A Trip to Montreal and How to Embrace your Wanderlust || The Shipra Diairies

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Wanderlust - it is all the rage for us fellow Gen Y'ers. While growing up (which I still have a lot to do), I made one promise to myself - no matter what career I end up in or whatever happens, I have to live a life where I'm constantly traveling and exploring new things. A promise like that is easy for anyone to make in their youth. At age 15, I thought, by 25, I'd be completing medical school, getting married, and have already traveled about 75% of the world. But, here I am, at the totally rad (do people still say rad?) age of 23, eating a bag of spicy jalapeño Cheetos, binge watching NCIS, writing this post, and theorizing every excuse out there to work from home tomorrow. Living the life people, living the life. Things did not work out the way my 15-year-old self thought they would, but hey it could be a lot worse. I have a job, good friends, a college degree, and my parents’ house to live in for free. Despite these awesome perks of adulthood, I have been struggling to be an actual adult, and that promise I made to myself years ago is still taunting me – sort of like the gym membership I should probably use more often.

My love for travel and adventure has been one of the only constants in my life. If you have read any of my other posts, you know that I am trying to figure out life, while trying to survive and be happy. I have been stuck in a rut, but my trip to Miami in January of this year changed that. It was my wanderlust revival. I felt so alive going on this adventure. Granted it wasn’t a huge trip, but it was big for me. It gave me the confidence that I can live the life I saw for myself. Coming back home from Miami, I made one more promise to myself. This year I was not going to shy away from adventure. This was my only New Year’s resolution. No matter if the adventure is big or small, I was always going to say yes to it.

So, if you are the person who loves to travel but always are using reasons to not do so, just stop. There will always be an excuse. Not that much money, school, work, family events, etc. I’ve used all of them before. Money will come and go, that’s just how it works. Plan trips according to your budget. How many have you have actually seen all that your state has to offer? Northwest New Jersey is still somewhat of a mystery to me. If you have a small budget, then just drive around and find something new to do near you. It’s that simple. With school and work, unless you live in some alter – reality dictatorship, we all have days off. Use those days! Family events – your family will always be there; so, missing your 2nd cousin’s 3rd birthday won’t be the end of the world. All I’m trying to get at is if you have the opportunity for an adventure, don’t say no to it. Because sooner or later, you’ll be sitting on the couch at the ripe age of 85, eating your TV dinner, wishing you had gone on that trip to Cancun with your buddies that one spring break.

With this philosophy, I’ve planned several trips for myself this year. Miami was such a success, and I can’t wait to go back. Then it was Montreal, and boy was that an adventure. A few of my friends and I set off from Jersey on a Friday, and spent the weekend in Montreal. Although it was a very short trip, I had an amazing time. We were all constantly laughing, exploring the sights, eating amazing meals (well 90% were amazing, there was one bad dinner in there), and enjoying every bit of this new experience with new friends. The friends I traveled with are friends I’ve made only about 9 months ago, but they have very quickly become my closest friends. We all got along, which made everything perfect. That’s another word of advice that I have. Don’t take trips with people you don’t get along with, or else you probably won’t enjoy it. The only complaints I had from this trip was that it was FREEZING, we were there for only a very short time, and that one bad dinner.  The highlights of my trip were the sightseeing, hanging out with my friends, and climbing an icy mountain in heels and seeing my friend Edwin trying to save people on that icy mountain, oh and falling from the lofted bed (which has been forever memorialized in a video). All in all, it was a solid trip and I can’t wait to go back.

Channel that inner Jim Carrey as Yes Man, and don’t say no to adventure. It’s now or never!


The lofted bed in our Air BnB that I fell from 
Notre-Dame Basilica
View from Mont Royal
Friends on Mont Royal
Notre-Dame Basilica
Courtyard outside Notre-Dame Basilica 
Courtyard outside Notre-Dame Basilica...SIDENOTE: How dope is this picture? 
Edwin spots fallen passer byer
Edwin tries to help fallen passer byer
Edwin falls trying to be the hero  
McGill University Campus 
Inside Notre-Dame Basilica
Posing near the Waterfront in Downtown Montreal
Air BnB neighborhood we stayed in 
The Monty Crew
Disappointing dinner :( My food was still frozen, and don't even bother asking Carlos about his couscous. It was bad. 
Brunch at the most amazing restaurant ever - L'Evidence. You have to eat here if you go to Montreal. 
The girls of the Monty Crew



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