It feels like not that long ago when I published my 400-post celebratory post. Before I know it I’ve moved on and written another 100 posts on new places I’ve visited, new lessons learned, and new people met. It was also my birthday this week and I realized that I haven’t spent two consecutive birthdays in the same city since 2011.
Looking back, I can see my travel history by post milestones. Although I haven’t started publishing as soon as I began travelling extensively, it is easy to tell by the number of posts by country. The first 100 posts were mostly about my time in Germany, the next 100 were written during my massive pan-American road trip, the following 100 completed during my final year of university in Hong Kong, then another 100 while I lived in Switzerland, and the most recent 100 posts in Ontario and Quebec.
I used to do quite a few non-travel type posts such as book reviews and fictional short stories, but I’ve been traveling so much since post number 300 that I couldn’t find the space to insert them.
I’ve now realized that I should modify the timing of my posts. I can put up experiences of events or articles on festivals in a more timely manner, leaving more evergreen travel locations for a later date. I also started a new series called Backstory, where I reveal how I put an in-depth or feature article together, what difficulties I faced, and what I learned. A “behind the scenes” of sorts.
There are still about a year’s worth of travel stories in reserve that I haven’t uploaded yet. I seem to travel more than I can share. I’ve now prioritized depth of travel over breadth of travel. Instead of spreading myself out across a map, I’m returning to places I’ve already been to explore specific sights and experiences. My trusty Excel spreadsheet tells me that I’ve visited over 100 municipalities across Ontario and Quebec in the last 14 months and I’ve revisited more than 20 of them already.
The Parks Canada annual pass is a steal for me. I get my money back in just seven visits, and I’ve already used it three times in the first two days of owning it. I keep it in my car all the time. I love passes. I pay once and never have to worry about paying for a ticket again, I can go anytime I want, and I can skip the line to save time.
The 600th post will come in early 2022. Half a thousand is nothing too impressive, perhaps I’ll do a real physical celebration at 1000.
