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!
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Bruges. It's in Belgium.
In an attempt to finish my little European trip write ups before we go away, I'm going to write about our second to last trip. I can't believe this was a year ago!
Having loved our shenanigans to Paris, within a few weeks we booked a few days off and had a four day weekend for another little adventure. This time our destination was Bruges. (Our choice in destination was definitely influenced by watching the film!)
After loving the Eurostar, we were quick to book this up to use them again, and I was even happier to find upon booking that on the way there we'd been upgraded to 1st class seats for the outbound journey. This got even more exciting when we were on the train and someone came round with a trolley, and we realised we got free breakfast.
The Eurostar took us as far as Brussels, where we then had to get off and hop onto a normal train (the price for this was included in our tickets, so no messing around with buying any others!) I personally really enjoyed the change of scenery, I loved that they have double decker trains, for me it was a novelty having never seen it before. And their trains run very efficiently, they were ALL on time.
A few hours later and we hit Bruges! The train station is on the outskirts of the city, but Bruges being quite a small place it was only about 15 minutes to our hotel and the weather was beautiful, so we walked. Walking through Bruges for the first time is gorgeous. You catch sight of all the little cobbled alleys and want to run down them all and explore.
We were booked in at Martin's Brugge, a lovely hotel smack in the middle of Bruges, right behind the Belfry. You couldn't ask for a better location, and I would highly recommend them. They were very polite and helpful when we asked for a change of room, I can't remember why we asked to be moved though..
So into Bruges itself, we quickly set out to explore! One of the big things for us was that we loved the film In Bruges (Ian particularly loves his films) so we tracked down the tourist information and got a map of the film locations, and made a plan to visit our favourites. The thing about film is how deceptive it is. They make things look so different to reality, so we were shocked to see the differences. That being said the film definitely choose the best settings.
The next day we tried to visit the Belfry, but unfortunately it was closed to the public for the winter, so we were unable to go up. We had a wander around though and the square is pretty, lots of dodging the horse and carts, and surprisingly busy for a cold February. We visited a few chocolate shops, you have to in Bruges! My favourite was The Chocolate Line with some delicious flavours, alongside some very weird ones. Cola, tea, vodka and passion-fruit were among some of my favourites. Havana cigar flavour (yes really) curry, crisp fried onion, wasabi and sun-dried tomato and black olive flavoured chocolate sounds all a bit too odd for me. I do wish I'd tried the bacon flavoured one though!
We tracked down many of the film locations from In Bruges, the hotel they stayed at, the bench scene in front of the statue of Jan Van Eyck (See right) the park scene at Koningin Astridpark, the bridge at Meestraat (see photo above) We also went a bit mad, and tracked down the restaurant Cafedraal, where Ray and Cloe have a date in the film, and had dinner there one evening. We managed to nab a table in almost exactly the same place where they did, you wouldn't believe how much smaller the place is. It's teeny! During the course of the evening a gentleman on the next table attempted to teach me a little Flemish. He taught me one word, and I promptly forgot how to pronounce it. Sorry good sir, but thank you for the kindness.
We also tracked down some of the other lesser known locations mentioned, but which weren't as recognisable. Such as the Basilica of the Holy Blood where they keep a vial containing a piece of cloth with the blood of Jesus Christ. every Friday they bring it out for veneration, and apparently they get 50,000 pilgrims a year!
The food in Bruges was lovely. The stand out restaurant for me was Sacre Coeur which was a chilled out restaurant that very kindly gave us a table quite late one evening. Another night I indulged in mussels in garlic sauce, which was served in what looked like a cauldron, I've never seen such a huge portion! Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to sample any Belgian beer while in Bruges on this trip. We would both love to go again (we nearly went this winter but decided to save more for Canada.)
My absolute favourite part of Bruges was Minnewater. It's a beautiful lake to the south of the town (also named the Lake of Love) surrounded by swans and we befriended a ginger cat too. We wandered here for quite some time, it was less busy and quite serene.
In the background is a building called the chateau de la Faille, which had previously been a hostel but was closed and empty when we visited. Such a shame as it's the most gorgeous building. If I had the money I'd buy it!
