Vancouver - On a budget!

So moving to Vancouver can be pricey. We heard it before we arrived, we heard it when we got here, and we still hear it now. And I'm not going to lie, a lot of things you pick up, take one look at the price tag and put it straight back down again. Sometimes I get the urge to bellow 'Ian! Ian! Come and look at this!' across the shop because I can't quite believe my eyes.

So things that are expensive:

• Food - Certain foods, such as chicken, sandwiches, (really, don't bother with them) most kinds of processed food, even some veggies are more expensive than at home. I got taken for a ride at a salad bar recently. I won't be doing that again.
• Toiletries. Bring your own, as much as you can possibly pack. Its ridiculous.
• Banking - Here it is normal to pay for your bank account, and the basic ones seem kind of reasonable but some of the crazy ones with all the bells and whistles are extortionate. Free banking is definitely something we take for granted at home.
• Events and attractions - Lord some of these are really expensive, do your research before you turn up or you could end up forking out quite a lot to get in!
• Transport - I have heard getting a car out here is ridiculous, and buying single tickets or dailies can soon push costs up if you're traveling regularly, which we were.
• Tax - Its easy to forget that they add tax onto EVERYTHING. (OK not literally but onto a lot.) You pick something up and smugly have all the correct change clutched in your sweaty paws, and then realise when you get to the till that you forgot tax again and that's another 12% please.

Since we've been here we have devised quite a few little ways to save money, and it does soon all add up. We are in saving mode to be honest, so I thought I'd share a few little nifty ways we've devised/found to save ourselves some dosh!


To begin with I'll address the list above and how we have chosen to deal with them.

• Food - So certain foods are expensive, but if you are careful with what you buy in supermarkets it can make a difference, bulk buy products when you see good deals (things like loo roll and meats tend to do this) and generally shop smart, you can really bring your total down. Helpfully a lot of places give prices per 100g/1kg so you can compare brands and get the cheapest. We shop at Safeway and they have a Club card, certain items throughout the store have special club prices for those with the card, which honestly can knock off quite a bit of money. When deals are on for non-perishable stuff grab it and store it somewhere.
• Toiletries - Buying from supermarkets or cosmetics places seems nuts, get shampoo and soap from cheap shops like Dollorama or the Army and Navy shop, it's all the same stuff just with a smaller price tag.
• Banking - If you're coming over a newcomer to Canada, I would recommend Scotiabank. They don't actually advertise it much but they offer a program called StartRight which is designed specifically for newcomers to the country. You get unlimited transactions and they wipe all account fees for the first year. So far they've been pretty good to us, they did accidentally charge us for the first month, but we got in contact and they quickly reversed the charge. We also get cheaper films as they have a deal with Scotia Theatre, where you earn points and then get free cinema tickets!

  

  Make Music Vancouver - One of many free events!

• Events - Now this ones a favourite of mine. Vancouver so far has been awash with cheap/free events so far, we have managed to spend very little on days out and such. Keep an eye on events online and in local papers and advertising, there is so much free/cheap stuff to do! So far free events or attractions I've rocked up to include: Make Music Vancouver, the Chinese Night Market, the Dragon Boat Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, outdoor films, the Canada Day celebrations and Lynn Canyon. The Chinese Gardens are free for the last half an hour of the day, the Vancouver Art Gallery is entry by donation on Tuesdays, and things like Granville Island brewery tours offer 2 for 1 if you join their mailing list online. There are massive areas like Gastown, Yaletown, Coal Harbour and Stanley Park which are just gorgeous to walk around. Seriously, just go for a walk.
• Transport - Living in Shaugnessy in May we soon wracked up quite a bill when it came to transport. We discovered you can get a monthly ticket for $90, on which you get unlimited travel within a zone of your choice. Fortunately for us we found our apartment in Downtown Vancouver shortly afterwards so our need for such a ticket disappeared as now we seem to just walk everywhere. But if you're living outside of Downtown or are going to be using public transport fairly regularly, it's worth looking into. (Note: They can be bought from around the 20th of the previous month and they do run out, so you have to be quick.)
• Tax - Well, this one you can't really dodge, but do be mindful when you are buying things that just adding up the face value of what you're buying might not give you your total. They do add tax to a lot. Take note!

Getting Settled - Our First Few Days in Vancouver!

The last few days have been so crazily busy, it's been pretty non stop! But things are beginning to fall into place, and I'm still really excited about living here.

Granville Street, Shaughnessy - where we're staying till June!

