Marie-France's VirtualTourist Home Page

Upcoming trips:

None planned at the moment. I'm just back from a 3-month trip!

Trips taken in 2009

March 3 - May 25, 2009: Australia (Sydney and the Blue Mountains), New Zealand (all over), Cook Islands, and Japan.

Trips taken in 2008

Nov 8 - 23, 2008: Mexico, again! This was my fourth visit to that country. I visited the state of Michoacan (Morelia, Patzcuaro, Uruapan & volcan Paricutin, Angangueo and the butterfly reserve of El Rosario).

May 8 - 21: A great trip through German-speaking Switzerland and Liguria, Italy. The Cinque-Terre are indeed beautiful.

March 24 - April 6: I travelled independently through Cuba, visiting La Habana, Trinidad, and the Vinales Valley.

I caught the travel bug during my first oversea trip in 1992 and never looked back!

I've travelled to 42 countries so far (including my own) and discovered this web site while doing research for class material (I was teaching a class on budget travel at the Toronto Learning Annex in 2003).

I think I'm going to have a lot of fun here. I love talking to other travellers and sharing stories and information.

Note: All my older pictures are in traditional media (prints and slides) so I haven't built any pages for trips prior to 2003 yet. Maybe one day...

After being stuck working on some big project all winter, I finally managed to escape. I spent 4 days in San Antonio (Texas, USA) where I stayed with VT member lisa_lise. We had met in Toronto twice previously. I really enjoyed the River Walk, and got my fill of Mexican food.

In May I spent 16 days in Crete (Greece) with a quick stop in Santorini, accompanied by my childhood girlfriend. It was her first trip to Europe! The large island of Crete could be a country of its own. And I only had time to see a fraction of it: Iraklio, Rethymno, Chania, the Samaria Gorge, Paleohora, and a day trip to Elafonisi beach. We had perfect hiking weather, although it was a little cool for the beach.

I took a short break from winter in December 2007 by spending 8 days in Mexico (Zihuatanejo). It was a relaxing vacation with lots of sunshine, sand and sea.

In January I spent two weeks in Mexico, in order to get away from the bleak Toronto winter. I spent time in both Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido (on the Pacific Coast), starting and ending in Mexico City. Mexico has to be one of the most colourful countries in the world!

At the end of March I spent 4 days in Las Vegas visiting a friend. Actually, half that time was spent hiking in Red Rock Canyon (near LV) and Death Valley. But I managed to spend two afternoons and one evening on the Strip, which is more built up and brighter than on my last trip in 1999. And the traffic seems to have increased too!

In May I spent 16 days in Croatia. I met with a couple of VT members in Zagreb, then proceeded to visit several towns and islands along the coast. Many towns in Croatia have an old section dating back to the middle ages. I had fun walking down car-free narrow alleys to the sound of church bells, and sipping coffee by the oh-so-blue sea under an almost constantly blue sky. :-)

Finally, between Nov 20 and Dec 20, I spent 2 weeks in South Africa (Cape Town, Hermanus & Stellenbosh), followed by 2 weeks in Namibia. This was my first time exploring southern Africa!

I escaped part of the brutal Toronto winter this year by spending 8 weeks in Argentina, 1.5 week in Uruguay and 1.5 week in Antarctica, for a total of 11 weeks, all in one trip!

Check out my Antarctica page. This was the most amazing trip ever!!

From May 15 to June 6 this year I travelled in Peru where I met up with my friend Susanne (from Zurich). We had been discussing this trip for a long time. Our itinerary included Lima, Arequipa (+ Colca Canyon), Lake Titicaca and Cusco. We also hiked the famous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. As they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger! :-)

Watch out for some Peru pages coming... eventually.

I also spent 2 days in Quebec City with my cousin in mid-August.

And in late October, I went to New Jersey to meet a friend and we spent a great day in New York City (see travelogues).

I visited Germany, Slovenia and Italy in Spring 2003. I was especially intrigued by Slovenia because I didn't know anybody who had been there. I was not disappointed! I also participated in my first VT meeting in Ljubljana.

In November 2003, I was in Nicaragua. It was a great trip to a little known destination. The weather was hot (almost too much so!), the people were friendly, everything was cheap and I met more people there than on an average trip. I was rarely alone for dinner. I spent a while in Granada (colourful colonial town), San Juan del Sur (Pacific beach town) and the island of Ometepe (in lake Cocibolca a.k.a. lake Nicaragua).

I've lived in Toronto since 1988 and September is consistently the BEST MONTH to visit. The weather is generally warm and sunny, never too hot, with cool evenings. The skies are clear and blue (no smog). The leafs start turning colour north of the city in the second half of the month. Kids ar back to school and most tourists are gone so it's a lot quieter and less crowded around tourist sites.

Second choice for best month would be May or October. Summer is good too if you don't mind heat waves and crowds and has the advantage of offering a lot of events and public entertainment, if that's your kind of thing, such as Caribana, music on the harbourfront, food and beer festivals, etc. Expect crowds.

November to March is not so great in the city.

Let me know if you're coming to Toronto and would like more information.