While restricted to local travel during Covid, we were grateful to live a 20 minute ferry ride from varied Vancouver Island. The book Vancouver Island Vs The World compares world renowned locations to spots found on this island, from waterfalls to beaches, from cities to mountains.
We decided to explore the northern part of the island where we knew we would not encounter many other people.
We started by driving as far north as we could: to the town of Port Hardy. After that we would slowly make our way south while making side trips, exploring places we had not visited before and also some special boat trips.
Walking. Perhaps there is no better way to see your surroundings and get to know the locals than when you walk. When we planned our trip to Cambodia, we wanted to see Angkor Wat, Siem Riep, and we wanted to hike.
We came across a website for Cambodia Cycling & Trekking. That appealed to us. The company replied promptly and was very willing to tweak and answer questions. They offered a 15 day trek that included accommodations and luggage transport. The detailed itinerary included things like “Day 3: Siem Reap to Kratie. Breakfast at the hotel, visit Kompong Kdei Bridge, transfer to Santuk Mountain, climb to hilltop pagoda, transfer to Kratie.” What we didn’t realize until we were actually there, is that the ‘transfers’ that day amounted to driving 400 KM. Each day listed the walking distance, ranging from 3 to 17 KM but also included driving to many different regions of the country.
Peace is achieved when people make cross-culture friends, when people in different parts of the world understand and respect one another. My dream is to help my grandsons make friends around the world. I can’t wait for that to happen, with real kids rather than cardboard. But for now, the Flat Stanley books are a great teaching tool and inspired two cardboard boys to take along on our journeys….
