Category Archives: Everything else

Vegan Gift Guide For Any Occasion

29th January 2019

Vegan Gift Guide

I’m sure I’m not the only one to think that it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy presents for the ones around us, with so and so being allergic to this and that, and so and so buying only locally and fair trade. I’m also sure a few of you have this lone vegan in your family for whom it is impossible to find the right vegan present because, well, vegan! But fret not! I’ve made this handy vegan gift guide for you! Here’s what I think the best vegan presents are for all budgets.

Youth Mobility Visa Germany: My Experience

25th February 2018

When I decided to move from Asia to Europe, I didn’t know where I would base myself. Most Working Holiday Visa (also called Youth Mobility Visa) for Canadians end at 30 years old, but a few European countries offer them for people aged up to 35. Upon doing some research, I found that my options were the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland or the Ukraine. I was pretty amazed when I realized the working holiday visa possibilities! I picked the Youth Mobility Visa in Germany based on the number of people who had told me how much I would love Berlin and how easy it would be to find employment as a non-native German speaker. Want to test the water and visit Berlin first? Here’s how to spend 2 days in Berlin!

My 35 by 35 travel and adventure bucket list

10th January 2016

2016 is here! I will be turning 35 at the end of the year, and while this big number makes me LOL in correlation to my level of “adultness”, I can’t help but notice that fear is still holding me back sometimes in life and this is the year I would like to change that. So I made a 35 by 35 bucket list. In this year that will be leading me to my 35th birthday, I have challenged myself to do all the things I have never done, mostly things that absolutely frighten me and that I always told myself I would never do, but also things I have never done for absolutely no reason. I know this list is completely insane and chances are high I will not be able to do even half of it, but listing this and challenging myself to some of these things I hope is a first step in taking actions to ridding me of my fears.

Saying Goodbye to South East Asia

24th October 2015

Sunset in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

I’m sitting in the departure lounge with tears rolling down my face, staring blankly at my telephone screen, knowing he is also online, right there at the other end. Part of me would like a few last comforting words, but I can’t seem to think of anything to write that won’t make me look like the desperate mess that I am. What is there to say anyway? We’ve said hello and goodbye briefly a few weeks ago – and perhaps that was all a huge mistake – but this really should not be what the magic of the journey of self-discovery I have been on those past months amounts to, in the wake of a 20-month South East Asian whirlwind adventure. Yet, here I am, balling my eyes out and feeling like I’m back to square one.

The last $1000

16th August 2015

“If there is no joy, ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily mean that you need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change the how. “How” is always more important than “what”. See if you can give much more attention to the doing than to the result that you want to achieve through it.”

-Eckart Tolle, The Power of Now

It’s taken me realizing that the amount of money I have left in my bank account equals exactly what I owe on my credit card to ring the alarm. I am broke. The travel fund is empty.

Raising From the Ashes / Going through a breakup while backpacking

3rd July 2015

Going through a breakup with backpacking

As a lot of you know, my boyfriend of the last ten years and I parted ways a few months ago. People seem surprised at how well I have bounced back, but, in all honesty, this was one of the hardest experiences of my life.

Admittedly, sharing my personal life with you here on the blog was a bit of a gamble. I wanted to show the world how happy we were and inspire other couples to travel, but now that everything has fallen apart I feel I owe an explanation. It’s weird for me to have a diary of our relationship in the form of this blog that I have to face every single day. It’s like an unwelcome reminder of what used to be and what could have been. Did the traveling break us up?

I am OK

22nd January 2015

My dad took his own life when I was 21. Through the pain, I vividly remember the feeling of relief I felt that he had set himself free, that he had found a way out of a life that wasn’t made for him. Please don’t take this as me saying that suicide is a solution, because it is not. This is just my personal way of coping with the loss of my father. I was and still am happy that he ended his suffering the only possible way. End of story.