My Journey Around the World
My travel journey has developed through two very different kinds of experiences: living in major cities across North America and traveling internationally to explore the world beyond it. In Canada, I have lived in three major provinces—Vancouver in British Columbia, Toronto in Ontario, and Montréal in Quebec—as well as in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the United States. Spending significant parts of my life in these cities has given me experiences that go far beyond visiting them as a traveler.
My international travel expanded significantly through my 2026 world journey, when I traveled through Europe, Asia, and Africa, visiting cities including Istanbul, Rome, Paris, Berlin, London, Cairo, Seoul, Tokyo, and Yerevan. Together with my experiences across North America, this has brought my journey to four continents so far, with South America and Australia still ahead.
The way I explore a place also reflects many of my existing interests. I tend to experience cities through long walks, historical sites and museums, running, cafés and restaurants, and learning about their history. Some destinations have therefore become closely connected with other parts of this website, from my running and explorations to my interest in history.
My world travel journey is still very much in progress. This section of my website is where I document the places I have lived, the countries and cities I have explored, and the experiences I have collected along the way.
Cities I Have Called Home
The cities I have called home represent very different chapters of my life. Living in them has allowed me to experience North America in a way that traveling alone could not—from three major Canadian provinces to two very different parts of California. Each city became connected with a particular stage of my education, interests, lifestyle, or personal development.
Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia — Education, Running, and a Major Chapter of My Life
Vancouver was home for a significant portion of my life and became the setting for many important parts of my journey. I completed much of my university education at the University of British Columbia, including my Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics, while building years of experiences throughout the city and the surrounding region.
Vancouver also became closely connected with my running and outdoor life. Its active lifestyle fit naturally with many of my own interests, and running, hiking, and other outdoor activities became recurring parts of my years there. Because I lived in Vancouver for so long, my connection with the city extends far beyond its attractions—it became part of my academic, professional, athletic, and everyday life.
Toronto, Ontario — My PhD Chapter
Toronto became home during another important stage of my academic journey, when I moved there to pursue my PhD at the University of Toronto. My doctoral studies were in Computational Fluid Dynamics within the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, marking a transition from my previous studies in applied mathematics toward computational research in engineering.
At the same time, living in Toronto gave me the opportunity to experience a very different Canadian metropolis after Vancouver. It added another major Canadian city—and another part of the country—to the places I came to know through everyday life rather than through a short visit.
Montréal, Quebec — Discovering Another Side of Canada
Montréal became my first experience living in French-speaking Canada. I arrived after traveling extensively through Europe in 2026, a journey that had increased my interest in European history, culture, and urban life. Montréal offered an interesting next step: experiencing a part of Canada shaped by the French language and a cultural environment noticeably different from those I had known in Vancouver and Toronto.
One of the differences I noticed was the emphasis placed on aspects of life that were less prominent in my previous cities. Music, festivals, public events, and social life are highly visible parts of Montréal’s culture. Experiencing a city where these activities play such a prominent role exposed me to interests and ways of enjoying city life that were not nearly as central to my previous experiences.
Unlike Vancouver and Toronto, which were closely connected with specific stages of my academic journey, Montréal represented a different kind of chapter: an opportunity to experience French-speaking Canada and discover another side of Canadian urban and cultural life.
United States
San Francisco — The Bay Area, Technology, and Academic Exploration
Living in San Francisco gave me the opportunity to experience the Bay Area while exploring a region closely connected with several of my long-standing academic and technological interests.
During my time there, I visited Stanford University and UC Berkeley. Seeing these universities firsthand was particularly meaningful given my background and interests in mathematics, science, and technology. Combined with exploring San Francisco itself, this made my experience of the Bay Area closely connected with the academic and technological side of my journey.
Los Angeles — Experiencing a Different Side of Life
Los Angeles represented a particularly interesting contrast with the years I had spent in Vancouver. Vancouver had become closely associated in my life with education, personal goals, running, outdoor activities, and individual achievement. Los Angeles exposed me to a noticeably different environment.
Social life, entertainment, movies, and other aspects of life outside the academic and athletic worlds felt much more visible there. Exploring places such as Hollywood was part of that experience, but the more important part was simply living in an environment where people seemed to engage with city life through priorities and interests different from many of those I had become accustomed to in Vancouver.
That contrast became valuable in itself. Los Angeles was not simply another city I experienced; it gave me an opportunity to see how differently life can be approached even between major cities on the same continent.
Exploring the Continents
My world travel journey has so far taken me across four continents: North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Each one entered my life in a different way—North America through years of living and traveling across Canada and the United States, and Europe, Asia, and Africa through more concentrated international journeys.
The remaining two continents in this journey are South America and Australia. I see them as the next chapters rather than simply destinations to check off a list. My goal has always been to actually experience the places I visit, understand something about their history and culture, and connect them with the broader interests that already shape the way I explore the world.
