Two trips to Toronto. One to Washington. Three to Montreal. One to Vancouver. One to Halifax. One to Calgary. One to San Antonio. And a perfect two weeks traveling from Dublin to Galway to County Donegal and to Belfast. Looking back at this past year, I was lucky to have so much joy from my travels – returning to old haunts, making new friends, being filled with awe, eating some amazing things, and mostly, just loving the hell out of what travel and exploration continues to bring to my life. It is impossible to distill everything, but here are a few of what continue to be my favourite memories from 2025.

(1) Czech-style beers with a much shorter flight – Twice in Toronto, and on both occasions I spent an afternoon at Godspeed Brewery in the east end of the city savouring their Czech beers and letting my mind drift back to being in Prague and being in beer heaven. Godspeed is one of Canada’s great breweries and I loved my time there this year.

(2) Returning to a favourite restaurant – An April conference in Halifax had my wife tagging along as we retraced some steps from our days living downtown. Back in the day, the Bicycle Thief restaurant on the waterfront was always the pick for a special night out and over all the years since then it still delivers. We enjoyed cocktails, the view out over the boardwalk to the harbour, and got lost in that alchemy of wonderful conversation and food.

(3) February patio beers – I wasn’t expecting balmy weather in Washington, DC in late February, but when the mercury hit 20C I knew exactly what to do – pull up a seat on the patio at Aslin Brewery. I sampled liberally, I could feel the sun on my face… I was in my happy place.

(4) More patio time – I love Montreal and was fortunate enough to visit a few times this year. I love Messorem which I think is a top 10 Canadian craft brewery. And I love their large outdoor patio with string lights and the backdrop of graffiti art. Unseasonably warm weather in September and sitting here draining a few pints with a good friend while chatting away an afternoon was sublime.

(5) Returning to the favourites – Maybe it’s age, maybe it is just the fact that when you find perfection you keep going back…. Shelter in Calgary is our favourite cocktail bar and my wife and I made a couple of visits on an early summer trip. The drinks, created on the spot by the bartenders after a quick conversation of your likes and interests are always amazing. But best of all, getting here when they open, grabbing one of the cozy banquettes with my favourite person, and sipping and chatting an evening away is always a great plan. The two nights we spent here were amazing and each time I left with my sides hurting from laughing so much.

(6) That night in Toronto – As a bit of a Canadian music nerd, I’m well aware of some of the lore around the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, even though I had never seen a show there until July this year. Luckily a folk duo I was interested in seeing was playing the night I arrived in the city and I thoroughly enjoyed an evening of beautiful two part harmonies, clever songwriting, and thinking of all of the artists that have played on that legendary stage.

(7) Baseball trip 2025 – I have nine major league stadiums left to visit, unfortunately, they are all located in a country whose leader likes to speak of annexing my country. So Jays games it was and this might have been my favourite baseball trip yet. Four outstanding games all won by the Jays. All sold out energetic crowds. And the renovated Skydome (I will not call it by its corporate name) is now a great ballpark, especially with the dome open, blue skies and the CN Tower above. I nerded out for four games and loved every minute of it!

(8) Nights at the ‘Nat – I just absolutely love summer night Vancouver Canadians baseball games at Nat Bailey Stadium. The intoxicating mix of a beautiful minor league stadium, wonderful BC craft beers, seats so close to the action at a fraction of the cost of those Jays games I went to, and this year, two absolutely stunning baseball games won by the home team. If I ever wind up living in Vancouver and you need to find me, just assume I’ll be sitting somewhere in that stadium for a good chunk of each summer.

(9) Going with the flow – As a habitual planner, it has taken a lot of my life to learn the value of leaning into what feels good in the moment compared to sticking with some notion of a plan made days or weeks prior. Whether on a solo trip and sitting on the porch of my AirBnB in Vancouver and watching the sun set, or on a trip with my wife and savouring a cup of coffee overlooking mountains and water in Ireland, I was reminded time after time that the good things while traveling are often the quiet things that happen when you sit still.

(10) A stunning meal – On a whim I booked a reservation at Oku Izakaya that was a short walk from where I was staying in Vancouver. The servers let me order smaller portions of a number of items on the menu (that will always win my heart) so I could try more things as a solo dinner. Everything was delicious and I got lost in just savouring the food and watching the line cooks from my perch at the bar. Perfection.

(11) My first Guinness in Ireland – We were a couple of hours off the plane from Canada, it was still morning and we popped into the Hairy Lemon pub after a stroll around St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin. It’s true what everyone says – it tastes so much better in Ireland! I loved this pint!

(12) A perfect pub – It is really, really hard to pick the best pub from two weeks in Ireland and Northern Ireland, but settling into the Duke of York in Belfast with my wife I could feel something special. The decor, the history, an outstanding pint of Beamish and settling in to play Yahtzee made for a wonderful hour or so of our day trip.

(13) Goosebumps – We ended up in Ireland in October largely on account of my wife’s football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, playing a game in Dublin. The game itself was amazing and the people who sat around us were absolutely lovely, but the moment I’ll always remember (aside from my wife’s joy at watching her team win) was hearing a stunning rendition of the Irish national anthem by Lyra and then the reaction from 75,000 people to its final refrain. Simply stunning and it brought me to tears.

(14) An evening with new friends – We headed to Taaffes in Galway for an evening of traditional Irish music and on seeing two free seats we asked this lovely looking couple if we could sit with them. They were from Quebec, he went to university in New Brunswick, she was shy about her English (and I was shy about my French) but after a few drinks we were speaking a bit in each others’ language. It was a beauty of a night of pints and music and whiskey and laughter and even stories of our shared love of the greatest baseball team of all time, the Montreal Expos.

(15) Soaking in the beauty – After surviving the hurricane-level storm effects including losing power for a day at the place we rented in County Donegal, we took a drive and marvelled at the beauty of the rugged coast along the Atlantic Ocean. A windy afternoon where the rain held off let us explore Fintra Beach and it was simply stunning. The wide swath of the beach was only occupied by us and at most three other people while we were there. I could feel the energy of the waves and the smell of the salt spray relaxed me in a way that only being near an ocean can. Ireland had many, many moments of beauty, but none were better or more deeply felt by me than this walk by the ocean.

(16) Self-guided whiskey tasting – On our last day in Dublin, my wife and I fortified ourselves with a large breakfast and then started sampling whiskeys at Devitt’s Pub at the crisp hour of…. well, let’s just ignore that detail. My wife, ever the planner, wanted to ensure we could sample whiskies that were available at the airport duty free, and my gosh did we try a lot of whisky. We played Yahtzee, passed glasses back and forth, and landed on a couple of great choices that made their way back to Saskatchewan. This was a great start to our last day in Dublin that became a bit of a pub crawl in the best way possible.

(17) Working south of the border – This past year I had an amazing opportunity when I was asked to join an advisory committee for one of the largest conferences in academic medicine. Working with these colleagues in Washington for a conference later in the year in San Antonio was an incredible experience.

(18) A lazy afternoon – On a smoking hot day in Calgary this summer, my wife and I sat down on the patio at Cabin Brewing and played a board game in their collection that made you attempt to sort horrific events on a “misery” scale. The game was hilarious, the drinks from a favourite brewery were exceptional as always, and laughing away an afternoon with my wife will always be one of my favourite things.

(19) Sneaking away for lunch – Over a conference lunch break in Halifax, I grabbed the ferry over to Dartmouth to meet these beauties for lunch. The lobster rolls and fish and chips at Evan’s Seafood is a must-visit for my wife and her family on every trip, and I was over the moon that I got to join them for a wonderful hang.