Well, here we are, summer in Saskatchewan once again. Family, friends, soccer, golf, reliable wifi and the same bed (almost) every night. The comforts of home, I believe it’s called. A time to reset and refresh, ideally staying just long enough to get bored and ready to travel again, but not so much time that that people start counting on us being around. It’s quite a balancing act. So here we find ourselves, enjoying being back home while obsessively planning our fall travels – living in the moment’s never been our thing.
As for what we’ve been up to since the last time we did one of these, well, mainly Indonesia. A big place. A beautiful place. A cheap place. A place that could really do with improving their overall transportation system. Of course, we had some specific thoughts along the way.
Thoughts on Indonesia
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It wasn’t our first time in Indonesia so, in keeping with the overall theme of our post-Christmas trip, we planned a solid mix of old favourites and new adventures. When I left off last time, we were just finishing up on lovely Lombok (a terrific alternative to its busier neighbour, Bali) and were about to head way up into a remote corner of the country to a place called Raja Ampat.
Raja Ampat isn’t exactly a household name for most but is considered something of a Holy Grail for scuba divers. Considered one of the most pristine and diverse underwater habitats in the world, its popularity is growing quickly. And, in true Indonesian fashion, not necessarily responsibly. For now, though, wow, what a gorgeous place! We splashed out for a one-week all-inclusive diving liveaboard and enjoyed incredible dive sites and wonderful scenery and were very fortunate to share the experience with a terrific group of fellow divers from various parts of the world. You can read all about it here (along with some stunning underwater shots courtesy of @flavienwildlens):
Scuba Diving Paradise: Life on a Raja Ampat Liveaboard
After our big diving adventure, we flew back to Bali and made our way straight inland to Ubud, looking to relax and rejuvenate with a long-ish stay right next to the rather amazing Sari Organic Walk. And that, dare I say, is exactly what occurred. Gorgeous rice fields, fantastic food and a comfortable apartment that was perfectly opposite the tiny liveaboard cabin we’d just vacated. Blissful.
But, as you may have noticed, when it comes to travel (apparently) all good things must come to an end to make way for the NEXT thing, which might be better, might be worse, but is certainly new and unknown, and it’s exactly that curiosity that drives most of our trips. In this particular case, the next thing was the smaller, far less developed island south of Bali called Nusa Penida.
Rugged cliffs, gorgeous beaches, even cheaper than most of Indonesia, and with even worse roads. A land of extremes, is old Nusa Penida. And a very enjoyable place to spend a week and a half or so:
Of course, if reading all these specific posts from Indonesia seems daunting, or maybe you’re simply looking for a visual fix, you can relive all the adventures quite quickly through our photos and Laynni’s saved stories on Instagram.
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Summer Plans
So what does the summer of 2026 have in store for us, you ask? Well, as usual, our summer plans are fairly basic. Splitting time between Saskatoon and Waskesiu Lake, of course, usually with a couple mountain hiking excursions thrown in to spice things up occasionally. And maybe a little exploring closer to home, now and then:
Saskatchewan Highlights: 18 Great Places to Visit in Summer
As for the mountains, first up we’ve got Berg Lake. And by first up, we’re talking THIS weekend. A famously beautiful alpine lake in Mount Robson Provincial Park in BC. Exceptionally scenic, very basic, extraordinarily difficult to snag campsites and nearly 10 hours away by car (and alarmingly old CRV). Well worth it, though, we’re expecting. Here’s hoping a few more warm days can melt the last of the snow up there…
Soon after that, I’ll be joining some friends for our annual multi-day golf trip to Elbow and Riverhurst, one of our favourite Saskatchewan golf trips. Laynni, as always, happily passed. And then, before you know it, it’s July and almost everything we do revolves around Waskesiu Lake – getting there, being there, drinking there, returning from there, thinking about being there.
Looking Ahead to Fall
As I mentioned, and as you’ve probably noticed, we generally start planning our next trip well in advance, for a variety of reasons. One, we actually enjoy the planning process. Not everyone’s cup of tea but I love looking ahead to future journeys. Not to mention, I find the challenge of finding the perfect flight exhilarating and Laynni considers hotel browsing her ultimate decompression activity.
So, needless to say, we’ve already got a pretty good idea of exactly how our fall is going to look. After several years of basic research, heated discussions and, finally, some pathetic pleading on my part, we’re going to the Stans! Not all of them, mind you. For our first foray into this scenic but somewhat underdeveloped part of Central Asia we’re sticking with just three of the typical five. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, to be specific. A general overview – mostly mountain hiking in the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan, more mountain hiking in the Fan Mountains of Tajikistan and then Silk Road city hopping through the big highlights of Uzbekistan. We are expecting rough transport, meaty meals and a disappointing need to carry cash around for the first time in ages.
From there, anticipating that after 5 weeks in the Stans we will be both exhausted and desperate for some pad see ew, we’re heading back to Thailand for another lengthy stay, this time in Chiang Mai. Followed eventually by our second visit to China (thanks to the recent trade deal that includes waiving the visa requirement for Canadians for the rest of 2026). Should be an exciting few months!
Just For Fun
Not every Routinely Nomadic blog post has to be informative and useful (are there any, you ask?). Sometimes we just like to tell a funny story. Sometimes we just want to share an amusing anecdote. Sometimes we are just in a weird mood. Well, not to oversell it, but this post kind of has all of those things:
Our Northern Argentina Road Trip
So I guess that’s it, I’ll let you get back to your own personal summer. Let’s hope it’s filled with fun, sun and only the occasional swarm of mosquitoes.
Cheers!
Dean & Laynni
Nice one!
From Hua Hin, Thailand