I grew up in a really small rural town about two hours from our Nation’s Capital (that’s Ottawa for those of you unfamiliar with Canadian geography!). I spent a lot of time exploring and adventuring through the forests behind our house as a child and I loved pouring over my set of encyclopedias — learning as much as I could about the world around me.
When I entered into high school, there was an annual missionary trip to a small town in the Dominican Republic, Yamasa, that you could sign up and help fundraise for. I signed up to be a part of that trip and got to work raising enough money to make the pilgrimage with my classmates. At sixteen years old, I took my first airplane to the Caribbean and spent the next few weeks living with a family, in the middle of the jungle, who spoke only Spanish. The wanderlust bit me and my fear of all things unknown quickly dissolved.
The next year, my family and I drove from our home near Ottawa (Canada) all the way to Orlando. We got to spend some time in a few of the cities along the way and we saw the weather change rapidly from cold and snowy to warm and balmy. We spent two weeks traveling around the US passing through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and finally, Florida. On our way down we spent some time in Myrtle Beach and on the way back, New Year’s Eve in Atlantic City (my parents have a pretty funny New Year’s Eve story but I’ll save that for them to tell someday!)
At nineteen, I found myself chatting with a friend who was living in Bedford, about an hour or so outside of London in the UK. She invited me to stay with them and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go and experience life on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean so I booked my solo plane ticket and headed overseas. I spent the next three weeks taking the train in and out of London each day. I wandered around the streets, through palaces, around the cemetery where Karl Marx was buried and I soaked up every moment of British living. I became enamoured with the notion that all of these lives were happening and I could quite easily be a part of them simply by taking the leap.
After those two pivotal trips, I found myself in search of places to go all the time. Over the years that followed, I visited Los Angeles, San Francisco, Victoria (BC), Vancouver (BC), Charlotte, San Antonio, Bahamas, Bermuda and Las Vegas.
I was always quite spontaneous with my travels. I remember one time sitting with my laptop on my lap thinking, “If I hit ‘buy’ on this trip to the Dominican Republic and it goes through on my credit card, I’m going!” and that’s what I did. I wasn’t always the most fiscally responsible when it came to following my heart and my adventures but I made it work and had a whole lot of fun doing it.
A 27 hour (each way) last minute road trip to Miami, which was supposed to look like two days on the beach but looked like one windy hour, a good night’s sleep and a, “Hey, wanna head to Atlanta this morning and cancel our second night in Miami?” That same trip also included a stop in Washington, DC on the way home… at 11pm… but that still included tours of the key spots in DC history.
New York City has had the most visits and has always been a place where I’ve celebrated all kinds of things. New York saw a honeymoon and a baby-moon and a divorce-moon (not kidding about that last one, either…)… I said goodbye to a friend in that city… said hello to new love in that city and celebrated with my sister in that city. I’ve walked nearly every square inch of the avenues and streets and have most enjoyed the casual strolls through the quieter streets. Oh, and The Halal Guys. They really are the world’s best street meat.
One of the biggest trips I’ve gone on was a three week backpacking adventure with my sister across Europe. We landed in Paris, France with no plans for the next three weeks. We had one night at a hotel booked, the Paris Hilton, and the rest was wide open. After landing in Paris, we saw the sights and before going to sleep that night, we pulled up the map and said, “Where are we headed next?” We picked a city, booked our next hotel, figured out how we were going to get there and the next day, we were off to a new city. We did that every night for three weeks straight before finding ourselves back at the airport in Paris to fly home.
That trip found us in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy and Switzerland. Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Venice, Milan, Rome and Bern were the cities we chose along the way. It was an epic whirlwind of an adventure and somehow, we (mostly) survived the trip unscathed.
I’ve also had the ability to go on surprise adventures, like the time I got a call from Air Canada with an offer to be among the first passengers to experience the AC 787 Dreamliner. The destination? Zurich, Switzerland. So, I hopped on a plane out of Toronto and flew to Zurich to spend 24 hours overseas. Given how much I love to explore, I made great use of the 24 hours and hopped on a train to Lucerne while I was over there.
And, of course, I’ve explored my own country, too. I love jumping in my car and finding amazing places that aren’t too far away. Montreal holds a special place in my heart, Kingston is one of my favourite cities to feel like a tourist in (even when I’m not), Sandbanks is the prettiest beach in Ontario and Toronto has held countless memories for me.
Although I’ve toured the world and have felt very fortunate to see as much of it as I have, I am most grateful for the day-to-day experiences that I get to live. Adventures and fearlessness show up in even the most ordinary of days — it really comes down to perspective.
xo
Erin
PS – Want to get in touch with me? I’m quite easy to find. You can Google my name – Erin Blaskie – or you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and by e-mail at erin (at) erinblaskie.com.
PPS – If you need an official bio for any reason, the best bet is to head over to my website – www.erinblaskie.com.
A Note About the Photography
All of the photos on this site were taken by me. I am not a professional photographer by any means – I simply have a complete obsession with what it allows me to capture creatively.
Some of the photos were taken on my iPhone. You can likely tell which photos those are when you’re on the site. All of the other photos were taken on a series of cameras ranging from a Canon Powershot (back in the early to mid 2000s) and then on my Canon DSLRs as I acquired those.
Please don’t copy my photos without permission. If you want to use any of the photos, let me know. I’ll likely say no, since these are my personal memories, but I’m aways open to hearing what you’ve got in mind.