Most things in this room were sold off, with a couple of items still in storage (if I recall correctly). Look at the snow in the background. No thank you!

It started off to let my friends and family know how the arrangements were coming as I prepared to leave Canada.  The first post was about getting rid of the grey couch and chair that I had for twenty years.  The agony of letting go of things that I had cherished for years, followed by the freedom of not having those ties.  So, it has been for almost a year and a half. I continually shed the ties that have bound me to a life that no longer serves me.  I was not clear that this was happening until it was reflected in my writing.

100 Posts later and I find the writing cathartic.  If I can make sense of it in a 500-word blog, then maybe I can make sense of it in my life.  Maybe I can even help someone else.  This is my 100th blog post and so, I am going to start calling myself a writer.

My journals from around the world and across my life.

My Eurail pass when backpacking around Europe on a shoestring and paper tickets were both things.

When I threw myself off a bridge in New Zealand in the name of bungy jumping and adventure.

I am also actively writing a book.  The first drafts began in March 2020 as I chronicled my travels.   My consulting work disappeared overnight at the start of the pandemic and the public health authorities were asking everyone to stay at home.  This left me with a great deal of time and anxiety.  I began to read through old travel journals and look through my albums.  Travel had always been my escape, and I took a closer look at what I had been escaping from.  This is where the book begins.

One of my retirement in installments was a six-month round the world tour. It started through some pretty rough places in Africa.

Then through Australia, along the East coast up through the centre (Ayers Rock - Uluru in the picture) and up to Darwin.

I even tried surfing, but it was hard and I never came back to it...until now.

Sometimes I am asked to explain my inspiration to write.  Often, there is something that happens in my life, or more likely a conversation that gets me thinking.  I don’t write until this inspiration takes hold.  Lately, I have found fewer inspirations.  I believe that it is my cue to start moving again.  A travel blog isn’t much if you don’t travel.

I had this conversation with Lorena recently, that the last year of staying put has been restful.  There hasn’t been an avenue to go anywhere without a whole lot of effort and anxiety, so we have stayed on the island and have loved doing this.  This has been the longest that I have ever stayed in one place.  Fifteen months on a 166 square mile island.  It reduces the options and, in the process, quiets the mind.  I have been able to sit for hours and write with a clear focus and conscience.  It has been a thrill and a privilege.

100 blog posts and part of a book in, I feel as though I have sorted some things out: the importance of community, my feelings towards work and retirement, the beauty of male and female friendships, and being at peace on the ocean.  There are others that I need to get out there and feel, like how I will resonate with traveling again in this crazy world and what it will feel like to be on Canadian soil again.

The Brits, otherwise known as the South Africans, my Barbados family

Boosy, the heart of our surfing community

On my surfboard on the ocean - exactly where I want to be.

There is plenty more to experience in Barbados and I will return to this Caribbean Island.  My journey will change in May as I look to the outside world for inspiration and new ways of being.  I hope that you will join me.  My wish for you is that you are finding your own inspirations for a great life.

If you sat down to write about the last couple of years, what would you write about?  If you wrote about seeing the world through travel, what would that look like?