gearing up and geekin' out

hello dear friends! this post is going to be an update on some more gear that i have acquired for my adventure! only 64 days to go, and man are they flying by fast!

last weekend, my mum and i made a trip into westboro, to hit up a traveller's paradise, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC). it had been a while since i had last been, so there was a ton of stuff i needed to get. the main things on my list was to find a good daypack, but like what usually happens, i got pretty excited and ended up leaving with a lot more than that! 

first of all, i did find an awesome daypack, the MEC brand high jinx daypack. at $24, this pack was a bargain. it is really light, can be folded down small when i'm not using it, and has a chest and waist strap which is great for support. the associate who helped me also mentioned that it will be good for se asia, where people may try to pull your bag off your back (of course, this little naive traveller didn't think of that at all!) it is a bit deeper blue than in the picture, matches my backpack pretty well, and can easily be worn "double turtle style" with my backpack as this lovely traveller demonstrates

another thing that i got was a first aid kit. i'm really hoping not to have to use it, but better to be safe than sorry. i got an adventure medical kit ultralight/watertight .7 kit for $22.50. this kit has enough supplies to last 1-2 people for 1-4 days. i really like the fact that it is waterproof. i had considered getting a drybag for my computer after reading another traveller's blog about her tour boat sinking on the way to an indonesian island, but i rethought that because if i got every little thing that i thought of (because all i do is research and overthink things) my bag would have no room for clothes and my bank account would be empty! haha

the next thing i got was a XL size personal PackTowel. this towel apparently absorbs 4x its weight in water, and it's super light and antimicrobial. it feels like a sham-wow. hopefully, it works better than a sham-wow lol! it was $25.75.

next is a pacsafe anti theft money belt. it's water resistant and has a slash-proof strap, which is a good thing. obviously, i didn't think strap slashing was a thing until i saw the slash-proof strap. southeast asia is going to have a field day with me. faaaaaack. at the price of $26, i hope that it lives up to its promise!

i also purchased a bungee cord to use as a clothesline/whatever i may need it for on the road. it was $2 and is rasta colours, so that makes me happy :) 

this lock that i bought is a pretty cool idea, i've never actually seen one like this before. it is a retractable cable lock ($10.50). the cable comes out 24' and is for locking bags together, or to a stationary object. i think this will be really handy for train rides and stuff so i'll be able to catch a little shut eye, while knowing my bags are safe! still probably going to buy a combination lock for lockers in hostels.

then we went across the street to the expedition shoppe. i was looking for some sandals i could wear for walking etc. when i didn't want to wear my vibrams (which is never, let's be honest i could live in those shoes!) i had it pretty engrained into my head that i wanted birkenstocks due to my hippie soul, but listening to my wise mama, i looked at all the options. not gonna lie, a lot of them were kind of geeky looking, and for those of you who know how weird/crazy i dress, for me to say something looks geeky, it must have been bad haha. i ended up with my birkenstocks! i got a pair of brown arizona classic hippie/jesus birks (no leather for me!) they fit like a cloud. i've been wearing them every day since and i'm just so happy with them! i got a small blister on the bottom of my foot the first time after wearing them for a lot of walking but it went away within hours. i definitely recommend them to everyone! they were about $100 including tax. my feet are a size 7 and i fit perfectly into a size 36. 

the next day, i stopped into LUSH in the market and picked up a solid shampoo (vegan, packaging free, lasts up to 80 shampoos), a carrying tin, and a pack of 40 toothy tabs, which are solid, vegan toothpaste tabs. they look sort of like a rocket candy. i bit one in half to try it out, and that is all you need. so i will get 80 uses out of that package! its packaged in a little box made of recycled cardboard, and the tabs taste sort of like lemon and rose :) so yummy! all of that was about $23

 

so that was last week... i was super excited to get all of these things! way more then i intended to get at one time, but i guess it is better to cross off as much from my list as i can so that i don't have to worry about it later! now pretty much all i need to get is a new wallet (mine still smells like chocolate vega from when i spilled it at the gym - oops!), my netbook computer which my mum is getting me for my bday, and an adapter for the plug for said computer! i've been looking into travel insurance, which is a must, but it is way more expensive than i had thought! i was budgeting about $500 for a year, but the most affordable one i've been quoted is almost $800! eek! so it looks like with that purchase, a few nights hostel stay once i get there and last minute toiletries etc, i am juuuuuust going to squeak by into Australia with my support funds and a few bucks to grab a sandwich at the airport. lovely. good thing i am cheap baaahahaha! 

so, if anyone has any advice on travel insurance, or knows where to get it for supa cheap, hit me up in the comments section! you guys rock! thanks for reading, and can't wait to keep sharing my journey with you :) 64 days!!! 

