My Story

I didn’t grow up travelling. I grew up working and playing on a farm and apple orchard in the Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada. My first real trip was a biggie– by dearest friend and I struck out on my 18th birthday with our backpacks full of optimism. We hitchhiked throughout North America, hopping freight trains and following the Grateful Dead. Upon returning to British Columbia, we joined the Clayoquot Sound protests and were arrested for civil disobedience for sitting on a logging road to protest the clear cutting of one of the world’s last temperate rainforests. As a result, as two19 year old women, we ended up spending 3 weeks in jail- me in a minimum security men’s prison, and my friend in a maximum security women’s prison.

Motherhood came shortly after that and my rad kid and I took the opportunity to travel when we could. But alas, I was a young, poor, single mom so we most often adventured close to home. When my son was 4 years old, we moved to Victoria British Columbia so I could go to university while he went to elementary school. My forays into student politics led me to pursue law school on student loans and part-time work and after my rather unconventional start to adulthood, I managed to become a lawyer. My son is now a grown young man, who travels himself quite a lot, and I now spend much of my free time adventuring.

This blog reflects our interests, and shares the ridiculous amount of trip planning I do to create awesome, active trips that combine the tried-and-true with the off-the-beaten-track.

As a queer person, I naturally consider the reality of being gay travellers, in a world where acceptance is not a given. Therefore, while the travel information in this blog will be useful for all travellers no matter their orientation, by virtue of our lifestyle, there is an added focus on LGBTQ+/ gay/ lesbian folks. For example, you might find additional information about a great drag show or gay-friendly locations, but you won’t find travel information for countries where being gay is punishable by death or gay bashings are common place, because we like our trips to be fun, not terrifying and hard on the soul. So for the most part, the travel information herein will be a reflection of the more tolerant parts of the world.

This blog is a combination of our passions and realities. I hope you enjoy it, return often and follow and share widely.

Happy travels!

Michelle