Traveling is expensive but there are ways to get around the cost. Mr. Clarence Chee is a math teacher at Riverside Secondary, but when he is not teaching, his passion is travelling the world. He has already visited many countries, such as Korea, Taiwan, United States, Hawaii, Europe, Iceland, Thailand, Scotland, Ireland, England…and there are still many places he wishes to visit.
“It’s always about trying to find a good deal on the internet,” said Mr. Chee. There are travel blogs where there’s information about the good deals. “One of my favorite blogs is YVR DEALS because it’s about a travel blogger who talks about these deals,” said Chee. Mr. Chee usually travels during the holidays, and when the weather gets cold here, he tries to go to some tropical place.
Mr. Chee has many tips for the traveler: always do research; learn a bit of the local language in case you get lost; learn a brief history of the place you go to; learn the conversions of money; and, always be safe. Travelling is exciting, but caution is always needed in many places. “If I come back from my trip, it’s a good trip. If I come back with my stuff, it’s a bonus. Safety is very important,” said Chee. The reason he mentioned this it’s because the crimes in some other countries are at a very high rate, and one never knows when bags or valuables could get stolen.
Travelling turned into longer periods for Chee who lived in Japan for one year. “I learned a lot about cultural differences, tasting different food, meeting new people and learning the way of life of others. It really opens up your mind to what really goes on the world,” said Chee. The buildings in Japan are known for being very small and tight, and Mr. Clarence Chee mentioned how people lived differently. “I’m not a big history person. When I travel, I’m more interested in seeing what are people doing, what are people like, and how they live,” said Chee.
The feeling for travelling started when Mr. Chee was younger with exchange programs in school. He would travel with his family a lot, when he went on trips to places such as Washington D.C., Boston, Florida, New York. As he got older, he went to more trips such as a school Quebec exchange trip. That’s when he started to really get the feel for travel. “The one tradition I have when I travel is that I always pick a place, I buy a postcard, I write the date and the time on it, and I send it to myself. The reason I do this is because I want to find out the amount of time it takes for a postcard to travel back home,” said Chee. “Another thing I like doing when visiting new places is to visit their arenas and stadiums,” said Clarence. He likes to visit mostly tropical places, such as Hawaii. There are many activities to do, such as hiking, visiting jungle forests, visiting the volcanoes, going snorkeling in the ocean, and tasting their amazing coffee.
The world is so big, and there are so many places Mr. Chee still hasn’t been to, but his goal would definitely be to travel all around the world at some point.
