Tags
adventure, franz joseph, Graceland, juniors cheesecake, juniors times square, living abroad, Memphis, Moving to canada, moving to vancouver, nevis bungee jul, skydive, travelling, trek america
So I’ve been talking about it for the past 4 years (on and off) and now I’m finally doing it. I’m moving to Vancouver! Even just typing it out still doesn’t make it completely real in my head but it is actually happening. My flights are booked, I’ve handed my notice in at work and have started looking at places to explore and possibly move to as well as started to realise I’ve got a lot to do!
I’ve always been the kind of person who works best under pressure and I’m using that as my excuse for getting everything done in the last few weeks but the truth is I only fully decided I was definitely going to do this a couple of months ago.
I applied for the visa last year before I started a new job and then found I wasn’t ready to leave, plus I have strong ties here, a great bunch of friends, family and a boyfriend of 3 years who I love. Therefore why go? The truth is going to Canada has been something I’ve wanted to do since I landed back in the UK after 7 months of travelling 5 years go.I had some of the happiest times of my life on the road exploring different countries and meeting new people. I spent two months travelling around Asia, eating some of the best food I’ve ever had, meeting incredible people and seeing stunning scenery. In Australia I fell in love with Melbourne and Byron Bay where I lived in a caravan and worked at the local market selling coffee which was brewed less than a few hundred feet from where I slept. In New Zealand I pushed my fear level through a threshold (I’m not sure I would do today) skydiving over Franz Joseph at sunrise, bungee jumping 134m and hiking up mountains where I saw the most incredible scenery not even a camera can do justice in Queenstown. I finished my 7 months of travelling with a 4 week adventure across America with Trek America, who I would highly recommend. Not only did we mange to go to 21 states in 21 days, breakfast in Albuquerque counting as one, but I met people on that trek who are my close friends to this day. I walked blindfolded to the edge of the Grand Canyon and opened my eyes to look across at the most breathtaking sight where half of it was covered in snow and the other half was a mix of burnt orange and sunrise colours. I danced down streets of New Orleans and ate the tastiest cheesecake in my life in Juniors in Times Square. I went hiking in national parks, ate hot dogs at a baseball game in Texas and stepped into Elvis Presley’s grand mansion, Graceland, in Memphis and quite simply had the best time of my life.
We did Christmas a little differently this year and it was really one of the loveliest days. As we had all spent so much on flights we decided to only spend $5 on each other for a Christmas present. I received cat hand warmers from my mum (bought back home) in contrast to a summer dress (from my brother and his fiancé) which definitely came in handy. We all woke up at different times, some of us went to mass, I went out of curiosity to see if the Australians do mass any different (answer no, a slightly shorter service and more casual dress but pretty much the same!) which was followed by a beautiful walk from Clovelly beach to Bondi beach. It was a beautiful sunny day with hardly any clouds in the sky. My dad put his feet in the sea for the first time in his life and my brothers and I spent the morning diving into waves and in my case getting burnt (I never learn!) 
