2013 was a relatively slow year for travel and ventured only little outside Toronto, saving up both time and money for an upcoming trip in Spring 2014. It has been a terrible year for blogging – never in my six years of blogging did I disappear for almost a year. Hoping to change that!

1. Canada

After living in Canada for about seven years, I officially became a citizen of this country. In a post on my personal blog, I narrated the somewhat funny story of how I immigrated into Canada on a bicycle. With this passport, travel will become much easier although I will certainly miss my Indian passport which had lots of memories associated with it.

Road trip across Ontario

↑ Fall colours in the Gatineau park, outside Ottawa.

This past Fall I went on a long road trip with my parents and my partner. We drove approximately 2,500km and travelled to: Killarney provincial park for camping, Timmins area to visit family, Ottawa to see the national capital, Montreal to see the second biggest city in Canada, and stopping at a bunch of random places on the way because they looked pretty enough to explore.

↑ Street musicians in Montreal

↑ At Killarney provincial park

Seeing more of Ontario

↑ Kakabeka Falls provincial park, Thunder Bay.

Ontario is a huge province and I have only seen few parts of it. I made brief visits to Thunder Bay, Kawartha Lakes area and, of course, Niagara Falls. The coolest and the most educational part was a helicopter excursion flying over abandoned and contaminated mine sites.

Provincial parks

↑ Brilliant fall colours at the Silent Valley provincial park.

I visited several provincial parks this year: Killarney, Kakabeka falls, Emily, Silent valley, among others. I, like many others, am a fan of the Ontario Provincial Parks system.

2. USA

The first country I visited on my new passport was USA and I was very excited to receive my first immigration stamp. 😉

New York City

↑ Thick and fluffy snowfall in Harlem.

I started my new year 2013 in New York city and I also ended the year in NYC. I really like travelling to New York. There are plenty of things to do in NYC including lots of places and museums you can see for free. I’ve seen many of them, but the real feeling of New York, like many other metropolitan cities, is in its small neighbourhoods, and that’s difficult to experience as a tourist.

Chicago

↑ Chicago’s glittering downtown seen from the Hancock observatory

By far, Chicago is my other favourite city in the USA. Chicago is not overwhelming like NYC but at the same time it has a big city feel to it which I crave from time to time. Chicago also feels a bit like Toronto – maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the food, or the diversity, I don’t quite know. But I can tell you this – Chicago has more architectural beauty than my hometown Toronto, and there are plenty of things to keep you busy.

What’s coming up for 2014

Hopefully the next year would be filled with travel and I certainly want to get out more to explore areas around the city. For starters, I’m travelling to India for seven weeks, from April to June. Tell me your plans. Happy new year! 🙂