Is the honeymoon over yet? — You work for 40-plus years until the day you can finally clear out your desk for the last time and start living the rest of your life. Okay, so here I am, one month into my retirement, and like the balloon I received on my last day of work, the…

Prepare To Dodge Some Fireworks — I remember a story several years ago in Toronto about a group of young people shooting fireworks at each other on the Victoria Day Long Weekend. It was shocking to most people because of how dangerous it looked. But there’s a festival in Barcelona where getting showered by fireworks…

Gives New Meaning to ‘Pitching Their Products” The ship cruised slowly up the Nile, the waters calm, the scenery a blend of lush green palm trees framed by the golden sand cliffs, and as we approached an aqueduct, suddenly I noticed two rowboats directly in the path of the ship.

A Traveler’s Nightmare — What’s the worst you can imagine happening on a train trip through India? Well aside from an accident or tragedy, one of the worst things I could imagine would be getting a case of Delhi Belly while on a lengthy train trip and that’s exactly what happened. During my 3-month…

A tribute to my late mom. — This is the day we pause to celebrate our mothers. For the matriarchs in our life, it’s supposed to be the one day of the year that they get a break, although any mother will tell you that is never the case. I remember one year I entered a drawing…

Like no other festival you have ever attended. — I love international festivals because I believe they let you get a close-up look at local culture and bring you face to face with the residents of a community. I have attended a lot of festivals here in Canada and around the world, from Holi in Jaipur, India to La…

Diving Into A New Adventure — Sometimes people enter your life at just the right moment. I’m not comfortable in the water, especially underwater, but Scuba Diving is something I have always wanted to experience even though this would be pushing my boundaries. …