Diverse Cultural Experiences and Canadian Travel.
If you aren’t up for a long camping trip, car camping can be a great alternative. This type of camping is great for those with larger groups, children or elderly people—as well as for those that are either not physically fit enough or not interested in a grueling week of hiking 10 to 25km per day.
So, what do you need in order to have an enjoyable car-camping trip?
Because I believe that what we focus on grows, I know putting time and effort in to celebrating friendships (one of the most important things in my life) will bring me further happiness.
“It’s about taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they’re the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our existence. It’s the difference between surviving life and living life.”
– Jenny Lawson in Furiously Happy: A Funny Book about Horrible Things
Living life to the full for me, is all about having adventures—big and small. While I could find joy having adventures by myself, I prefer to share the journey with those I love. My good friend Alex and I have talked about the importance of living an adventurous life. No, we’re not going to sell everything and backpack around Europe, or train for a year to hike in the Himalayas.
During this first year of our friendship, Alex and I had many adventures (near and far). Living in two different (and far apart) cities in the Lower Mainland (greater Vancouver area) has meant discovering new places and returning to familiar favourites each time we get together. And every time we get together we talk about other places we’d like to spend time together and travel to.
This anticipation in itself brings happiness. Anticipating adventures with my friend extends the joy of the actual adventure.
I’m attending the Women in Travel Summit (WITS) in Québec City! It’s taken me more time than I care to admit to pack my suitcase and carry-on back for the conference. I really wanted to pack light for a conference and travel carry-on only, but my personal item (a camera backpack) is too long, unfortunately.
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I’ve only been to one conference (Alt Summit during June in Salt Lake City, Utah) prior to going to WITS (Women in Travel Summit), so learning how to pack light for a conference will be a work in progress for a while.
For Alt Summit I didn’t have money to purchase items of clothing specifically for the conference and I also really don’t like wearing hot weather clothing (shorts, short skirts, tank tops). I feel like I have plenty of clothing options for WITS, but still feel unprepared.
There are a few pieces of luggage/accessories that I wish I owned. I keep hearing about packing cubes. Packing cubes are soft mesh cubes that hold and organize clothing. I have some mesh laundry-style cubes I’ll be using until I can get my hands on these:
I have a camera/laptop backpack but wish I had something else for my carry-on luggage, since the backpack doesn’t fit clothing or much else. There are SO MANY laptop backpacks out there and I have found so many on the eBags website. This Browning Jackson Carry-On Backpack below looks promising, though:
What do you pack when you’re going to a conference? Once I’ve been to a few more and feel more confident, I’ll share what I bring with me.
You can call it FOMO (fear of missing out), with a dash of “don’t tell me what to do” rebellion, but I like to have some say in how my time in spent when I travel. Spontaneous travel can work on its own or mixed in with activities you’ve planned.
I generally want to have some ideas for what to do and where to spend my time, but I don’t want to follow a rigid schedule. What if I’m checking out a cool museum, or heading to a restaurant and see an interesting looking street with lots of great-looking shops down it? I’d want to have the flexibility in my day to be able to wander around for a bit.
This year, to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, Discovery Passes, which grant free access to Canada’s national parks, historic sites, and marine conservation areas for you and your family, are free! With almost 200 locations throughout Canada, there’s sure to be a few nearby that you can visit this year.
This Parks Canada Discovery Pass is only the second one I’ve owned. When I moved back to my hometown of Calgary, Alberta with my best friend for (what turned out to be) 10 months, we wanted to make the most of our time near the Canadian Rockies with a Discovery Pass. There are at least a dozen Parks Canada sites/parks within a few hours drive of Calgary. I’ll be checking out at least a few of them this summer when I go through the area on a road trip.
For the past few years, I’ve been on a quest to visit all locations of national parks, national historic sites, and marine conservation areas in Canada. I hope to visit at least 10 locations on my list this year.
