2022 – A 12 months in Journey revisits the very best of our household journey in 2022. We recap Morocco, Thailand, Mexico, San Diego, and Canada’s Maritime Provinces.
Oh man, what a experience!
After a loopy two years of lockdowns and a grand whole of zero new nations added to our checklist of inspiring locations in 2021, we had low expectations for journey in 2022. The reality is, with COVID nonetheless an enormous deal, and rolling lockdowns occurring around the globe, the world of journey was nonetheless on a rocky street.
It’s to not say that nothing nice occurred throughout our travels in 2021, however we saved every little thing native with travels all through Ontario and into Quebec right here in Canada.
We had excessive hopes for 2022. There have been journey plans that had been canceled and we hoped to have rescheduled, however all of that was accomplished on the concept of “tentative planning.”
Our Household in 2022
2022 was a giant yr for the Wagar household. C who was mid-way via his first yr of rep hockey with the Brampton 45s was giving us a style of what it means to work round our children’ schedules as they aged. Not that we had been complaining. Hockey is a sport that all of us love, so we might discover a solution to make it work.
C was making his approach via fifth grade, and in September moved right into a grade 6-7 cut up with the brand new college yr. In September, he continued his hockey, shifting up a division and persevering with on with an incredible group of children and two very supportive coaches.
D was in third grade having fun with the stress-free enjoyable of home league hockey. He spent his spare time drawing and break dancing. Come September, D determined that he would make a run for rep hockey as effectively and joined his brother as a member of the Brampton 45s within the group’s U11 division. We bought one other shock after I ended up becoming a member of him behind the bench as an assistant coach.
I had by no means anticipated our lives to get taken over by sports activities. However fairly rapidly, with two children in high-level sports activities, the hockey area grew to become a second house for us all.
Christina modified positions in her firm and journey for work has change into an enormous a part of her schedule. Throughout 2022, she would jet off around the globe for a number of weeks at a time, bouncing from convention to convention.
Despite the fact that she has been on the street lots, our household travels had been by no means removed from her coronary heart. Her spare time was spent wanting up wonderful new locations for household journey in 2022. She was completely insistent that we get again to worldwide journey this yr, and due to her dedication, we ended up visiting six nations and had some wonderful home adventures as effectively.
As for myself, I used to be settling into this “blogger” life that I fell into a number of years again. My Wandering Wagars web site was welcoming over 150,000 household journey lovers per thirty days to its pages, I used to be successful nationwide awards for each my writing, my weblog, and my pictures from organizations such because the Journey Media Affiliation of Canada, and I used to be talking and educating journey execs at for webinars for organizations such because the Society of American Journey Writers.
I launched two new web sites with my enterprise associate Christopher James Mitchell of Touring Mitch a number of years again, and each Final Ontario, which is targeted on journey in my house province of Ontario, and We Discover Canada, had been starting to see huge beneficial properties.
One other undertaking of mine, Taste the Globe, which was centered on culinary journey experiences, was additionally beginning to naked some fruit. Life as a blogger, editor, photographer, and author was beginning to appear like the suitable resolution.
Our Household Travels in 2022
Let’s face it, our household journey in 2022 bought off to the identical begin as 2021 ended. There was a great deal of uncertainty concerning the state of journey. Whereas we had massive plans for worldwide journey, we weren’t even certain if we’d be capable of see household as a result of winter resurgence of the pandemic.
However our hopes had been excessive and we rapidly started planning for our second foray into northern Africa since our rushed exit in March 2020.
Parc Omega in Gatineau, Quebec
Earlier than we might soar into worldwide journey, Christina took it upon herself to assist me rejoice my birthday at a spot that we had each been wanting to go to for ages. Parc Omega is a wildlife park, analysis facility, and sanctuary in Gatineau, Quebec, about an hour from the town of Ottawa.
This huge park has an enormous assortment of Canadian wildlife together with elk, wild boar, deer, and their signature attraction, wolves. You may even do what we did, which was keep in certainly one of their luxurious cabins with huge home windows searching onto their wolf sanctuary. There are few issues cooler than waking up in the midst of the evening to a pack of wolves howling!
Paris, France
In March 2022, we had been scheduled to go to Morocco for a long-delayed go to to northern Africa. Sadly, after a yr of dodging COVID, Christina, D, and I all caught the virus and needed to delay our journey by three weeks. However the delay got here with a little bit of a bonus. We had been in a position to time our go to with certainly one of Christina’s conferences in Barcelona, Spain, and that meant a stopover in a metropolis that C has been determined to go to, Paris, France.
