Category: Travel

On the first week of 2023, my friend Rita and I took to New Orleans.

We started driving around midnight on January 1st, to get to Montreal for the 6am flight. As soon as we dropped in NOLA, we took a Lyft and directed the driver along the route of a Second Line Parade, a wandering block party. We found them, and walked with them for two hours, before ending up at a car meet. Brightly coloured motorcycles and mounted police followed us.

Things just got better from there. The city is now one of my favourite destinations in the world; up there with Barcelona. It comes down to one thing: community.

Beyond that parade, there was outdoor gym equipment, free for use. We went to a community center, and found that the structured programs were all free including to outsiders. Rita went to a free crossfit session for queer folk. Public transit was $1.25. There was e-bikes you could rent everywhere (and we did). There was tons of parks and green space, reminiscent of Ottawa. I saw queer people everywhere. Everyone was super friendly, talking to you like you would a family member.

Beyond that, the food was amazing. I had one of the best meals of my life over at an Israeli joint called Shaya. I also had amazing po’boy, jambalaya, gumbo, white beans and rice, and fried chicken. Antique shopping was neat here, the music was good.

I was unimpressed with Bourbon Street or Frenchman Street, which is what I went in expecting the most out of. Just lots of tourists drinking. Instead, turns out, the magic is with the community.

As summer 2022 comes to a close, I reflect on what has been the best one I’ve had yet.

The move

Four years ago, I had just gone through the breakup with Jean. I felt at the time that I wasn’t the person I wanted to be and that a move back downtown would be a first step towards it. I was half-right for the wrong reasons.

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I’ve spent the last week in the Maldives. I was mostly in Malé with my partner, but also visited Villingili.

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I just came back from a two week trip to Dublin, Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona with my dad. We were in Ireland two weeks before Brexit when no deal had yet to be reached, and in the center of Barcelona’s mass demonstrations following the ruling against Catalan leaders.

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin was the first stop of this journey. We were on the River Liffey by Trinity College, home to the Trinity College Library. The Library was beautiful and is pictured below.

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You could see the history of Ireland physically embodied in the humble architecture of the city and the stickers and political graffiti for worker’s rights and that of the marginalized. No other European city I had visited to this point had had quite such an explicit activist culture.

Lisbon, Portugal

Next up was Lisbon. The weather was warm and sunny. Advertisements and banners were all over the city from the 2019 Portuguese legislative election and there was a lot of related communist political graffiti. The highlight here was overlooking the city at the São Jorge Castle with a glass of wine.

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Madrid, Spain

Madrid reminded me more of New York City than any large European metropolis with its urban vibe. Perhaps it was the concentration of theater productions, the commerce on its boulevards, the density, and the way its urban landscape was structured that gave me this impression.

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More than any other city on this trip, this is the one I’d like to revisit the most. I felt like I only scratched the surface.

Barcelona, Spain

I got to see two sides to Barcelona. On the one hand, I was able to have the experience of running up the hills of the Mediterranean city, resting on its beaches, eating street food, taking the metro, checking out a flea market and trying the beer from a local brewer.

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My time there also coincided with the severe sentences of over ten years issued to the leaders of the Catalan referendum. So on the Friday, half-a-million demonstrators descended in the city to voice their opposition.

The atmosphere was celebratory during the day, with demonstrators being largely comprised of young people. Riot police started to install themselves throughout the city center during that time, including forming two blockades that cut us off from our hotel.

The situation deteriorated in the evening. Protesters set off fires across the city, police beat youth that had been sitting peacefully in front of the blockades, police drove their vans at high speeds through dense crowds injuring people, demonstrators were firing fireworks at police, and police were shooting foam bullets. Much of this took place immediately in front of me, as I watched from behind steel gates.

A second demonstration took place the next evening, this time largely attended by older adults and families, to protest police brutality.

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