Canadian Maritimes Road Trip

This trip wasn’t one I was planning on, nor was it one that I was particularly keen on taking.

My grandparents have family all over North America, so when they invited my sister and I to take a couple of weeks to drive through New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ottawa to visit some family with them, I took the opportunity.

I took, but I didn’t jump.

Two weeks is a long time to be cooped up with anyone, and my grandparents and I don’t really agree on much. So I knew it could be tense. But in hindsight, it was a very valuable trip and it definitely had a positive impact on me.

So the plan for this road trip was to drive through Quebec and reach New Brunswick, where we’d stay with my great aunt and uncle for a few days. It was his birthday, and there would be a large party with a bunch of family I hadn’t seen in over 15 years, if ever.

After Saint John, NB, we’d drive over the Confederation Bridge and spend a few days in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. PEI was honestly the only Canadian place I’d really been passionate about seeing, ever (my high school yearbook claims that I want to end up living in PEI), so the idea of spending a few days there (by the water, in my happy place) was really exciting.

Leaving PEI, we’d take a ferry to Nova Scotia to visit my grandma’s other brother. We didn’t spend much time in NS, but from there quickly moved to spending a couple days in Quebec City, and then spending the next few days in Ottawa with my uncle.

I think the mix of family time and touristy destinations for myself and my sister is what made this trip such a good one. Two weeks of either would have been too much, but switching it up every few days really kept things fresh.