There are so many incredible things you can do when you travel. However, what everyone hopes to do can differ, and not everyone is interested in the same activities.

When I plan a trip, I like to look at what activities I can do, and in no particular order, here are a few of the things I look for.

Theme parks

Disney, Universal &Six Flags are among many theme parks that appear around the world and that have massive parks filled with rides and adrenaline.

Growing up, the theme park I always went to was La Ronde, a Six Flags park here in Montreal, just off the Island.

I absolutely loved it, but as I got older ended up realizing it doesn’t quite measure up to other parks.

When I was 12, I took my first family trip to Florida, getting to visit Disney World, Universal and Sea World. I loved the first two, but Sea World made me feel guilty the whole time, I grew up loving the movie ‘Free Willy’ so to see so many creatures caged like that made me sad.

Disney and Universal, though, they changed how I saw theme parks. I saw how well run and designed they are, having trees and shade all over the place, something that I wasn’t used to.

I also saw the wide array of rides that they had, and honestly getting to meet all the characters from my childhood while I was still young enough to appreciate it was really special. 

I would absolutely go back to the parks, though I doubt it would be as special as when I was 12, but I heard a lot of adults go ‘Disney bounding,’ dressing up almost like characters, look it up, it’s pretty cool! I also heard they have some great alcoholic drinks that I can partake in now.

I highly recommend bringing a bottle for water, because some parks are massive. Honestly, you’ll probably need it, because you’ll probably rack up a lot of steps, speaking of which, another activity I love boosts my step count too.

Hikes

I’ve been hiking since I was a kid. I started around six or seven, and it has stayed pretty constant in my life. I think that’s one of the reasons I wanted to travel to New Zealand so much because they have great hikes and nature walks. Another place that has excellent hikes is Australia. Tasmania, in particular, had s great hike at Dove lake, among many others, as well as the walk around Uluru, which may not seem like much, lasted three hours.

Other hikes I’ve loved are those at Lake Matheson and Franz Josef glacier, both in New Zealand.

I also love taking urban hikes, like one I did when I visited Melbourne and another in Sydney. I find it’s a great way to get to know a city, walking around with no specific destination, I tend to spend most of the walk by the coastlines in cities like Sydney, and near main streets in cities like Melbourne so that I don’t get lost. I use places like McDonalds and Sephora for Wi-Fi to make sure I don’t get lost. 

I’ve seen so many beautiful places that I would have missed if I hadn’t just taken a walk around the city.

A great example of an urban hike that led me to a unique experience was when I was in Auckland, and stumbled across a museum.

Cultural experiences

On my very first day, I took a walk around and stumbled across a museum, went in and spent hours looking around, seeing local and international art. It was also the first time I had seen Maori art in person, and it’s an experience I’ll never forget.

I was also fortunate enough to visit the Waitangi Treaty Grounds a few days later, where I learned about the history of the Maori people and the treaty in the stunning setting of the Bay of Islands. It was an incredible setting to learn about the history of not only the land and the treaty, but the people who signed it and who it affected. Another great museum I loved was the Te Papa museum in Wellington, which has exhibits about wildlife and other aspects of life in New Zealand, like their contribution to war efforts during World War Two.

Another museum I loved was the Melbourne Museum that had some exhibits that I had never seen before.

There’s also the reigning superpower of museums, The Louvre. I really did not enjoy Paris, but I loved my time at The Louvre. The architecture, the art, the sculptures, the history of the location and the building, I really loved it.

I also loved my time at different religious sights like Notre Dame, the Vatican, as well as various places around Austria and Germany that were incredible and unexpected.

Speaking of unexpected, sometimes the most surprising part of a trip is the food.

Food and drinks

I am a really picky eater. I don’t eat most seafood, and I don’t eat a ton of vegetables (I’m working on it). So, I often eat many of the same types of food everywhere, but every so often, I’m shocked by something I eat or drink.

When I went to Europe, I ate my way around because while I was 16 and technically allowed to drink in most of the countries, I was on a school trip and was not allowed. 

Italy was incredible, as to be expected. The pasta, the pizza, and the gelato. Allllllll the gelato. 

And no one is surprised by that, Italy is well known for food, one thing that did surprise me was how good the food was in Germany. I went to Munich, and had some really great chicken at Hofbräuhaus, right outside the city center so it was less expensive and some great pretzels with it. At the central train station, I also had some great fries, which I was not expecting, but really enjoyed.

I couldn’t not talk about finding my favourite wine in New Zealand at Saint Clair’s, and finding my favourite dink of all time, a cider that everyone tells me sounds gross.

I went to a wine tasting in Marlborough and had an incredible dessert wine, easily the best wine I’ve ever had, and sadly we don’t have it here from what I’ve found, which is probably for the best because I would buy it by the crate, that’s how good it was.

I also loved this specific cider, one by Thomas & Rose, it’s watermelon and cucumber flavour, and I adored it. My biggest regret is not drinking it from the beginning and having some cheap wine I hated.

I didn’t drink much after I left New Zealand to make sure I was ready to dive when I got to Australia because I was so excited for this next experience, diving.

Diving & snorkelling

I’ve been a certified Scuba Diver since I was 16. I took a course over the summer and got my certification, and as much as I hated the courses, I mean classes and math in the summer? No, thank you… I love diving. Unfortunately for me, I usually end up sick right before a trip or after being on a plane, so I don’t always get to dive when I plan to because if you can’t equalize, you can’t dive. When I have been able to dive, my favourite has to be the Great Barrier Reef. Sadly, I lost all the footage when my hard drive crashed, which still breaks my heart, but I still have the memory of seeing clownfish and other beautiful creatures in their environment without a screen in front of me.

When I wanted to dive but couldn’t I went snorkelling, so places like Cuba and off the coast of Grand Cayman were really fantastic because I could still see even though I couldn’t dive.

Other favourites

A few other things that I love are seeing different things that may only be found in a few places, like glow-worms and coloured sand beaches. Structures like the Eiffel Tower, or the Trevi fountain, and my absolute favourite? The locals. Talking to locals, breaking bread with them when I can and sharing a drink with them has given me some of the greatest memories.

When I was in Austria with my classmates wandering around Innsbruck looking for a place to eat, we were invited into a restaurant where the staff and owners talked to us about our trip and our home town. Aussies and Kiwis spoke to me about Canada and Montreal when they heard me speaking French to a friend over video chat, among so many other experiences I’ve had with people while travelling.

Some of the best things aren’t things you can do, they’re what you can experience when you’re away from your routine.