The global pandemic may have derailed travel for a while…

If every day this year has begun to feel like Tuesday, the 87th of March, you’re not alone. The global pandemic has made this the longest/shortest spring and summer ever, and a year that we won’t forget anytime soon, for all the wrong reasons. Especially for those of us with wanderlust who saw our travel plans cancelled indefinitely. 

Like everyone else, Henk and I had great plans to travel both in Canada and internationally in 2020, and were keen to share all of those stories and experiences with you. Pressing the ‘cancel’ button on those plans was really difficult, especially on a couple of bucket list trips that we had been anticipating for months. With travel effectively shut down, our travel writing followed suit. It just didn’t feel like the time to wax poetic about destinations that we couldn’t or shouldn’t visit.

..but now’s the time to dream and plan a ‘bucket list’ trip

Despite the grounding of all of our collective travel plans, I know that #WeWillTravelAgain and maybe in a way that is more sustainable and better for all. And in the meantime, all of this downtime is an opportunity – to plan for those bucket list trips!

I’ve written before about how I go about planning a bucket list trip, and so over the next few months we’re going to dive a little deeper into one particular destination that Henk and I are planning to visit in the summer of 2021…Québec’s Gaspé Peninsula.

The Gaspé Peninsula – or Bust!

Last year, Henk and I drove out to explore some of the Maritime Region of Québec, touring some highlights on both the north and south shore of the St. Lawrence river (including a whale watching adventure and an amazing ’boutique stay’ right in the middle of the river in an historic lighthouse). It was an amazing road trip, one that I even wanted to extend so that we could visit the Gaspé Peninsula, too. But our hosts at Le Québec Maritime, who had invited us to the region, advised us that to do the Gaspésie justice would require another dedicated visit. 

That second trip to the Gaspé was one of our travel destinations that got nixed this summer, thanks to Covid-19. Or perhaps I should say “postponed”. Because Henk and I still plan to do our road trip to the Gaspé Peninsula next summer, and we are confident we will be able to do it safely. So we thought we would invite you to join us as we plan this bucket list trip to a region that National Geographic has described as a destination of a lifetime!

Follow along as we research and plan our trip to the Gaspésie

Over the next 6 months or so, we will be mapping out everything that we hope to see and do when we head to the Gaspésie in 2021. It’s the kind of travel research I love to do, and makes the anticipation of the trip almost as much fun as the actual visit.

We’ll dive into everything from mapping the most scenic driving route from Toronto to the Gaspé, to sussing out unique, boutique accommodations, and of course, hitting up the most photogenic places for Henk and I to shoot so we can share those photos with you. We’ll identify unique places and adventures, leaving room for some unplanned experiences, too, since even the best laid plans should leave room for surprises – which often turn out to be the most memorable experiences of all.

Along the way, we’ll share tips and sneak-peeks, both here and on our Instagram and Facebook pages. So be sure to follow us on those social media channels too, if you aren’t doing so already!

Allons-y! (Let’s go!)

Planning our Great Gaspé Getaway has already begun and we’ll be updating this post soon with some of that research. In the meantime, enjoy this gorgeous autumn image of Cap-Bon-Ami taken at Forillon National Park, courtesy of Québec Tourism and photographer Roger Saint-Laurent.