Aix Marks the Spot

As I've mentioned a few times on this blog, I was lucky enough to have the chance to spend my third year of university studying in Aix  (pronounced ex) en Provence, a charming town in the South of France.    

To this day, it remains one of the best experiences of my life: I was living in a gorgeous city where I got to speak French everyday, I got to meet like-minded students from all around the world, I spent far more time galavanting and cafe hopping than I ever did studying and I had Europe at my fingertips. It was an almost entirely carefree time, a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will surely never experience again.

With so many fond memories of that year, the city of Aix held a very special place in my heart. Four years down the line I found myself on holiday with Ben's family in the French Alps, with Aix just a five hour drive away. I wanted so badly to re-visit the place I'd once called home but was also apprehensive; Would it still seem as magical as it once had? Would returning spoil the near-perfect image I had of the city, and of that year as a whole?

I decided to chance it, and so Ben and I made the five hour drive south. I was anything but disappointed. The city was every bit as wonderful and special as I remembered (and Ben enjoyed it too, which was a plus!) Some things had changed (like the addition of several bagel shops - four years ago bagels were nonexistent in Aix!) but for the most part it was just as it was when I left.

Pavillon Vendome

Place d'Albertas

Sunflowers at the market

Bagels are coming!

Whether it's sharing street food with locals in Myanmar or spotting wild cassowaries in Australia, travel experiences can rarely be replicated or recreated. They're unique, one of a kind, and my year studying abroad was no exception. Be that as it may, visiting Aix this time around was a beautiful walk down memory lane, one that I got to share with Ben. And I can't ask for much more than that.

Give and Take

Awesome as it is, traveling just ain't free. Plane tickets, food, sightseeing... sure it can be done on the cheap, but any the end of the day you need a bit of cash to make it happen. Which is where the whole work thing comes in.

Now I don't mean to complain; I know work is a part of life and everyone has to do it. But when you're working on the road (i.e. doing shorter stints at different jobs) you gotta take what you can get, and sometimes that means doing a job you just don't like. Which is the case for me in Manly.

I found work here in a cafe with relative ease but putting up with the job has at times been anything but. The owner (who is a complete loose cannon, due to the fact he did 'too many drugs in the 70s'... his words) hires and fires people (without notice, obviously) like there's no tomorrow. One time I actually had to console a very distraught ex-employee as she stood crying in the carpark after being fired. 

In addition to playing therapist for former employees, I get paid on a different day each week (I've narrowed it down to anytime between Wednesday and Saturday) and I never know when I'll working one week to the next, which makes planning anything in advance rather impossible. It's not all bad but I definitely far from love my job. (I sure hope the coffee I make tastes less bitter than I sound...)

 That being said, I really do try and focus on the positives as much as I can, of which there are many: the cafe is a stone's throw away from the beach, I make decent money and most importantly, working there is allowing me to experience more of a foreign country while saving a bit of money in the process. Sure I would probably have a more 'fulfilling' job if I was living back in Vancouver but I also wouldn't be fulfilling my travel dreams. In the last couple months I've done some pretty incredible things: Rang in the new year at Sydney Harbour, explored the island of Tasmania and spent many a day off snorkeling at nearby beaches. If all goes to plan, I'll be finding Nemo somewhere in the Great Barrier Reef in a few weeks. These are things I would far less likely get the chance to do if I was in a more secure job back at home, and that's what I need to remember: Travel (and life, for that matter) is all about give and take.

New Years Eve fireworks at Sydney Harbour

Beautiful Wineglass Bay, Tasmania

Popular snorkeling spot in Manly

The Wharf

It's moments like this that make it worthwhile.

2013: A Year in Review

As cliche as it is to say, I honestly cannot believe another year has gone by.

2013 was certainly one of my busiest years to date. I spent the first half of the year as a nomad in Asia: visiting tea plantations in Malaysia, snowboarding in Japan, volunteering with elephants in Cambodia, overcoming my fear of riding a motorbike in Vietnam, participating in the world's biggest waterfight in Thailand and meeting some of the friendliest people ever in Myanmar.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Sen Monorom, Cambodia

Yangon, Myanmar

Sapa, Vietnam

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Post-Asia it was time to move to Melbourne, where I met up with this guy who became my boyfriend, tried my hand at being a barista and went on an amazing road trip. From there it was off to tropical Fiji, where I explored its underwater world and hung out in a local village. I was lucky enough to reconnect with family and friends in beautiful British Columbia, as well as meet Ben's family in Shropshire, England for the first time. After that it was back to Australia to try living in a different city (and to earn some money for 2014 travel plans.)

