travel tips Archives - AdventureCampitelli

Why Victoria, B.C. is the perfect family vacation

Traveling outside of Canada is still crazy with the ever changing rules, flight cancelations, testing and sometimes still having to quarantine. Staying in Canada for your summer plans may still be the best option. Victoria, B.C. is the perfect family vacation because it has the mildest climate in Canada, beautiful beaches, and loads of activities. It is known to some as Canada’s Hawaii!

With cool historic buildings, iconic tourist sites, stunning beaches, family-friendly activities, fantastic eats and treats, there is something for everyone! There are also plenty of types of accommodations in Victoria including forested campgrounds, hostels, stunning hotels, bed & breakfasts, and unique AirBnB’s. Our family has traveled the world, and in our opinion, Victoria is one of the most beautiful cities to visit.

Here are 5 family friendly activities to do while in Victoria:

1. Take a whale watching tour

Victoria is one of the best places in the world for whale watching. Many types of whales including humpbacks, gray, minks, and Orca (killer) whales can be spotted here. The whale watching season is from April to November, but summer is definitely the best months to see them. Victoria’s coastal waters are also home to dolphins, porpoises, seals, sea lions, otters, and much more!

There are many companies that offer whale watching tours in Victoria and most have good ratings. The tours are approximately 3-4 hours. Do your research to find which company is the best fit for you and your family.

2. Bike the Lochside Regional trail

This is one of our favorite trails! It’s a 33 km (20.5 mi) former railway line and multi-use trail that runs from Victoria to the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal near Sydney. What I love about this trail is the ever-changing landscape passing through beaches, farmland, wetlands, and rural roads.

We recommend you park in the parking lot located at 4050 Lochside Drive. The ride from here to Sydney is 21 km (13mi) which is quite far, especially if you have kids. Our recommendation is to ride as far as you are comfortable with and turn around.

One stop you’ll want to make along the way is Sweet Ashley’s cookies, a cookie stand along the trail, which has freshly baked cookies for purchase. We used this as a motivator for our kids and it was a nice treat along the way. The cookie stand is about 3km (1.86mi) north up the pathway from the parking lot and takes about 8-10 minutes to get there. Payment is on the honor system so be sure to bring some cash!

3. Go to Cadboro-Gyro beach

This is an ideal beach for families because it has one of the largest beach and play park areas in Victoria. The park was donated to the Saanich district in 1954 and had major renovations in 2014 including installations of new play equipment. One of the play equipment is called “Cadborosarus”, named after a mythical sea creature that was said to have been spotted in the 1930s. There are other unique play structures including an octopus, salmon, a ship, and a shipwreck. There is also a fun zipline that our kids enjoyed. This park has even been listed among 11 unique playgrounds around the world by Fodor’s travel.

The beach itself has typically calm waters, a pebbly shoreline, and some sandy sections. As with most beaches in Victoria, there is plenty of driftwood to create forts. We often go there to relax.

There is a parking lot, washrooms, picnic tables, and a boat launch at this beach. It is only about a 15-minute drive from downtown Victoria.

4. Visit the Malahat Skywalk

A 32m (105ft) cylinder shape structure with a spiral ramp leading all the way to the top sits at the edge of the forest, 250 meters above sea level. This sightseeing lookout gives stunning views of the Ocean including the Saanich Peninsula, Mount Baker, and the Coast Mountains. You can often see sailboats below.

The cool part of this structure is that there is a huge slide at the top that takes you down to the bottom. It’s quite the thrill ride as you go much faster than you think! I don’t think I’ve screamed that loud in a long time. Our daughter loved it and could have stayed all day. Getting there is fun too as you walk along a 600-meter (1969ft) raised boardwalk through the beautiful Arbutus tree forest to the Skywalk. Along the path, you will see some amazing driftwood art sculptures of animals made by artist Tanya Bub.

It takes about 35 minutes to get there from downtown Victoria and there is plenty of parking.

We’ve traveled around the world and this is one of the most spectacular sites we’ve ever been to!

