Capture the Colour: Canada Eh

I've loved seeing everyone's capture the colours, there are definitely some talented travel bloggers out there. So thank you for the tag Alex! This entry is purely for fun, so I decided to add in the colour orange because I'm awful with decisions. I figured what better travels of mine to represent than my own country?! Anyway, if you aren't sick of sunsets yet, you'll enjoy!

Yellow: One of my favourite places to wakeboard!... West Lake, Ontario (Sandbanks Provincial Park).

Blue: A beach in Wellington, Ontario I tend to frequent.

Green: One of the million fields in the countryside near my home (& my dog, Bourbon)!

Red: One of my favourite hobbies, fishing! In Stirling, Ontario (a.k.a. Hicktown).

White: A lily in my own backyard!

 

Orange: Pumpkin patches surround the area I live in during Autumn; this was taken at one of my favourite places to stop at on my way to work.

 

I would love to see Andrea, Katherine, Kelsey, Brooke & Claire do this. I think you'd all rock this! Until next time...

xxx

Views from Up Top: Eiffel Tower Edition



Looking through my photo collection I noticed I have quite a few photos from 'up top'... So I thought I should probably start a little series of sorts & with that I bring you the first post, eiffel tower edition! These will just be short refreshing posts. I also narrowed it down to 8 photos for everyone's sake. Enjoy!

xxx

 

Au Pairing, We Meet Again

As I mentioned in my very first blog post, I already have my next adventure planned & in the making... Now, if you read that post, you'll already know that I have already been an au pair before, in Paris, France to be exact. Through all of the ups & downs during that year in Europe, I can already think of a few people who think I am utterly crazy for deciding to au pair again. But what can I say really, I s'pose I'm probably already on the downward spiral to becoming mentally insane.

In all seriousness though, what better way to kickstart my journey into full-time nomad than by au pairing? I have a job lined up in a country I am already familiar with & a lovely family willing to take me in. Not to mention the visa is probably one of the easiest to possibly obtain with the Youth Mobility Scheme (more on that later) & the fact that I love kids helps, obviously!... It almost seems like a no brainer to me, after already having attempted the settle down at home & go to college route I decided that that will definitely not be the path I take in life.



I guess I should probably tell you where I am au pairing then? Well, Belfast, Northern Ireland to be exact! I was lucky enough to be able to spend 2 weeks of Spring whilst in Paris touring the whole of Ireland & I absolutely fell in love... I am probably most stoked on the fact that I never actually went to Northern Ireland (technically part of the U.K.), so I'm incredibly excited to find out what the city has to offer! I will be leaving in mid September, 6 weeks from Monday actually.

 Cliffs of Moher

So if you've been to Belfast (or any of Northern Ireland), I'd love to hear your input! Also any other fellow au pairs out there, would be brilliant to hear from you. In the upcoming weeks I'm thinking I'll probably do a couple photo essays, some how tos that I wish I had had my first time leaving & maybe a few story tellings? We shall see anyway. Until then... Bisous.

 xxx

How It All Began...

Heyaaa! So not exactly sure where to start, but I'll give it a go with how my passion for travelling came about.

You could say I've always been a traveller, spending Summers in B.C. & flying to Ontario alone at the age of 8 & upwards, but my love really grew at the first few opportunities I had as a teenager to leave the country with friends. Now before this I had been to Hawaii & travelled various places as I mentioned, but all had been with family.

When the opportunity for Cuba arose, I took it & spontaneously 2 weeks later I found myself on a flight being fed coconut concoctions at the age of 16. My adventures in Cuba that holiday I will leave for another post, but if I had to pin point how it all began, it would be there.

Varadero, Cuba

Well, there & my first school trip to New York City, also at the age of 16 & shockingly allowed much independence! But again, I shall save that for later.

So growing up in Alberta & moving to Ontario for middle school, I found myself the happiest whilst exploring. Instead of being upset about leaving my hometown, I was craving the adventure. Finishing high school here, I took the first opportunity I could & moved abroad to au pair just 3 months after graduating.

I found myself in Paris, France for a year, having weekends & extensive holidays soley for travelling. At the age of 18, you could say I was in heaven. I had the chance to visit much of Europe, my favourites being the U.K. (in particular Ireland), the Alps (I'm an avid snowboarder) & Germany to name a few.

The Swiss Alps

Of course I will be going into detail about my travels in the upcoming posts, but as a quick intro, I'm hoping this will do! I have since moved back to Canada & am planning my next expat journey for this Autumn (of 2013), only this time I plan on staying abroad, actually terribly excited at the chance of professional nomad status, much to my Mum's dismay. I have to say, as cheesy as this may be, the passion I have for travel, I have yet to experience in any other aspect of my life thusfar (yes, including relationships ladies!)... & at the age of 21, in my eyes I have nothing to lose & everything to gain.

So basically, I'd love for you all to come along with me during my good & bad times of this next adventure (believe me there will be plenty bad), my only hope being to inspire & maybe even help out a few of you in following your own travel dreams! Enough cheese though & on with the blogging...
xxx