Summer of 2014 – Canada, Mexico and Florida

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Hi there my fellow Wanderlusters,

Summer of 2014 – Canada, Mexico and Florida

As I’m writing this I’m sitting in a crowded and for my taste too loud Heathrow Airport in London waiting for my connection flights.

More than 24 hours travelling to get to the first stop of my two-month trip!

The weather was great today and we flew over the centre of London and I was able to take those great shots from above:

London from above

London from above Chronic Wanderlust

Soon I’ll board the plane that will  take me to JFK. I’m not going to stay there any longer than a few hours (plus I’ve been there only last week), but continue my >24 hours journey.

Where am I going next?

The provinces of Ontario and Quebec, Canada!

What will I be doing there?

To be completely honest – I have no plan. All I got is a hired car for about 11 days and a vague idea of what I don’t want to miss out on: mainly the national parks and cities ranging from Quebec City to the Niagara Falls.
I didn’t plan a lot on purpose (and because of some lack of time). I want to enjoy this trip the best way possible. I don’t want to run from one thing to another. I prefer seeing less and soak up every moment rather than – well see everything, but not see anything. You know what I mean right? I know I’ll be back some day, so there’s no hurry for that, and some things are best left to imagination.

UK from above
After two weeks in Canada I’m so much looking forward to the main reason of this trip:

Dive Master

I’m going to do another scuba diving course and get certified as a Dive Master – meaning I can teach partial dive courses.

And where do this any better than in Mexico?! 🙂

I’ll be going to the peninsula of Yucatán – did you know there is the second largest reef in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia of course). Some claim it’s even the most beautiful, I can only support that thought (ehm yes I have not been to Australia yet, but up to now that’s the truth for me). I’ve been to Mexico twice in 2011 and within one of those trips I also went to Yucatán after graduating from high school and I loved it there! I’m so deeply fond of Mexico and its rich culture that I had to get back here a third time! (and probably some more times in the future.)
Those will be some intense five weeks in the Caribbean but a lot of fun as well – learning and deepening my knowledge and skills on diving has been itching me since I got certified in early 2010.
And I really want to travel around a bit and enjoy the great ancient cultures of the Mayans and others. I’ve been to the “most important” aka the most touristy sites, ruins and places before, but I want to revisit some of them and get a second look. I might also go to Belize for a couple of days, but I’m not sure yet. Guatemala too. Well everything too. 🙂
Apparently I talked about Mexico a lot to my friends, so one of my friends from uni (we also spend a semester together studying in Spain) will “come over” and see for herself why I love it so much. No plans yet, but we’ll see what we’ll do! (Plus she will be travelling much more through Mexico than I and I will not be joining her on all trips.)

Up next: Florida

Last stop on my two month trip to the Americas is the sunny state of Florida.
This stop, as well as the stopover in Canada, is a nice way to make the best of a flight route. Actually the cheapest flight route 🙂 When travelling from Austria to Mexico the cheapest way was stopping in Montreal (I had a specific direct flight from Montreal to Cancun in mind, which I didn’t book in the end). So I decided to stay a bit longer that a couple of hours in the airport and go see a bit of the huge country. Then again when travelling from Cancun, Mexico, which is a rather small airport back to Europe I have a fixed stop in Miami. The bells in my head rang – why? Friends from Venezuela moved to Miami only last summer and invited me. Got it? I’m so looking forward to seeing them again and talking some Venezuelan Spanish!
In Florida I’d love to visit the Keys and the Everglades Nationalpark as well as “The wizarding world of Harry Potter” – it’s a Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando. And to top it off – there will be a very amazing short trip that I’ll tell you about later.

When I tell others of my plans for the summer I usually get this reaction:

Who am I travelling with?

SOLO 🙂 I love the freedom that comes with it – which doesn’t mean that I don’t like company either. Sometimes you need some time off to cool down and refill your energy and follow your heart. As you read a little bit above: Yes there will be some other people on the trip, but nobody will be with me during the whole journey. I know people in most places and I love meeting them up and grabbing a cup of coffee, but those are usually a few hours.

above the clouds

How will I survive this big summer thing?

I’ve thought of some things I wanted to do for a long time but never had or never quite took the time to do so. Here it goes:

  • Finish reading the great book “The Book Thief” and start reading a new one
  • Staying more optimistic – everything happens for a reason, you may not be aware of that now, but you’ll know when it hits you 🙂
  • Reflect more on myself
  • Packing my running shoes and explore the nationalparks and cities a bit faster than usual
  • Write a postcard every single day of my trip and send it to you guys out there! If you’d like a postcard just put your name and address here.
  • Be more open-minded
  • Enjoy time alone
  • Work on some of my projects
  • Be creative

Viktoria UrbanekWhat’s your plans for the summer? Any recommendations for my trip?

Let me know in the comments below, I love getting your feedback!

Keep on travelling, stay safe!
Vik

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Viktoria Urbanek Travel Blog Chronic Wanderlust

Grüß dich, I'm Viki!

At Chronic Wanderlust, I write about my two great passions: travelling and diving – and have been doing so since 2013.

I usually spend a solid majority of the year travelling to experience extraordinary underwater adventures, taking road trips through countries I don’t know (yet) or exploring my home country of Austria.

As a certified divemaster, passionate underwater & travel photographer, road trip enthusiast and individual traveller, I collect unique moments all over the world.

I don’t believe that severe cases of wanderlust – aka chronic wanderlust – can be cured, only treated. On this blog, I want to show you how this can best be realised.

Curious to get to know me better?