Does one lose one’s passion for travel when it becomes part of work? So far I’ve been able to avoid that. It would be like waking up one day to realize I’m an actual grown-up, not able to find joy anywhere. I’m at the Winnipeg airport again - awaiting a flight to Chicago, then one to Hong Kong, with a final destination of - that’s right - Manila, again!
In the year since my last entry, I’ve been to Quebec City (May, for work), Vancouver (August, for family), Mantario (Thanksgiving - and yes that counts as travel even though I walked that 63 km trail for the 12th time!), Vancouver again (October, for work), then Calgary-Kananaskis (October, for work), and finally Ottawa (December for work).
Quebec City was 2 days of work meetings, followed by a weekend of museums and wandering around Canada’s oldest city. A great opportunity to practice my French, discover some amazing history, peruse beautiful Quebec fashion and get a cool haircut from a fellow free-spirit and world traveller.
Vancouver was a good chance to meet and reconnect with family, visit my favourite haunts in Chinatown, Gastown and downtown (Art Gallery). Kananaskis in October - work followed by play - hiking with my good friend Corey whom I had not seen in about four years. As he said while we wandered around Lake Minnewonka, “We’ve got no where to go and all day to get there.” The best way to catch up with old friends - take a long walk to nowhere!
Even in Ottawa the other week, I managed to learn about the metal-punk scene from the sales-kid at the Doc Martens store and checked out an incredible thrown-together blues band at the Rainbow Bistro. The key to playing the blues, I learned, is in the notes that you DON’T play, not in trying to cram in all the notes. And it’s about HOW you play those few, key notes. As with everything good in life, it’s about quality, not quantity.
So here I am again, travelling for play, not work, taking my fiddle on the road, hoping to reconnect with old friends and maybe make some new!
:)
ReplyDelete