This guy.

Barista-ing, Melbourne

Great Ocean Road, Victoria

Coral Coast, Fiji

Tofino, BC

Ben's house in Shrewsbury, UK

Eleven countries, one boyfriend, countless new experiences... 2013 has certainly been eventful. While this year has made me realize that I couldn't lead this type of nomadic lifestyle forever, it's also reaffirmed my belief that traveling is what I'm supposed to be doing right now. There are certain aspects of a more settled life I'm already looking forward to one day but there are still too many more things in this world I want to see, do, learn, taste and experience first.

I don't yet know what 2014 is going to look like, although I have some ideas (Diving the Great Barrier Reef? Visiting my Cambodian 'family'? Attending a wedding in England? Teaching English in Korea?) so stay tuned!

Dreaming of a W..arm Christmas?

Although my first eight years of life were spent in sunny Southern California, the holidays I really remember growing up took place a little further north. Christmases in good ol' Surrey, BC weren't always white but they were definitely never warm. My fondest Christmas memories have all taken place in the cold, which is why the two have always gone hand in hand for me.

Then in 2011, while living at home to save money to travel (and going a bit stir-crazy in process) I applied and was hired to work on a Hawaii-bound cruise ship over the holidays. In addition to being a pretty unique way to spend Christmas, it was also the first truly hot one I'd ever celebrated.

The following year I left home to go traveling. By December I found myself in tropical Thailand, intending to celebrate a second sunny Christmas by attending a Full Moon Party on the island of Koh Phangan. However, my grand plans were thwarted just days before by some little mosquito who was kind enough to infect me with Dengue Fever, which left me more or less bed-ridden. It was certainly a memorable holiday but not for the right reasons!

Fast forward to Christmas Day 2013 in Sydney, Australia where I'm currently living and working. I was expecting to have another sweltering Christmas but (gasp) it was actually raining here today! Although it was a bit wet, it was still warm enough to go for a nice swim in the ocean and have a beer at the beach.

While these past few Christmases have each been incredibly memorable, it's sometimes been hard to remember that it really is Christmas. I think I'll always associate this time of year with the memories I made back home: watching Christmas movies by the fire, going for winter walks in the park behind my house, sledding on nearby hills, enjoying hot holiday drinks from Starbucks red cups, listening to Christmas songs on 103.5 QM/FM from the warmth of the car (only people from the Vancouver area will know what I'm talking about on that last point) and making igloos (okay, so I only did that once... but it was one of the rare occasions where I managed to live up to a Canadian stereotype!)

Don't get me wrong, I have genuinely enjoyed the Christmases I've spent abroad/in the heat and wouldn't change them for the world (not even getting Dengue!) but I don't think Christmas will ever truly feel like Christmas for me unless I'm somewhere cold. Or more still, unless I'm at home. Until then...

Merry Christmas and lots of love to my family and friends around the world!!!

Christmas 2011 - Hawaii, USA

 

Christmas 2012 - Koh Phangan, Thailand

No photos, due to the fact I was incredibly ill with Dengue Fever. Boooooooo.

Christmas 2013 - Sydney, Australia

Catching Curveballs

So there's been a slight change of plans... instead of spending three months working on a farm in the outback, we spent just three days.

In short, the farm work was nothing like what we thought it would be. We were told we would be working 40 hour weeks and were under the impression we would get at least a day or two off a week to see a bit of the area or just relax. Well, in our three days there we worked between 9 and 12 hour days, and they were expecting us to work 7 days a week for the three months that we would be there.

On top of extremely long hours, the family itself was unpleasant to say the least. The mother was a big believer in the yelling and screaming style of parenting, a trait that she had successfully passed down to each of her six children. (Literally, at least one person could be heard screaming at any given time.) Now Ben and I aren't at all opposed to working hard but for what we were earning ($50/week each) for work (cleaning, pulling weeds and more cleaning) we didn't even enjoy... we felt like we were being taken advantage of and although neither of us had ever quit a job after just three days, it didn't seem worth it to stay. 

At the end of our third day we told them that we wanted to leave (not only were they angry but they seemed genuinely baffled as to why we would even contemplate leaving) and left first thing the next morning. Catching a taxi to escape from a farm  was never something I planned on doing but there you have it!