We're getting used to the transport systems, the buses here run like clockwork, and the Skytrain is pretty cool, and it all connects up, is really convenient and runs from early in the morning till late at night. Perfect!

Our first day in the city was spent, as I mentioned in Arrival In Vancouver, sleeping away the jet lag and then finding our AirBnB accommodation on Granville Street, in the Shaughnessy district, where we're staying in a shared apartment with 2 other couples, and 2 single guys. It's weirdly quiet, in that we rarely see much of the others, it almost feels like we have the place to ourselves.

Friday was Day 2, and we made it a mission to get some of the important bits sorted out as soon as possible. So we headed out early to our nearest Service Canada and got our SIN's (Social Insurance Numbers) which are required for us to work. Then we wandered to Scotiabank and opened our bank accounts. We inquired about the StartRight program which is specifically for newcomers to the country, and is free for the first year! (You have to pay for banking out here!) Then we headed back to Oakridge, the mall close to where we're staying and we did our food shop for the week, which was interesting!

Our apartment!

We've been looking at places to rent from June 1st, as most places rental start from the beginning of the month, so we booked up 16 nights with AirBnB and have till then to find somewhere. So Day 3 began with a trip to Nanaimo, to view a room in another big shared house. It was a bit of a trek from where we are and took the best part of an hour, and we got there to knock at the door and no-one answered, though neither of us were too bothered as we weren't keen on that area. It was nice, but very suburban and quiet, not quite what we'd really been looking for. After that we decided to go and get our phones sorted. We chose Fido as our provider as we'd heard pretty good things about them, We wanted cheap and cheerful, and think we got a pretty good deal. For $25 a month we get 200 mins and unlimited text, and in a few months we can merge our accounts and be able to call each other for free. We spent that evening perusing the internet again for accommodation and found one we love! Despite the fact the next day was my birthday, we set up a viewing as we were so keen!

Yesterday was my 24th Birthday! We spent the morning chilling out a little, I opened my presents and cards and then we got up and wandered over to Downtown to check out a room. We had a look, then went for a coffee to think and discuss, and I had a birthday Peanut Butter Protein shake for breakie. Delicious! We chatted about the room and both came to the conclusion that we loved it, and went back and paid our deposit! We move in June 1st! The room is a little on the small side, but the location is amazing, it's on the 15th floor and our night time views are going to be stunning, and it seems to tick every requirement we set for ourselves . The building also has a pool, and a small gym, so I'll make full use of those :D

Gastown's Steamclock!

Then we were finally in tourist mode! We took the Skytrain down to the Waterfront, and did our first proper sightseeing! We walked down to Gastown and had a walk round, and then went north, taking in the Olympic Cauldron and Digital Orca sculpture, then further north to Harbour Green Park.
We discovered a really good nutritional shop with protein powders on Robson Street, once we have jobs we're definitely going to look into getting some! From there we went to Zefferreli's Spaghetti Joint, where we had a table booked, and had an amazing Italian meal together, our first meal out in Vancouver! IT was delicious and not as pricey as we'd anticipated!

Overall it's been a hectic few days, but the most rewarding and fulfilling week I have had for a long time. It feels so good to be doing something different and exciting!

Anyway, below are a few pictures we took during our sightseeing wander!

Credit to my boyfriend Ian for the photography!

Arrival in Vancouver!

Eeeeek, we finally made it here!

After a hectically long journey (and not forgetting the months of waiting around for visas and planning) we have touched down in Vancouver!

It began yesterday at London Heathrow, I got up at 5am and bundled my Dad and 2 brothers into the car and set off! We decided to leave early, my older brother stayed with us the night before so that we could leave in the early hours and avoid the rush hour traffic then have breakfast together at the airport, we made good time and had a great last meal together!

Our 12 hour flight to LAX went without a hitch, although, I did have a small wobbly when I suddenly realised that we landed at Terminal 2 and our connection went from Terminal 6, and had no idea how long it would take to get between the two. But our first flight was right on time (hats off to Virgin Atlantic, your a pretty awesome airline actually, so much free food it's ridiculous!) and we dashed through US Customs, grabbed our bags then re-dropped them off and found that the Terminal is actually only a small bus ride away. Instant relaxation! We checked in easily and had a wait on our hands, steadily getting more and more tired as time passed.

