BRB Travel Blog

For this #traveltuesday I continue sharing important tips for traveling during these difficult times. 🙅🏾‍♀️Forget about last-minute trips and booking things on the go. You will need to plan your vacation thoughtfully! Check if the countries, provinces or states are open. For example, in Canada, the Atlantic provinces are thinking to do a travel bubble. Meaning only the residents from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and New Foundland can travel to these provinces. Someone from Quebec will not be able to visit these provinces for the moment. 🤷🏾‍♀️Do you need to quarantine at your destination and when you come back? This will mean that you will lose 28 days of your precious PTO stuck in a hotel room or at home. I will personally not want to pay for a hotel for 14 days to be quarantined for a 2-week vacation. ❓ Be informed about the sanitary measures. Are masks mandatory? if not, when should you wear one? Also, always, always respect social distancing. PS: It is strongly advised to wear a mask when you go outside even if it not mandatory - Now more than ever you should be carrying your hand sanitizer with you at all times. 📆DO RESERVATIONS! Whether it is for a restaurant or a hotel. Since restaurants cannot fill their spaces at maximum capacity, reserving your spot will be a time saver. Not all hotels are open, some might choose not to open for the season. So, PLAN AHEAD! ⏰Check if your hotel takes last-minute cancellation. You will want to be prepared to cancel your vacations at any time in case there is a sudden spike in your hometown or in the region you are travelling to or if you start to feel unwell. 🌃Check what type of sanitary precautions your accommodations are doing. Do they have a contact-free check-in? Do they clean the rooms in between guests? If you are doing a B&B, how is the place taking its precautions for breakfast? Are you all eating at the same time? Should you be eating at the same time? If you have questions, talk to them prior to your trip. 🚴Check what activities you want to do. As regions start to gradually open, some activities might still be closed. #travelduringcoronavírus #travelcovid19 #traveltips

Who is starting to get itchy about travelling again? 🙋🏾 I know I am, I miss planning for vacations, being in nature and discovering new cities and trying new and delicious flavours. As restrictions start to ease up in Canada and abroad, here are a few things to keep in mind to plan your next trip. Even if you like planning, this year's vacations will require an extra nudge. You will need to plan for everything! But don't worry, I'm here to help you navigate your vacations during these strange times. This will be a series of post to help you out! 😉 - First, you should avoid travelling as much as you can. We are still in a pandemic and we should avoid getting sick and spreading the virus. - Under NO circumstances travel if you are feeling unwell! - I would avoid international travelling for this year. Imagine a second wave hits and you get stranded abroad? -Do you have travel insurance? Imagine the nightmare of getting sick and or stranded abroad! Does your destination even have ventilators? Is insurance covering the costs at this time? CHECK your travel insurance! - Is your destination an epicentre for the pandemic? How many COVID-19 cases do they have? Do you feel comfortable with the infected rate? What are the country measures against the virus? Is there a curfew that you have to respect?

This is one of the few murals that are politically engaged in #montreal . It was made by the artist Jessica Sabogal who is Colombian-American. I've always found this mural striking. As you may know, Canada has a long history of oppression towards First Nations and this piece shines a light to anticolonial voices. #endwhitesupremacy #endwhitesilence #firstnationscanada #antiracism #mtlmoments #canada

#blackouttuesday

🐳Who would have thought that one of the things to do in Montreal is seeing a whale?💁🏾‍♀️ Yes, you read that right! For the past 3 days, a whale came all the way to Montreal! Hopefully, this young male whale, will find his way back to the ocean soon. In the meantime, we got this rare opportunity to see this magnificent animal up close! 😍 #MTLmoments #Montrealwhale #Montreal #whale #marinelifephotography #marinelife #oldportmtl #oldportmontreal

And to think that exactly a year ago we were in #London enjoying the view from the @sg_skygarden #travelpostponed #visitlater #skygardenlondon #viewsfromlondon #london🇬🇧

Happy #wanderlustwednesday One of the things I love about Vermont is that almost every restaurant has tides to a local farm and they take pride on the local products! #farmtotable #vermontproducts With the Covid-19 crises, it is important to keep local and small businesses afloat. What are you doing to give them a hand? #covid19 #helpsmallbusinesses #vermont #burlington #burlingtonvermont #ilovermont #vermontmade

