Okay, so realistically there are a lot of things that inspire me to travel, but this post being published on Mother’s Day should tip you off as to the subject of this post: my mother. An incredible woman and accomplished world traveller, she inspired me to take a risk, move away from home, and pursue new experiences overseas.

My mum grew up in Brockville, Ontario, which is a town in Eastern Ontario, but living in a small town never inhibited her curiosity about the world and the diverse cultures it has to offer. She’s checked off just about every “bucket list” kind of experience most travellers can think of: hitch-hiking across the United States, exploring India, travelling across Europe, hiking in New Zealand, and visiting Hong Kong during Lunar New Year. She’s also got some of the most unique travel experiences I know: visiting Afghanistan, taking the Trans-Siberian Express across the Soviet Union, and visiting Communist China shortly after it reopened for Western visitors.

I’ve always been envious of all of my mum’s stories about her travels. It’s a big part of why I wanted to experience living in a different country. I want to share stories and photos of my travels with others, because I’ve grown up being excited and inspired by the stories and photos from my mum. Her travels reflect years of cultural curiosity and discovery, and I want to be able to reflect that within myself.

I like to imagine that my own global travels fall into line with my mum’s legacy of women exploring the world. Although my opportunities for travelling across Europe are on a bit of a backburner because of Covid-19, I still very much intend to travel lots as soon as it is safe to do so. But yeah, I think there’s a part of me that’s very driven to travel as a result of growing up with such a well-travelled mother.

We were intending on travelling together. My mum is meant to come visit me here in England next year, and we are planning on going up to Scotland together to visit the area where our family heritage is from. I’m so excited to share the experience of travel with my mum as an adult, because I know that we tend to enjoy the same things from travelling, especially learning about cultural history. Travelling somewhere together where we both have that connection to the geography and culture is something so exciting for me.

I sincerely hope that pandemic fallout does not cancel this trip that has been coming for a long time – what feels like my whole life – especially now that I’m here living in the UK. We’ve still got a year, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed that things work out!

My mum truly inspires me in all kinds of ways, including to travel and explore the world, just like she has done!