Eventually we hopped on our LA - Vancouver flight, sat down and I fell asleep before we'd moved anywhere. Take off woke me up briefly, but I basically don't remember much about that one! We landed at 11:30pm so the airport was quiet, customs was easy, though it took us a little while to find the right place to go, but immigration was easy and quick, the guy disappeared with our passports and LOI's and came back a few minutes later with our freshly printed visas!

Day 1!

A quick taxi ride to Travelodge and we crashed, 28 hours on the go really takes it out of you! This morning, after the most amazing night's sleep, we woke up to our first real sighting of Vancouver. (Last night was pretty but honestly I was too tired to notice anything.

So this morning we took a shuttle back to the airport, then got on the Skytrain to Oakridge Station, the closest one to our accommodation. With time to kill we wandered a little, grabbed something to munch on, then headed to Granville Street, and our first attempt at their bus system! We eventually made it, albeit with a slight mishap in that we didn't get off soon enough, and had to walk back a few blocks. But here we are! We met our AirBnB host for the next few weeks, chilled out a little, researched where we need to go tomorrow, and met a lovely couple from the Philippines who we are sharing an apartment with. And everyone here is so darn friendly, it's actually incredible!

Vancouver, I love you already! 

The Last Night

Just checking in!

It's the night before we leave! Exciting times. Had a lovely weekend saying goodbye to family and friends, partied on Saturday, family tea and cake on Sunday, catching up with an old friend and met her newborn yesterday, packed and spent today trying to round up all the loose ends I'd forgotten.

Now it's curry night with the immediate family and off in the morning! Eeek, see you all on the other side guys!

The Final Countdown!

So.

Hows it all going you ask?

Busy. So very, very busy!

I'm not going to lie, attempting to leave the country with 3 weeks notice is pretty damn fun, but my God there's so much to do. It's a good thing I'm a list person because quite frankly without my lists scattered everywhere I would lose my head.

Since last we met, we've booked accommodation for the first couple of weeks, we picked a place in the  Shaughnessy neighbourhood, about a 15-20 minute bus ride from downtown, as the host sounded very helpful, and she let us use her address to set ourselves up, so day one will probably be lots of form filling, for banks, SIN's, phones and ID cards!

Our AirBnB accommodation takes us up till June 1st, so we now have to find somewhere to properly live from then onwards. I'm currently checking various sites on a daily basis and beginning to make enquiries into places we like the look of, now we have a general idea of where we'd like to go. We're hoping to set up viewings between now and when we leave so we can find somewhere quite quickly, and then can relax the second week, so fingers crossed for that!

My beautiful family :D

The last week or so has been more about goodbyes than anything, we spent a few evenings in the pub with friends last week, then I had a family day over the weekend and popped down to see the
boyfriends family where we made the most of the beautiful weather which has erupted recently. Then I've got work this week (3 days left, hurrah!) I'm currently organising a night out for this weekend, which should be a good'un, another family day, a trip to see an old friend and her newborn and then I have left myself just one day to do my packing!

I'm also starting to think about jobs and getting my resume sorted and Canada ready, got to get my Canadian Dollars, print all my documents, sort out my proof of funds statement to show at immigration, sort out my phone contract and a few other bits and pieces!

So it's busy little bee mode at the moment, but I am loving it.

Canadian Preperations!

So, it's been nearly a week since everything has kicked off and I must say I'm getting really excited already.
It's now less than three weeks before we go away!

Visas are all done, we now just need to sort out our ESTA thingies to enter the US, but that shouldn't be too hard. (Our flights are not direct to Canada, we fly from Heathrow to LAX, with a 6 hour layover and then LAX to Vancouver.) Our return flights are booked for next February, as apparently most airlines can only be booked 10-11 months ahead, so in a few months we will use our flexi ticket option, and push our flights back to May 2014 so we get the full year. I'm wondering if when we return we can split the flights to have a few days layover in LA rather than a few hours just for the hell of it! It would be rather cool to have a few days somewhere new at potentially no extra cost.

We land in Vancouver in the middle of the night, so we're going to book a cheap and cheerful hotel close to the airport, so we'll just crash and try and get some rest. (I'm not good at sleeping while traveling, I have never been able to, cars, trains, buses, boats, planes, you name it I can't sleep on it, so I should imagine I'm going to be awake for a good 30 hours.) So yeah, land, immigration, crash, will probably be our first day in Vancouver.

