The World (click on a region of the world to explore my travel history)
(To view my travel photos gallery, please click here) |
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Countries visited: Canada, U.S.A., Mexico; I have travelled throughout Canada and can appreciate its size and the diversity of its landscapes and peoples. British Columbia itself offers scenery and a lifestyle unlike few other places I have ever encountered. My attitude towards life in general I believe reflects my upbringings in a well-grounded community and I feel very connected to the natural world that has surrounded me from an early age. My travels through the U.S.A. extend through the Western states of Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho and the Eastern states of New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Louisiana. Another country of vast proportions, I have always found friendly faces South of our border. As a child, my family made regular trips to Mexico to visit my grandparents' home in Guadalajara. I remember being exposed to a different culture and language and used to enjoy festivities such as cracking the Christmas pinata. I have since returned to Mexico, to the Baja Peninsula and most recently to visit my sister in Puerto Vallarta for Christmas 2005.
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My love for the tropics, surf, and sandy beaches was born here as well as an understanding of the intensity of life on a volcanic chain of islands. My first ever scuba diving experience was at the age of 12 on the island of Maui during a family vacation. I can remember being completely fascinated by a new world and by my ability to interact with animals I'd never encountered before. I decided to return to Maui for four months during the summer of 1994 to continue my passion for diving in tropical waters and earn my PADI Advanced diving certification. While there, I also explored the dense rainforests and black sand beaches on the Road to Hana, the lunar landscape of Mount Haleakala, and observed a culture's struggle to exist amongst encroaching tourism.
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Countries visited: England, Wales, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, France, Monaco, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia (former), Greece, Turkey; Trips to England, France, and Spain were regular for my family while I was growing up. A chance to practice my french and visit my grandparents at their second home in Alicante, near Valencia, Spain. I gained an appreciation for art and architecture and the history books came alive as we toured the major cities and countrysides. I also spent time in Yugoslavia just prior to it's devastating civil war and can remember observing the poverty and difficulties faced by the people following the communist rule. After high school (summer 1993), I spent three months exploring Europe by train, an amazing way to visit a place where countries are so easily accessed. I celebrated my 18th birthday with fellow travellers in a barn, perched high on a mountainside in the tiny village of Gimmewald, Switzerland. What a laugh! I stayed with friends in Annecy in the French Alps, Cape d'Agde on the Mediterannean Coast, and in Bergerac, near Bordeaux, allowing me a chance to take in a variety of French cultures. I also spent a month with friends in London, England. After university (September 1999), I returned to Europe, following the Mediterannean coast from Barcelona through France, Italy, the Greek Islands, and into Turkey. Turkey gave me my first glimpse of muslim culture and it's colourful, friendly people. The history astounded as I visited ruins, mosques, and ancient civilizations dating before the age of Christ. Beautiful beaches and coasts line the Mediterannean while poverty unlike other parts of Europe was apparent in many areas (primarily in the interior). Turkey was definitely a highlight. I have since returned to London and Paris to visit friends I have met in travels to South East Asia and Australia.
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Countries visited: Israel, Jordan, Egypt; Israel is by far the most intense country I have ever visited; a mixing pot of religions and cultures surrounded by deserts and seas. Within the one square kilometer walls of Old Jerusalem meet three of the worlds oldest and largest religions: Christianity, Judaiism, and Islam. Young Jewish adults serving their mandatory three-year sentence in the military patrol the country with machine guns and add an element of tension on the verge of anarchy. My short visit in 1999 opened my eyes to these religions and to the frustrations experienced on all sides. I also visited the West Bank, the desert regions near Masada, and had a float in the salty waters of the Dead Sea. From Israel, I crossed into Jordan and journeyed to the ancient rock city of Petra. Petra is an amazing feat of human civilizations where hundreds of buildings and monuments are carved out of the colourful stone cliff faces. From tea with Bedouins to camel rides, Jordan was an amazing country with friendly residents. I crossed the Gulf of Aqaba into Egypt and spent time in the Bedouin backpacker town known as Dahab and enjoyed some amazing diving in the clear waters of the Red Sea amongst vibrant coral reefs. The rest of my month in Egypt was spent exploring the Nile valley from Aswan to Cairo. From felucca rides with the laid-back Nubian people of the South, to bicycle rides through the Valley of the Kings, to the Great Pyramids of Giza and the hectic streets of Cairo, Egypt offered a glimpse into a world of old. Amazing!
