I have to admit, I often think about my own mortality. Mostly, in the sense that your life can be taken so quickly and I would like to enjoy my life to the fullest while I’m living and able-bodied. I have been fortunate to have been able to travel all over the world but there are still so many countries I want to visit. This is a list of destinations that are top on my list (right now…it can always change!).

Sweden:
I have dreamed of visiting Sweden since I was 15. I excluded the country from my two backpacking trips through Europe because of the high cost of living. I have had a long fascination with the country; I even tried learning Swedish when I was a teenager (I wasn’t very successful). I love Ingmar Bergman films, Scandinavian furniture, Swedish indie pop, admire their social democratic system and colourful architecture. When I go, I’d like to see Stockholm, visit the north and stay in a cabin.

Denmark:
Copenhagen seems like one of the the coolest cities on earth. My desire to go here may be related to my fascination with Sweden. Bonus points for being the home of Lego.

Greece:
My friend Alex describes Greece as one of the most beautiful and romantic places on earth. The photos of Santorini I have seen are breathtaking. The newest instalment in my favourite romantic movie series, Before Midnight, is set in Greece giving me another reason to visit.

Madagascar:
I would like to see a Baobab tree in person. They look so magnificent and odd. I also have an affinity for Baobab trees because I first learned about them in my favourite book, The Little Prince.

La Reunion:
A small island in the Indian Ocean, 670 km east of Madagascar, I have had a desire to visit this country since seeing jaw-dropping photos of its volcanic landscape. Plus it would give me an opportunity to practice my French again, which is always an embarrassing challenge.

Mongolia:
I watched the Ewan McGregor documentary, Long Way Round. I was impressed by the backdrop of the country and the nomadic lifestyle which seems so foreign to me. I tried to go to Mongolia when I did my Asia trip in 2008, but it was really expensive to fly there and I was worried about getting another re-entry visa to China.

France:
I have been lucky to visit Paris, my favourite city, and the southern part. However, I have a dream of cycling through the countryside of Paris, village to village, with wine and cheese in tow. I imagine the bucolic hills of Jean de Florette, a movie I remember watching in Grade 7 French class

Tahiti:
The huts on the water look beautiful and romantic but I feel like I need lots of money to go there.

Northern Brazil:
I’ve only heard great things about the Northern part of Brazil and it’d be interesting to see where the roots of Tropicalia, the great music movement, was formed.

Patagonia:
The landscape of Patagonia is beautiful. I want to hike the glaciers and land and finish it off by relaxing in a hot tub by the edge of a mountain.

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia:
The landscape is surreal and jaw-dropping.

Monterrey, California:
I absolutely adore sea otters and I’ve heard this is the place to go to see them. They have an aquarium but there are also areas where you can kayak and possibly spot them.

Tuscany, Italy:
When I think of Tuscany, I think about drinking Chianti while I wait for an Italian grandmother to cook me my meal.

Guatemala:
My friends, Sarah and Walter, plan to open up a surf camp in Guatemala and I will be the first one there when it happens. I’d also like the visit the great Mayan ruin, Tikal.

I guess this list could go on forever; I can think of many countries that I omitted (Philippines, Scotland, Iceland, Fairyale Germany, East Coast Canada, Portugal…). My list seems pretty Euro-centric, which is funny, since for awhile I thought I wouldn’t go back until I was much older.

I have been fortunate enough to visit many countries around the world but I haven’t seen very much of my home country, Canada. I often meet travellers who are in the same position. They’ll remark that I’ve seen more of their country than them. For me, there is something more alluring about visiting a foreign country than travelling within my own – even one as varied and large as Canada – but that does mean missing out on some fantastic locations.

One common weekend getaway in Canada is to go to a lakeside cottage outside of the city. My cottaging experience is quite limited, being the children of immigrants. Recently, I was invited to a friend’s cottage near Barry’s Bay.

We were a bit far north from Toronto so it was considerably chillier than the city.

The leaves had already fallen off – and it was early November. Back in the city, the leaves were still changing colour.

There were some nice hiking trails around the area. We had to climb up some rocks to get to the top lookout point which oversaw the forest and the lake.

It was nice to get away from the city lights and noises and feel closer to nature. I hope I can own a cottage or have regular access to one when I’m older.

Some pictures of Northern Ontario:

One thing I like to do when I travel is bike wherever I can. It’s fun, it’s active and it allows you to cover a lot of terrain but doesn’t go so fast that you miss the core sites. Although all of the biking I have done is leisurely, I have a dream of travelling around bucolic France by bicycle with wine, bread and cheese in tow. Here is a list of places I have explored by pedal.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Dutch capital is considered the biking mecca of the Western world. About 30-40% of Amsterdam residents bike on a daily basis. The Dutch even have a style of bike named after them. The two-wheeler is a popular mode of transportation for various reasons: the Netherlands is mostly flat and hence is topographically suited for everyday biking, and the city has implemented various bike-friendly initiatives such as having many bicycle lanes and plenty of parking. I felt a bit nervous biking there since traffic surrounds you at every corner, especially during rush hour, but it was also exhilarating. I grew up biking on the wide, empty, suburban streets of Toronto so it was a big change from what I was used to. Beware of the tram tracks. My friend’s wheel got caught and she fell over. Luckily there were no bikes or cars around us at the time.

