Cuba: Bike Touring at a Different Pace
We spent winter break cycling in Eastern Cuba, where the pace of life is different and cars don’t dominate the roads. Due to fuel shortage, among other issues, “traffic” is more likely to be a horse-drawn cart, bulls, cows, or the occasional old American cars. The empty roads make it a cyclist’s dream, but the reality for Cubans today is tough, and you can feel it everywhere. There were many reasons to cancel this trip. Hurricane Melissa had just hit the eastern coast of Cuba shortly after we booked our flights. Then we started hearing reports about outbreaks of Chikungunya , Dengue, and Oropouche. There was also a looming pilot…
Mt. Frosty: Definitely Not Frosty
We set out on a three day hike in Manning Park with the goal of getting to the summit of Mt. Frosty. We were looking for a doable hike with the kids, but also challenging enough and one where there was snow (the kids insisted). With an attractive name like Frosty we set high expectations. Not an early start for us… It was hot. Probably the first time it got really hot that summer. The drive to Manning was long so we weren’t exactly off to an early start. It was Thursday and the parking lot at Lightning Lake – the trailhead, was relatively empty. Up up we go! The…
Japan: 100% Unpredictable Hokkaido
We’d been dreaming of exploring Hokkaido for years, even though we had already done two previous bike trips to Japan. This summer, it finally felt like the stars were aligned. We discovered that ZIPAIR offered surprisingly affordable flights, and kids under six could fly practically for free. With Kai’s sixth birthday approaching, we knew it was time to embark on our third bike adventure in Japan, and Hokkaido was calling our names. At YVR – ready for another Japan adventure! Hokkaido exceeded even our wildest expectations. Our trip kicked off with a two-day stay with dear friends of my dad’s who had recently relocated to Sapporo. They welcomed us into…
- Camping, Carfree, Cycling & Cycle Touring, Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast, Trip Reports, Trips with Kids
Saturna Island: The Long Way There
This trip was very loosely planned. Our friends asked if we would like to bike to Saturna Island on the May long weekend and we happily agreed. We were there with them two years ago so we knew more or less what to expect. May long weekend on Saturna What we did not expect was that the way there would take forever and be so stressful. We decided to make it into a car-free trip, but unfortunately the awesome TransLink Bike Bus only runs in the summer months. We strongly believe that this service should start on May long weekend at the latest. Waiting for a long time for the…
Mexico: Big Roads, Gravel Roads, and Friendly People
Not all things go as planned. In fact most things don’t. This trip was also not what we had originally planned for the winter break. Certain known world events made us change our plan of a family visit in our home country. We had to come up with a Plan B with reasonable flights from San Francisco where we were going to spend a week prior to this trip. With limited options and in the most expensive time of the year, we narrowed it down to another trip to Mexico. We came with high expectations after a wonderful bike trip in the Yucatan the year before. Maybe that was also part of the problem.…
Galiano & Salt Spring Islands: A Birthday Bike Trip
The Gulf Islands are truly magical. So, when we had the opportunity to take a few days off around my birthday, I knew it would be an awesome place to spend my birthday. Combining this with biking, one of my favourite things in the whole world and with my favourite people, guaranteed me a great birthday. Getting ready to roll! However, the ferry schedule was tricky and our time was limited. We also hadn’t reserved any camp sites, so we wanted to avoid the weekend. I had to scratch my head a few times before coming up with a plan. We spent Saturday at the Folk Fest in Vancouver and…
Ottawa-Quebec City – A Bike Trip in the “Other Canada”
At the end of summer we set off on yet another bike trip. Our flight was very early in the morning and followed a night of very little sleep. It was a domestic flight though, to Ottawa, so there was less airport hassle than usual. As were leaving, the sky looked hazy. It turned out that the smoke from wild fires had finally rolled into Vancouver. Up until that point we had no smoke in Vancouver. Early morning flight to Ottawa Five hours later we landed in sunny Ottawa. We took a taxi to our wonderful Warm Showers hosts, one of six different hosts we stayed with during this two…
Vancouver to Chemainus: Once Again, But More Planned
May long weekend was sneaking up on us. It’s been a while since we’d seen our friends on the island and we thought it would be nice to visit again. Last year we had a rushed bike ride to Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. We figured we could have a much more relaxing experience if we’d actually plan to bike there and take enough time. Biking along Beach Ave., Vancouver We now knew Neil was capable of biking the entire route – 72kms, with some hills. We made one stop at Ambleside Park before connecting to Marine Drive and the narrow, windy way to the ferry terminal. Quick stop at Ambleside…
New York: Charmander Visits the Big Apple
As a child I spent many summer breaks and school holidays in New York. It is a big city and can be overwhelming for some. Last year Neil and I had a quick visit to the Big Apple and this year it was time to bring Kai too, and Gili, oh and Charmander. Charmander is a little red character Neil got as a gift from his Maker Lab instructors at Steamoji. They asked him to take photos of Charmander in the big city. Neil carried him in his pocket everywhere and through his eyes we got to enjoy this big, overwhelming, exciting and colorful city. Charmander at the Museum of Natural History Shark exhibit Some of…
Mount Seymour: So Close and So Far
The kids had been asking for a while to experience camping in the snow. It was me that needed more convincing. Eventually I agreed to come along, what’s the worst that could happen? Plus I figured I could probably survive one night in the snow. I have done it before, just not recently… The kids “helped” us pack Our friends who live in Victoria were excited to join, though by foot and not on skis. In retrospect, they should have probably had snowshoes, but they managed. The original plan was to head to Red Heather and camp there by the warming hut. But original plans don’t always work out. We…
