In a year of travel taking me from Cuba to LA, Whistler to Argentina, Uruguay to New York there are sooo many memorable moments and adventures I’ve experienced it’s hard to list them all. The best part has been sharing those moments with the one I love most, my husband. Rest assured though, there were also some moments and misadventures that made our journey…shall we say, um, a little more bumpy.
Here’s a roundup of my top 5 best and worst travel moments of 2013:
Top 5 Best Moments
- Visiting Havana’s Callejon de Hamel, an alley full of vibrant street art where we met muralist Salvador Gonzales Escalona.
- Completely unplugging in Whistler at Scandinave Spa in August and eating my way around Whistler during the Cornucopia Festival in November.
- Biking from Venice Beach to Santa Monica in LA and watching the sunset at Hotel Erwin’s High Lounge. Read more about why I loved Venice Beach so much.
- Fresh from Buenos Aires, there are too many moments to list which I will write more about in the new year. For now, I would say my best highlights were taking a street art tour, biking the city, reading in the park and drinking lots of malbec!
- Landing in the middle of New York’s Rockefeller Centre during the holidays – magical lights, sounds from the “Nutcracker” playing outdoors, digital light displays at Saks 5th Ave, gigantic outdoor Christmas installations, merry shoppers, mega skyscrapers, the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and a city that never sleeps. It was one of those unforgettable moments.
Top 5 Worst Moments
- Getting insanely sick after visiting Cuba – like diarrhea sick, puky sick. All week. The saving grace? It happened AFTER enjoying the beaches and mojitos.
- Puking on the ferry to Montevideo, Uruguay – right into my bag of newly purchased cookies. Reminded me of my days working on cruise ships. The first hour was fine, but the last two hours got very bumpy and I hadn’t taken gravol. Felt soooo much better after!
- Pickpocketed (I think, I’m preeetttty sure) at San Telmo Market in Buenos Aires – I will be writing about this misadventure soon so stay tuned.
- Flight Cancellations + Delays + Long Customer Service Wait Lines + Missed Connections + Late Baggage – all of that happened at two gateway points – Toronto and New York. Damn that east coast weather! After a long flight all I wanted was a bed, but there was nothing we could do, but wait. And wait. And get annoyed.
- Stray Dogs Chasing Me in Punta del Este – I fear big, stray barking dogs. And I have soooo come to appreciate cities that have dog leash policies! Somehow, I end up always attracting the stray pets whenever I travel. There were the snarling ones in Istanbul and Kas, Turkey last year. This year, they got me in Punta del Este. I outsmarted one who was waiting for me outside of a restaurant. I went back in and out another door, but only AFTER it followed me for a block. BUT, while snapping some photos in a Punta del Este neighbourhood, I hear my husband calling, “Parm, Watch Out!” At that moment, all I see is this large dog running towards me at full speed. I let out a massive SCREAM and start running out of pure fear. Of course, that didn’t make things any better nor did it stop it from coming right at me. Luckily the dog owner called the beast over and I didn’t get bit. But watching over my back all the time in cities where there’s no dog leash policies – kinda, well, bites! Until next time dogs….
Although there’s always the not so fun moments of travel, I cherish both – the good and the bad – it makes travel interesting, funny, adventurous and delightable.
Cheers to a sparkling 2014 filled with travel moments, adventures, misadventures that will shine for years to come. Happy Holidays from Desi Globetrotter!
