When I was traveling in Canada last year on a very meager budget, I spent hours researching ways to travel on the cheap and during this research, I came across ride sharing. I thought it sounded interesting, kind of like a transport version of Air BnB. Essentially ridesharing is a form of carpooling, where people […] Read more…
Why You Should Experience Fall in North America
Coming from the North Island of New Zealand, I grew up without knowing the captivation of the magical season known as fall in North America. A season that transforms parts of the US and Canada into a multi-hued, sanguine wonderland. Sure, we still had autumn with the trees shedding their leaves, the temperature dropping in […] Read more…
30 Reasons Why I Love Sydney
When Trav and I decided to move to Sydney after our big trip through the Americas in 2013, we were asked by numerous people ‘Why Sydney?’ Melbourne and Perth appear to be the cities of choice for lots of Kiwis moving to Australia at the moment, and I can definitely see the appeal of the […] Read more…
Why You Should Visit Vancouver in the Fall
As you probably know, I am kinda in love with Vancouver so it was only fitting to end our Americas trip in one of our favourite cities in the world. Originally we were going to be spending a few nights in Victoria and were only going back to Vancouver to catch our flight, but as […] Read more…
Falling For Denman Island: Off the Beaten Path in Canada
Volunteering on Denman Island only became part of our plans at the last minute because of our bad experience at Osoyoos. It is funny how the unplanned parts of your travels, and in life in general, can sometimes turn out to be the most satisfying. After arriving by ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo on Vancouver […] Read more…
Slave Laboring in the Canadian Desert – A Help X Nightmare
After how well our first experience with Help X went, we weren’t as nervous about starting our second placement which was two weeks working on a vineyard/farm in Osoyoos. But if we knew what a Help X nightmare we were about to endure, we would have hightailed it back to Vancouver straight away. Osoyoos is […] Read more…
A Perfect First Help X Experience in Shuswap Lake, British Columbia
After a stressful time on Greyhound buses involving late arrivals, rude bus drivers and an almost missed connection, we finally arrived in Chase, the closest town to the HI Squilax Hostel and General Store where we would be volunteering for two weeks. Trav and I signed up to a couple of websites, Workaway and Help X, […] Read more…
A Bittersweet Farewell: Last Days in Vancouver
As our time in Vancouver was coming to an end, I started to feel anxious. Although I was excited about our road trip through the Rockies and the volunteering set up for after that, I couldn’t help but feel that the best part of the trip was over – this is the pull that this […] Read more…
A Return To Vancouver: My Spiritual Home
Anyone that knows me knows how much I love Vancouver. Trav and I lived here for a short time back in 2009/2010 and I fell head over heels in love with this city. For what I look for in a city, Vancouver is perfect (except for the rain from October to June). Within the Greater […] Read more…
Discovering the Understated Charms of Seattle
I first visited Seattle back in 2010 with my Dad, just after doing a beautiful Olympic Peninsula road trip. We only had a couple of days in Seattle so we did the general touristy stuff – ate seafood on the waterfront, visited the Pike Place Market, went to the Art Museum and wandered around the downtown. I […] Read more…