5. See Niagara & Goldstream Waterfalls

These two beautiful waterfalls residing in Goldstream Provincial Park are easy to see in one day. Set aside about 3-4 hours to see both falls. It’s about a 25-minute drive from downtown Victoria.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls just outside Victoria, bearing the same name as the famous waterfalls in Ontario, stands at 47.5 (156 ft) and is just a short 15–20-minute hike from the parking lot. After parking, head north away from the picnic area, following the wide gravel trail. Turning left at the junction you will come to a bridge with a tunnel on your left that goes underneath the highway. Take the tunnel and then follow the trail to the waterfall. This tunnel is dry in the summer but filled with water in the spring and fall so if you are here during these seasons, you will have to park on the other side of the highway.

Upper Goldstream Falls

Goldstream Falls trail is a fantastic loop and a great hike to do with the family. The beautiful trail takes you through a serene rainforest of Cedars, Douglas firs, and ferns with a waterfall reward.

The hike begins at the Goldstream Provincial Park Campground near the gatehouse where you will park. The trail is 5.5km (3.4mi) long and fairly easy, taking about 1-1.5 hours to do. After hiking along the trail, you’ll approach a long set of stairs leading down into the canyon to the waterfall. Pouring into a natural pool at the bottom, the water is cold but is a popular place to take a dip in the summer. Bring your bathing suit and water shoes to enjoy this energizing experience.

We have written two detailed Victoria travel guides that include a fully customizable 2 Week Itinerary of fun family activities. The Active Family Guide details amazing hikes, walks, biking trails, and other awesome activities like whale watching and ziplining. The Family Guide details the best iconic tourist spots, must-see beaches, awesome family activities, and some of our favorite places to eat. These guides make your trip planning easy with expert advice from a local. Lots of options for the perfect blend of adventure and relaxation. You’ll see why Victoria, B.C. is the perfect family vacation!

We have also created a Free Itinerary Template to help make your trip planning easier. Simply add your activities and budget to customize your trip.

Visit our shop section to see all travel guides by clicking here.

Krabi – The Most Beautiful Islands by Boat

When you visit Krabi you must put visiting the beautiful islands and beaches off the coast at the top of your must do list. They are some of the most stunning beaches in the world! You can do this in two ways: 1) Speed Boat tour or 2) Traditional Long-tail boat tour. A long-tail boat is native to Thailand and it is a long wood carved boat, slightly resembling a canoe with a large canopy. The boat is powered by a single engine on a long pole to turn the boat. We decided to try both types of tours, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. There are many islands to visit off the coast of Krabi so we were able to go to completely different spots with each type of boat.

Speed Boat Tour

With this boat tour, we visited Phi Phi islands and got to see the famous Maya Bay (where the movie “The Beach”) was filmed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop here as it is currently closed off due to over-tourism. We visited a stunning lagoon to snorkel in as well as Phi Phi island which is a very busy island packed with eating places, restaurants and even a few hotels. The cost of this tour was 1575 baht per person which is approximately $66 Canadian.

Advantages:

The speed boat tours are well-organized tours where you get to meet lots of cool and interesting people. Good for people that are highly social. Our son bonded with a twenty-something traveller that he thought was way cool!
The tour guide has lots of information about each place that you stop at which is a great learning experience.
The boat ride is much faster so you can visit more places and get there quickly.
A full buffet lunch is provided plus water and snacks on the boat ride.

Disadvantages:

The engines are extremely loud, making it difficult to talk to one another.
There is a strict time schedule so you feel very rushed at each location making it not very relaxing.
There are lots of people on the boat so it feels like you are being herded like cattle everywhere.
There is limited space on the boat with many people packed in like Sardines.

Long-tail Boat Tour

For this tour, we chose to see Hong Islands, visiting 4 locations including 3 beaches. These were quieter islands than Phi Phi islands and we could have stayed in a couple of spots forever. We felt like Kings for the day visiting the islands on our own time setting the pace and just chilling out. This cost us 2000 Baht for the day which was only $84 Canadian.

