Celebrate Life's Adventures!

Attend Virtual Museum Exhibits for Fun and Education

November 17, 2020 by tazimdamji Leave a Comment

One of my favourite things to do when I travel is to check out the local museums and art galleries. When I’m unable to travel, I have a feeling like I’m missing out on something. Spending time on weekends or evenings to attend virtual museum exhibits makes me feel like I’m exploring a new place, I’m back in university studying art history (with no exams!) and like I’ve gotten a new outlook on the world and different cultures.

Why Spend The Time to Attend Virtual Museum Exhibits?

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I, for one, hope the trend of having virtual collections and exhibits available for the public will continue. Even when it is easier to be able to visit institutions in person, there will be many reasons why people may choose to view exhibits online:

Accessibility – perhaps the museum or collection isn’t set-up for wheelchairs, hearing impairment, etc.
Illness or need to remain at home or in a care facility
Physical distance – with exhibits available online, people can view things from across the country and around the world
Cost – museums and galleries, when not free or by donation, can be too costly for people to visit as often as they’d like to.
Time – online exhibits and resources allow people to “visit” anytime of day or night.

Virtual exhibits or digitized collections aren’t something new. VirtualMuseum.ca, founded in 2001, is The largest digital source of stories and experiences shared by Canada’s museums and heritage organizations. You can find exhibits here from both large and small museums across the country. What I like even more than virtually touring the museums, through a 360 degree virtual tour or otherwise, is attending seminars or lectures that allow me to learn and get more from the experience as a whole.

Learning Opportunities

As one might take a guided tour through a museum or gallery in person, so too can you take a virtual tour. Many institutions offer seminars/lectures, guided virtual tours, and art history lessons online for free or for a small fee.

I’ve taken a few free (with donation option) virtual tours/lectures offered by the Washington D.C. History and Culture non-profit. Typically, they used to offer in-person tours to bring people together to experience the history and culture of Washington D.C. Since the beginning of the pandemic and into the future, they provide virtual versions of these tours. The added bonus is that they cover major museums and galleries in other cities, too.

You can take a look at Eventbrite for free or paid events. Use the filters to select a date, price, category, format, language. . .

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Things to do in Whistler in Summer

July 5, 2020 by Tazim Leave a Comment

Sure, when most people think of Whistler, British Columbia, they think about winter sports, like skiing and snowboarding. And it’s true that Whistler Blackcomb Resort (and the entire town) was originally set up to be a winter destination, but things have changed in recent years. Whistler is the place to visit both in winter and summer.

There is no shoulder season in Whistler – people flock here year-round, which means that many of the hotels don’t offer a discount for off-peak times and that the town is pretty much always busy.

In addition to the many conventions and conferences that happen here year-round, people from nearby Vancouver drive up for weekend getaways and day trips. There are so many different outdoor activities to partake in, lots of high-end shopping/hotels/restaurants, plenty of casual dining options, and also a lot of free things to check out, so there is really something for everyone here. There really are so many things to do in Whistler in Summer.

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Indigenous Travel Bloggers and Influencers you Need to Be Following

June 24, 2020 by Tazim Leave a Comment

Follow these Indigenous travel bloggers to celebrate diversity in the travel community. At the end of this article, I share a few suggestions for ways to be a supportive ally to Indigenous communities.

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How to Celebrate Diversity when you Travel

May 6, 2020 by Tazim Leave a Comment

While it may seem fun to recreate people’s experiences from their Instagram photos – piggybacking to try to see what seems to be the best places to visit. But, you don’t want your Instagram feed and your memories to be coloured by the same-old-same-same-old stuff, do you?

Off-the-beaten path, hidden gems, whatever you call them – there are way more interesting ways to fill your travel itinerary than by copying whatever everyone else is doing.

Why Celebrate Diversity

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Diverse cultural experiences include learning how a variety of different cultures made and continue to make their place in any given area. This might look like:

Asking questions
Looking through the archives for a more full picture of the history
Being curious
Visiting a variety of different cultural institutions, participating in different events and festivals, and learning from a range of resources.

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Get Excited – Go Back in Time at the Royal Tyrell Museum

February 3, 2020 by Tazim Leave a Comment

Did you find joy and delight at the excitement of learning as much as you could about dinosaurs as a child? Maybe you had toy dinosaurs that you endlessly played with? Or perhaps you just love learning about history or science? All of these are great reasons to visit The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum is a tourist attraction and a centre of palaeontological research known for its collection of more than 130,000 fossils located in the Canadian Badlands.

The Royal Tyrell Museum - Dinosaur bones

Ever since my family and I moved to Calgary, Alberta when I was twelve years old, we’ve been making a day-trip of driving to Drumheller. It’s not a place where you can easily get bored or tired of visiting, which is why we’ve taken visiting family members and friends over the years. Part of the fun of driving to the Royal Tyrrell Museum is the journey – the landscape quickly changes from prairie grasses to rolling hills and then to hoodoos.