear in my head that feels like work is returning soon. Or maybe it’ll happen when I’m back home and into a routine?
Last Tuesday was the first time I went back into a school this school year. I visited a principal friend at a high school. Then on Thursday I visited my old school and spent some time with the new principal along with former staff and students. I had no pangs, I didn’t feel like I was missing out. The visits were great and then it felt good to leave.
Ultimately, I’m thrilled with my decision to retire. Zero regrets. I’m just not used to the fact that I’m this free to do what I want to do at this time of year. Thinking about it now, it’s nice to know that I don’t have to worry about a staff meeting on Monday. I just need to know if I’m sleeping on a couch or in a guest room? I like that question more than any that ever came out of a staff meeting.
We left the Tofino campground at 8:30 this morning and drove to, the northern tip of the West Coast Trail at Pachena Bay. After a quick lunch of heated up leftovers in the parking lot, we finalized our WCT backpack packing. Then we hoped on a bus to Port Renfrew/Gordon River, where we will start the trail after a night on the trailhead (followed by the mandatory, check-in and orientation).
But I’m still on the bus now, at 4:35pm with about 45 minutes to an hour to go and no cell service. The good news is the bumpiest 2+ hours are over. I’m so thankful that we are taking the bus today and not at the end of our trip. This would be a really hard ride to do after a 7-day camping trip.
Tomorrow we head out on the trail and I’ve heard cell service is spotty. I’m not going to try to post every day. I will still write every day, and I’ll eventually share my daily inklings, but I don’t know yet if they’ll show up as individual posts, or one post, or ???
So a heads up that my Daily-Inks are taking a hike, and will be not-so-daily until the 23rd or 24th.
I remember when forest fires were not a factor that disrupted summer holiday plans. However for a few years now smoke has wreaked havoc on our summer vacations. The worst for my wife and I was in Nelson, BC back in 2021, when it seemed the whole province was on fire. I actually tried to do a morning run and learned later that on that morning Nelson had one of the worst air quality indexes in the world, due to nearby forest fires. My breathing felt like I was jogging inside a plastic bag, and I could taste the smoke. I struggled.
Today we drove to Kelowna. We charged our car in Merritt where the air quality was awful. You could see the smoke in the air between you and anything 8-10 feet away or more. And while there were a couple clear patches beyond Merritt, as we entered Kelowna the smoke returned.
So our holiday now starts, and will probably end, in smoke. Exercise might be curtailed, and so too might beach time. We’ll make the most of our time here… but I’m not sure we’ll do this trip again next year if we have to book it months in advance and won’t know the smoke conditions.
We are fortunate that the smoke seldom heads to the lower mainland, where we live. I have a lot of empathy for people who deal with this all summer long, and also face the threat of fires affecting their lives more personally. It’s one thing to be upset about smoke filled air on your holidays and a whole other thing when it affects your everyday life.
I shared a few stories with a colleague yesterday about my time living in China. I spoke about the T.I.C. moments we had there… an acronym that we foreigners created for the term, ‘This is China!’
TIC moments had one of two distinct qualities. Either it was something that we experienced which would have been simple to do back home, but seemed impossible to get done in China, or vice versa, an experience that would never happen back home but was surprisingly simple to do in China.
Some of these things led to being flabbergasted and frustrated, others led to delight, laughter, or joy. I’m not going to share any specifics now. I have shared some in the past and I’ll share more later. Why I’m bring this up is to reflect on how valuable that experience was. To move to another country and to experience these unexpected moments of delight and frustration provided a perspective of how different cultures are.
It allowed us put some perspective on our own culture in a way that made us less judgmental and more open. It helped us realize that differences are to be celebrated, and that common sense is not always common, but kindness is. TIC moments were eye-opening experiences. Sometimes they made us feel like we entered a whole new world, other times they reminded us that deep down we are all the same.
Travel in general does that to you. It opens your eyes to how others live, why they believe what they believe, and yet helps us see the commonalities we all have. Cultural perspective requires experiencing the world from constructs outside your own culture. Travel allows you to recognize your biases, your norms, and even your privilege. And in the end your perspective on the world and all its inhabitants gets richer, along with your appreciation for others who come from different cultures.
I went to a 30th Anniversary celebration today and met someone I knew who retired 15 years ago. When she heard I was retiring this year she went directly into ‘advice mode’ and said, ‘Tavel!’
She continued, “Travel as much as you can. In fact, there is no such thing as travelling too much. Book more plans that you think you need to and you still won’t travel enough.”
She then explained how travel changes over time. Her husband has mobility issues now so they travel with that in mind. But in travels earlier in her retirement there were hikes, and walking tours, and even hostels. “Do the things you can’t and won’t want to do later right away. Travel, travel, travel.”
I love hearing this. There is so much of the world yet to see, and more places I’ve already been to and would go back to if only the unexplored world were not so big. I know that at 75 my travel plans will be much different than the plans I make in the next 5 years. And so I hope to be quite adventurous in my travel over the next few years.
I got to see my sister and cousin this weekend. It was so nice to connect. My sister flew in, but my cousin lives 40 minutes to an hour away depending on the time of day I’m travelling there. It’s not far, and yet it is. I remember reading a stat that if you move just an hour away from someone you are likely to see that person more than 80% less than when they lived closer. My visits to my cousin would suggest that stat is higher.
I enjoy the company of him and his wife very much. Good people. Yet I barely see them. It takes my sister flying in to make it happen. Why? Busy lives. Time flies by and an hour drive is 2 hours travel when you also have to go home… well a little less because an evening drive is usually shorter, but still, it’s a lot of driving. It’s the end of April and the next time I’ll see my cousin is probably early July, when I have a gathering planned.
People have asked when I decide to downsize, where would I want to live? I might fantasize about living somewhere tropical but the reality is my wife and I won’t move that far from our kids, and also, we’d like to stay pretty close to where we are now. Why? Because we already don’t see our friends enough, and moving away will just make this harder. Finding time for friends and family is a lot easier when you’re close.
Proximity really matters.