Advantages:

We hired the boat privately so we had it all to ourselves, giving us a lot of space and freedom.
We chose our own schedule, choosing how many islands to visit and how long to stay at each one. This made for a far more relaxing day and we timed it to stay longer at a couple of the islands waiting for the crowds on the other boats to leave.
It was a cultural experience in a traditional Thai boat, each crafted out of wood and uniquely painted and decorated.
Far less expensive than the Speed Boat tour.

Disadvantages:

There wasn’t lunch provided so we had to pack our own food. We did have water and fresh pineapple which was amazing!
These boats can’t go as far as the speedboats as they are slower but they were definitely good enough to reach the amazing sites that we went to.
They wouldn’t be very good in bad weather and rough waves so thankfully the weather cooperated for us.
There wasn’t snorkel gear provided but we already had our own. I’m sure you would be able to rent some gear in advance.

Even though our favourite boat tour was the long-tail boat, we really enjoyed both and would recommend trying each type of tour if you have the time and budget. I think our kids liked the speed boat better as they liked the fast speed and meeting other people. Want to see the amazing scenery? Click here to watch our YouTube video of our experience on the speed boat and long-tail boat.

How to Save for Travel – 9 Tips

Traveling extensively was a life-long dream for us and with lots of planning and saving we were able to make it happen. We didn’t want to wait for the “someday” when we retire to travel the world. We have met so many people over the years that were never able to realize their travel dreams due to illness, death or financial circumstances, including my own parents. It was also so important for us to be able to share this experience with our kids and give them World Schooling and the experience of a lifetime!

Everyone’s circumstances are different but these 9 tips can help you plan for your dream vacation or extended trip. They are exactly what gave our family the opportunity to travel.

SO WHAT EXACTLY DID WE DO?

For us, the bottom line was to Save, cut Costs a lot and be patient as it takes time. Having to pay for our wedding many years ago taught us how to save and budget for our dream travel journey.

Here are 9 Tips that we did to make our travels a reality:

1. Dedicated Bank Account

Make a dedicated travel account and put money into it every month using the “pay yourself first” principle, even if it is only $10 here and there; it adds up over time.

2. Cut Costs

We cut down our costs and made a budget. “The latte factor” is a popular cliché but the little things do add up. We scrutinized everything we were spending to find extra money and it’s amazing what you find if you just observe your spending habits. Cost-reducing measures that worked for us included:

We switched from picking up our lattes every morning out to making them mostly at home. This saved us at least $12 a day+ between the two of us plus any treats we would buy for the kids when they were with us..
We cut down on eating out. This included both bringing lunches to work every day and not eating out at restaurants as often on the weekends. This is good for the waistline too!
- We eliminated a lot of monthly banking fees. We opened an online no-fee banking account that has free Interac transactions, free e-transfers, and free checks. We also had another main account that we kept over a minimum balance that eliminated the monthly fee of $29.95. Banking fees add up!
- We cut our cable and saved over $100 per month.
- We reduced haircuts, beauty treatments and shopping which can add up quickly.
- I cut my gym membership and went to an online workout program. The workouts require minimal space and equipment. This reduced my costs from about $1000 per year to around $200.
Rack up the Points

3. Rack up the Points

Use points where you can. We have a Travel Visa and purchased everything on this card making sure we paid the balance at the end of each month avoiding any interest charges. This is a good way to rack up points for free flights and accommodations.

4. Offload your Debt

We paid off our car so we eliminated the loan payments while we were away. Had we travelled for more than six months, we would have sold the cars.

5. No shopping Sprees

We put any extra money we receive such as bonuses and/or raises into interest-earning or dividend-paying investments.

6. Embrace Minimalism even a little

We went through all of our belongings selling things we no longer used or needed for extra cash. It’s amazing what can be stored in the garage like bikes, ski equipment or other things that can free up extra money. We donated the rest to eliminate clutter and help a good cause.

7. Rent your House

We rented out our house while we were away and were able to cover all of our at-home expenses by doing this. We used a management company to find the tenants and look after our home so we didn’t have to worry about it while we were away.