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Countries visited: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Japan; My first visit to Asia was in 1999, arriving in Singapore from Egypt. What a contrast! Singapore is a country where chewing gum is illegal in order to keep the streets clean and shopping is the national past-time. I visited the amazing zoological gardens where the monkeys roam free before crossing into the much poorer Malaysian countryside. The Chinese and muslim cultures were apparent in all elements of life and in the great foods. I traveled North from Malakka to Kuala Lumpur and into the tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands. On the island of Penang, the religion changed to more buddhist and zhaoist influences with incense and chanting filling the temples. I spent the next 2 months on the islands of Southern Thailand, celebrating New Year's 2000 with friends from Victoria/Vancouver and a Full Moon Party on Koh Pha Ngan before crossing the peninsula to Koh Phi Phi. The beautiful waters and beaches of this Andaman Sea island enticed me to stay and complete my PADI Divemaster course before continuing on to Australia. I returned to Thailand in 2002 where my french was useful as I managed a dive shop at a Belgian owned resort on Koh Phi Phi. What an experience to live on a tropical island for nearly a year, enjoying Thai cuisine and diving amazing coral reefs! Of course, work was a priority and I gained a great deal of experience running a business and catering to the needs of divers from around the world. I traveled to the Philippines to visit a friend from Vancouver on the stunning beach island of Boracay before exploring some of the other 7000 islands that make up this island nation. Unspoilt diving from quiet resorts was a treat as tourism has not taken off here as it has in Thailand due to a lack of marketing and infrastructure. The Philippines is full of beautiful friendly people and countryside, from the Chocolate Hills of Bohol to the remote villages of Negros. I returned to Koh Phi Phi, Thailand for a third dive season in May 2004, to manage Long Beach Dive Shop and gain more experience...plus, the Thai people have an incredible spirit and the lifestyle was hard to resist!
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No country that I have visited compares so closely to Canada in a passion for the outdoors and a well-grounded appreciation for life. I found it very easy to travel and settle here; a country like Canada except for a warmer climate and more beaches...and of course, the Great Barrier Reef! I arrived in Sydney with a one-year working holiday visa for the first time in February 2000 and fell in love with the city. Learning to surf on lunch breaks from work and immersing myself in city life for four months, I enventually traveled up the coast before settling in Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland for four months. Another great surf spot, Noosa offered an amazing tropical lifestyle in a town developed for its aesthetically pleasing qualities. However, the Reef called and I made my way to Airlie Beach to work as a snorkel and nature guide in the Whitsunday Islands. Amazing! I returned to Australia in 2002 and applied for temporary residency (through a partnership visa), aquiring my PADI Dive Instructor certification in May and returning to the reef to teach diving out of Port Douglas, Queensland. I was fortunate to work on a research live-aboard, teaching dive courses while at sea and researching white-tailed reef sharks, minke whales and nautilus squid at the same time. A third time to Australia in 2003; this time to the West Coast. I worked for a dive shop near Perth visiting local Rottnest Island on a regular basis. Western Australia is much drier, literally where the desert meets the sea. I visited the stunning beaches and wine regions near Margaret River before heading to Australia's other reef: Ningaloo. Near Exmouth, this somewhat undiscovered gem for divers offered amazing experiences as I helped to develop whale shark tours for a new company in the area.
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Countries visited: Egypt, South Africa; My visit in South Africa was a short three days in September of 2003. I flew in to Cape Town and spent my time there exploring the surrounding Cape of Good Hope, the wine region of Stellenbosch, and a highlight, cage diving with the infamous Great White Shark. The shark dive trip left from Gansbaii, about a three hour drive East from Cape Town. We set out on choppy seas with a group of five others (two from the U.K. and a boat crew of three) to the center of the bay where we stopped and lured the sharks to the boat using mackerel oil spread out on the surface. Within minutes, we had up to five 10 foot long sharks making passes at the boat! Attracted at first by scent and then by the sight of a seal decoy, I managed to enter the cage and film some close encounters. It was thrilling however, I found myself feeling somewhat guilty for having taken advantage of the sharks' desire to feed. The country's landscape was breathtaking, reminding me much of Southern parts of Australia and the wildlife was astounding: baboons, penguins, whales, ostrich, birds, reptiles and insects abound...and that was only with short drives from the city! People were mostly friendly despite underlying racial tensions in certain areas but my visit left me thirsty for more; I must return! As for Egypt, please see my visit to the Middle East for my description.
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Countries visited: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica; My most recent three-month trip was to Central America where I took in the beauty of the Caribbean coral reefs and beaches, ancient Mayan temples, jungles and volcanoes, surf breaks, Latin American culture, and exotic wildlife. Travelling by chicken bus, I was able to access remote villages and spent time with Guatemalan families while studying spanish. Click here to view photo slideshows from my trip!
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