peace ☮ ☾ ♥

soph

everything i got, plus a trusty roll of duct tape!

leavin' on a jet plane

as most of you guys have probably seen on facebook, and can tell by the countdown on my blog, i booked my plane ticket! it was right after i did the new post yesterday, i realized that it was about time i looked into doing this thing. i just took a quick peek on skyscanner and kayak to see what flights were available. the ones kayak was bringing up were immediately out of the question. the least expensive one was $1700! noooope! i was hoping to pay more around the ballpark of $1200. 

i basically have been checking skyscanner everyday for the last few months just to get an idea of flights. most of them had really long layovers (like 17 hours in vancouver, or 9 in guangzhou china!) and as much as i would love to pull an anthony bourdain and experience another city on my layover, i figured as little travel time as possible would probably be best. especially since it is going to take 2 days to get there! 

i was just bopping around on the internet... and i came across this flight. it was perfect. perfect day to leave, perfect layover cities and times, priced in my range. my mum was having a nap, but i woke her up and said, rather dramatically, "mum, i think i found my flight." i asked her to sit with me while i booked it, as its pretty much the most expensive and life changing thing i've ever bought. we chomped on cherry larabars and snuggled with daisy sitting on my bed and i busted out my visa card and booked that sucker! 

i am officially the owner of a one way, non-refundable ticket to australia! i leave ottawa august 11th at 1pm, and arrive in perth at 3pm on august 13th. i fly from ottawa > toronto > la > melbourne > perth. the longest flight, obviously being la to melbourne is almost 16 hours! i'm not a nervous flier, but i have to admit, 16 hours with nothing but thousands of feet of sky and then thousands of feet of ocean underneath me intimidates me a little bit. i know it's going to be fine, but it will definitely be the longest flight i've ever been on! 

needless to say, i am super excited for this, and now that i have an official date to count down to, it makes it that much more real! i am hoping to have a combo birthday/bon voyage bbq at some point in july to see all my friends and family for one last shindig before i go! i'll definitely let everyone know the details for that as i plan it :) i'm going to miss everyone so freakin' much! 

just wanted to update everyone on what's going on! thanks for all of your encouragement, it means a lot! 

loads of love
soph

immunized, airplane rides, and first goodbyes

happy long weekend to everyone! have a few updates on the trip, first beginning with some gear.  a while ago, i was looking into getting a sleeping bag. i found one that i wanted from canadian tire. since my lovely aunt works there, she could tell me when it was going on sale, which was actually coming up. i had the date saved in my phone to go pick up the sleeping bag, but my aunt said she would buy it for me! so that was really nice of her and now i have a great sleeping bag to snuggle in when i'm camping on the beach :) it's a baffin barrel bag that is good until -5 degrees (really hoping it won't get that cold in australia though! lol) 

daisy helped me test it out, i think it will be very comfortable haha

i was also on the hunt for a new digital camera. my old one has seen better days, and i wanted something that i could use in the water. my photographer pal jess helped me find a good one. i ended up getting a Fujifilm XP100, which is waterproof up to 33 feet! i got a great deal on it at henrys for 189 which included a flotation strap so it will float if you drop it in the water, a case and an 8GB memory card. i ordered it online, and received it the day i went up to vanessa's cottage for the weekend, perfect timing! i haven't tried it's waterproof-ness yet, it just seems so wrong to me to bring electronics in the water lol but it's supposedly waterproof up to 33ft. i'm hoping that works out. here are some photos from the cottage - the weather was terrible, but me vanessa and victoria made the best of it! what a great visit we had <3

very attractive cottage outfits ;)

YA-YA!

the following week, i had an appointment at the travel clinic to get some immunizations for my travels to southeast asia. from the research i had done, i was expecting to have to get 4 or 5 shots, and pay about 400 dollars. not too stoked on either of those things. i went in for my appointment, totally psyching myself out because like most people, i hate needles. i don't quite remember when my last one was, but apparently it must have sucked because i was so scared! the nurse who did my appointment with me was super awesome, very knowledgeable, and totally understanding of my limited budget. she explained all of my options, including a 600 dollar rabies shot (which i probably should get because you guys know me and animals haha can't resist a cuddle) and two 200 dollar shots for japanese encephalitis, a rare but extremely deadly disease passed along through infected animals then mosquitoes, on to humans. since i don't plan on being around many pig farms in se asia, and the fact that all of those shots would have almost been equivalent to my plane ticket, i decided not to get them. i also found out i was up to date on my tetanus shots and mumps/measles/rubella, so i only needed a grand total of ONE vaccine. imagine my excitement! i told the nurse how nervous i was about the shot, injected into the muscle of your arm. she said she was good and that i wouldn't even feel it. she was right. in two seconds it was done and all of that anxiety was for nothing. i gave her a huge hug! my bill came to 150 for the appointment and the vivaxim vaccine, which is a combo hep a and typhoid. my arm muscle hurt like a mofo for the next two days, like i had been  doing lots of weights haha but it's worth it to be able to travel with peace of mind! anyone planning a trip, go see the fine folks at the west ottawa travel medicine clinic, they rock! i also got a prescription for some anti-malaria pills and a general antibiotic which i will fill right before i leave for aus.

