Category: Travel

This year was pretty great.

• I travelled to Toronto, and saw Joe Hisaishi perform. This was a life goal of mine.
• I saw a total eclipse.
• I saw the northern lights, twice!
• I went to Rouyn-Noranda, and attended its movie festival.
• I finished Tristan and Océanne Cross the Atlantic.
• I had a fun mini-vacation with Joy where we went off-roading, playing SNES, and bouldering.
• I finished classic games from my childhood, including GoldenEye, Donkey Kong Country, and Command & Conquer.
• I rounded out my typewriter, oil lantern, and watch collection with a few happy additions.
• I quit my job and found a new one.
  • My peers in my position were making 50% more than me, and I was burning out from doing the work of three people. Even though I was a staff software engineer, I was making less than a new graduate with zero experience.
  • Meanwhile, I got in hot water for leaving a heartfelt message to my departing PM (who loved the message) in her goodbye card, for discussing my pay, and for suggesting ways to improve work-life balance. Despite my colleagues loving me and having helped built a whole new revenue stream for them, I knew I was next to be laid off. (Update Jan 7: the company just laid off 35% of staff. I dodged a bullet.)
  • After quitting, my mental state immediately improved. I took the entire month of December off to recover.
• I capped off the year traveling to Germany, Czechia, and Austria.
  • I visited my friend who is working in Germany.
  • I visited the site of the book burnings for the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft.
  • I spent NYE in Prague; there were so many fireworks it was as if it was raining all evening.
  • I got to use my German!

Last night, the biggest solar storm in decades hit the planet, resulting in the aurora borealis being visible in Ottawa. I went out to the North Frontenac Dark Sky Preserve to get away from the light pollution.

These are some of the photos I took:

I was able to drive out to just outside Cornwall and check out the total eclipse.

It was neat to see; the 3PM sky took on a colour I had never seen before, the birds were chanting as if it were morning, and you could see stars/planets in daylight.

The rural roads there and back was one long line of cars; you could tell who was using their phone to navigate because they were all in a long queue using the exact same backroads even though those running parallel to them were completely empty.

A month ago, I spent two weeks in France with my dad. We spent time in Paris, Nice, Marseilles, with day trips to Monte Carlo, Cannes and Èze.

This was my third time in the country, but the first time outside of Paris. French as spoken by French-Canadians is difficult for people in France to understand, to the point that my last times there they switched to English. Annoyed by this habit, I decided to alter how I spoke to approximate Metropolitain French. Twice I heard people remark that I was Belgian and never once switched to English, a win.

The intent of the trip was to live well and relax. We checked out Versailles, where we were evacuated due to a bomb threat. We went to the casino in Monte Carlo, and ate a great meal at the Salon Rose. I took a train to Èze, and climbed up the Nietzsche path, and visited the medieval village on its summit. I took another train to Cannes, where I had a glass of wine by the beach. I got to try socca, pissaladière, bouillabaisse and a salade niçoise for the first time. Delicious pastries and downtime abound. I heard the name Maëlys twice in the wild, and got a bracelet with my name on it.

Getting around was really easy; the train system (SNCF) has an app where I could buy tickets minutes ahead of a departure, and public transit similarly had apps that made it trivial. I also used Uber a number of times.

My only regret is not having checked out Antibes. If you come this way though, do visit Èze.