Skagway, Alaska

  With the summer move behind me and having settled into my new place reasonably well I am ever so gradually feeling the urge to continue my world travels. 

  But where is the question! The Maritimes or West Coast here in Canada? Or as a budding citizen of the world further afield? 

  For the second spring running—or I should say walking—I participated in a ‘transhumance’ in the southwest of France that wrapped up in the Pyrenees. Along with the sheep I squeezed in a couple short stays in Paris, including a first visit to the Louvre, and slept a number of nights on a ‘péniche,’ or canal houseboat, outside of Nîmes. 

  Before that and a short winter getaway to Mexico in January, in the fall of 2025 there was a second exploratory trip to Asia. I had it in my head that I wanted to take a boat across the ocean, not fly. And so I did. Seventeen days out of Vancouver, up through Alaska and across the Pacific to Yokohama, Japan. Upon arrival I had a month to fill and only four nights booked in a Tokyo hotel. 

  “What to do, what to do…?” as the saying goes. 

  The original idea was perhaps either more wanderings in Japan or a split between there and some unspecified deeper Asian destination. 

  Well I pivoted fast from that idea. ‘What about the historic city of Hong Kong?’ I thought, and maybe from there move on to some island hopping in the Philippines? So after those first four days in Tokyo over to swelteringly humid Hong Kong I flew. However, the Philippines were being hammered, first by earthquakes and then by typhoons, so I figured why risk a whack of disruptions and perhaps strain their already overburdened infrastructure?

  I chose Thailand instead, for the better part of three weeks. Being a newbie I didn’t accomplish much, bustling Bangkok and a short unsavoury stay in Pattaya where I quickly grew tired of the ostentatious vulgarity before moving a little further down the coast to Jomtien. Not much I admit, but I am a slow walking, reading and photo snapping traveller who never feels the urge to ‘take it all in.’ 

  And so here I am, August 2026, and pondering my next move. October and November can be cold, rainy and snowy here, all in one day, so that’s when I target my next wanderings. Not long ago I priced a solo cabin train ride across the vast stretches of Canada. It remains in the back of my mind and might very well be coupled with further travels in Asia. Then there is always Central and South America, mostly a mystery to me at this stage. 

  Time will tell….

  And I look forward to posting photos and impressions….