Our Predicament
After sharing countless experiences together around the world, it was about time that Lisa made her way to Canada to see what Elliott’s big, wide country has to offer, especially in its wild(er) west. Lisa took the leap and went through the long, expensive, and frustrating visa process to stay in Canada for a year on a 12-months Working Holiday Visa. The plan was to head to Canada together in Fall 2016, work over the winter at decent jobs with our shiny new master’s degrees, and go on an epic cross-continental road trip in the summer of 2017.
Well, things didn’t exactly go as planned. It turns out that Canada doesn’t really have that much for jobs going on at the moment, at least if you want to do something a little more glamorous than dish washing or cleaning sewers. Even when you try to get sewer jobs it’s not as easy as you’d think.
As such, we’ve been taking refuge in Regina, Saskatchewan, one of the last places we thought we’d ever end up. Needless to say, it hasn’t been a very fantastic winter, and we don’t have very much money to our names, especially considering that we’ve been full-time students for the last few years with no time for “real jobs.” It’s been a tough winter at times, yet also humbling- even in our situation, we’re still so lucky compared to so many people in the world.
The New Plan
Rather than turning bitter and getting angry at Canada for screwing us over, we’re gonna take the lemons we’ve been dealt and make some lemonade! This country doesn’t want us to work? Fine! We don’t need money. We’ve got our little car, we’ve got our canoe, and we’ve got the gear. We have everything we need to live a comfortable life in the woods for an indefinite amount of time. Besides, there ain’t no rent to pay in the forest- it’s the cheapest way to live!
And so we embark on the Great Western Canadian Road Trip (with a brief stopover planned in the US to visit Lisa’s grandma). We’re on the road from April to August of 2017 across the three westernmost provinces of the world’s second largest country. From the Pacific coast, through ancient forests, over the Rockies, onto the plains, and north to the shield, we plan to drive, hike, and paddle our away through some of the wildest and most beautiful places this country has to offer.
Join Us!
Do you want to tag along? Get in touch with us! We’ve got a couple of spare seats and we’re looking forward to sharing our journey with others. Bring your hiking boots and come along for a true experience of one of this world’s biggest, widest, and wildest places.
