2013 Retrospective

As the new year approaches, it is around this time that many people reflect on the year just passed and look forward to a fresh start, I am no exception.

There is a lot of sentiment going around at the moment that 2013 would be a year best forgot. For the wildlife shelter and sister trail riding business I am currently working at especially. The combined efforts of a fatal liver disease in black bears and multiple, expensive and damaging horse injuries, means that this year has been pretty rough for the people here. For the rest of the world it has not fared much better. The devastating effects of Typhoon Haiyan, the ice storm that has ravaged eastern Canada, ruining Christmas for thousands, and a frankly indescribable attack on a soldier in my home town of London are just a few of the atrocities that have left the world shaken and full of negativity.

However so much has happened this year to be happy or to be proud about, that has gone unreported on international news, and thus unnoticed by millions of people who don't actively search out this information. For example a 3 year old girl born with HIV has been functionally cured of the virus, speed limits have been put in place for boats travelling along migratory routes of whales in order to protect them, dozens of new species have been discovered all over the globe and the world has a pope that doesn't support the judgement of homosexuality, questions the church for it's outrageous spending and even sneaks out at night to feed the homeless. Despite being an atheist, and generally opposed to the church, I think this is at least a step in the right direction, therefore a positive on my list.

Finally a little closer to home for me, you may remember that a few weeks ago I made a post about a fundraiser at the shelter that had the potential to raise CAN$20,000 thanks to an anonymous donator. Well thanks to the generosity and support of people all across the world we hit our goal, and the Christmas tree in Smithers, B.C is glowing with the light of 800 bulbs that were bought to raise the money. The Christmas period not only gave us a beautiful tree here at the shelter but the arrival of a new little bear, aptly named Tinsel. It was found living harmoniously with a bunch of chickens in a coop, around 30-50lbs underweight and sent to us on Christmas eve. It is so small that the chickens it was sharing food with were bigger than the bear itself.

In some ways 2013 was a difficult year but no-one said life was easy and that bad things wouldn't happen. The key is to embrace it and know that there is always good news out there, even if you have to do a little searching.

The difference between travel and tourism

The shelter has fallen into a bit of a lull again, this isn't surprising as Autumn and Winter are the quieter months for the shelter. The four bears currently here are all settling in well and have been moved into the same pen, they have also been named. The single bear is now Bennie while the triplets are Pumpkin, Rascal and Shawn. Only Shawn turned out to actually be a girl, we've kept the name however as Angelika's son-in-law is also called Shawn and we find it quite hilarious that his namesake turned out to be a shy, female bear. The two moose are growing at an alarming rate, I have to stand on tip toes to give them their bottles now. The cats are doing well and Cricket the owl is as demonic as ever so everything is normal and work continues at a steady rate. With this in mind coming up with a topic to write about has been quite difficult and I turned to the conversations I have had with the other people here for inspiration and quite conveniently I was presented with the perfect topic earlier on in the week.

I was asked this week if I have travelled a lot in my life. I had to really think about my answer to this question as in a technical sense, yes I have been to a fair few countries, mostly in Europe, but also to Africa and now Canada. However I went to a lot of these countries as a tourist and to me personally there is a huge difference between travel and tourism. My definition of tourism is going to a place or country to see the tourist sights, to do the touristy things that everyone does when visiting that particular country. Travel is going to a destination to see the country for what it is. For example going to Paris to see the Eiffel tower - Tourist. Going to Paris to explore the city and find those hidden little gems of places - traveller. There is often a lot of crossover and don't get me wrong I very much enjoy being a tourist, when it's something new and different, but my real passion is travel. I want to see and experience the world. I want to see the beauty that each country has to offer. Beauty that comes in many different forms. In nature, in buildings, in people and in the history of the destination. I want adventures that only come from going off the beaten path. So to answer the original question, have I travelled a lot in my life? Not yet. But ask me again in twenty years time and I am sure that answer will have changed.