I had been waiting for summer 2012 for so long...it was the summer after grade nine and I wanted to make it memorable. Last summer, all I did was sit around the same park with my friends every single day deciding what we should do that day, but this summer I wanted to actually do something with it - to take advantage that we were on holiday and had 2 months off school to do whatever I wanted.

I started off my summer vacation by going up to my friend Angus's cottage. After we finished our exams, 12 of us headed to his cottage. Angus's cottage was amazingly big and so beautiful! It had tennis courts, its own airplane pad, many biking trails, a beautiful lake, and a massive boathouse. I think the cottage itself had 5 bathrooms. Going to Angus's cottage was such a great way to celebrate that we had finally finished our exams and passed grade nine!  It was the most fun I had all summer. We spent the days tanning on the dock, swimming, canoeing, sailing, hiking, playing tennis, jumping on the trampoline, having bonfires and at night we would all stay up late watching scary movies in the boathouse.  Meal time was always an interesting event since there were 12 teenagers plus the parents and 3 other siblings. That made 17 of us and no dishwasher, we all had to wash, dry, and put every single dish away. We made up a catchy song to pass the time. The last day at the cottage it was pouring rain so all my best friends and I sheltered in the boathouse watching movies and just relaxing. It was so sad to leave the cottage. It was such a great weekend but at least it was only the beginning of summer and we had two whole months to have fun!

After I got back from the cottage, I moved out of my house that I have lived in my whole life because we are going traveling this year.  It was a tough move but I’ll be moving back in a year after traveling. For the first few weeks of summer i lived with a few of my friends, it was rather interesting being away from my parents for two weeks, but kind of annoying because I had to drag my heavy bags everywhere with me.  Every day, my friends and I would find something different to do in the city. Some days we would go to the beach, the pool, shopping downtown Toronto, going out at night... sometimes my friends would even treat me by going out to dinner. Toronto is deadly hot in the summer so we would always make sure we were close to air conditioned places!

To escape the Toronto heat, my family and I headed up to Collingwood, where we would be staying the whole summer. In Collingwood I woke up early every day and stayed up late every night watching movies. Loving the cottage life. I spent my days going on pleasure bike rides, painting pottery, walking my dog, frog catching, and swimming. I went to the city every two weeks to visit my friends.  They even threw me a fun going away party since I’m traveling for my grade 10 year. It was a lovely surprise and such a perfect night, I couldn't ask for more than being surrounded by my closest friends. It was a great way to end off my summer vacation!

Becca Tran is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.

All photos courtesy and copyright Becca Tran