INSPIRATION & EXPERT ADVICE FOR INDEPENDENT TRAVELLERS
“Coming up on the right, whale,” one of the pilots announces over the speaker as we approach the first geoglyph on our Nazca Lines flight. Palms sweating with excitement, I stare intently out the window, camera in hand and ready to shoot as soon as I spot the whale. The pilot banks the plane, angling...
When I was in Québec City for the Québec Winter Carnival, I set aside some time to experience a few of the surrounding area’s winter activities. Aside from Carnaval itself, the most fun I had in Québec was at Village Vacances Valcartier, the largest winter playground in Canada. I spent the morning touring an elaborate...
I’ve visited many cities that embrace winter but have never seen one that celebrates the season more than Québec City. Every year, the city proudly puts on the Québec Winter Carnival (Carnaval de Québec), one of the largest winter carnivals in the world. This celebration goes beyond your typical winter festival though. What makes this...
Albertans love to complain about our long winters, but rather than dreading Canada’s coldest season, we think it’s the perfect time to have a romantic weekend away. Covered in a blanket of white, Alberta’s landscapes couldn’t be more romantic. There’s a peacefulness to the surroundings. It feels as though each place, each moment exists just...
Of the three countries we visited during our 3 week trip to South America, I was most nervous about visiting Bolivia. People either seemed to love it or hate it, so we had no idea what to expect on our first trip to Bolivia. We spent 5 days travelling in Bolivia visiting La Paz, Sucre...
Bolivia was never on our radar as a place to visit until I started seeing photos of the Uyuni Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni). I was drawn to its simplistic beauty- crusty white salt covering miles and miles of land so flat there was no end in sight. Then of course there were those funny,...
Banff may be world famous for its breathtaking mountains and glistening blue lakes, but it was a small cave and its thermal waters that spurred the creation of Canada’s first national park, Banff, in 1885. Cave and Basin is the lowest of nine natural hot springs on Sulphur Mountain, its water bubbling up from 3...
If you’re planning a trip to Japan, you may have heard about the Japan Rail Pass. It’s a convenient, easy to use pass designed for tourists who will be travelling by train in Japan. We decided to buy a Japan Rail Pass for our 2 week trip to Japan, since train was going to be...
Of all the things we did and places we saw during our 3 weeks in South America, hiking the Inca Trail in Peru is our favourite memory. It even climbed the ranks as one of our all-time cherished travel experiences. And to think, I was a little hesitant to do it. I’d heard so much...
Machu Picchu- just hearing the name conjures up classic images of this hilltop Inca city, high in a tropical forest of the Peruvian Andes. These ruins, once concealed by the jungle, have gone on to become an icon of the Inca civilization and Peru’s most visited tourist attraction. So when it came to planning our...
The astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral is a fine example of what can be achieved when art and science come together. Statuettes and paintings embellish a case housing clock dials and mechanisms working together to measure time and astronomical indications. When Strasbourg’s astronomical clock was completed in 1574, it was considered to be one of...
Set between the sprawling crater of Rano Kau and the plunging cliffs of Easter Island’s southwest coast, is the small ceremonial village of Orongo. Orongo is a much different site than any other place on Easter Island. There are no famous moai statues and no huge ceremonial platforms. It’s the only place on the island...
Scattered across the slope of a volcano are hundreds of stone heads, their serious facial expressions gazing out over Easter Island’s barren landscape. These are moai- idolized by the original Rapa Nui culture and obsessively built here at Rano Raraku, one of Easter Island’s most fascinating sites. About Rano Raraku Rano Raraku is the quarry...
“We’re most looking forward to spending 4 days in Easter Island,” I’d say when friends asked about our upcoming trip to South America. “What’s Easter Island?” some would ask, a quizzical look on their face. “You know, the place with all the stone heads,” I replied, trying to hide my shock that they didn’t know...
South America has been a place I’ve wanted to visit for 10 years, but for some reason it has always taken a back seat to other destinations. I am happy to say, that is no longer the case! We finally made it to the southern hemisphere, spending 3 weeks in South America (well, 24 days...
UPDATE: The Edo-Tokyo Museum will be temporarily closed for renovations from April 1, 2022 until 2025 or early 2026. The entire facility will be renovated including displays, equipment and more. It’s not very often that I go out of my way to visit museums when I travel, but once in a while I find one...
Walking into the Tottori Sand Museum I was dripping with sweat, having spent the last hour or so across the street exploring Japan’s largest sand dunes. I was eager to get into the museum not just for the cooler temperatures (although, that was a big part of it), but also because I was curious to...
Wait a minute…I’m still in Japan, right? I scan the scenery surrounding me- it’s all sun, sand and sea. This looks nothing like what I saw on my first trip to Japan a year earlier. Where were the castles, the temples, the shrines, the forests? Instead, here I am, standing at the edge of the...
Walking up a smooth, well-worn stone staircase to Sanbutsuji Temple, I instantly hoped the whole trail up Japan’s Mount Mitoku wasn’t going to be this steep. Looking back now, that was the easiest part of hiking Mitokusan. My adventurous hike (or should I say climb) up Mount Mitoku began simply enough. I met with the...
Stretching along the Sea of Japan, in the Chugoku region of Western Honshu, is a coastal prefecture that’s largely untouched by foreign visitors, at least for now. But once the secret gets out, I’d expect that to change. Tottori prefecture is an ideal area of Japan to visit for people, like myself, who prefer smaller...
We are Rhonda and Mike, a Canadian couple who make it a priority to travel every chance we get!
We describe our travel style as "laid back luxe" and enjoy a mix of outdoor adventures and historic sites.
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