Such an abrupt departure obviously wasn't a part of our plan, so for lack of a better idea we headed south to Sydney. We were lucky enough to have a friend of my parents put us up for nearly a week while we hunted for jobs and a flat. I'm happy to report that we have found a room in a flat (with an ocean view!!!) in the Manly Beach area, located north of Sydney. At the moment we're sharing the place with girl from Liechtenstein, who we get along very well with, and will probably have one or two other flatmates before long as there's another bedroom still available.  As far as jobs go, Ben and I both have trial shifts this week (at a ski shop for him, a cafe for me) so we'll see how we go!

The whole farm situation definitely didn't pan out as I'd hoped but by this point I've gotten pretty good at catching the curveballs that come along with traveling. Although it can be incredibly frustrating, there is always something to learn or to take away from the experience. In this case, I got the opportunity to practice being flexible and changing my plans on a dime - important life skills if you ask me. Spending the summer in a great flat less than a half hour walk from the beach isn't a bad alternative either!

Sunset on the farm

'The outback'

First night in our flat: me, Melanie and Ben

The best view I've ever had from a flat, hands down

Oh, The People You'll Meet

It's always a bit strange to think back to where you were a year ago. In my case, I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I had left home just over a month before with the intention of traveling solo for about a year and was spending the first couple of months of my trip teaching English in Cambodia. Last November 8th was a Thursday and for a reason I can't recall there was no school that Friday. Taking advantage of our long weekend, the other volunteer teachers and I set off for a night out.

The night started off like any other. The bars were packed with travelers from all over doing the usual circuit through Southeast Asia and taking advantage of the ridiculously cheap alcohol. Amidst the sea of people, I made eye contact and exchanged a smile with a guy nearby.

We somehow got to talking (we still disagree on who started talking to who first) and ended up hanging out not only the rest of the night but pretty well the whole time he was there, drinking out of coconuts, visiting the temples and bargaining in the market.

After three short days it was time for him to go. We said our goodbyes, obviously not knowing if we would see each other again (although I think we were both hoping we would.) He continued on to Japan where he spent a few months teaching skiing and where I paid him a visit in January. I told him I was thinking of heading to Melbourne, Australia to look for work come the spring, so after his contract was up in Japan that's where he went. 

I met up with him there in May and we were both set on working in Melbourne for a while. We hadn't planned on living together but an opportunity arose for us both to live in a flat with some other travelers, and although we'd only spent a total of about three weeks together face to face by that point - we went for it. We've now been to seven countries together, and plan on visiting many more.

As my best friend said to me before I left home to go traveling, "Just think of the people you'll meet!" How right she was. A year ago today I was lucky enough to meet someone who not only became my boyfriend but an awesome travel buddy as well.

Ben and I, around the world

Cambodia

Australia

Fiji

Canada

Round Two

A little over a year ago I left home to go traveling. I bought a round-trip ticket and planned on returning home after a year, thinking I would have seen and done enough by then. Exactly one year later I returned home as planned, except I didn't feel I had seen and done enough; on the contrary, my year on the road only made me want to see and do more. 

It is for this reason, although the time I've spent here at home has been absolutely wonderful, that I'm setting off for round two. This time around will undoubtedly be quite a bit different than the past year for several reasons (primarily because I'll be traveling with a boyfriend rather than on my own) but I can't wait to see how it will turn out.

Some people might/probably do think I'm crazy, or that I'm avoiding getting a proper job but I don't agree. There are literally countless reasons why I'm choosing to travel but the bottom line is that I think there is so much value in it, it makes me happy and it's what I want to do. 

That's not to say that leaving home (again) will be easy. Coming home and spending time with my incredible family and wonderful friends has reminded me just how much I miss them, so much so that I'm truly tempted to stay just to avoid saying goodbye. But I'm a firm believer in living life to the fullest and for me personally, that means traveling.

Shots of home over the past month, with the people I love most in the world

The old gal, packed and ready to go

Here goes nothing something!

But We're So Happy

A few nights ago I went to see Of Monsters and Men perform here in Melbourne. It was an awesome gig and all of their songs were fantastic but one in particular, 'From Finner', has a line in it that just says it all for me:

"We are far from home, but we're so happy"

I've been far from home for a while now. I've dealt with a fair number of sticky situations on this trip and there are plenty of people from home I miss on a regular basis... but I'm still so happy.

This trip has allowed me to see parts of the world I'd long dreamed of seeing, to learn about things and try exotic foods I probably wouldn't have otherwise, while meeting countless friendly faces along the way. Even when the going has gotten a bit rough, I've never truly wanted to be anywhere else but on the road.

Like I said, I'm so happy.