Top 20 of 2014

It’s funny the differences in culture from Canada to the United States. If you look on my Facebook you’ll see a difference between my friends from the United States and my friends I’ve made abroad. My friends in the States are posting about their office jobs, husbands, and kids. My friends here in Canada and abroad are posting about the perks of travelling, photos of their latest adventure, and where they’re off to next.

I’m not saying one is better than the other. When I was little I told my mom I wanted to travel around the world, but I then that idea faded like most childhood fantasies. Then I grew up and I thought all I wanted was to settle down and raise a family in a nice little house in the suburbs.  But by accident I changed.  I never planned on being on my own, but last year I set off by myself for the first time just to take a few weeks to think about the current state of my life and I never went back.

My mother keeps saying I need to stop and settle down. That I'm Peter Pan. I'm not though. In my previous life I was spoiled and I never did anything on my own including pumping gas or paying a phone bill, not because I have a rich family, but I was sheltered. I'm more grown up, fearless and responsible now than I've been in my entire life.  One day when I settle down, I won't have the freedom or the ability to do what I am doing now. And when my last day and my last breath comes will I regret all the places I never saw, or be thankful for all the beauty in the world that I did get to see? Option number two please.

It is all of this that came into mind on my walk to work today. My mind is a battlefield of in which on one side I want to be home to give my mommy all the things I promised when I was 10, such as a stone house by a river and a house full of grandkids vs. seeing and experiencing the world. Remembering what I've managed to do in one year though reminds me why I'm just not ready to come home yet. So here is my year summed up in 20 highlights.

1. Snow tubing

Mt. Norquay, Alberta

 

2. Dog Sledding

Canmore, Alberta

3. Walking on rivers and lakes 

Lake Louise, Alberta
 

 

 4. Hockey games!

 

5. Montreal, Quebec

It's a spa, on a boat!

 

6. Quebec City, Quebec

 

7. Vancouver, British Columbia

 

 

9. Working on a lavender farm and winery

And learning how to mow the lawn and ride a tractor

10. Tofino, British Columbia

Seeing whales, riding on a sea plane AND attempting to surf.

 

11. Hiking

 

12. Drumheller, Alberta

Where the dinosaurs are

13. Canoeing  

 

14. Camping

And got to hang out with horses

 

15. Petted wolf dogs

 

16. Columbia Icefield, Alberta

And stood on the Athabasca Glacier,
and rode in the only snow coaches available anywhere besides Antarctica

 

17. Toronto, Ontario

 

 

18. Ottawa, Ontario - The capitol of Canada!

 

 

19. Niagara Falls, Ontario

 

20. Went snowboarding

 

 

What We Leave Behind

Just so you know I'm always thinking about you mama. Even when I'm at the beach. 

So far I've made traveling sound great, and it is, but you do have to prepare yourself for the loneliness that you encounter time-to-time being out on the road. For me traveling alone is a bit easier than it is for some people because I've never lived in one place more than five years, and I am an only child, with no cousins who was raised by a single mum. I've also talked about how your fellow travelers become an away from home family, but as much as my friends are like brothers and sisters to me out on the road, it doesn't mean I don't get lonely and miss home sometimes. You do have to prepare yourself to miss some moments and milestones that you wish you could be there for. You're going to miss birthdays, holidays, weddings, births, etc. This week I came out of a job interview crying because I felt awful that my mama had gone into surgery and I wasn't at home to be with her. It's moments like that, that make it hard to be away.

When you hit those times that make you question whether you made the right decision by leaving home, sometimes you have to remember all of the other beautiful moments and adventures that you would have never been part of if you hadn't left. In the past year since being on my own I've met people from all over the world, worked on a farm, gone on a sea plane, canoeing, dog sledding, whitewater rafting, surfing, and a majority of that I accomplished in a little over a month. It's the price we pay as travelers or backpackers, that sometimes who we love and what we love to do, aren't necessarily going to be in the same place.

Goodbye Farm Life

Edit: As a side note that I forgot to mention in this post originally, if you look behind me in the photo and see the beautiful, fresh cut grass, I did that. I was allowed to mow the lawn one more time on the new mower and successfully managed to maneuver the machine up and down the rows of the vineyard. (Although a few vines and poles may have been slighty injured)

So we've reached the end of my three weeks as a farmhand. As excited as I am to be heading off to my next adventure, there's a bit of sadness in my heart realizing that I won't wake up and head out to work the land here anymore.

The work I've done here is more satisfying than any other job I've done before. I can stand at the edge of this property and feel a sense of pride from having done some work on every acre of this land. The work was hard, it tested my patience, but through it I discovered more about myself than I ever could sitting in an office all day. My body is stronger, my mind, ambitions and goals in life, clearer. 

So goodbye Damali. Thank you for all the lessons you taught me everything you've given me. I'll never forget you.