2025 Trip: Canada, Greenland, Scotland, Ireland

San Francisco -> Nova Scotia -> Newfoundland and Labrador -> St Pierre & Michelon-> Toronto -> Greenland -> Northern Territory (Nunavut) -> Ottawa -> Montreal -> Scotland -> Ireland -> San Francisco

In 2025, at the age of 82, I embarked on a four month voyage to the Arctic, Europe, and Morocco. I cut my trip short for medical reasons, returning home after visiting the Canadian Maritime Provinces, Greenland, Nunavut, Scotland, and Ireland (Spain and Morocco will have to wait).

Here is a map of my curtailed trip, with numbers of the countries and some of the cities visited ( the numbers are in the order of my visits).

I visited 4 Canadian provinces (Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec); 1 Canadian Territory (Nunavut); 1 French territorial collectivity (Saint-Pierre and Miquelon); 2 nations of the United Kingdom (Scotland and Northern Ireland); and 1 independent republic (the Irish Republic). This was my first visit to all of them. I traveled by rental car, an occasional Uber, and cruise ship. I also did quite a bit of hiking. I stayed in Airbnb's and ate in local restaurants. With the exception of two weeks in Ireland with my old friend Richard Moore and two weeks on the Arctic cruise with Jeremy and my two kids, I traveled alone.

My luggage consisted of a backpack and a smaller day pack, with a total weight of 18 pounds. For a list of their contents, click here. (The backpack turned out to be a bad choice. Next time I'll take a suitcase with wheels).

The biggest stumbling block was finding a way to care for Philo in my absence. Fortunately, I found Magnolia through Trusted House Sitters, who lived at my condo with Philo and her dog during my absence: Thank You, Magnolia!

Here are the places I visited, in chronological order.

The Canadian Maritime Provinces (Jul 1 - 23)
Greenland and Nunavut (Jul 24 - Aug 5)
Montreal (Aug 6 - 9)
Scotland (Aug 11 - Sep 1)
Ireland (Sep 1 - 21)

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