Next day we'll move to our proper accommodation. We're planning to use AirBnB, a company which describes it self as 'a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world.' At the moment, we haven't booked anything through them yet, they have so many listings for Vancouver it's mad, so I've set a general budget and sifted through the options, picked out a handful of places I liked and messaged them with our requirements. One big thing is that we would like to open our bank accounts and get our SIN's (sort of like our national insurance numbers) as soon as we arrive, but we would require addresses to do so. So far, quite a few of the property owners have said that yes we can use their address, so now Ian and I just need to go through them and pick one!

During those two weeks it's then on with the house hunt. We're booking out AirBnB accommodation up till the end of May, as most places begin leases at the beginning of the month, so hopefully by then we'll have found somewhere and can hop straight from one to the other. We're going to try and arrange viewings for our first week, it would be lovely to find somewhere quickly so we can relax a bit more during the second week and step up the job stuff.

After that, all I think is left to do is the little things... send a P85 form to HMRC to let them know we're leaving the country, send a form to Student Loans, get my family set up on Skype, rewrite my CV in a Canadian resume style and that's it I guess. I suppose I better start thinking about packing... I'll have to start a new list :D (I like lists, I'm a crazy list person!)

Then finally - the leaving do's! I've set up one for family and one for friends, and I'm really excited for them, I never plan events! Also, it's my birthday a few days after we arrive, so I've got two reasons to party on down!

Oh hai there visa!

So I may have just experienced the most life changing weekend of my life so far.
I'm moving to Canada in just over 3 weeks!

Here's how the last week panned out:

Recently people who had already booked flights had started to fly to Canada without their visas, intending to enter as visitors and then return to the border to activate the work permit once it was issued. However many were being told on arrival to immigration that their visa was on the system, and it was issued to them on the spot and off they went into Canada with a shiny new work permit. So it transpires peoples visas have been issued and just not sent to them!

Last Sunday (April 14th) we hit the CIC's self imposed 6 week deadline, at which point we said we'd go nuts in trying to contact them and find out just what the hell was going on. Luckily we had some time off work (for our 3 year anniversary!) so we spent a day doing research. A young woman mentioned on an online group that we're part of that they were beginning to respond to emails, so you can request information on your visa and they do get back to you. So we sent emails out to both the Canadian and London offices, and spent a few hours trying to call the CIC in Canada (lord knows how much that cost :S) but we made little progress.

So we sat back and waited. I enjoyed a few days to myself. I got my first tattoo (I'm so far loving it, and considering getting a small one for each country we visit, maybe this time next year I'll get a maple leaf!)

Then Friday morning I woke up and checked our emails:

Your application has been approved. Due to technical issues, your original letter of introduction was not sent out.

A new LOI was sent out today and should be available in your MyCIC account.

And there they were! It turns out we were both issued our LOI's (above listed as POE Introduction Letter) on 17th March. So the last month it's been approved, but they just hadn't informed us.

So Friday was spent dancing round the house in excitement (on my part anyway!) we contacted STA travel and booked an appointment with them, and spent the evening checking out flight prices. The following day we went to the STA office in Cambridge, and within an hour booked our flights for the 15th May. (Return flights with flexi tickets, which means we can change the return dates 3 times if we so wish!) Which gives us a little over 3 weeks before we go! I can't believe its happening so quickly.

Yesterday we booked up our insurance for the year. Today I handed in my resignation, and am sorting out my bank accounts. Things to do this week includes booking up accommodation for the first few weeks, writing a Canadian resume and planning leaving do's (one for family and one for friends.) After that it's researching areas we want to live in, jobs and notifying Student Loans and HMRC we're leaving the country. Then we should be good to go! Pretty simple really!

Oh Visa, where are you? *Minor rant*

Day 37 after submission, and still no visas in sight.

It's been a long 5 weeks already, and with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel, it's hard not to start worrying. It's not so much just the waiting, it's the fact that you are waiting with no information or updates, or a way of contacting them. This is only made worse by hearing that people who submitted their applications a considerable amount of time after we did have already been given their visas. We are by no means the worst suffering applicants, there are also a heck of a lot of people who submitted a lot earlier than we did and are still waiting too. There is no method to the madness, it seems your visa will turn up at random, and you have no correspondence from the CIC whatsoever, not even a 'We're looking into your application and will get back to you in the next 7 days' type of message which would at least ease a few fears for people. Nothing. Just silence and a badly managed system which leaves everyone second guessing.
 
That being said I am if anything an optimist, and I know that one way or another we'll get a response and take things from there. It's just the unknown is getting rather scary, and I'm beginning to get really impatient!