Overall Bruges is a beautiful town, it's small and quaint, with lots of museums (we did visit one gallery while there) and chocolate shops. It's a great little place for a little get away, I would say for an extended weekend it's perfect as there's just enough to see and do, but no more than 4-5 days.
Having loved our shenanigans to Paris, within a few weeks we booked a few days off and had a four day weekend for another little adventure. This time our destination was Bruges. (Our choice in destination was definitely influenced by watching the film!)
After loving the Eurostar, we were quick to book this up to use them again, and I was even happier to find upon booking that on the way there we'd been upgraded to 1st class seats for the outbound journey. This got even more exciting when we were on the train and someone came round with a trolley, and we realised we got free breakfast.
 |
| This is how excited we were about breakie! |
A few hours later and we hit Bruges! The train station is on the outskirts of the city, but Bruges being quite a small place it was only about 15 minutes to our hotel and the weather was beautiful, so we walked. Walking through Bruges for the first time is gorgeous. You catch sight of all the little cobbled alleys and want to run down them all and explore.
We were booked in at Martin's Brugge, a lovely hotel smack in the middle of Bruges, right behind the Belfry. You couldn't ask for a better location, and I would highly recommend them. They were very polite and helpful when we asked for a change of room, I can't remember why we asked to be moved though..So into Bruges itself, we quickly set out to explore! One of the big things for us was that we loved the film In Bruges (Ian particularly loves his films) so we tracked down the tourist information and got a map of the film locations, and made a plan to visit our favourites. The thing about film is how deceptive it is. They make things look so different to reality, so we were shocked to see the differences. That being said the film definitely choose the best settings.
The next day we tried to visit the Belfry, but unfortunately it was closed to the public for the winter, so we were unable to go up. We had a wander around though and the square is pretty, lots of dodging the horse and carts, and surprisingly busy for a cold February. We visited a few chocolate shops, you have to in Bruges! My favourite was The Chocolate Line with some delicious flavours, alongside some very weird ones. Cola, tea, vodka and passion-fruit were among some of my favourites. Havana cigar flavour (yes really) curry, crisp fried onion, wasabi and sun-dried tomato and black olive flavoured chocolate sounds all a bit too odd for me. I do wish I'd tried the bacon flavoured one though!
We tracked down many of the film locations from In Bruges, the hotel they stayed at, the bench scene in front of the statue of Jan Van Eyck (See right) the park scene at Koningin Astridpark, the bridge at Meestraat (see photo above) We also went a bit mad, and tracked down the restaurant Cafedraal, where Ray and Cloe have a date in the film, and had dinner there one evening. We managed to nab a table in almost exactly the same place where they did, you wouldn't believe how much smaller the place is. It's teeny! During the course of the evening a gentleman on the next table attempted to teach me a little Flemish. He taught me one word, and I promptly forgot how to pronounce it. Sorry good sir, but thank you for the kindness.
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| The Basilica of the Holy Blood |
The food in Bruges was lovely. The stand out restaurant for me was Sacre Coeur which was a chilled out restaurant that very kindly gave us a table quite late one evening. Another night I indulged in mussels in garlic sauce, which was served in what looked like a cauldron, I've never seen such a huge portion! Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to sample any Belgian beer while in Bruges on this trip. We would both love to go again (we nearly went this winter but decided to save more for Canada.)
My absolute favourite part of Bruges was Minnewater. It's a beautiful lake to the south of the town (also named the Lake of Love) surrounded by swans and we befriended a ginger cat too. We wandered here for quite some time, it was less busy and quite serene.
In the background is a building called the chateau de la Faille, which had previously been a hostel but was closed and empty when we visited. Such a shame as it's the most gorgeous building. If I had the money I'd buy it!
Overall Bruges is a beautiful town, it's small and quaint, with lots of museums (we did visit one gallery while there) and chocolate shops. It's a great little place for a little get away, I would say for an extended weekend it's perfect as there's just enough to see and do, but no more than 4-5 days.
Monday, 22 April 2013
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:
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!
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!
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
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!
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!
Friday, 5 April 2013
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!)
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!
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Paris Minibreak!
