Sure Travel Journey Vol 5.2 Autumn 2019 | Page 10

DEPARTURE LOUNGE // AUTUMN 2019
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DID YOU KNOW?
WHERE IN THE WORLD?
VANCOUVER!
Canada’s third largest city is a breath
of fresh air – literally. Flanked by
mountains, this coastal seaport city is
an outdoor-lover’s dream: ski, golf, bike,
yoga, sail and kayak – all on the same day.
A temperate rainforest with an
average of 163 days of rain per year,
Vancouver retains its label as one of
the world’s greenest cities for good
reason – it is, for example, home to
Stanley Park, which is 10% larger than
New York’s Central Park.
Plenty of snow falls on Vancouver’s
easily accessible ski hills, which are
all a short drive from the downtown
business district and tourist sites
like Gastown, Granville Island market
and the Capilano suspension bridge.
Whistler, the world-renowned ski
resort popular with the super rich and
famous, is also nearby.
Culturally diverse – immigrants
make up as much as 40% of the city’s
2.1 million residents – Vancouver has
a thriving art, theatre, music and
culinary scene.
FUN FACT: Chef Hidekazu Tojo
invented the California roll in
Vancouver (despite the sushi’s
geographically misleading name).
GO TO CANADA WITH SURE!
Keen to visit Vancouver?
We can tailor-make any itinerary to
Canada, or try Busabout’s 7-day
Canada Rockies Adventurer package.
Contact one of our friendly Sure Travel
consultants to enquire or book:
visit www.suretravel.co.za
10 // MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE
INSTAMUNCH
@sarkababicka
Originally from Prague, Czech Republic,
Šárka Babická is a London-based travel
and food photographer who’s spent the
past 14 months on the road, driving from
the UK to India by car and motorcycle with
her boyfriend. We caught up with Šárka as
she prepared for her next adventure, to
Indonesia, and learned how food and travel
are inextricably linked for her.
Where does your passion for food
and travel come from?
My real passion for food was born when I
moved to London. It was the plethora of
amazing, authentic ingredients from all
around the world that sparked my interest
in cooking and led to a new obsession with
taste – everything new and unknown. I have
always loved travelling – I’m the only one in
my family who can’t stay put for too long.
Discovering new cuisines added another
dimension to travelling. Food is closely
connected to culture, and one can learn so
much about a country through its food.
Extreme travel addiction has been
considered a psychiatric condition
since 1886, when a French gas-fitter
named Jean-Albert Dadas wandered
into a hospital in Bordeaux to
ask doctors to cure him of his
“pathological travelling”. Following
an unrelenting urge to travel, Dadas
had deserted the French army and
crisscrossed Europe on foot for
five years. Sadly, he had no memory
of his travels.
After treating Dadas for several
weeks, psychiatrists sought to
explain his extreme version of
the travel bug with a diagnosable
condition: “dromomania”.
Sometimes called “vagabond
neurosis”, the term was officially
added to the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders as an “impulse-control
disorder” and “psychiatric
problem” in 2000.
Fave foods from around the world?
You can’t beat fresh pasta and burrata in
Italy, or bun cha from a street vendor in
Vietnam.
Most memorable dish you’ve had
while travelling?
We were invited by complete strangers
in the mountains of Pakistan to stay
overnight and join them for dinner. They
cooked humble – but incredibly delicious
– food on a tiny wood-burning stove in
the middle of a kitchen with no electricity.
It was an unforgettable experience,
showing us the most generous hospitality
and kindness.
How do you stay healthy while
travelling?
I always eat local food when I travel.
I love discovering new cuisines and
flavours, so I’m not afraid to experiment,
but I do try to make healthy choices – I
don’t eat too much fried food and avoid
processed food completely. I also like
local markets that offer fresh fruit and
vegetables. They are very cheap and
available in abundance, especially in Asia.
It’s all about balance.