In 5 days we'll hit our 6 week mark, (the CIC placed a 6 week deadline on themselves, which I will make a point of highlighting) at which point we have decided to start pestering the CIC for information. As we're applying from the UK there is no number we can call, our only option is to email, and this apparently takes around 20 days just to get a response. Fingers crossed we hear back soon, I really don't want to have to go down this route.

We have yet to book any flights, we mistakenly thought we would get our visas before now, (considering the applications were expected to open back in December) and so we chose to wait till we had our visas in hand before we booked. I now find myself checking flight prices daily and praying they don't skyrocket before we get the chance to book them.

If Canada does go tits up, which is a possibility as we cant wait around forever, our back up plan is now New Zealand. Having looked into their process, it takes 5 days to get a decision (five days CIC, FIVE!) and they have no quota to worry about, and we already have everything they ask for. So if Canada do for any reason let us down, we're still going to be off on our travels this summer. I just really hope Canada hurry up!

The Canada 'Bucket List'

So I haven't posted anything Canada related in awhile. Mostly because all this waiting around for the damn CIC to sort out themselves out (where's my visa?) means that not much has changed.

Therefore, instead of worrying about visas, money, insurance, flight prices going up and quitting work and finding a new job and a place to live, today I'm going to focus on the fun bits.

So I give you, in no particular order, the stuff I want to do while I'm away! (No doubt this list will grow and change considerably as time goes by!)

• Make a gazillion new friends and acquaintances.
• See some ice hockey.
• See something at/take part in an event at Vancouver's Film Festival.
• Go to the beach!! I can't remember the last time I went to a beach, and I will quite frankly behave like a 5 year old.
• Join a Canadian gym - at home I've been weight training with Kettlebells for a few years now. Obviously I'm not going to take my bells over with me (it would take up my entire weight allocation for a start) so a gym is a must. I've never set foot in any gym ever, so this in itself will be an experience. My new goal - pullups!
• Go mountain biking, cycle in Stanley Park and on the sea wall.
• Go hiking.
• Visit Capilan Suspension Bridge Park.
• Grouse Mountain - I'm considering paragliding!
• Visit Victoria/Vancouver Island
• Bard on the Beach - Yes you read it correctly, Vancouver has its own Shakespeare festival *squeee* I simply must attend, hurry up visa, I want to book early bird tickets!
• Toronto - I have family on the East Coast USA, so hopefully will be able to head to the east side and see them again and show Ian Niagara Falls (I went back in 2004 with my family.)

  

  Niagra Falls - Boxing Day 2004

• Seattle - I've watched way too much Grey's Anatomy to not make a trip here at least once. (Could also be combined with the next point)
• Visit Pacific Raceway - Kent, WA. As a massive drag racing fan, (and seeing as I'm missing the European Main Event and Finals AND our families 10 year drag racing anniversary :( *epic sad face*) it would be an amazing experience to see some NHRA racing, if I can afford it and figure out how to get to the track!
• Snowboarding. I've got to try my hand at winter sports, its in the mountains for crying out loud, I can't not! I'm pretty sure I'll end up looking like Bambi, but it's something I've got to attempt.
• Banff - just look at it!
•  Visit Harrison Hot Springs! Potentially try my hand at kayaking, canoeing, parasailing or windsurfing!

As you can tell I've got the adventure bug! No doubt this list will get huge as Canada gets closer. The more research I do, the more I find! I'll try and keep on top of the list and keep you up to date with additions. Also, if anyone has any recommendations of other things to include, get in touch!

The Canadian Visa, the story so far!

I've heard a lot about getting into Canada, I spent a good portion of Autumn 2012 reading and researching the hell out of everything IEC related so that when the time came and this years quota opened I'd have an easy, no stress process, I was going to sit back, relax and wait for a visa to drop into my inbox. No such luck!

This year they decided to shake up the system, and long story short, it's been a stressful and confusing time
all round, and for many has placed them in an uncertain position. For the first time, the IEC have decided to do away with paper based applications and do everything online. So far, so simple. I spent the whole of  December checking the website daily...and then well into January. Then joy of joys, on the 17th they announced that the applications would most definitely, absolutely 100% open before February. Great!

January 29th rolls around and the Irish applications opened. I think the IEC seriously underestimated how many people would be waiting to apply (considering they were already a month late opening you'd think they'd realise people would be clamoring to get them!) All 6000+ visas went in an unprecedented 3 days. The February deadline came and went for the UK visas with no information, other than the fact that our visas would now be released in 3 batches to spread the work, and then for a frustrating 2 weeks we had nothing..