Experience: 8/10

Brugge, Belgium
My sister and I were lent children’s bikes because we’re too short for regular adult bikes in Belgium. I have an adult bike in Toronto…so I don’t know what happened there! The city was extremely bike-friendly since it’s not very heavily trafficked and most of the terrain is flat. It’s a great way to get from point A to B and to venture out far beyond the core city area. We rode up to the windmills and we got some great exercise!

Experience: 9/10

Hiroshima, Japan
Japanese bikers are uber-polite. They bike at leisurely places. They have umbrella holders on their bicycles lest it should rain. Hiroshima was the most bike-friendly place I went to in Japan; there were more bikers than I had seen anywhere else. The city has a lot of pathways which bikes share with pedestrians. The only caveat: the bikes they rent out usually have no gears. I struggled to get up the hill to the modern art museum but maybe you’re stronger than me.

Experience: 9/10

Xi’an, China
A common activity in Xi’an is to bike on top of the old citadel. The sky is grey and brown in Xi’an. You do not see the sun. But you feel the sun….I mean, you really feel the sun. It’s muggy, sweaty and gross. BEWARE…you might get swass…sweaty ass.

Luang Nam Tha, Laos
Some friends and I rented bicycles and biked all day in the intense Southeast Asian heat. Biking here is fun but unpredictable since some roads are very badly paved and you never know what situation you will encounter. For example, some of us had our bikes get stuck in the thick mud. Another example: the bike path the rental shop recommended indicated a trail where there was a river.

Word of advice, drink some water, or you’ll get heat exhaustion like I did.

Experience: 8/10

Vang Vieng, Laos:
I didn’t take my advice, and I got heat exhaustion again.

Experience: 1/10

Koh Tao, Thailand
My bicycle broke. Enough said.

Experience: 1/10

Tulum, Mexico
I biked a few kilometres, intending to go to some cenotes, huffing and puffing, questioning my general fitness and athletic ability. I discovered that my tires were flat. I huffed and puffed back to the bike shop. I did not bike again in the town.

Experience: 1/10

Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Biking with a friend who had limited biking experience was fun but also worrying. Isla Mujeres had some pretty big hills so I was quite impressed with my pal for toughing it out unscathed. We biked around the entire island and saw so much more than had we walked. The island has paved roads everywhere but there are points which felt a bit dangerous because of the curvy roads.

Experience: 8/10

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
We rented bikes for an hour to go around the man-made lake. The ride is really short and pleasant but there are no sights along the way.

Experience: 7/10

San Francisco, USA
You don’t want to be biking in this city. SF is super hilly and I don’t have the strength or stamina to ride up those crazy hills. I biked from the pier to Sausalito, across the Golden Gate bridge, which is much more leisurely, less hilly and a great ride.

Experience: 9/10

The best thing about NYC is there is no shortage of things to do and it’s very easy to indulge any interests. I love comedy so I really wanted to check out some improv when I went in December. I settled on seeing the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, responsible for some comedy luminaries like Kurt Braunohler, Aubrey Plaza and one of my comedy heroes, Amy Poehler (who is one of the founding members). Unfortunately, the show I was most interested in seeing, ASSSSCAT3000, conflicted with Sleep No more, so we saw The Curfew: Not From Around Here instead. The show entails the troupe asking an audience member where they are from and various questions about their hometown such as famous landmarks, people and culture. They then create a show around the different details they learned. The audience member they chose was from Texas, right by the Mexican border. The troupe was quite good at creating hilarious sketches around the peculiarities of the selected audience member’s hometown. My favourite member was Natasha Rothwell. She was lightning fast and funny and even with the most outlandish scenarios, she was believable. I’m interested to see how her career progresses.

I highly recommend watching some improv if you ever get to New York.

I went to NYC in December for the purpose of seeing of Sleep No More, an interactive performance art production based on the Shakespeare play Macbeth. The production was wonderful and definitely one of the more interesting and novel things I have done in a long time. It is set in an abandoned hotel of five floors with various rooms decorated with different themes (office, bedrooms, ballroom etc.)

It starts with a strange tall man, who speaks in a slow voice, giving instructions on entering the main part of the performance. This takes place in a small red room. Everyone was instructed to put on white masks. I think the masks are mostly to enable people to distinguish between spectators and actors but it also enhanced the eeriness. I felt like I was in the red room in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, except instead of a little person, there was a tall man

Different groups of people are dropped off on different floors and at that point, the entire building is yours to discover. The different set pieces can be explored, drawers can be open and couches can be sat on. There are various scenes (no talking, mostly dancing or silent acting) taking place throughout the building. The actors will perform literally a foot from your face; I was fearful at times that I would get hit. They even incorporate some spectators into the performance. However, there is no linearity to the scenes. They are repeated throughout the evening until the final culmination in the dining room. For this reason, it was hard to piece the entire story line together. I had last read Macbeth almost 15 years ago, so my memory was quite hazy. I’ve been told that it’s best to see the play numerous times so you can experience different scenes that you may have missed and in a different order to truly get a hold of what’s going on.

Overall, despite not really getting a full idea of the story, it was an amazing experience. There are very few boundaries in the performance, making it both exhilarating and scary. I look forward to more productions with an immersive experience.