Adios 2020!
2020, the year no one will forget but everyone wishes they could. Back in January I had been ecstatic for this year. It was the year I was to take full advantage of my good paying job and do some travelling! My first planned trip was to Ottawa, Canada to see the Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers with a live symphony. As this trip was in March I was able to go. Just in time too, as everything shut down within a week of my return. Soon after in April I was supposed to visit a friend in Michigan and then proceed to Disney World for my birthday. Neither of these trips came to fruition. Disney World was especially disappointing as we had been planning for over a year and had everything booked from building a lightsaber, to the villains after hours on my birthday in the Magic Kingdom. My fourth trip planned for this year was a later addition early in the year before Covid became a pandemic. Early in January I had spotted a decent priced flight to Iceland in September and bought the ticket. I did not have anything booked in Iceland (thankfully). This trip being cancelled felt like being kicked while I was already down. Iceland is one of my top 10 counties I want to visit and while nothing had been booked I knew what I wanted to do; snorkeling between the tectonic plates, horseback riding, whale watching, hiking to waterfalls, going into a volcano, and much more. It just feels like a fever dream now. One day, one day I’ll get to Iceland, and I’ll return to Disney!
Anywho, enough with the doom and gloom. I make it sound like I had a terrible year. While it definitely did not go according to plan my year was nowhere near as terrible as many peoples. I was able to continue working, and if anything my finances thanked the pandemic in many ways (more on that in an upcoming post). Despite not being able to leave Canada I was still able to have a lot of amazing adventures! Here are my top five adventures of 2020…
My trip to Ottawa was short but sweet. While my main purpose was to see LOTR in concert, I made a lot of other great memories as well. The Two Towers was absolutely incredible with the live symphony. Some of my favourite scenes in the whole trilogy are in this movie, especially that moment at Helm’s Deep when the Rohirrim show up, amazing! What I really enjoyed was that this was my first completely solo trip. Beforehand I had always been with a tour group. I stayed at the old 150 year old jail hostel right in downtown Ottawa (really creepy but really cool), went to a couple museums, and went for a couple runs along the Rideau Canal. All and all, it was a relaxing yet adventurous few days in our capital city.
Cape Breton Highlands, September 2020
September was the month I was supposed to visit Iceland and my mom, Ireland. As both trips ended up cancelled, we thought to visit the beautiful highlands of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. A stunning gem in our own backyard. There we ventured about as far north as possible in Nova Scotia; to Meat Cove, where we hiked to the top of Meat Cove mountain. We even ventured to an even more hidden gem: Kauzmann, which had spectacular views. We made the best of a disappointing year and I really enjoyed having the mother/daughter trip.
Another little trip I did with my mom. This was a shorter weekend trip. Nova Scotia is known for the highest tides in the world and Five Islands is a fantastic place to experience them first hand. We had some great moments, hiking at the Five Islands Provincial Park, walking along the seafloor, and putting up our tent in very windy weather!
I went on numerous hikes this year with family and friends. Gaff point with my friend was really fun. She was staying with me at the time as she was doing her final clinical at my hospital. We were both really busy so when we finally had the time to go on a hike together we had a blast. Taylor Head was also a beautiful trail despite the misty weather, and Delaps Cove had some neat little trails to explore!
Apple Picking
I actually really enjoyed apple picking with the family. This is something I had not done since, well probably elementary school. The valley is another beautiful area of Nova Scotia and we also got to stop by at the Lookoff with the beautiful overlooking view of the farmlands. After picking our bag full of apples we stopped by for a bite to eat at Boston Pizza.
Last year at the end of the year I had written about my upcoming trips, of which only one came to pass. I am going to that again, despite the fact I have no idea what 2021 will look like. I will just write what I hope to do next year. My first priority and probably the most viable option would be to visit Gros Morne, Newfoundland. I would really love to go hiking here. I just need the Atlantic bubble to open again. I had also been hoping to do a Canadian adventure out west to Alberta and British Columbia. Both of these provinces have terrible control over the virus and I do not see this option as very promising. No offence to the rest of Canada but please look at what we are doing in the Maritimes and take note. I want to travel again, damn it! It is getting so bad that I am now looking into going to Sable Island. Which would be amazing, but is ridiculously expensive for one day: $2500-3500 minimum. Though to be fair, this is something I would never normally do if travel was still possible. Why travel to Sable Island for one day at that price when I could travel to another country for a few days to a week. So perhaps this is my one chance to get to Sable Island to see the wild horses. We shall see what comes to pass. Until then, please: “Stay the blazes home!”
Comments
Post a Comment