14th February - Valentines Day (thanks for that one IEC) the first 1000 visas are released at 5pm. I quite literally ran home. Created our accounts, uploaded everything they needed and dashed through the questions, then pressed send. Then I did my boyfriend Ian's. They were both completed and sent by 6:30, (which was good timing, as all of them had gone by 8) sat back and waited for the confirmation emails. Mine came through 10 minutes later, and it was perfect, happy days! An hour and a half later Ian's came through. I checked the message.

Afghanistan.
I mistakenly listed my boyfriends country of residence as Afghanistan.
Oh hell.

I cried, then calmed down and messaged the IEC, then cried again. Then I had to tell Ian I'd stuffed up his application (lots more tears on my part, not the best valentine's night I must say) but he was very gallant about it. We decided to continue with our applications as normal, and to keep messaging the IEC to rectify it. So we paid the high commission (they made that rather complicated as well!) had our payment verified, and then got our conditional letters of acceptance. Ian's still had Afghanistan on it. *sigh*  We had no idea if we should continue with Stage 2, or if the CIC would not accept the letter with an incorrect address, or if we should start again in the next round...so we messaged the IEC again, and again we waited. After 2 weeks of impatience, worrying and continuous checking of his Kompass account, he got a replacement conditional letter, with the United Kingdom as his country. Happy tears!

From then on it's been smoother. We completed Stage 2 and sent that off at the beginning of March. (We sat and did that together, and double checked everything!) And now, we wait... we're on day 12. Fingers crossed for everyone that they start trickling through.

I must say, despite the stress of rushing and making such an stupid mistake, I'm very glad we got in on Round 1. The dates for Rounds 2 + 3 were announced ahead of them opening, which meant everyone knew when to be online, the system crashed a heck of a lot as people tried to get on, making it difficult to know what was happening. Round 3's quota (with +2000 places) was filled in 20 minutes, and a lot of people from Round 3 are still unsure as to whether they have got onto the program, or even the waiting list. I really do feel for them, those few uncertain weeks where I was unsure if I'd ruined all our plans was hell. Good luck to everyone still waiting.

2013, the year of making stuff happen.

 The boyfriend and I have always agreed that we'd go traveling, but following uni we were pretty broke and had minimal work experience, so it was into the 9-5 grind for us. I graduated from uni nearly three years ago, and have spent the last 2 and a half years working in a quiet office in a quiet town, and doing not much else.

So now we have some experience and funds, it's definitely time for our travel plans to start coming together! We both have the travel bug, and with international Work Holiday programs only lasting till your 30-35 years old (depending on the country) the time to go is definitely now. There are so many areas of the world I'd love to see, I need to get out there and start enjoying it all!

So, the plan...
Our first stop is going to be Canada. We're aiming for Vancouver at the beginning of May (visa dependent, more on that beauty later!) which sounds oddly not far away. After all the talking, reading and researching, the sudden realisation that in 8-9 weeks you hope to actually be there is quite intimidating! The visa will be valid for a year from the day we enter the country, but we have no idea if we'll end up staying the full term. I'm hoping if we stay till at least December we'll have enough money to make a visit home for Christmas! We're not going to plan too much ahead, we're going to fly out there with a few weeks accommodation booked up, then look for somewhere more permanent to rent and start the job hunt, so it's pretty uncertain where we will end up. Though I'm sure I'll look into areas before we go, to check out which districts might appeal to us the most. When it comes to traveling, I'm notorious for planning.

I'd love to experience as much as possible out there, I made a news years resolution of sorts to make 2013 an exciting year. I want to look back and see all the things that excited, challenged and taught me something new. So far, I've abseiled down the side of Battersea Power Station (which produced the blog name, and yes it's also got a World of Warcraft reference.) I'm getting a tattoo soon, and then its the Canada adventure! Things I'd like to do once we're out there includes trying my hand at snowboarding, joining a gym, seeing the Rocky Mountains, visiting Seattle (there's some potential to see some NHRA drag racing there in August!) and taking in as much of Canadian life as possible. I should probably warn you I might end up talking about food a lot!

Long term plans...you can get 2 IEC (International Experience Canada) visas, perhaps if we love it we'll attempt to get a second next year. Right now the plans are loose. After Canada, I'd love to see New Zealand, and then perhaps Australia. I'd love to see parts of Asia as well, but as they don't have work programs, that might have to be more short term. We've also talked about countries in Europe, on a holiday to Stockholm last year we fell in love with Sweden, so who knows where this first step will lead!