I’ve been able to travel quite extensively in relation to my work. Now in retirement, I still do a bit of travel relating to speaking, teaching and thesis evaluations but I and Susan are also travelling more for pleasure.

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Blog Posts on Various Trips

A Most Memorable Trip to Lisbon

Six weeks ago I received a very surprising email from Prof. Carla Padrel de Oliveira; the Rector of Universidade Aberta (Portugal Open University). She invited Susan and me to come to Lisbon where I was to be awarded a Doctorat Honoris Causa. Of course, the first thing I had to do was to ask Google…
Portugal – Driving, Parades, Tourists, and Funiculars

Sue and I returned last week from a two week trip to Portugal. All and all it was a good trip and Portugal certainly is a great country- terrific scenery, lots of medieval to modern history and terrific scenery. However, a lesson learned is to not travel with a medical doctor. They tend to pack…
This “January in Jasper”

A trip to Jasper – After the Fire Every year in January, Susan and I take a short trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary- this year our 43rd! As often or not, we head for the Rocky Mountains and the nearest mountain town of Jasper. Alberta. This year, we expected an unappreciated change in this…
A visit to the University of South Africa (UNISA) 2019

Last summer I was asked to join a “quality audit” team that had been created by the Commonwealth of Learning and contracted by the University of South Africa (UNISA) to do a Trail Audit. This process involved a trip to London and this month a trip to Petoria, SA. In this post I talk about…
Guest Post – The Evolving Backpacker

This post was written by my older brother Dennis Anderson. He inspired my (much more modest) series of adventures my younger brothers Kent and Craig and himself. Dennis notes that getting old isn’t for the timid, but leaves openings and opportunities for some great outdoor adventures. The Evolving Backpacker The Evolving Backpacker by Dennis Anderson.…
Our Mexican Adventures – Winterbuster Trip 2019

After a brutal January and February in Edmonton, Sue and I were ready for a Winterbuster trip to Mexico. Our first destination was the Town of San Miguel d’Allenda, famous for its architecture and long term destination of artists and expats escaping northern winters. Of course we also wanted to see Mexico City as well…
Visit to University of South Africa (UNISA)

This is my second and final post on my winter-buster visit to Open Universidat Aberta in Portugal and my visit last week to the University of South Africa (UniSA). Although I have been to South Africa before I had never had the opportunity to visit the world’s oldest distance education university! Unisa is HUGE –…
Reflections from Lisbon, 2019

Life is full or irony. I’m reflecting on a number of these ironies here on my last night in Lisbon. I’m also posting this on both my blog and Facebook and Twitter for a number a number of reasons I note below. It has been three years since I retired from active life as a…
Hiking the Austrian Alps with the Bros

The pack is loaded, done with 3 weeks of walking the Edmonton River Valley daily, wondering what else I should be worried about and then the plane takes off and away you go. Thus, this 10 day hike in the Alps begins with my older brother and hike leader Dennis (71), and younger twin brothers…
Our Guatemalan Adventure

Our long time friends Ted and Joanne Koopmans invited us to come along and house-sit a house that a friend of theirs had made available for 4 weeks in February. The prospect (and reality) of -30 weather in Edmonton in February, was but one reason we accepted their invitation. We also hoped we would learn…
Detailed account and Lessons from a Seniors´ Tour de Mt Blanc

During September 2017, my brothers Dennis and Craig, and I (-all over 65 years old) spent 10 days hiking on the Tour de Mt. Blanc (TMB). The Mount Blanc Massif is a series of adjoining peaks, one off which is the highest in the Alps. The massive valleys and glaciers flow down – in the…
Final days in China

I’ve had a great time here in Wuxi, learned lots, met new friends and hopefully helped a class of grad students enlarge their research perspective using design-based research. I also did two presentations here at Jiangnan University for faculty and students. The first was on Publishing in International Academic Journals and the second on MOOC…
A trip to Nanjing

Last weekend I accepted an invitation to visit and present a talk at the Jiangsu Open University in Nanjing. Nanjing is one of China’s larger cities strategically located on the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River delta was the centre of both economic power and political power for many hundreds of years and was the first capital…
An encounter with the Chinese health system

You can tell when a blogger is getting old by the percentage of their posts relating to health issues- and especially their own. This is one of that genre. About three months ago a painful bump appeared on my heel, and after a couple of weeks of denying its existence, Susan talked me into going to…
Classical Chinese Dance and Music Concert

Did I ever tell you about the time I starred in a Classical Chinese Dance and Music presentation? Last night my host here at Jiangnan University invited to go with her to the annual performance of the students in the classical fine arts program here at the University. We got great seats in the campus performance…
Teaching at Jiangnan University, Wuxi China

My 4 week trip to China is a week done, and I thought I would document the trip to date (you know us old guys have trouble remembering the details!). Four years I received a request to host and sponsor a PhD student from Bejing Normal School. Zhijun Wang soon worked her way into our…
Our trip to Italy – April 2017

Note: What follows is a 6 page account of the 24 days that Susan and I spent as tourists in Italy in April 2017. Hopefully it can be used by ourselves to recall those names and dates we too easily forget and for others to help plan similar vacations. Introduction: Despite the numerous personal and…
Guest Post on Learning Analytics

My friends at the Open University of Catalonia asked me to do a guest blog on learning analytics for their Open Thought 2015 series. As always, a deadline got a little creativity and some energy going even though I am no expert on analytics. Not deterred, I gathered a few thoughts for the post at http://openthoughts-analytics.blogs.uoc.edu/big-data-learning-analytics-and-distance-education/
Cartagenia de Indias, Columbia

I was honoured to be asked to do a keynote at the 2nd Congresso Mundial de E-Learning sponsored by the Universidad National Aberta y a Distance (Columbia’s Open University). The conference was held in one of the oldest and perhaps most well maintained historic ports of the Spanish Main. The Congresso started 90 minutes late,…
Notes from Down Under

I’ve been neglecting my blog for the past few weeks, partly because I’ve been busy and mostly as I’ve been in half-holiday mode in Australia. Overall, Australia is a lot like Canada except the weather is better and the wine slightly cheaper- though EVERYTHING else is more expensive. I won’t revile my fellow Canadians with…
Driving Home from Madison

While winding our way home (2800 kms) from the Madison Distance Learning and Teaching Conference and our annual holiday at Sue’s Father’s cabin in Blind River Ontario, we had a few adventures, that I wanted to share in the following post. We left Madison Wisc. enroute to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and began to notice…