With no Canadian visa in sight, I'm going to continue writing about our recent trips around Europe!
In December 2011 we got the urge to get away again. We didn't want to spend much or go for too long, but we needed to get away, so on the spur of the moment we booked a weekend in Paris, using the Eurostar. I must say I was impressed, the system was pretty efficient and cheaper than I'd imagined, and meant that we didn't even need to take time of work.
The number of trains and the times they left London were really convenient for us, we met in London and got the Eurostar straight after work on a Friday evening (slight panic that my delayed train to Kings Cross was going to ruin all our plans!) Getting the tickets was easy, as was going through security, it was quick and painless, and in no time at all we were ushered from the waiting area to the train. The journey was simplicity itself, I couldn't believe how quickly it went, it was much like taking an ordinary trian. You couldn't see much outside due to the darkness, so we just relaxed and rested, before our wander across the city!
We arrived around 11pm, and clutching my map printout (with my very efficient notations, for which I am now notorious) we emerged into Paris. Arriving so late and at the end of a long work week meant that all we did was find our hotel and crash. On a side note, our hotel was a Holiday Inn and I wasn't expecting it to be amazing, but the room we were given was actually lovely, we had a huge bathtub and a dainty balcony overlooking the front of the Gare de L'est. (Which might not sound brilliant, but it was actually quite a pretty view!)
The next day it was on with the sightseeing! First, we had to do what every tourist should do on a first trip to Paris. The Eiffel Tower!
It was a wet day, but we decided to brave the weather and went anyway. Being the money savvy couple that we are, we opted to walk (what!?!?) up the tower instead of paying extra to take the lifts, and I'm not going to lie, it was bloody hard work. But it was most definitely worth it, there's a sense of accomplishment when you do finally get to the top and get your breath back. After much climbing, walking round and admiring we deserved a break in the cafe! I loved the tower, it's definitely one of those attractions I could do again and still enjoy it as much as the first time.
In the afternoon we took the Metro to Montmartre, which we had been informed was a must, and had a jolly old time wandering its beautiful streets, and taking in the sights and sounds, and millions of photos. We whiled away the rest of the day here ducking between streets and into cafes, and as it was getting close Christmas there was a small Christmas market to have a peek at too. It was picturesque!
That night we had dinner at a restaurant close to our hotel. For some reason travel makes me adventurous when it comes to food, so here I attempted a ridiculously large plate of Steak Tartare (yes, I'm one of those weird people who eats raw beef, and yes I did enjoy it!) I've cooked this dish before in my old job, and had always wanted to try this, the only complaint I had was that the portion was so big! I also had my first taste of French Onion Soup and loved it, I'm going to have to try making this at home.
Sunday was spent trying to cram in as much sightseeing as possible. We got the Metro, and ticked off the Notre Dame, the Fontaine Saint-Michel (and an awesome man blowing massive bubbles!) lots of walking by the river and finally the Louvre, which we had intended to visit properly and see some art work. We hadn't anticipated the monstrous queue to get in though, (it turns out we'd come on one of the two days a month that the Louvre is free to get into) so we unfortunately had to skip it. One day I will have to go, visiting the Louvre is one of those things I would love to do, it's on the To Do List, so will make sure I get up early that day! We spent more time wandering, then hopped back up to Montmartre, our unquestionably favourite part of the city for a warm drink before we had to dash back to the Eurostar at the Gare Du Nord and head back to the UK.
The journey back was as smooth and ideal as the outward one. I really love the Eurostar's ease, and the fact that it feels much more laid back than travel by air. It's all so civil, calm and stress free! So much so that a mere 2 months later we were at it again, this time on the way to Bruges! (Blog Post imminent!) And that was that, our whistle stop tour of Paris! While we packed out the weekend, I will have to revisit as there is just so much to see and do, we barely scratched the surface. Next time I'll make it a longer trip, maybe 4-5 days, so we can take it at a slower pace and make sure we get to do more.
In December 2011 we got the urge to get away again. We didn't want to spend much or go for too long, but we needed to get away, so on the spur of the moment we booked a weekend in Paris, using the Eurostar. I must say I was impressed, the system was pretty efficient and cheaper than I'd imagined, and meant that we didn't even need to take time of work.
