I love to travel! It is one of my favourite things to do by-far hands-down no-questions-asked. I am always up for a trip to a new place or to see a sight that I have never seen before. To see the glass house in Trehernesure! To Rouleau to see where Corner Gas was filmedsure (even though I had never seen an episode)! To the United States for lunch during a study break from the U of Rsure!
You name it, I am up for it....
But my all-time favourite thing to do while travelling is to get lost. Yep, it's true. While for some people it causes anxiety and arguments in the car about which turn should have been taken, getting lost to me is sometimes like an unexpected treat.
I'm one of those people that would rather pitch our Garmin GPS out the window than follow the directions of the voice. Not that 'she' doesn't come in handy when we are pressed for time, or that the kilometre countdown and time of arrival isn't useful every now and then. But I quite appreciate it when 'she' is wrong.
Different, I know... But getting lost to me is a way to get off the beaten track. And as a geographer, I live for this type of thing.
I see things that I have never seen before, and I see hidden treasures that I would normally just drive by. In a world that is so often scheduled, it is a moment where all of the plans go out the window and I can just sit back and appreciate the experience.
These 'hidden treasures' are sometimes my favourite things to see.
Like the Market Theatre Gum Wall in Seattle, where people stop to take photos and add their previously chewed gum. Located in Post Alley under Pike Place market, the alleyway is sure to disgust many; but for me, it is a sight to see. While theatre workers once scraped the 'gum blobs' away in attempt to clean-up the alleyway, the wall is now marked as one of the top five germiest tourist attractions in 2009. Gross maybe, but a must-see? Definitely!
In Jamaica, there is a hidden cove down a beaten old trail, covered on both sides with bushes, between the Falmouth and Discovery Bay. The water is pristine and untouched by local developers. It is not far from there that you will run into what is known as Glistening Waters. Swimming in the water at night means swimming in a pool of glowing water. The location, one of five in the world, is not something that you would necessarily hear about from your tourist resort; but is most definitely, one of the most unique aspects of the country. The glowing is caused by microorganisms in water where salt and fresh water meets. Getting out of the water means a body covered in sparkles...or to be honest...probably a body covered in microorganisms. Gross maybe, but a must-see? Definitely!
In Queenstown, New Zealand, you have to take a walk down Shotover Street and attempt to finish what may be one of the best burgers in the world...a Fergburger. The burger patties, made from beef, lamb, deer, chicken, cod or pork, are the size of your face, literally.
While these sights may be more for the travelling souls, a number of treasures exist locally. In Regina, La Bodega may seem like a cozy little tapas bar; but in the evenings, it is home to old black-and-white movies projected on the wall and during the winter months, an ice-bar is set-up outside. In Moose Jaw are the murals that are spread throughout the city and in Brandon exists an artistic graffiti wall. No matter where I travel, there are always things to see and sights that stick out in my mind.
So next time you are lost and aren't pressed for time, take a moment to take a different route or walk down a street that you might have missed previously. You might see something, you might see nothing. But more often than not, it is those moments, the different ones, that we never forget.
