Where I've Been, Where I'm At, & Where I'm Going

I can already feel the relief of stepping off a plane in Mexico in early December, knowing I’ve left the snow and cold of the West Kootenay behind for palm trees, warm tiles, ocean air, and the kind of lazy vacation that proves you're alive. This trip to Cabo San Lucas feels different. My mom has had a timeshare at Hacienda del Mar since 2009, so this isn’t a first-time, figure-it-all-out kind of trip. I’ve been 5 times before. I know the rhythm of the place. I know it’s not

Nice, Antibes, Villefranche-sur-Mer, and many Côte d’Azur beaches are rocky or made of smooth pebbles. Because of this, there's some things you should definitely bring if you're planning for time at the beach. This list is ranked by how much each item would have improved our beach days or how much money we would have saved just by bringing it from home. It focuses on practical beach gear above all else. These are our forgotten essentials for South of France beach trips that w

We were scheduled to spend the day in a van. Our Wingbuddy tour had an outsourced day trip from Nice to St. Tropez and Port Grimaud, and on paper it sounded lovely. In real life, it meant an 7:00 am start to leave by 8:00, more than two hours on the road each way, and a long day of seeing another pretty Riviera town from a packed schedule. I wanted to see Villefranche-sur-Mer instead. It was only a short 2 train stops away. I’d read about the curved bay before we left for Fra

Our last day in Nice needed something easy, sunny, and memorable, and our 2:00 pm boat ride with Nissa Croisieres ended up being exactly that. It was a near perfect excursion and last activity for our time in the South of France. This activity is great for an introduction to the South of France. It makes you feel like you're alert and really experiencing the vibe. You can book it here. The trip gave us a fast ride out of Nice, a swim stop near Mala cave, slow coastal views pa

The first sign that our scuba day in Nice had gone sideways was the line of boats that weren’t moving. There they were, 6 of them, just blocking the harbour. We were on a diving boat at Port Lympia, ready to head out for the day. Dean was diving and nervous. I was just along for the ride, happy to be out on the water and not under it. A fishermen’s strike over fuel costs had blocked the harbour. We sat there for about an hour and a half before we could leave. Coming back was

Monaco is only about 2 square kilometres, but it can make a full-size impression in one afternoon. The money is obvious. The streets are clean. The harbour looks like a floating showroom. We visited after a stop in Èze, travelling by van with our guide, Raj. He walked our group through the old town streets, pointed out the landmarks, explained the cost of living, then gave us free time. That mix worked so much better than our trip to Cannes and Antibes. A guided visit helps p

Èze was the kind of stop that I was really excited for. We met in the hotel lobby at 10:00 am on a Wednesday, half-ready for a whimsical dive into a medieval setting and half-ready to melt in the South of France heat. The plan included Fragonard, the well-known perfume factory near the base of Èze village, but before the day started, we discussed ditching that part of the tour to spend our time climbing up to the medieval village instead. Skipping the Fragonard in Eze felt a

By our second full day in Nice, we wanted a relaxed day. I already didn't book anything that day. I had booked a bar hopping event the night before for my birthday, but we'd cancelled that our first day in Nice, knowing at 44 that I didn't really have the energy to keep up with a young crowd. Nothing filled the space for the non-hungover September 15th. We’d walked so much on our last day in Paris and then again on our first day in Nice that Dean had zero interest in another

I woke up 44 in the South of France, which still feels wild to write. When I was first diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma, I didn’t picture birthdays past 42. I didn’t picture hotel breakfasts, red carpets, or floating in the Mediterranean with my shorts on. I didn’t picture living this long. But there I was, getting ready for our first Wingbuddy tour through the South of France. The plan was Cannes and Antibes. The reality involved a tiny van, heat/ motion sickness, and a birth

We woke up at 2:00am on Sunday, September 13th and got ready quickly for our airport transfer to Air France at CDG. When we arrived just before 4:00am, nothing was open yet. We had to wait over an hour for anyone to even be there to consult. Everything is automated for Domestic Air France flights. First we had to find the correct counter area. Then, having tried the machines at the other areas and having not found our reservation, we waited for an Air France employee, Igor, w