The number of trains and the times they left London were really convenient for us, we met in London and got the Eurostar straight after work on a Friday evening (slight panic that my delayed train to Kings Cross was going to ruin all our plans!) Getting the tickets was easy, as was going through security, it was quick and painless, and in no time at all we were ushered from the waiting area to the train. The journey was simplicity itself, I couldn't believe how quickly it went, it was much like taking an ordinary trian. You couldn't see much outside due to the darkness, so we just relaxed and rested, before our wander across the city!We arrived around 11pm, and clutching my map printout (with my very efficient notations, for which I am now notorious) we emerged into Paris. Arriving so late and at the end of a long work week meant that all we did was find our hotel and crash. On a side note, our hotel was a Holiday Inn and I wasn't expecting it to be amazing, but the room we were given was actually lovely, we had a huge bathtub and a dainty balcony overlooking the front of the Gare de L'est. (Which might not sound brilliant, but it was actually quite a pretty view!)
The next day it was on with the sightseeing! First, we had to do what every tourist should do on a first trip to Paris. The Eiffel Tower!
It was a wet day, but we decided to brave the weather and went anyway. Being the money savvy couple that we are, we opted to walk (what!?!?) up the tower instead of paying extra to take the lifts, and I'm not going to lie, it was bloody hard work. But it was most definitely worth it, there's a sense of accomplishment when you do finally get to the top and get your breath back. After much climbing, walking round and admiring we deserved a break in the cafe! I loved the tower, it's definitely one of those attractions I could do again and still enjoy it as much as the first time.
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| Montmartre |
That night we had dinner at a restaurant close to our hotel. For some reason travel makes me adventurous when it comes to food, so here I attempted a ridiculously large plate of Steak Tartare (yes, I'm one of those weird people who eats raw beef, and yes I did enjoy it!) I've cooked this dish before in my old job, and had always wanted to try this, the only complaint I had was that the portion was so big! I also had my first taste of French Onion Soup and loved it, I'm going to have to try making this at home.
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| The lovely Louvre |
The journey back was as smooth and ideal as the outward one. I really love the Eurostar's ease, and the fact that it feels much more laid back than travel by air. It's all so civil, calm and stress free! So much so that a mere 2 months later we were at it again, this time on the way to Bruges! (Blog Post imminent!) And that was that, our whistle stop tour of Paris! While we packed out the weekend, I will have to revisit as there is just so much to see and do, we barely scratched the surface. Next time I'll make it a longer trip, maybe 4-5 days, so we can take it at a slower pace and make sure we get to do more.
Thursday, 21 March 2013
A Little Piece of Italy - Tuscan Adventure!
Before we disappear into the Canadian ether, I'd like to include a few posts about trips we've made in the last few years around Europe. Since 2011 we've had some great journeys and experienced some amazing places, all of which I would definitely love to return to in the future.I'll start from the beginning!
Our first holiday as a couple came in October 2011, the destination: Pisa, Italy.
Ian had visited before, and was pretty adamant that he wanted to show me Pisa and that I would love it. And he was right. I did!
For a start it's stunning, almost everywhere you look is picture perfect and everything is so stereotypically Italian, it's almost like walking into an advert for olive oil.
There are of course the typical tourist traps. The area directly surrounding the Leaning Tower (the piazza del tuomo) is awash with stalls selling the plastic towers and snow globes, t-shirts, hats, you name it, they sell it, and restaurants who charge twice as much as they should. The Tower itself was lovely to see, though during the day the square was heaving with visitors, and lots of people posing for the standard 'I'm holding the leaning tower up with my hands' photo. We decided to go up the tower and took some great photos from the top, we also got tickets to go into the duomo (the cathedral) and the baptistry, both stunning in their own right but with not quite the star power of the tower. We went back to the square late at night, it was floodlit and nearly empty, so we wandered slowly and got great views with less of the hustle and bustle.
Lovely as it is, step away the Cathedral Square and walk round any corner and down a side road and your suddenly in Italian heaven.
