The Wandering Nine
Nine questions about wandering. Featuring writer-adventurer, Meghan Ward
I first met Meghan Ward a few years ago on a sunny patio in Banff, where we talked about her (then) upcoming travel memoir, and the wild places she’s had a chance to explore. Luckily, she became a friend, and joined me on some of my favorite hikes, where we bonded over conversations about adventure, parenting and the literary life. Meghan is an outdoor, travel and adventure writer based in Banff National Park. She goes to some far-flung places, and I continue to learn about roaming the world from her. Meghan is a collaborator with her partner, the photographer Paul Zizka, and is a parent who takes her children on her travels. She was the first person I thought of when I developed The Wandering Nine, these open-ended questions of people whose notions of wandering intrigue me.
1. How do you define wandering for yourself? What qualities does a wander have in it, vs a vacation or a trip?
To wander is to set out without either a particular objective or a pre-determined path. I think it comes with a mindset of moving through something rather than to something. Sometimes it looks like stepping out the door and following my nose. And sometimes it’s having an objective in mind — say, find the best coffee shop or eventually reach X — but with time to meander on the way there.
2. Would you describe yourself as having wanderlust? Where did that come from?
Absolutely. Wanderlust feels like it’s wired into me, though for a time I think it was left untapped when I hadn’t yet truly stepped out of my comfort zone, nor had wanderlust modelled to me. It’s like I needed to hit the confines of comfort and familiarity HARD before I unleashed my wandering spirit. And now I can’t get it back into the bottle.
3. What was your last wander? Why did you choose it (or did it choose you?)
At the macro level, my latest wanderings took my family on a three-week road trip through the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. My husband and I chose it primarily because it was unfamiliar to us and a less-popular part of Europe for North Americans to visit. If I had to zoom in on a recent wander, it would be the little walk my family took down by the Bow River in Banff this past weekend. We didn’t have a destination. My daughter was looking for what we call ‘pencil ice’— river ice that breaks off in long, thin shards. It seems to only happen in springtime. Truthfully, I felt like I wanted to keep moving, but kids are great at getting you to focus on smaller things along the way.
4. What’s your idea of the perfect wander?
The perfect wander can be many things but what makes it perfect is when I have enough time to fully enjoy it. If there’s a time constraint or my explorations are cut short it can feel like never finishing a book that I’ve been enjoying. I also have two young kids, so wandering on my own, or without interruptions or distractions, can be a real luxury. When I have time to follow my nose and then enjoy the things that I find, it’s bliss.
5. What’s your biggest fear about wandering into an unknown place?
I don’t really have a fear of discomfort (say, having to talk to strangers in a foreign language), so it would need to be wandering into a place that might compromise my physical safety. I’ve felt a twinge of fear walking alone at night in a foreign country and perhaps not having the best sense of which areas were safe and which I should avoid. Another example would be a time I had to turn back on a mountain climb and my husband suggested we go down a different route. Not knowing if we’d be able to negotiate the terrain was scary, but we took it one step at a time and gradually made our way down.
6. Have you had a journey canceled or something go awry on an adventure? What happened? What was the effect on you?
I could probably write a whole book about misadventures or missed adventures. A specific one was from back in 2022 when my family approached the Croatian border with our rental car and the agent said, “You can come in, but your car can’t.” It turned out our rental agency hadn’t secured the correct paperwork for us, and this was after already driving through North Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro. So, after many phone calls and WhatsApp conversations, we drove back to Montenegro to park the car and take a taxi over to Dubrovnik (but not before discovering the agent still had my passport back in Croatia). Inconveniences like these are even more stressful with two young kids sitting in the back seat.
The scenario forced my husband and me to deal with things very practically and to let go, rather quickly, of what our original plan was. It was a good reminder not to sweat even the bigger stuff and just go with the flow. The more you resist, the more the problem persists.
7. What are your favorite things/ideals/wisdom to pack?
This is an interesting question for me because as I’ve been answering questions about wandering so far, I’ve been focusing on the physical. But I have a rich life of wandering in my thoughts and feelings. For the past twenty years or so, I’ve been unpacking much of the teaching that I learned in the first half of my life — teachings that didn’t generally promote wandering so much as walking on a certain path. I love to read, write and explore ideas about freedom, expression, the ego, being a witness to ourselves, shame and vulnerability, and deconstructing ideas around patriarchy, religion, colonial narratives and more. I think our wanderings in this area are good for humanity.
8. What’s your greatest extravagance when you wander?
I think the greatest extravagance is similar to what makes a wander perfect for me: time. But if I had to choose something to spend my money on, it would be on an experience rather than an object — like the cable car ride we recently took in Sigulda, Latvia, which connected the two halves of our wander through the town’s various castles with an aerial view of the Gauja River. Had it just been me and my husband, we might have chosen to save our money and just walk to the other side. But with kids in tow, it made sense to use a different mode of transportation (which paired as entertainment) to shorten what was already a very long walk.
9. What do you most value in a wandering companion?
In general, a positive attitude, sense of curiosity, and adventurous spirit. But I’ve also had my fair share of wandering with kids — they are very good teachers, you know — and at times these qualities can look different. It’s usually me who needs to embody them even if I’m terribly bored, things are tedious, and my idea of wandering might look different (you can only stare at ants for so long). So, perhaps also patience, care and the understanding that what excites someone else may not be exciting for you, but you can show enthusiasm anyway.
+ Bonus: Do you have a playlist from a recent journey or quest that you’d like to share?
Not a specific playlist, but thanks to Spotify and similar services, when we travel we like to look up the local or folk music and listen to it while we drive (Estonian folk music, anyone?)! We also used Shazam in restaurants to see what they were listening to - and then used some of those musicians in our social media content when we posted.
Meghan J. Ward is an outdoor, travel and adventure writer based in Banff, Canada, and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Her most recent books are about wandering: Lights to Guide Me Home (a travel memoir) and The Wonders That I Find (a children's book). She and her husband love to explore the wild and the world together and take their two young daughters along for the ride. She writes about a life lived off the beaten path over at Field Notes.
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