My better half has set up a photography and travel blog, for which I am also a contributor, to chronicle our peripatetic lifestyle: Natural Born Vagabond. We have visited some 30 countries together, and I have been to over 55. My trips to Taiwan (cycle around the island) and Rovaniemi (Santa’s Village) with my wife were especially memorable.
I am a purple belt in (Brazilian) jiu-jitsu and have over ten years of experience training Muay Thai. The highlight of my Muay Thai journey to date has been to train with Saenchai in Bangkok.
Jiu-jitsu:
- Cobra Fitness (Abu Dhabi)
- UFC Gym (Dubai)
- Mile End BJJ (Montréal)
Muay Thai:
- Cobra Fitness (Abu Dhabi)
- Daosawan (Montréal)
- Colosseum Gym (Dubai)
Training with Saenchai in Bangkok.
I became a polyglot in my 40s, proving that old dogs can learn new tricks.
Language schools (immersion programmes):
- Goethe Institut (Berlin & Frankfurt): 2012, 2022
- École Québec Monde (Quebec City): 2016
- Mandarin House (Shanghai): 2015
- Liden & Denz (Saint Petersburg): 2014
- Institut de Français (Villefranche / Nice): 2013
- ACCORD École (Paris): 2011
As an adult, I have been a legal resident in five countries. Toronto — where I gew up — is the city where I have spent the most time as an adult (through Jan 2025), even as I have not lived there for the past 25+ years!
The below is a list of cities in which I have spent significant time (over four weeks) since adulthood.
- Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Barcelona, Spain
- Berlin, Germany
- Cologne, Germany
- Dubai, UAE
- Dublin, Ireland
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Hong Kong, China
- London, UK
- Montréal, Canada
- New York, USA
- Nice (Villefranche), France
- Ottawa, Canada
- Paris, France
- Princeton, USA
- Québec, Canada
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Shanghai, China
- Singapore, Republic of
- Tokyo, Japan
- Toronto, Canada
- Washington DC, USA
Only Abu Dhabi and Princeton (as of 2025) do not have a metro or tram system, or lack a definitive plan in place for such.
Cities are like horses for courses, and even for the same person, the context (age, financial situation, relationship status, social network, etc.) make it difficult to compare. Nevertheless, I hope to one day create my own “dynamic city index”.