speaking of leaving, i haven't booked my flight yet (i know, i know!) but am planning on booking it this week. yesterday, i was coming home from new brunswick and realized to myself that the next time i am at the airport, i will be leaving for australia! a couple of weeks ago, my friend billy found out he got an awesome job at a resort in the town of saint andrews new brunswick on a contract until november. he asked me if i wanted to drive down with him and help him move. of course i said yes! we left on friday, stopping in montreal for a bit to visit with his friend and then stopped for the night in a random town in quebec. the drive to nb is only 12 hours, but since i couldn't do some of the driving because i don't know how to drive standard, we decided to break it down into two days. we arrived in saint andrews on saturday afternoon and got billy all settled into his temporary room while the hotel and staff accommodations are under renovations. then we walked to "downtown" aka one little street by the waterfront. such a gorgeous little typical east coast town. it was so nice to smell the ocean again! we found out that there was a music festival going on that weekend, so we went to see some live bands that night and met some really cool people! we also met this guy who was hitchhiking across canada, so we chatted with him a bit. it was pretty exciting for me because i realized that in a few months, i'm going to be in his situation (hopefully i'll have more than 30 cents to my name though!) i gave him a couple bucks to get a hot dog, putting those good sharing vibes into the universe. hopefully when i'm in aus, people will help me out too if i'm in a tough spot :) all in all, we had a great time driving down, and exploring saint andrews! i didn't want to leave. i know billy is going to have an awesome summer there. it was super weird saying bye to him at the airport, because i'm not going to see him for a long time :( it didn't feel like i was really going away though, probably because it doesn't seem quite real to me that i am yet! they say once you book the ticket, it becomes real... so hopefully very soon we can get an actual countdown started on here and count down the days together! 

billy is so excited to drive for 12 hours

montreal traffic

new brunswick!

palm bay hula girl

moose warning! they were all over. we did see a moose, we named her martha :)

seven hells! are we in westeros?

diy camper on a trailer

get shucked!

lil baby getting his bib tied on

finally got his lobster dinner

wharf in town

so that is it my friends, another update. looking forward to buying my plane ticket, and the few pieces of gear i have left to get! im thinking of getting a pair of birks for the situations when vibram five fingers shoes wouldn't work (are there any situations like that really though? haha) anyone have any experience with lots of walking in birks? make me some recommendations! love to hear any feedback. 

peace, love and long weekends!

soph

taking the plunge

every night before i go to bed, when my mind isn't distracted and has time to calm down, it is doing anything but that. i have a constant stream of thoughts and feelings about this upcoming adventure of mine. usually, the thoughts are good: all the people i'm going to meet, the beautiful things i am going to see, and all of the amazing experiences coming my way. but sometimes, and more often than i would like to admit, i find myself thinking of all the things that could go terribly wrong. from being kidnapped and killed (oops! shouldn't have watched Wolf Creek), to getting bitten by a poisonous creature, running out of air when i'm scuba diving, or even just the scary thought of fitting an entire year's worth of clothes and supplies into a 65L backpack. my mind just doesn't stop. as an optimist, i really try to make myself think that all of these risks are going to be worth the pay off of such a routine-rattling adventure. 

i think that might be the root cause of my anxiety actually. within the first few months of the new year, i have really adjusted well (dare i say) to being back home in ottawa. i have made some amazing new friends, fell back into place with my friends from home, and gotten in the swing of a routine of daily life. mid-august, when i touch down in australia, that is all going to change. all my habits and comforts of home are going to be the rug pulled out from under my feet. i am going to know one person on a whole entire continent. i am going to know one person on one side of the world. as someone who needs to be around people, and have connections to stay sane, this is going to be a challenge. being myself, i know that i will meet new people very fast, but who knows how long they will be in my life for? in a setting where plans can change like the breeze blowing off the ocean, who even knows what my plans will be? this is something that i am trying very hard to work on in my personal life. right now, i like things to be planned out, and have some idea of what's going on the next few weeks, where i am going to lay my head that night etc. i am very attached to my friends, and when i meet new people that i connect with, all i want to do is be near them. with people up and going on a daily basis, where your meeting is just a cosmic coincidence, you happen to be at the same hostel for a few days, where you just get there but they are on their way to bangkok the next day, i need to be able to form that connection, but know that i need to let go when it is time to move on. luckily, with social media, a new friend will rarely be more than a skype chat away, but being physically not there with them is something i'm going to have to get used to. 

