My 6-week motorbike trip from the south of Vietnam to the north is without a doubt one of my favorite adventures. This trip offered a profound sense of freedom, similar to that of long distance thru-hiking, where everyday I get…
Stok Kangri is a high altitude mountain located in Hemis National Park in the Stok Range of the Zanskar Mountains, near the high desert town of Leh, Ladakh. It stands at 20,187 ft, but not too technically demanding, making it…
After Everest Base Camp, Catalina and I chilled out in Kathmandu for a few days then made our way to the Lamjung District to start the 160km/10 day or so Annapurna Circuit. Unlike EBC, at the time you were allowed…
When I’m asked what my favorite country is I say India without hesitation. Such a fascinating and chaotic place. It is not for everyone though; definitely varsity level travel. The first thing you notice is just the sheer amount of…
Bedford Canyon was a first descent project from the fearless Frenchman canyoning guide Ben Buchy, whom I worked with at Queenstown Canyoning. It was a project that had been on his mind for over a year with many months of…
Around June 2014 I came across a New Zealand guiding company’s website that said it was looking to hire canyoning guides. I learned somewhere that it was easy to get a work permit in New Zealand and Australia before you…
I was still in my festival phase at this time and what bigger festival in the world is there than Rio’s Carnival. This was a quick trip for about a week and I only stayed in Rio, but wow, what…
There are few journeys on Earth as epic, as romanticized, and as long as the Trans-Siberian Railway. Stretching approximately 4,735 miles from Moscow, through Mongolia, and eventually on to Beijing in a bout 7 days, it is the longest continuous railway line in the world – steel ribbons stitching together forests, steppes, and rural communities throughout the frozen tundra. For over a century, this route has been the stuff of legend: a passage for exiles, adventurers, and travelers who thought, “You know what sounds fun? A week on a train.” Well, that’s exactly what I thought. I think the idea originally popped into my head because of the recent film at the time by Brad Andersen, “TransSiberian”. A week long train ride sounded really unique. You do have the option to get on/off, which if I did it again I would definitely do, as the idea of walking around these small towns in the middle of frozen nowhere and to see the kinds of people who live there would be fascinating; but alas, I had limited time, so I did the direct ride. It gave me the chance to quietly sit for hours staring out into a lot of white empty space with the occasional forest and town passing by. I read and interacted with a lot of interesting people who came and went, including the train attendants who were all very nice. This was an experience that reminds me that not every journey needs to be a whirlwind from one sight to the next. Sometimes the point can be to just sit in contemplation, have nowhere to be, and soak in the surroundings. The train approaching the platform One of my many cups of… Morning sunrise during a quick stop Industrial town off in the distance Another stop long enough […]
In 2010 my sister and I traveled to Spain that took us from Madrid to Barcelona to Pamplona and back to Madrid. Other than Baja, Mexico (and British Columbia when I was very young), this was my first international trip.…
