The Travel Tag

I love to travel. I haven’t written much about my travels here on Raincity Librarian since my focus is primarily books, but when I discovered this tag on the blog Travel in Retrospect, I knew I just to take a spin at it.

Where are you from? Vancouver, Canada

Where have you been around the world? So far I’ve travelled through Canada, the USA, Mexico, the Caribbean, England, New Zealand and Japan.

What is your favourite City? Vancouver – I’m a homebody. But Tokyo and Auckland also have places in my heart.

What are your dream destinations? Back to Japan, and then on to Croatia!

Best item you have purchased overseas? ….. OK, since this blog is a judgement-free zone, I’m just going to come out and say it: a selfie stick. Yes, yes, I know, I know. But when you’re travelling alone or with a partner, getting pictures can be tough! We bought a selfie stick in Tokyo and it quickly became our new best friend.

Thank you, selfie stick!

 

What time of the year do you like to travel? I love travelling in the fall – it tends to be cheaper, cooler, less busy, and often exceptionally beautiful (see above!).

How many times a year do you travel? Not nearly as often as I’d like to, but typically at least once a year. We used to travel more, but school + work + mortgage = sad bank account.

What are some new and exciting cuisines have you tried on your travels? Unfortunately, due to my severe food allergies I can’t be too adventurous when it comes to sampling local cuisine. I did have fish for breakfast in Japan, which was pretty adventurous for me, since I’m typically a cereal kind of girl.

Have you ever lost something while travelling? I did get a camera stolen in Seattle years and years ago. I’d only just bought it, too, which made it all the more annoying.

What are your favourite travel activities? Walking around local neighbourhoods and exploring grocery stores. My partner and I usually end up staying in residential neighbourhoods, and I love just wandering around and experiencing life the way the locals do. It sounds crazy, but exploring grocery stores can be a fantastic way to experience a culture, and it’s free!

I am also a sucker for a museum, which is why London was such an incredible experience for me – free museums!!

What are your must have travel accessories? Earplugs. I’m not typically a light sleeper, but after having camped immediately beside a busy set of railway tracks I never leave home without a set of earplugs.

What is your favourite accent in the world? I love all accents!

If you could live anywhere where would you live? I’m not sure. I really enjoyed Tokyo, and New Zealand has a similar laid-back feeling to Western Canada, so maybe Auckland?

Why do you enjoy travelling? I appreciate being taken out of my world and my comfort zone, and I love meeting new people and experiencing new cultures.

Do you have a travel buddy? I’m very fortunate to have a very laid-back, easy going partner of 14 years who is a very good travel buddy, especially when things get stressful – he’s the epitome of calm under fire!

What are some of the interesting places you’ve visited and the different cultures? The most interesting place I’ve visited so far has been Japan, with a language and culture that was entirely foreign to me, yet also remarkably welcoming.

Have you ever had any bad travel experiences? I spent my last night in Japan in the emergency room in a local hospital, having contracted an extremely bad case of food poisoning from a sushi restaurant. It’s actually a pretty amazing story – we were staying in an Air B&B apartment without a phone, so my partner came down to the apartment building lobby in the middle of the night to call a taxi to take me to the hospital. A woman who lived in the building became our superhero – she called a taxi for us, went with me to the hospital so my partner could pack for our flight the next morning, checked me into the hospital, and stayed with me until my partner arrived (saying “you are a good girl” over and over again in her limited English). It was a terrible experience at the time, but pretty incredible to think about afterwards.

Advice for those who want to travel but think they can’t? What do you mean you can’t? Of course you can! Even if it’s just a quick visit to a neighbouring town, you can always travel somewhere. Research, save up, and do it.

Show us your favourite travel picture? Just one? Here are a couple from over the years.

Rapid Fire

Road Trip around your country or Plane ride to exotic location? Plane ride! Canada is BIG, so you’d better side aside plenty of time for a road trip.

Hotel or Hostel: Air B&B all the way!

Summer or Winter: It really depends where I am – I’m not a fan of muggy, humid summer days, but the grey sogginess of a Pacific Northwest winter can be downright depressing.

Window or Aisle seat: Aisle. I like being able to easily get out and walk about whenever I need to.

Book or Movie on the Plane: Movie. Endless, endless movies. I don’t typically see many films in theatres, so flights are a chance for me to get caught up.

I hope this little deviation from the typical bookish post was interesting in some way, and if you decide to write about your own travels, do let me know, I’d love to read about it and travel vicariously through your expeditions!