Retire To Roam

Retire To Roam Here to spark your wanderlust. Retiree sharing stories from the road. ~ Canada🇨🇦

Traveling between the cliffside towns by train in 2022. I spent the days wandering past the bright, stacked buildings, f...
05/31/2026

Traveling between the cliffside towns by train in 2022. I spent the days wandering past the bright, stacked buildings, finding quiet cafes, and looking out at incredibly clear water. The landscape here is stunning, but it’s the slow, easy rhythm of the coast that stays with you. My only real regret was not having another week just to sit back and completely soak it all in.

Italy - 2022

The best laid plans. I arrived at Pisa at first light for some crowd-free photography, unaware that the gates to the com...
05/29/2026

The best laid plans. I arrived at Pisa at first light for some crowd-free photography, unaware that the gates to the complex would be locked.

While waiting nearby, a guard came over to chat. I explained my early-morning mission, and instead of telling me to move along, he quietly let me through the gates. Being able to wander the square alone, taking it all in without the usual midday chaos, was a beautiful reminder of why the early mornings are always worth the effort.

Italy - 2022

Road trip through Tuscany. Quiet moments exploring the countryside and the small towns along the way.Italy - 2022
05/28/2026

Road trip through Tuscany. Quiet moments exploring the countryside and the small towns along the way.

Italy - 2022

More colourful moments from my time spent in China. China - 2010
05/16/2026

More colourful moments from my time spent in China.

China - 2010

The alarm went off well before Sienna started moving. I reached the Duomo just as the sky turned a deep purple—that shor...
05/07/2026

The alarm went off well before Sienna started moving. I reached the Duomo just as the sky turned a deep purple—that short window of dawn light where the marble looks completely different.

Down in the Piazza del Campo, the tower was silent, and the square was empty. It’s a rare thing to see this space without the crowds.

Wandering back through the lanes, I found a Fiat parked under the flags of the Contrade. Early mornings are my favourite part of the day to wander the streets of a new town.

Italy - 2022

Digging through the 2013 archives for this road trip. Even with the near-constant drizzle, there was something perfect a...
05/01/2026

Digging through the 2013 archives for this road trip. Even with the near-constant drizzle, there was something perfect about Scotland in the fall. With the crowds gone, it felt like I had those orange-tinted hills and winding one-lane roads entirely to myself.

I spent days navigating narrow tracks through the Highlands, passing nothing but the occasional farmhouse and some very shaggy cows.

Scotland - 2013

Angkor Wat had been on the bucket list for years. Beyond the massive scale of the main complex, I found a small, tucked-...
04/29/2026

Angkor Wat had been on the bucket list for years. Beyond the massive scale of the main complex, I found a small, tucked-away temple to just sit and take it all in. There’s something haunting about a city that was buried in the jungle for so long, left behind by the people who built it.

A little history:
It was mostly abandoned in the 15th century by the Khmer Empire when they lost their power, although locals and Buddhist monks continued to use the site. It was the “discovery”” by a French explorer, Henri Mouhot in the 1800’s that brought it to the world’s attention.

Recent technology has shown that the ancient city is actually a massive, sprawling urban complex with a lot of structures hidden under the jungle floor. The temples that are viewable are just a small section of the city.

Cambodia - 2017

I spent two unforgettable weeks road-tripping through Oman, from lush wadis to wide-open desert and quiet villages. The ...
04/28/2026

I spent two unforgettable weeks road-tripping through Oman, from lush wadis to wide-open desert and quiet villages. The warmth of the locals surprised me most. Coffee invites and genuine conversations happened everywhere I went.

For the itinerary and where I stayed, send me a DM!

Oman - 2024

Oqaatsut has a population of just 29 people—plus roughly the same number of sled dogs. It was a whaling station during G...
04/28/2026

Oqaatsut has a population of just 29 people—plus roughly the same number of sled dogs. It was a whaling station during Greenland’s colonial period and colourful wooden houses dot the shoreline.

I wandered around slowly, camera in hand, hunting for hidden gems—weathered sheds, crooked fences, little pops of color in the gray light. There’s a tiny hotel here. If I’d thought ahead, I would have stayed overnight to really soak it in. It’s the kind of place that deserved more than a couple of hours.

Greenland - 2025

Doha at 7:00 AM and the heat is already intense.. The sky is this heavy, bruised azure, and you can actually see the air...
04/28/2026

Doha at 7:00 AM and the heat is already intense.. The sky is this heavy, bruised azure, and you can actually see the air shimmering off the glass towers. Down at the water, the dhows sit low and still—ancient wooden lines silhouetted against a hyper-modern horizon. It’s a city of sharp contrasts, captured in that brief, brutal window before the sun forced me back into the shadows.
It’s a different city after dark. The souq finally wakes up when the sun drops, and the air loses that shimmering weight.

Doha - 2024

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