Here the vibe is very different, its relaxed, quiet, and unquestionably beautiful. The side streets are peaceful and for us the weather was perfect, it was warm but not too hot, the gentle onset of autumn was palpable in the air, the kind of weather that makes you want to twirl in a skirt and make it fan out around you and then burst into song. I'm not even kidding, I twirled.
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| A Pisa side street |
On our little Tuscan journey we also took in other areas, we nipped on the train (I must say I was impressed with their train service, certainly no worse than ours in the UK!) to Lucca, a little town with gorgeous architecture, and surrounded by a huge wall which we spent a large portion of the day wandering around. Here the streets are tiny and quiet, and everything seems so compact, even the cars are teeny. Lots more gelato, lots of churches and we ate outside a restaurant being serenaded by a violinist. The place screamed Tuscany.
On another day trip we took the train to Florence. I must say I was looking forward to this, but we arrived without a map and got lost very, very quickly. We ended up going back to the train station to buy one and start all over again, by which time half the day had gone. Florence is...well it's pretty, but it's very tourist orientated. The whole city feels like an invasion, I'm sure you could go a week without speaking to a real Italian there. But it is pretty. The Duomo is magnificent, we took refuge in a University library where I took photos from a balcony. The other thing about Florence is the abundance of shops! And not just any shops but very exclusive shops, you name a designer I'm pretty sure they'll have a shop there. It'd be a great place to spend a few grand, if you were that way inclined.
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| Florence shops + me trying to look casual. |
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| Ponte Vecchio |
For me Florence couldn't outshine Pisa, which was just so chilled out, but I did enjoy it. I have hopes to visit Italy again, I would like to visit Naples and see Vesuvius and Pompeii, and possibly Rome. Any other Italian recommendations?
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Raider Rachel in London
With (hopefully) just a under 2 months before we go, it's important to take some time to appreciate the country we are leaving behind. I know we're taking an exciting step into unknown territory, but it's easy to forget that there are beautiful and impressive things surrounding us right now.
In February we took a week off. It came post IEC Kompass stage of our visa application, and I must say I really needed a break! Despite the fact we live less than an hour away from London by train, I very rarely go there, so we took the opportunity to have a day sightseeing.
Our first point of call, the newly opened Shard! At £25 each, it's not a cheap attraction, but it is impressive. The day we had chosen to visit was unfortunately a little misty. We arrived at our allotted time and were led in, tickets in hand. Security into the building is tight, with visitors required to go through scanners and put coats and bags through separately, much like an airport! The ride to the 33rd floor takes mere seconds, and then you're ushered into a second rapid lift that takes you to the top. Our first impressions were a little disappointing, mostly because we couldn't see anything. A wall of white surrounded us on all sides! The binocular/telescope system kept us occupied though, and we spent some time trying them all out and checking out the landscape through different times of the day. After about 45 minutes the mist slowly began to lift, and the view widened until we could see a generous distance. There is only so much sightseeing you can do there though, we spent about an hour and a half at the Shard, and it was definitely enough. If you ever check it out, check the weather and make sure you go on a clear day, also I would consider going after dusk, the images we saw of London at night were stunning!
After a quick dart on the Tube (which I adore!) we had a quick dash to one of my favourite shops, Forbidden Planet. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's the best place to go and geek out (http://forbiddenplanet.com/) I seriously hope we find an equally nerdy shop in Vancouver! I prohibited myself from buying anything this time, I could spend a huge amount of money there.
Next on the agenda, the Natural History Museum! Having never been here before, we ran around the dinosaur exhibition like kids, took lots of pictures of bones with no recollection of what they actually are and got annoyed with the bugs exhibit (it was filled with squabbling school children.) I loved the architecture of the building, but not so much the prices in the cafe, so when we got hungry we hotfooted it out of there, grabbed a sandwich at Piccadilly Circus and ended the day in a bar with a glass of wine.
The second and more recent London excursion also explains the name of the blog. At the beginning of 2013 I promised myself that this year I would stir things up and do exciting things! And so I threw caution to the wind and signed up to a charity abseil for a children's cancer charity, CLIC Sargent.
This initiated lots of comments about Lara Croft/Indiana Jones/stunt woman and voila, the nickname Raider Rachel cropped up.
