The Beginning - Always a great place to start!

The beginning, although it is tough to know exactly when that was! I promise my following posts will be much shorter, but hey, a girls got set up the story, right?!

Rather than taking you all the way back to my very first trip when I was 17, mostly because even I can't remember that far back, I think I'll start with something a bit more recent....

Rewind to the week after Christmas where we find, me, laying on my mom's couch, reverting back to teenage mode.  Despite the fact that I am far from a teenager these days.

Funny how no matter how old we get, we become kids again the moment we walk thru our parents door.  Do you think that is because we are always children in their eyes?  Anyway, I digress.

I'm laying on the couch, phone in hand and my mom is talking in the background about some virus in China....

Whatever...

January arrives cold and blustery so I bundle up my dad and we head off to Cuba for a week.  What an incredibly beautiful place, I'll definitely be returning there for further exploration. Arriving back to Alberta for the tail end of a -45 deep freeze, tanned and happy.  

And by the way, the food where we were was actually really good, just in case you are wondering.

February starts with a bang! Connecticut surrounded by friends and colleagues from all around the globe.  It is one of my favorite times of the year, so amazing to be surrounded by so many like minded people, all in the same place at the same time, the buzz and the energy is indescribable.

2020 just gets even better as I head off with one of my favorite people on the adventure of a lifetime, African safari to Kenya and Tanzania.  Oh my god, it was INCREDIBLE, if you ever get the chance to go to Ngorogoro and the Serengeti in Tanzania - GO!  Your life will be forever changed.

My friend starts to see things on the news about how C-19 is getting pretty bad in Italy, she predicts it's going to get worse before it gets better and that it will most likely affect our jobs this season.  I shrug it off and still don't take it seriously - she is one smart cookie, I should have listened.

Nairobi is crazy busy, full flight, Amsterdam is heaving with people and then I am back in Canada with a couple weeks to go before I fly to the UK and then off to work at the beginning of April, right?  

And then it begins, countries closing, flights being cancelled, I begin to check my flight about 200 times a day, will I go?  Will I stay?

The day finally arrives and I say my usual 'see you laters', elbow bump my brother (this not being able to hug people, not cool) and I'm off.  I sheltered in place for almost 4 months with some really awesome people, I think we needed each other and I was exactly where I needed to be for the 'time out', in Crickhowell, my 💓 home.

Canada stops all non-essential travel the next day.