We might solely have someday within the metropolis, and with all of the wonderful methods to spend a day in Paris, guess what was prime on our birthday boy’s checklist?
Catching the Pokemon fitness center on the Eiffel Tower!
With all the unbelievable issues to do in Paris with children, we had a great deal of methods to spend our day within the metropolis. We visited the Louvre, wandered the markets, and took within the Arc de Triomphe. However as was promised, our day ended on the Eiffel Tower the place the entire household took out their electronics in an try to overcome that Pokemon fitness center.
And we did it! We held it for an entire ten minutes earlier than we had been ultimately compelled out.
Go Wagars!
Barcelona, Spain
We zipped over to Barcelona, Spain from Paris for what would mark a brand new nation for me and the boys. Christina had 4 days of strong convention schedule forward of her, however the boys and I had been free to roam.
We packed our days with adventures together with the wonderful structure of Antoni Gaudi at Parc Guell, the Sagrada Familia, and extra. We discover the monuments and fountains of Citudela Park, watched windsurfers and para surfers on the waterfront, and took within the wonderful environment of the town’s Gothic Quarter.
One of many coolest experiences was taking the practice out to Montserrate to absorb the historic mountaintop monastery and benefit from the completely good views and peaceable environment of this lovely place.
Morocco
We flew straight from Barcelona to Casablanca, Morocco the place we made essentially the most of our ten-day Morocco itinerary. We explored the wonderful cities of Rabat and Fes earlier than making our approach throughout the Atlas Mountains for some adventures within the Sahara Desert.
After a number of days spent quad-biking, driving camels, glamping within the desert, and consuming Berber Pizza, we fully fell in love with the area.
From the adventures of Merzouga, we made our approach via the arid west of Morocco via Africa’s “Hollywood” in Ouarzazate after which on via the Todra Gorge to the village of Skoura, the gateway to the Atlas Mountains. It was right here that we bought to stay our dream of mountaineering the Atlas Mountains.
Lastly, we made our solution to Marrakech for a cooking class and to expertise the legendary Marrakesh evening market earlier than making our approach again house.
Rochester, New York
In Might we had been invited throughout the border by Go to Rochester for an extended weekend of pleasure. Rochester is a metropolis that we’ve handed via fairly various occasions on our street journeys all the way down to New York Metropolis and the Adirondacks area, however it’s not a spot that we’ve ever taken the time to discover.
I’m so blissful that we did as a result of the town was completely superior. We spent three days visiting planetariums, residing historical past museums, exploring a few of the metropolis’s most necessary historic figures (to whom everybody in america owes a debt), and consuming at some completely epic eating places.
The boys and I really like having jam classes at house (C performs guitar, D performs drums, and I fiddle with each), so visiting Rochester’s superior report shops and the world’s largest guitar retailer was a fairly superior expertise as effectively.
You may learn all about our time in Rochester right here.
Nova Scotia
In the course of the boys’ final week of faculty, I made the drive to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia for the annual Journey Media Affiliation of Canada convention. Together with seeing a few of my superior colleagues and associates within the Canadian journey business, I additionally bought the prospect to discover a few of the rarely-visited cities and sights on Nova Scotia’s Acadian shores.
After the convention ended, I made a drive alongside the province’s “Lighthouse Route” which incorporates one of the crucial well-known websites within the nation, the majestic Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse.
Christina and the boys flew in to fulfill me in Halifax the place we spent a number of days exploring and consuming our approach via the town. We even had an opportunity to spend Canada Day on the unbelievable Halifax Citadel. After which we started working road-tripping via Canada’s East Coast.
New Brunswick
After spending a number of days in Halifax, we had been invited by Discover New Brunswick to … effectively, discover New Brunswick.
We road-tripped via the province, trying out the town of Moncton, the unbelievable Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, the town of Saint John, and the town of Fredericton. And after having fishing journeys canceled in Egypt, Ontario, San Diego, and Quebec, we confirmed that our fish-loving son C undoubtedly has a curse. Our epic shark fishing expedition (the place we might be catching sharks, tagging them for science, after which releasing them again into the wild) which we had deliberate to undertake with Island Quest Marine, had been canceled because of unhealthy climate.