The event involved me abseiling 130ft down Battersea Power Station, a great London landmark which is currently being developed, so possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity.
We turned up with plenty of time to spare and then they were running a little behind, which meant we were standing around in the bitter cold for quite some time, poor Ian froze! But after a bit of a wait I got suited up (it was surprisingly heavy, walking up the stairs made you feel like a spaceman!) and given a 5 minute safety chat. Then it was up the top, and somehow found myself being one of the first people coming over the side. Despite the fact my heart was pounding in my ears, I did love it. At one point I had to cross a window, and my shoes kept getting caught in the net covering it, I had to keep shaking my feet to get away from it, which put me off balance. I've seen the video and it's not very elegantly done. But ah well, in the end I raised £503 (and counting!) for a great cause, and I had an amazing day. If anyones interested in further pictures, they can be seen on my sponsor page here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RachelBrownAbseil
In February we took a week off. It came post IEC Kompass stage of our visa application, and I must say I really needed a break! Despite the fact we live less than an hour away from London by train, I very rarely go there, so we took the opportunity to have a day sightseeing.Our first point of call, the newly opened Shard! At £25 each, it's not a cheap attraction, but it is impressive. The day we had chosen to visit was unfortunately a little misty. We arrived at our allotted time and were led in, tickets in hand. Security into the building is tight, with visitors required to go through scanners and put coats and bags through separately, much like an airport! The ride to the 33rd floor takes mere seconds, and then you're ushered into a second rapid lift that takes you to the top. Our first impressions were a little disappointing, mostly because we couldn't see anything. A wall of white surrounded us on all sides! The binocular/telescope system kept us occupied though, and we spent some time trying them all out and checking out the landscape through different times of the day. After about 45 minutes the mist slowly began to lift, and the view widened until we could see a generous distance. There is only so much sightseeing you can do there though, we spent about an hour and a half at the Shard, and it was definitely enough. If you ever check it out, check the weather and make sure you go on a clear day, also I would consider going after dusk, the images we saw of London at night were stunning!
After a quick dart on the Tube (which I adore!) we had a quick dash to one of my favourite shops, Forbidden Planet. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's the best place to go and geek out (http://forbiddenplanet.com/) I seriously hope we find an equally nerdy shop in Vancouver! I prohibited myself from buying anything this time, I could spend a huge amount of money there.
Next on the agenda, the Natural History Museum! Having never been here before, we ran around the dinosaur exhibition like kids, took lots of pictures of bones with no recollection of what they actually are and got annoyed with the bugs exhibit (it was filled with squabbling school children.) I loved the architecture of the building, but not so much the prices in the cafe, so when we got hungry we hotfooted it out of there, grabbed a sandwich at Piccadilly Circus and ended the day in a bar with a glass of wine.
Abseil
The second and more recent London excursion also explains the name of the blog. At the beginning of 2013 I promised myself that this year I would stir things up and do exciting things! And so I threw caution to the wind and signed up to a charity abseil for a children's cancer charity, CLIC Sargent.
This initiated lots of comments about Lara Croft/Indiana Jones/stunt woman and voila, the nickname Raider Rachel cropped up.The event involved me abseiling 130ft down Battersea Power Station, a great London landmark which is currently being developed, so possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity.
We turned up with plenty of time to spare and then they were running a little behind, which meant we were standing around in the bitter cold for quite some time, poor Ian froze! But after a bit of a wait I got suited up (it was surprisingly heavy, walking up the stairs made you feel like a spaceman!) and given a 5 minute safety chat. Then it was up the top, and somehow found myself being one of the first people coming over the side. Despite the fact my heart was pounding in my ears, I did love it. At one point I had to cross a window, and my shoes kept getting caught in the net covering it, I had to keep shaking my feet to get away from it, which put me off balance. I've seen the video and it's not very elegantly done. But ah well, in the end I raised £503 (and counting!) for a great cause, and I had an amazing day. If anyones interested in further pictures, they can be seen on my sponsor page here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RachelBrownAbseil
Friday, 15 March 2013
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.
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!
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.
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
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!
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