Our last day in Paris ended up being one of my favourite days of the trip. It was pretty simple, even though we walked about 10 km. And it had such a good mix of Paris history, familiar landmarks, and river views. For the first time in the city, we definitely felt like we were in Paris. We started at Hotel Berne Opera, rushing down to the breakfast area, which had a bunker feeling to it because it's in the basement. That actually set the tone more than I expected, because our

Paris did not whisper to us. Paris honked, braked, lurched, beeped, and then honked again for good measure. Sirens were going off every 10 minutes. Every cab ride felt stressful, watching the meter climb as you barely moved. Buses squeezed into lanes that didn’t seem like lanes. Motorbikes cut through tiny gaps. Sirens came from every direction. Even when traffic wasn’t moving, the noise happened. There was always another horn, another impatient driver, another ambulance tryi

The Louvre is massive in scale and appeal. It is also crowded enough to make the Mona Lisa feel disenchanting. That was the takeaway from my time there, but I can see ways we could have done it better. Our day started outside, near the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Dean was combing the dirt for rocks, eyes lighting up like a child at the chert he found. I was trying to figure out where our Crown Tours group would meet. That set the tone well. Paris gives you grand architectur

Our first day in Paris was supposed to be demanding. We were going to meet with a tour group and head to Versailles right after arriving and then we were going to summit the Eiffel Tower as dusk settled, seeing all the bright lights of Paris and getting all the romantic energy we could right out of the gate. In reality, none of that happened. Our last day in Dublin, I realized that we'd never actually make it to the Versailles meeting point on time. And knowing our day would

By our last day in Ireland, we had a rare travel feeling: we were done, but not in a bad way. We didn’t feel like we’d missed anything huge. We weren’t trying to cram in anything else. We had enough time left to just move through the day without panic. We did some more browsing at Lego & souvenir shopping. That honestly felt like a blessing. One last Dublin treat before the day properly started. A Blueberry Cheesecake Donut Betrayed Me Our first mission was Rolling Donut, bec

We became regulars at the LEGO Store in Dublin, but when you know Dean and you see how close our hotel was to Grafton Street, you'd fully understand. We were like regulas, except instead of ordering the usual, we were inspecting the Pick a Brick wall with an attention to detail that was no less than professional. Dean was fully in his element. We went to LEGO three out of our four days in Dublin, which feels excessive until you see someone find “parts you’d never get in Canad

On our third day in Dublin, I knew we'd want an escape from the city. I booked a Paddywagon Tours half-day trip from Dublin to Glendalough from GetYourGuide. This was the best-value activity we did on our entire trip to Ireland and France, and it cost just over $55 per person when we booked. It was a bus tour with a friendly driver to a historic monastic site, a lake, a short walk, some sheep out the window, and one very Irish lesson on the word “craic.” After a few days in D

If you want to experience Irish pub culture in Dublin, it really isn't that difficult. From our very first evening there, we got a taste. I'd planned a few things the second day there to ensure we got a chance to sample beer and cocktails. Below is what we did and what we'd do differently if we were to visit the city again. The Hairy Lemon The Hairy Lemon was the first place we had dinner in Dublin and it was our most authentic pub experience in the city. It's an Irish pub wi

Code problems are not what you want before a timed Guinness Storehouse booking. That was the start of our Big Bus Dublin day. We’d booked our hop-on hop-off bus tickets in a package with Guinness Storehouse through GetYourGuide, which sounded easy enough. One booking for two tickets for two people. But I had to get the Big Bus app to accept our booking reference. A code I had to enter into the app to activate the tickets. It wouldn't work. I was still tired from jetlag and so

We landed in Dublin and went straight for sugar. That feels like a bold way to start a trip. Before we had figured out our favourite streets, before we had tested the pubs, before we had any dinner options at all, we booked the Delicious Donut Adventure in Downtown Dublin through GetYourGuide and walked the city with fried dough in hand It was a lovely first taste of Dublin. Starting Dublin with donuts was the right decision. The Delicious Donut Adventure - A Dublin Food Tour