Travel Through Japan with a Cat and a Japanese Soldier
This month I travel the furthest I have ever journeyed in books – Japan enjoying the Japanese countryside in The Travelling Cat Chronicles and one of Japan’s former islands and WWII history in The Emperor of Any Place. The...
Ferry Ride to Finland: Homesick for Canada
a followsummer travel memory from 2004 The alarm goes early – 5:30. For a change, it wakes me. The coffee is ready-to-go, and although I am not interested in food, I have my cereal with yogurt and a banana. At 6:00, I make sure...
Happy to Be in Helsinki, Finlandia Again!
I am so happy to be in Finland again! I traveled here in 2000 with my mother, and we visited southern Finland before we went on to St. Petersburg. I was impressed with Finland – beautiful, clean, birch and pine-covered land with...
Wonderful, Wonderful Rainy Copenhagen!
Still rainy and cool. Big, flat, low-hanging grey-hued clouds continue to dominate the Köpenham sky. Everyone, it seems, is complaining about the lack of warm dry weather both in Europe and in Canada. It is even making the local...
Skip the Mexican Beach and Hike the Mountains
We stopped to listen to our guide tell us about the route we were hiking on, the Camino Real to Oaxaca, Mexico. Then he said: “We’ll move on now but let’s stay quiet for the next 20 minutes and enjoy nature.” That was the most...
Why Tahiti Is My Favourite Island in the South Pacific
French Polynesia is like an exhilarating playground of secrets. Dreamy atolls and astounding lagoons dot the endless Pacific wonderland and right there in the middle of it all is Tahiti, – an island that seemingly lies right in...
Expatriates: Best 5 Countries for Expats
Moving abroad is never an easy choice. There definitely are countries whose citizens choose repatriation if they are pursuing a better life, but what happens if you are from a country which has a good economy but you still want...
The Viking Ships of Oslo
We start our first morning in Oslo Norway by taking the ferry to the suburb of Bygdøy, full of beautiful homes and museums. As befits a maritime nation, 4 of the 5 museums across the water are concerned with ships – including the...
521 Kilometres of Cloud and Fjord
Ok, I get my big, looming, cloud-enshrouded just-as-good-as New Zealand fjords on this trip. We check out of our hotel quite early (for us) and are on the road by 9:30, foregoing the fast route and taking the scenic road from...
Embrace Winter and Travel to Ireland and New Hampshire
I suppose it’s fitting – if you live close to Toronto – that this month’s books have me travelling to two places covered in snow, Ireland and New Hampshire. The Christmas Party The Christmas Party by prolific writer...