The continent pages below bring these experiences together geographically, with each one documenting the countries, cities, and places I have explored—or still plan to experience—as this journey continues.
My 2026 World Journey
The beginning of 2026 marked the most concentrated period of international travel in my life. In a little over two months, I traveled through nine countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa—turning what had previously been a largely North American life experience into a much broader journey around the world.
The journey began with Yerevan in Armenia and continued through Istanbul, Rome, Paris, Berlin, London, Cairo, Seoul, and Tokyo. Moving through these cities one after another gave me an unusual opportunity to experience places with remarkably different histories and cultures within a very short period of my life.
The historical side of the journey was particularly meaningful to me. I have spent years learning about world history, including through Will Durant’s work, and this trip allowed me to physically experience places connected with many of the civilizations and historical periods I had studied. Rome and Cairo brought me close to the ancient world; Istanbul reflected layers of Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman history; and cities such as Paris, Berlin, and London connected with different parts of European history I had encountered through years of learning.
Seoul and Tokyo then introduced an entirely different stage of the journey. After traveling through Europe and Egypt, continuing into East Asia allowed me to experience two highly developed cities whose urban environments, transportation systems, food, and everyday life were noticeably different from both the European cities I had just visited and the North American cities where I had lived.
I also explored these places in the way that comes most naturally to me: by walking extensively through their streets, visiting museums and historical sites, trying local restaurants and cafés, and observing the cities beyond their most recognizable landmarks. Moving between countries so frequently made the comparisons especially vivid because one city was still fresh in my mind when I arrived in the next.
By the end of a little over two months, I had traveled through nine countries and three continents and brought my overall journey to four continents. For me, however, the most valuable part was not simply adding countries or continents to a list. Places that I had previously encountered through mathematics and education, history, books, maps, or general curiosity had become places I had now experienced firsthand.
Travel Beyond Visiting
Travel has gradually become connected with many parts of my life that already existed long before I began traveling internationally. My interest in history, more than twenty years of running, years of exploring cities on foot, and my interest in cafés and restaurants all influence what I notice when I arrive somewhere new.
Walking is probably the clearest example. I already enjoy covering long distances on foot in my everyday life, so when I travel, walking naturally becomes one of my main ways of discovering a city. Rather than moving only between major attractions, I often spend hours walking through streets and neighborhoods and observing how the city changes along the way. Many of my memories of places such as Istanbul, Rome, Paris, Cairo, Seoul, and Tokyo therefore come not only from particular landmarks, but from everything I encountered while moving between them.
History gives those walks another dimension. I have spent years learning about world history, including through Will Durant’s work, so museums, historical sites, monuments, and older parts of cities are usually among the places I am most interested in exploring. During my 2026 journey, this meant physically walking through cities and historical environments that I had previously encountered through books and learning.
Running gives me yet another way of connecting with places. Because running has been part of my life since my teenage years, I naturally notice the parks, waterfronts, trails, streets, and running culture of the cities I experience. Cafés and restaurants provide another perspective, and my interest in both has become significant enough that they have their own exploration sections on this website.
Perhaps the biggest influence on how I see new places, however, comes from having actually lived in several very different North American cities. Vancouver showed me a lifestyle strongly compatible with my interests in running, outdoor activity, and personal goals. Los Angeles exposed me to a greater emphasis on entertainment and social life. Toronto accompanied my PhD years, while Montréal introduced me to French-speaking Canada and a city where festivals, music, and public social life are much more visible.
Because of those experiences, when I travel I naturally notice more than architecture or attractions. I notice what people seem to prioritize, how active or social the city feels, how people spend their free time, how easy it is to walk or run through it, and how its everyday culture compares with the places where I have already lived.
For me, that is what travel beyond visiting has become: bringing my existing interests and experiences with me and seeing how they take a different form in each new place I encounter.
The Journey Continues
My world travel journey is far from finished, but I no longer see continuing it as a matter of simply visiting as many places as possible. After living in several major North American cities and completing my concentrated journey through Europe, Asia, and Africa in 2026, I have already experienced four continents in very different ways.
South America and Australia remain the two major chapters ahead. Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires are among the places I want to experience in South America, while Sydney and Melbourne are part of my plans for Australia. Reaching those two continents would complete a personal goal of experiencing six continents, but I want to reach them at the right time rather than turning the goal into a race.
That distinction has become increasingly important to me. Travel is only one part of my life alongside my business, learning, running goals, and the communities and routines I build wherever I live. My 2026 journey showed me how much can be experienced in a relatively short period, but it also reinforced the value of having enough time between journeys to pursue the other goals that matter to me.
There will therefore be periods when I travel extensively and others when I remain in one place and focus on different priorities. South America and Australia are still ahead, new cities and countries will eventually be added to these pages, and some places may be worth returning to with a completely different perspective years later.
The journey continues, but there is no need to rush it.