As normal, although, we made essentially the most of it and had some further time to discover Fredericton, together with some superior canoe adventures and a few nice meals.
Quebec
Quebec sits proper subsequent door to our house in Ontario, so it’s a province that we discover fairly a bit. However coming to the province from the other facet after our travels via New Brunswick, we had the chance to go to a few of the most wonderful and least explored sections of the province.
Our first cease was Gaspesie Nationwide Park. This attractive park is nestled within the northern reaches of the Appalachian Mountains. We spent three days mountaineering, exploring waterfalls, and consuming wonderful meals on the lovely Gite Mont Albert, proper within the park.
From there we made our approach alongside the banks of the St. Lawrence River, visiting the Exploramer analysis facility in Saint-Ann-des-Monts earlier than making our approach throughout and as much as Havre St. Pierre.
Havre St. Pierre is among the most opulent locations to go to in all of Canada. The city sits on the sting of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and has dozens of islands boasting one of the crucial distinctive and exquisite landscapes within the nation. It’s a trek to get right here, however it’s definitely worth the effort for many who make it.
After leaving Havre St. Pierre we headed again to extra acquainted pastures in Quebec. We met some good associates for a whale-watching cruise within the city of Tadoussac after which drove to Saguenay Lac-St-Jean for some mountaineering, tree-top trekking, and cave exploration.
Our final cease was the majestic practice journey dubbed “Le Practice de Charlevoix.” We journeyed from Quebec Metropolis to La Malbaie, the place we spent two nights on the lovely Fairmont Manoir Richelieu for a number of days of rest among the many mountains. On our return journey, we made a short cease within the village of Baie St. Paul earlier than arriving again in Quebec Metropolis and making the drive again house to Ontario.
Northern Ontario
We had a whole 12 hours at house earlier than setting out on our subsequent journey, a 6-day street journey via Northern Ontario in partnership with Ontario Parks.
After buying and selling the hybrid in for our adventure-mobile, we made the lengthy drive as much as Kap Kig Iwan Provincial Park to start our journey alongside the “Boreal Route.” This wonderful street journey follows a loop between Temagami and Thunder Bay via Ontario’s part of the world’s largest unbroken Boreal forest.
The street journey took us from Kap Kig Iwan to Esker Lakes Provincial Park and Kettle Lake Provincial Park earlier than making a cease within the city of Cochrane, house to Canada’s solely Polar Bear Habitat. After seeing the world’s largest predator within the wild in Churchill, Manitoba, Cochrane was a must-stop for us.
The remainder of this wonderful route introduced us via Fushimi Lake Provincial Park and eventually on to Ivanhoe Lake Provincial Park earlier than we reluctantly stated goodbye to northern Ontario’s huge nature.
San Diego
After simply two days at house, it was time to move out once more. This time we might be flying south to San Diego, California. Christina had one other convention to attend, so the boys and I believed it might be superior to spend slightly time exploring this superior metropolis within the southern US.
We completely beloved our time within the metropolis. We did a LOT of strolling, spent a while on the town’s epic seashores, explored Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo, and discovered about navy historical past aboard the USS Halfway plane service.
We even bought out to La Jolla for some snorkelling, cave swimming, and a go to to the previous home of legendary kids’s writer Dr. Seuss.
It was an excellent enjoyable metropolis to spend time in, and I’ll be releasing an article about our adventures there quickly.
Tijuana, Mexico
C made a visit to Mexico after we visited the Mayan Riviera when he was six months outdated. D, alternatively, had by no means been. So whereas Christina was onerous at work, the boys and I took the practice all the way down to the border with Tijuana so we might get a style of border life.
Christina and I had made the same journey virtually 20 years earlier than when she was a college scholar. Making the journey with children was just about the identical (though with much less alcohol).
We spent the day wandering the streets, visiting the church buildings, and purchasing for Lucha Libre masks for my wrestling-obsessed godson.
Toronto, Ontario
Our whirlwind summer season continued only a day after getting back from California after we partnered with Vacation spot Toronto to cowl a few of the unbelievable sights within the metropolis for households eager to take advantage of the upcoming Labour Day.
We spent two wild days visiting the CN Tower, the Artwork Gallery of Ontario, Little Canada, Leap Restaurant, Ripleys Aquarium, and the Rec Room whereas residing in luxurious on the Westin Harbour Fort on the town’s waterfront.
