Where have we been?

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I was bitten by the travel bug several years ago.  We had done a fair bit of beach vacationing in the Caribbean and Florida (though I don't really consider Florida as true travel), but it wasn't until our trip to Italy that I became truly hooked on exploring this great big world. 

When I look back over the last 35 years I can see how my desire to see the world has evolved into what it is today. In our twenties, when we were newly married, money was tight.  We both had new jobs and it wasn't easy to get time off at the same time.  Our vacations consisted of staying on after conferences and eploring the surrounding area. Of course, these conferences were either in Canada or in the United States but they allowed a cash-strapped young couple to begin venturing out and exploring different places. 

In 1994, John was given the opportunity to work abroad for what would eventually become 5 years.  We packed up our two small boys (who were 4 and 2 at the time), packed all our belongings into a container, kissed our families good-bye and flew off to the beautiful Caribbean Island of Barbados Over the next five years we enjoyed all that Island life had to offer.  We met many wonderful people, and our eyes were opened to different cultures.  Most of our travels during that time were to Canada to visit family or to explore a handful of neighbouring Islands. By the time we moved back to Canada (with a third son in tow), we felt that our world had expanded greatly, and the desire to live abroad again never left us.

Back in Canada our focus was on raising our three sons, and experiencing all that life with so much  testosterone had to offer.  During our March breaks (Spring breaks for our Southern neighbours) we would drive to Florida to visit parents who were wintering there.  Summer holidays were all about road trips within  Canada.  By the time the boys were older teenagers, we began venturing out farther, and that's when we truly started to travel. 

For our 25th anniversary we went on a Mediterranean cruise (just the two of us of course) that mostly kept us in Italy. I can say that, for me, it was a pivotal moment that sparked my desire to venture beyond North America and explore other countries.   

Last night I was compiling a list of places we've visited. It's exciting to see where we've been up to this point. The list, of course, is heavily weighted to Canada and the United States.

Our list consists of:

  • many resorts in the Caribbean Islands 
  • Barbados
  • 13 different Caribbean cruises (too many ports to list)
  • 4 Panama Canal cruises (many ports on the Pacific coast, as well as the Caribbean side)
  • Mexico three different times
  • Brazil
  • two different Mediterranean cruises (Italy, Turkey, Croatia, Greece, Spain, France)
  • China
  • Dominican Republic 
  • United States (too many places to list here)
  • Canada (too many places to list here)
Altogether we have travelled to 40 different countries so far. This, by no means, will be our final list. We hope to add many more countries in years to come. I plan to write about some of our past travels in future blog posts, but if you are interested in any particular place, please leave a comment and I will add it to my list.




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