8. Reduce Flight Costs

Flights are a huge expense so we did a few things to minimize the costs:

We visited fewer countries by travelling more slowly and staying in countries for a longer period of time. We stayed in a few of the places for up to a month which reduced flight costs significantly vs. travelling every week.
- We tried to fly on cheaper days of the week. When you travel long term the days of the week you fly don’t really matter so you can save significantly on flights. When booking flights, we regularly compared prices and costs on different days of the week.
- We extended a layover to sneak into another destination. Airlines will often allow a few days’ layovers in another country with no added costs.

9. Cheaper Accommodations

We mostly stayed in Airbnbs which is usually much cheaper than hotels in terms of nightly costs. Airbnb’s also have full kitchens and supplies available so you can cook your own meals and save a lot of money by not eating out as much. We even lucked out securing an Airbnb in a resort giving us access to all the facilities like a huge hotel pool and kids club. Although we didn’t have housekeeping every day we saved over $100 per night compared to what hotel guests paid.

Click here https://youtu.be/2JlfR4v5SE0 to see tips on one of our favourite places, Thailand.

Hiking the Cinque Terre

Accommodations

We planned for 5 nights to hike the 5 Terre (a.k.a. Cinque Terre) and we stayed in a City called La Spezia. We booked an Airbnb close to the train station to make it easy to get around. The location was convenient but the area was a bit sketchy and our apartment was above a bar….#fail on this booking. The apartment was clean and modern but the loud music and people yelling all night was brutal. I will not be recommending this Airbnb. We were also told (after the fact), not to stay too close to the train stations as the area can be a little rougher.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre means “5 lands” and it is made up of 5 towns on a stunning hillside on the Italian Riviera. It is a very popular travel destination which is known for it’s hiking trails linking the towns. You can access the towns by train, bus or even boat. For us, the plan was to take the train to the first town and hike the towns. By train, it was only a 15 minute train ride to the first town. We lined up at the train station to buy a combo Park Pass (as it’s a National Park) + train. The cost was 42 euros per day for a family and we purchased two days. At the tourist office where you buy the tickets they give you a map and tell you if any trails are closed. Unfortunately the hike between the first two towns were closed (Riomaggiore to Manarola) so we stopped at the third town Corniglia. The train station is at the bottom so we had to climb 400 stairs just to get to the start of the hike. You can take a bus to the top but we decided to give it a go. At the top you are greeted with nice cafes and places to get fresh juices. Although expensive for Orange Juice (4 Euro), we couldn’t resist. We also splurged on our morning latte and a couple of treats for the kids before we set out.

Starting the 400 stair climb to the start of the trail

OMG our 6 hour Hike!

Yes this title is correct. We hiked from the 3rd town to the 5th town Monterosso as we heard it had an amazing sandy beach. We were determined to do the entire hike instead of taking the trains between the towns. Had we known how difficult the hike was, we would have only hiked one town. The total distance was only 7.5km but it was rocky with very steep stone pathways, huge stair climbs and narrow dangerous paths. The total 6 hours does include our stop in the 3rd town Vernazza for a quick break but the hike was crazy! Way harder than I expected. I have to admit that we did love every bit though. The views were unbelievable and the scenery was spectacular so well worth it. We were so proud of the kids! Our youngest lead the pack the entire way and had energy after….we think our hiking in the Canadian Rockies had to have helped.

Our favourite town by far was Monterosso. We arrived there about 5:30pm and were too exhausted to explore the town so we took the train back there the next day and spent the entire day at the beach under a beach umbrella.

Adventure Campitelli Tips

It is extremely touristy here and expensive so you can save $ by staying outside of Cinque Terre such as La Spezia and take a short train ride in.
The food including the Gelato in the touristy part of the towns is not very good and it is very expensive. We ate breakfast at home, packed snacks and shared a small snack (Calamari) to get us through the day after we tried the food on Day 1.
Be prepared. Bring LOTS of water! There are fountains in each town to refill and in the heat you will drink a lot of water. Also pack good footwear…runners are fine. Bring snacks especially for kids. Don’t forget sunscreen and hats as the sun is very hot.
Follow the main trail which is called the “Blue Trail” or “SVA”. It is very well marked with red & white paint in spots all along the path.
If you love sandy beaches and want to spend time in the water make sure you save time for Monterosso, our personal favourite!