🏔️Who would have thought that Vermont would be my last vacation in a while? We went to Vermont in January when all of this global commotion wasn't at all in the picture. You can read all about it in my latest blog post (#linkinbio) 🌈 In an effort to keep me occupied during this time, I'm sharing tips in my stories to keep your wanderlust alive and keep boosting your productivity! Because in spite of all the death, sickness, self-isolation and job loss, we need to stay strong and positive! We will get through this, all together. We need to keep collaborating and keep wanting to explore. This is the only way we grow as human beings. #cavabienaller #quechee #vermont #winterguide #winter #frozenlake #winterwonderland

Today we were supposed to go to a Cabane à Sucre (Sugar Shack) with my cousins who were supposed to be visiting us for 4 days from Florida. But today we used zoom to talk to each other. If you are wondering what is a Sugar Shack, you can head to my blog for an express explanation. Yes, it's a very Canadian activity! 🇨🇦🍁 Hopefully, it will spark your wanderlust for next year. These local and small businesses will need our help. Until then, #stayhome #weareinthistogether #covid19 https://www.brbtravelblog.com/blog/what-is-a-cabane-sucre

What are you going to pass the time? I started a class, it's called Pixar in a box. For those who don't know, I work in 3D animation and VFX, so taking a class giving by my favourite studio was the thing to do! For those who are curious about storytelling, animation and more here is the link! #pixarinabox https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar Also @khanacademy has a ton of free classes you should check them out! Make your quarantine as productive as possible! Photo of Old Port Montreal during this time. I'm happy to see that people are staying inside! #stayinside #covid19 #quarantine #montreal #animation

For a long time, I thought not to post anything about the COVID-19. I seriously thought it was media sensationalism and that this will be over in just a matter of weeks. Well, I couldn't be more WRONG! Also, I'm not a doctor or health authority. For this, you should check your doctors or WHO, they have the knowledge and can answer all your questions. Second, this is a novel virus, meaning that we know very little about it. We are still discovering how it reacts and how humans react to it. Here, in Canada, we are closing our borders. Montreal feels like a ghost town, all bars, gym, schools, and other amenities are closed. I have been asked to work from home and as of this week, we are limiting our social outings. Does it suck? YES! I have big renovations in the house so I'm basically working from home with lots of drilling, hammer noises and dust. But I'm doing my part. #staythefuckhome If you are still travelling you HAVE to CANCEL ALL your plans! I know it physically hurts cancelling your vacation, worst your once in a lifetime vacation. I know how hard it is to work all year to earn the money, ask for your PTO and go on vacation ( I started this blog because of this). But getting infected or giving the virus to someone else is way more serious than missing your vacation. You are putting your life and someone else's life at risk. My future vacation plans have been halted. My cousin was supposed to come to Montreal, she asked the airline to postpone her travels. If you are saying fuck it, I'm still travelling to so and so country, the outbreak is not that bad, guess what, it is just a matter of time that they have it. So don't be a jerk, cancel your vacation. #staythefuckhome All week long, I will be posting useful resources on how to change your tickets, hotels, etc.... and I will be posting info on what to do when you are in quarantine. I will say it again, #staythefuckhome! #covid_19

This is what the city looks like during a huge snow storm, we had more than 40cm of snow! PS : don't forget to check out my local guide to Montreal in winter #snowstorms #snow #snowday❄️ #littleitaly #montreal #mtlmoments #montrealwinter

This part of the city is always so photogenic📷 #gensduvieux #vieuxportmtl #vieuxmontreal #vieuxmtl #oldmontreal #oldportmtl #oldportmontreal #mtlmoments #mtl #marchebonsecours

Yes, Montreal can be cold but it is also an incredible fun city to visit in winter! Are you wandering what to do when it's -25C? How to dress for these extreme temperatures? Well I have ALL the answers for you on my latest! So what are you waiting for to read it? Also, this picture was taken at the Belvedere du Mont Royal which has great views of the city and you can also see 1 mural of Leonard Cohen! #mural #streetart #leonardcohen #belvederemontroyal #mtlmoments #montreal #winterinmontreal #winter #explorequebec #explorecanada #quebecoriginal #winterguide

Ottawa’s forte is its museums. Yes, I’m a museum lover, so museums are always high on my list of things to do. But Ottawa has some of the best museums in Canada! This is the Spider sculpture in front of the National Gallery of Canada. It is among the world's largest sculptures, measuring over 30 ft high and over 33 ft wide (927 x 891 x 1024 cm)! It is beautiful with the building behind. Have you been to Ottawa? #myottawa #ottawatourism #ottawaviews #ottawamuseum #ottawa #ontario #canada #presstrip #nationalgalleryofcanada #spider #sculpture #publicart