You may take a look at our information to visiting Toronto with children proper right here.
Bogota, Colombia
We had a quiet few weeks again house after our adventures in Toronto. The youngsters jumped into hockey camps, adopted by rep group tryouts that swallowed up an excellent chunk of August and September. Add to that the primary few days of faculty and the end-of-summer scramble, and the times glided by in a blink.
Halfway via the month, I made my approach all the way down to Bogota, Colombia, which the household and I had visited a number of years earlier, for the Society of American Journey Writers convention. I used to be booked to be on a panel about Search Engine Optimization for writers seeking to construct up their very own web sites.
It was an incredible go to with some inspiring talks by wonderful individuals. And I had the prospect to go to a number of of the superior Bogota sights that my household had missed throughout our first go to to the town together with the majestic Salt Cathedral.
Thailand
With each of our children in rep hockey throughout the 2022/23 season, our schedule took a wallop. Earlier than we knew it, we had been residing on the rink and the boys had been on the ice six days every week. Add to this our regular college schedules, work schedules, and the boys’ music lessons, and we had by no means been so busy.
We had, beforehand, crammed up loads of our time with weekend adventures, and now all of that point was spent enjoying, planning, or training hockey.
So after we deliberate our two-and-a-half-week Thailand journey in October, we knew that this may seemingly be our final massive hurrah earlier than the top of the yr. So we made certain it was a giant one.
We made the 21-hour flight from Toronto to Bangkok (by way of Seoul, Korea) and hit the bottom operating with some unbelievable excursions of the nation’s capital area. From there, we spent a number of days in a floating river lodge exploring waterfalls and tracing the historical past of the notorious Demise Railway in Kanchanaburi.
We returned to Bangkok for an evening earlier than making our solution to Ayutthaya, which had lengthy held a spot in our hearts as a result of magnificent structure of the temples and the best way that nature had reclaimed a few of the magnificent stonework.
Catching a flight to Chiang Mai allowed us a number of days spent climbing up sticky waterfalls, being blessed by Buddhist monks in a mountaintop monastery, and visiting the resilient “Karen” mountain communities.
From Chiang Mai within the north, we made our approach south to Khao Sok Nationwide Park the place we spent a number of days with the moral eco-tour firm Elephant Hills. We loved a magical day assembly and feeding rescued elephants that had as soon as labored within the nation’s lumber business. Then we headed all the way down to Ratchaprapha to get pleasure from two nights on a floating lodge deep throughout the flooded mountains of the park. We did a jungle hike to a mountaintop cave, kayaked below timber stuffed with monkeys, and swam lots to chill down from the muggy warmth.
The ultimate leg of our Thailand itinerary was spent within the ocean-side stretches of Phuket. We stayed at a resort referred to as The Village at Coconut Island and loved some rest and loads of day journeys exploring the well-known Maya Seaside and Phi Phi Islands, visiting a floating village, fishing for unusual and great creatures, and simply having fun with a number of days of enjoyable within the solar earlier than making the lengthy journey again to Canada.
I don’t have our Thailand journey up on the weblog but, however it’ll be coming very quickly in 2023.
What We’re Wanting Ahead To In 2023
One factor that we’re studying as we develop as a household is that life is an ever-evolving, ever-changing expertise. We had fairly a number of years the place entry to journey experiences was simple. Christina and I relished the youngsters’s youth, sharing our ardour for journey and journey with the boys. However as we develop as a household and the boys change into increasingly impartial and have centered passions of their very own, we all know that extra of our time goes to be spent serving to them to develop their very own self-identities.
Does this imply that journey goes to take a backseat to different issues?
No!
Our altering lives simply implies that we’ll must adapt.
Our complete household nonetheless loves journey. The boys simply produce other pursuits that they’re exploring as effectively. Which means all of us work collectively to search out methods to assist all of us get as a lot enjoyment out of this experience via life as we will.
In 2023 we have now particular plans to go to Greece to assist the boys join deeper with their mutual love of Greek Mythology that was introduced on by their ravenous studying of the Percy Jackson collection. We’re additionally hoping to get again to Egypt to complete our tour via Cairo and the Western Desert.
Optimistically, our summer season goes to be a thrill experience of journey which may take us deeper into the African continent or, maybe, again to southeast Asia.
No matter adventures come our approach, we’ll be prepared for them and can take them on with the standard Wagar gusto!
