I’ve been fortunate to see many parts of North America and the Caribbean but I have yet to travel overseas to Europe, Africa or Asia. I’ve been to the United States (several States but mostly Florida), Mexico, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Belize, Costa Rica and Panama.
I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to visit these places as I know there are many people, like my parents, who have never traveled much. Sure they go to Florida once a year but that doesn’t show you different cultures really as the Americans are more or less like Canadians…just not as polite.
One thing I’ve found with traveling, it gave me a real appreciation for home and my country of Canada. If you’ve ever thought “I’ve got it bad”, then you’ve obviously never been to places where survival and day to day life are not taken for granted.
Living in Canada and having to pay so much money for taxes, gas, food, housing and just the necessities of life can be draining on your emotions and your bank account but I’ve been to places where people don’t have homes or much money to survive.
One of my least favourite trips had me in Jamaica and in particular Montego Bay. If you’ve been to Jamaica to a resort you might not see how bad things are if you don’t venture off the resort property and I certainly don’t recommend it as you could be mugged, robbed or worse. There are some wonderful people in Jamaica and the Red Stripe beer was tasty but of all the places I’ve been this is where I felt the least safe. That’s saying a lot considering our tour group in Panama had an armed escort with two guys on a motorcycle…one driving and the other carrying a nice sized gun.
Montego Bay was a very dirty place and as a tourist stop you were hounded everywhere to buy stuff. People were lined down the middle of the road trying to sell items through the windows of the cars as we stopped in traffic. There are some side streets in the town where you wouldn’t want to venture for fear of being rolled. The small river through town was filled with garbage and stunk. The roads and sidewalks were very dangerous with huge holes. Overall, it wasn’t too pleasing to the eyes.Upon arriving by cab in Montego Bay, I had a young man (early 20’s maybe) who attached himself to me as my personal tour guide. He ignored my friendly protests saying I didn’t need him to show me around and stayed with me. He tried to lead me down one street which looked like trouble and that was enough as I headed back to where the cab dropped me off. Before I said goodbye to him he informed me that I owed him $40 for the guided tour to which I told him I wasn’t paying for it as I never asked for it. Wanting him out of my hair, I told him I’d give him $5 and that didn’t go over well but when I said it was five or nothing, he took the five and went on his way looking for the next unsuspecting tourist. I got in a cab and quickly got out of there and I have no plans to ever return.
The only cool thing about that day was that the Queen and Prince Phillip were there to dedicate the new town hall (clearly the newest and cleanest building in the town). There were snipers on the roof tops and lots of security around so I can only imagine what my visit might have been like had the security been sparser. I only managed a quick view of the Royals as they were coming into town as I was heading out.
Oddly enough my visit to Cozumel, Mexico was a lot of fun but considering the number of Canadians in recent years that have been killed, injured and arrested in Mexico since then, I probably visited at the right time.
With what has happened to Brenda Martin in the news recently and of course all of the other well publicized killings of Canadians in that country, I will avoid it like Montezuma’s Revenge and I certainly wouldn’t recommend any of my friends visit Mexico either.
My favourite places were Limon, Costa Rica and Grand Cayman. In Costa Rica I went white-water rafting through the rainforest with my brother and it was incredible. I was dead tired by the time we got to the launch point but it was worth it as we hit some amazing rapids and had an awesome time. The rain was coming down and it was one of those moments I’ll always remember and cherish.
When I went to Grand Cayman I had a chance to swim and snorkel with the Stingrays and that was incredible. Keep in mind this was prior to the well publicized death of Croc Hunter Steve Irwin after he was attacked by one. I might think twice about it today. There were hundreds of stingrays all around us and they were obviously used to human contact so it wasn’t quite as risky. You had to be careful not to step on one though as they would defend themselves.Before I pass on I’d love to see Scotland where my ancestors are from, England and Paris. It would also be cool to go on a Safari in Africa but I think if the lions or tigers saw me they’d think a smörgåsbord had arrived and I’d be quickly placed on the endangered list.
I’m sure everyone’s experiences are different and places I didn’t like others will visit over and over again. I just hope you don’t visit a place one time too many and regret it.
