For the first time since 1992 I didn’t take a single flight in a calendar year. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and 2020 has me looking ahead with excitement to eight hour layovers, canceled flights, middle seats at the back of the plane by the washrooms… seriously. Travel took a back seat this year, but with safety and my natural restlessness pushing me, I managed to have a few adventures “on the road” to keep my spirits high. In no particular order, here is a list of my favourite travel experiences from 2020 – a year of making the best of it.

(1) The smell of salt water – I hit the road for the 90 minute drive to Manitou Beach and shortly after arriving took a walk along the water’s edge. Standing at this point, the breeze in my face, I could smell salt water. I closed my eyes and it felt like I could be standing along the water in Halifax on a peaceful morning. In a turbulent year, it was a true moment of feeling centred.

(2) My first beer on a patio in 2020 – After not leaving my house for anything other than groceries for the first months of the pandemic, when things started to open up in Saskatchewan, I knew I needed to get out of town to ease my restlessness. Combining my desire to see something new and my desire to visit a bar again, I headed to Nokomis to enjoy a pint on the patio of Nokomis Craft Ales. It felt great to have this simple pleasure of sitting in public enjoying a beer.

(3) A farm dinner – “Outdoors” was definitely a theme for my travels this year. On a Sunday evening in late August, my wife and I “ate out” for the first time in more than five months at a dinner hosted at Farm One Forty in Vanscoy. On a suddenly fall-like evening under beautiful prairie skies, we had a wonderful meal – the food and the feeling of normalcy made this one of my favourite evenings of the year.

(4) Beer tasting in central Alberta – During our late summer vacation, I spent an afternoon exploring Sylvan Lake and indulged in a great tasting flight of beers from Snake Lake Brewing. Sitting on their patio I had that feeling of being “away” that I missed for much of 2020. When I popped back inside the brewery to buy a few cans for the rest of my vacation and to chat about their wonderful beers, they gifted me a can of a new beer that had just literally come off the caning line. I’ll definitely be stopping in here on future trips through Alberta.

(5) The colours at Lake Louise – My two previous times here, Lake Louise was still frozen over so this was the first time I got to see the lake’s unique colours. We hiked around the lake and a number of times, like when I stopped to take this photo, I was mesmerized by the colours – of the lake, the trees, the mountains, and the sky.

(6) Staring out over Lake Minnewanka – On Labour Day, the Banff area emptied out as people returned home for the start of the school year. That left all of the sights in the national park devoid of crowds, and as I sat on the shore of Lake Minnewanka, the only sounds were of the water lapping over the rocky beach and the light breeze. It was peaceful, it was beautiful, and I was grateful to be traveling and to have all of this to myself.

(7) Roadtrip to Regina – My wife and I have a tradition of taking an annual “honeymoon” on our anniversary. While 2020 will have an asterisk beside it, we kept the streak alive with a road trip down to Regina to pick up some gluten-free goodies (for her) and some craft beer I can’t get in Saskatoon. At this point in the pandemic, just getting away from the house for most of the day was an amazing feeling. We brought along the dog who is now road tested as a good companion for at least 5 hours in the car.

(8) Trying some new to me takeout in my hometown – For the first time in as long as I can remember, I did a one-week staycation (normally, I treat vacation days as mandatory “get out of town” days). One of the things I have missed most this year is eating all kinds of new things on my travels, so I took the opportunity to order takeout from a bunch of places in Saskatoon during the week. I loved everything, in particular, the delicious Asian-fusion dishes of Odd Couple (left), some Japanese-inspired snacks that made me think back on my last big trip (coincidentally, eating this on the 1-year anniversary of being stranded in Osaka due to a canceled flight – right, top), and some great Jamaican food from Jamaican Food Basket (right, bottom).

(9) Cabin time in central Alberta – This was the perfect second half of an Alberta vacation. We rented a luxurious cabin just outside Rocky Mountain House, drank some good wine, sat around evening fires to make s’mores, and generally just relaxed. We’ve added this to our “must re-visit” list and expect this will become somewhat of an annual tradition.

(10) Icefields Parkway road trip day – It is said the Icefields Parkway drive is among the most beautiful in the world and I agree wholeheartedly. We stopped frequently, gawked out our car windows throughout, and passed a wonderful day driving from Banff to Jasper then back to Saskatchewan River Crossing.

(11) Lunch in Golden, BC – This was the turn-around spot in our mountain exploration day trip from Banff. My wife found us a necessary combination for a respite – gluten-free food, outdoor dining, and at least one reasonable craft beer on tap for me. I don’t remember the meal I had, but being outside, beer in my hand, having a meal with my wife on vacation in a town we’d never visited before made me happy in a way only traveling can.

(12) Cold weather patio beers in Saskatoon – I didn’t have the greatest luck with the weather during my October staycation, but even sub-zero windchills couldn’t keep me from my last patio beers of 2020. The feeling of being in your own city on a work day enjoying a craft beer was decadent, even if it meant bundling up. As I learned in 2020, vacation is a mindset.

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(13) Backyard summer nights – While physical traveling was severely limited this year, escaping from my headspace was only ever a few steps away. My backyard deck from March through to October was a place for me to “get away”, read or listen to music and sometimes just get lost in my own thoughts as I stared at my patio lights. This was my 2020 happy place and I’ve never been so thankful to have this space as I was this past year.