some nights, during my thinking sessions, i wonder to myself if i should just cut my losses and take my savings and head back to the big city to start my career. i find myself missing my creative outlet of copywriting , the culture of advertising , and obviously, all the people that go with it. this was especially hard when i went back to toronto for a visit in march. all of my friends had by that time, gotten jobs in ad agencies, were living downtown and doing what successful 20-somethings are expected to do. and they were having a great time doing it. i missed them. all of our random outings, girls nights, picnics in trinity bellwoods. i pictured myself there with them, biking to work, meeting for lunch breaks at kupfert and kim, going to shows at the horseshoe tavern. i know that if i wanted to, i could go back there in a second. i also know that it would always be something i'd regret, not travelling. as scared as i am, i know this is something i have to do. millions of people travel every year, and are fine. they quit their jobs, sell all of their belongings, and head off to explore this amazing world. i am ready to join them. my career will be waiting for me when i get back, my friends will welcome me home with open arms, and i will be completely changed (hopefully for the better!) i'm seizing the friggin' diem, brushing aside my anxiety and am going to take the plunge! 

if you have made it through this entire post, thank you. i appreciate your support. i know this post didn't have any exciting news (hopefully going to buy my ticket in may!) or plans or anything, but i think that the pre-trip stuff is as important as what you do on the trip itself. all of my feelings, worries and things i am excited about are starting to weave together into the fabric that will form this amazing journey. and sometimes, i just need to rant. so there it was. i know everyone says 'go for it' and 'oh i'm so jealous' when i tell them about this trip, but you can't really accept that until you feel it yourself. i think that this is me, feeling it myself. it's a part of me now. i've gotten over my anxieties for the trip (for today at least) and i am raring to go! 

in the wise words of my friend, jess "take it before it's gone", and i intend to do just that.

the first steps

i am a huge believer in 'everything happens for a reason'. ever since second year of university, i have had some sort of plans to do some travelling after i graduated. i had all of these big dreams and plans in my head, and due to different circumstances, they didn't pan out exactly as i had imagined. i was a little discouraged, as the whole reason i left my adopted home town of toronto was to move home and save up to go travel. i started working on a solo trip itinerary. it was to span 8 countries and 5 months, and cost a whopping $15,000. now, working at a minimum wage job, i'm pretty sure that would take me a long long time to save up for this. i wasn't super happy in ottawa to begin with, and now not really having a plan was bumming me out even more. it was by chance that the summer previously, i had gotten back in touch with a friend from high school who had been living in australia on a working visa for the past year. she knew of my trip plans, and we would talk on facebook every so often. we were having a phone conversation (so weird to talk to someone on the other side of the world and hear their voice!) in the late fall and i was sharing my frustration on not being able to afford my grand adventure. 

since she had previously decided to continue her travels and apply for a second year work visa, she suggested that i just come to australia on a work visa and meet up with her to work and make money as i go. now i hadn't really considered that idea before, but the more we talked about it, the more sense it made. i could use australia as a home base to work, explore, save up money and then go to se asia, coming back to work when i ran out of money. the more research i did, the more people i found who do this exact thing every year.  i was hooked on the idea. we agreed to meet in perth, western australia some time in august. i think that our reconnecting really happened for a reason, because she inspired me to do this and everything is working out perfectly! it makes me (and my mum i'm sure) feel so much better that i will be meeting a friendly face in australia who will be able to help me get my feet on the ground. i honestly don't know if i would be able to just go by myself, so this is very reassuring!  

also, since i will be there for a year (or perhaps two) other friends have been starting to plan their own travels in terms of meeting up and doing stuff together, which will be really great! there are so many jobs for backpackers there, and it will be easy to make a lot of money. the world is our oyster! 

i took the first step on friday and applied and got approved for my working holiday visa. i could leave for aus tomorrow if i wanted to, but i will be leaving around august 13-15. not exactly sure the dates yet, but by mid august, i should be in australia! 

i am beyond excited for this next step of my adventure, and i really hope you guys will follow along on my blog :) since i'm not leaving for a while, most of my posts will be about the gear i'm acquiring, my plans as they get more concrete, as well as countdowns and just posts about my general excitement! i know this is going to be a life changing journey and i can't wait to share it with all of you!

cheers!
soph