Tag Archives: Itinerary

Posts from Base Camp

The Travel Checklist

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

OK, I admit it.  I am a travel geek and have recorded every trip I have ever taken.  I know how many countries I have visited and how many times I’ve been to each of those countries.  In fact, because of the vastness (and proximity) of Canada and the United States, I have recorded the same information for all of the provinces, territories and states of those two countries.  Alas, if this becomes the basis of your travel planning, it becomes a “checklist” approach to travel…and I am trying to avoid falling into that trap.

Having said that, I’m not going to throw out my travel records.  Tallying up the number of countries visited is an interesting, though easily manipulated, way to measure how much one has traveled.   Although my travel decisions will (hopefully) not be guided by these statistics, I will continue updating my lifetime travel stats as the year progresses.  And yes, when the 12 months are over, I will probably calculate how many countries I visited during this special year.

I will also admit that one of the destinations under consideration for my travel year is Saskatchewan:  the only Canadian province/territory that I have never visited.  But I won’t go just to check it off the list…there must still be something special for me to see or do that justifies a visit.  Will it make the cut?  Stay tuned and see!

Posts from Base Camp

Planning my Itinerary

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

For many years, I’ve had a list of places I’d like to visit during a year of travel.  However, even though a year sounds like a long time, I quickly began to realize that there simply wouldn’t be enough time to see every place on that list.  It also was important for me to truly experience each place, rather than race from city to city and from country to country.  Other considerations included climate, prices, visa requirements, safety, and some important family events that I didn’t want to miss.   Logistically, this has turned out to be more complicated than any project I have ever undertaken…but the complications have also made it an extremely rewarding exercise.

As of today, I have booked five trips and have a pretty good idea about several more.   Nothing beats the feeling of committing to a destination and knowing that imagination is about to become reality.

So what’s the itinerary so far?  As excited as I am about sharing my plans, I’ve decided not to set them out here in advance.  I’d like to share the thrill of discovery with you…and I can’t properly do that if you already know where I’m going!

Some of my destinations will be on the wish lists of many other people.  There will also be places that few travellers ever visit, much less *plan* to visit.  These less-heralded destinations are often the best, as they don’t carry the burden of unrealistic expectations.  They also tend to have fewer tourist traps and other barriers to genuinely experiencing the local way of life.  Regardless of where I go, I hope that my blog postings reflect the thrill and privilege of being “someplace else”.