Answering The Been There, Done That Tag

My lovely online friend Lindsay, from the blog Miss Lindsay Lane, shares some of the best online tags and Q&As I've ever come across. Over the years I've played along with several that she has posted about and today I'm delighted to bring you another that I discovered via her terrific site.

Like many of us, Lindsay and I both adore seeing the world, so the moment I spotted this delightful travel tag called Been There, Done That on her blog last autumn, I knew that I wanted to toss my hat into the ring and share my own answers with all of you (thank you for blogging about it, dear gal!).

Though winter has not yet vanished from our midst entirely yet, thankfully we're not too far away from that point and springs’ return will mean an even greater opportunity for potential travel, particularly of the road trip variety. A point that makes my travel adoring heart smile with glee!

I don't have any immediate trips planned at present, but the year is still young and one never knows what is waiting around the corner for them next. On this mild Friday morning however, I'll be staying put and answering the following selection of travel related questions.

By all means, if you're a fan tags and globetrotting, please feel free to play along on your own site as well (and then come back here to share a link to your post so that I can check out your wonderful answers, too).


Which countries have you visited so far?

Canada (my home country), America (though not nearly enough!), Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and technically if we count passing through Heathrow Airport, England (which I massively want to return and explore properply at long last!).


Which destination is at the top of your bucket list? In other words: where do you REALLY want to go some day?

Though I do find that the answer to this question changes as I get older, certain dream destinations remain the same and for me some of those include seeing the Yukon, Prince Edward Island, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, Australia, and numerous places throughout the States.


What is your most ideal vacation (beach, shopping trip, cultural holidays, etc)?

For me I would have to say that my ideal trip usually involves a heavy dose of historical sites, vintage shopping and/or other vintage related happenings (such as meeting up with fellow vintae bloggers), and some much needed R&R. Spending time at or near the water is always hugely welcome as well!


Which place did you find so special, that you want to visit it again?

Tony Bennett's might be in San Francisco, but as I've mentioned before, mine will forever reside in Calgary, Alberta, where I lived for a couple of years in my late teens. There's just something about that bustling, beautiful prairie city that embedded itself in my soul and will continue to pull me back to visit time and time again.


Have you ever been sent to a nice location for work? If so, where?

To date mine and/or my husband's work has allowed me to visit Vancouver, Victoria (BC), Niagara Falls, and Montreal, as well as to live in both Toronto, Ontario and the country of Ireland.


With whom do you usually travel?

My husband, Tony. Thankfully we're both massive travel fans and love few things more in this world than the chance to get away together no matter where we’re headed.


Who would you like to go on a vacation with that you haven't recently or even? (This can be anyone: family, friends, or famous person.)

It would be flat out amazing to go on a culinary related trip with Anthony Bourdain. More realistically though, I'd love to go to the Yukon with my mom, as we have strong family ties there on her side stretching back to the Klondike gold rush and to date neither of us have ever been to this vast arctic corner of the country.


Who, or what, would you take to a desert island?

A satelite phone and computer, gallons of sunscreen, a comfy bed (or hammock), a well stocked outdoors survival bag, a water bottle, and a lifetime supply of books, paper and pens.


Have you ever been to a vacation in your own country?

Many times! In fact, I've taken far more trips within my own country, to date, than outside of it. So far I've had the pleasure of seeing a good chunk of British Columbia, as well as parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and (briefly) Quebec.


Would you rather go to a theme park or a zoo?

Theme park, please, especially if it's one of a historical related nature.


Would you rather have a winter or a summer vacation?

Funnily enough, I often prefer spring and fall travel, as the weather is usually quite agreeable and you can score some really welcome off-season rates/deals. But to answer the question as it was set out, I enjoy both fairly equally (summer would win out a touch more though) and am up for traveling any time of the year.


What is your best holiday memory?

That is a really hard question to answer, especially since I have positive memories from most trips that I've taken throughout my life. I madly adored the vacations that Tony and I took to Calgary in 2013 and the one we enjoyed on Vancouver Island in 2014, so both of those stand out as definitely high points on the travel front for me.


What is your least pleasant holiday memory?

I'm going to have to take the fifth here, as I'm afraid that's too personal for me to share publicly (but I will tell you that all of my worst trips to date happened in my childhood and teen years).


To which countries are you travelling this year?

I don't have any travel plans at present, so I don't know if I'll be venturing abroad or not in 2016. Either way, I hope that Tony and I are able to get in at least a road trip or two closer to home, be it within Canada or to the States.


Where would you never go on holiday?

There are very few places that, under the right circumstances and keeping the limitations that my chronic health problems impose on me when I travel in mind, that I wouldn't be open to seeing. In general though, I wouldn't want to go anywhere that was currently in a state of war or extreme political unrest, or that was suffering from a serious epidemic.



{Travel = joy in my books and I truly love the chance to see more of the world, return to favourite destinations, and explore far and near alike whenever I can. Vintage image source.}

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Last December I penned a post called Seven Important Things That Travel Teaches Us, which hit on some of the lessons that a recent jaunt to Vancouver had reminded me about and that seeing the world in general helps us to learn.

There are so many, many perks to travelling, from these kinds of excellent life lessons to meeting to new friends, broadening your horizons, pushing your limits, and coming home with enough tales to keep even Marco Polo entertained.

So while I fully realize that it is unlikely I will ever traverse the whole globe, I'm okay with that fact. Just as long as I can continue to be able to hit the open road, sky, and/or water at least every now and then and, ideally, to sometimes visit places that I've never stepped foot in before, I will be a very - quite literally in some cases :) – happy camper.