I feel like traveling is in my blood.  When I was a young child living with my grandfather, I spent the summer holidays while living in Jamaica, with my aunt in another parish. 

I loved school but traveling to Spanish Town was the highlight of my school year. Then at 15, I shoved on my first plane ride to the UK.  I’ve had wanderlust ever since.

Despite the pandemic and lockdown, I couldn’t stay still.  2020 marked so many milestones for me.  It’s the year I finally decided that more was required of me than grinding away at a 9-5. 

I also was reeling from the death of my sister who had taken early retirement at the age of 60 only to die at 61 years old never even getting to collect her first pension check.

So it all clicked into place when I was laid off from my job. I decided it was as good a time as any to do some slow travel.  Airports are not my favorite place. Too much confusion and too many people.  So Amtrak is my transportation of choice. I remember many years ago riding the train from Manchester to the South of England.  I may have taken more than one train. I don’t fully remember.  What I do remember was how enjoyable the experience was as we zipped along the beautiful English countryside.

Also, my former boss is an avid Amtrak traveler and I gained a love for that mode of transportation because of him.

So I decided that slow traveling across the US was a good way to start my journey.  I will write about my experiences traveling on Amtrak in a separate post.  In this post, I will write about 7 cities on the West Coast of both the USA and Canada that you may want to sneak off to for a weekend getaway.

You will note that these seven cities are located on or near water.  As a Piscean, I adore gazing on or walking in large bodies of water despite the fact that I cannot swim.

So when you want to retreat from the chaos of your life, maybe you too can visit and come to love these amazing places as well.