I left Canada way back in February 2013. Wow, that feels like a lifetime ago now. Back then I still had a federal government job, a boyfriend, my own apartment and my iPhone (haha). My hair was a lot less blonde and my skin was a lot less tan. Back then when I left, I had no idea where I'd end up...but I knew I wanted to have some adventures!
Well, mission accomplished! In the 14 months since then, I visited 21 countries on 6 continents, with a few breaks at home in Toronto in between trips. But for last leg of my journey, I literally went around the world and spent 7 months away.
Hands down, it was the best decision of my life to go traveling. If you've even read one of my blogs, you know I had tons of adventures and the best time ever. But toward the end of the last 7 months, I was starting to be ready to go home. The decision to book that ticket back was made that much easier one day in India when I checked my email, and got the great news that I got a new job! I finally had a reason to stop wandering.
You might remember this post http://jontheflipside.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-endlessly-changing-horizon.html about quitting my job with the Canadian Wildlife Service from back in December. Well, obviously my bank account has been taking a major hit and is now at a below zero status. A new job is kind of essential at this point before I seriously need to start scouting locations to set up my cardboard box over a subway grate downtown. When I left CWS, I decided for the future that I am not just going to go for anything, I'm going for my dream job and I'm going to make it happen. My dream job is a wildlife biologist position. I've done that quite a bit, but it was always as an aside from my real job doing environmental assessments. I want to study wildlife, determine what is happening with their populations and make sure they are conserved, full time! I'm going for it!
So from Mabul Island in Borneo, I sat on a patio at Scuba Junkie over looking a beach for days doing up my resume and sending it off for seabird research assistant positions in Alaska, and wildlife technician positions in northern Canada. My Scuba Junkie friends even helped me with practicing bird calls and species identification with charades. I eventually had a Skype interview for the wildlife technician position from Mabul Island, but the connection was too bad for Skype to work! Noooooo! So I begged to reschedule and went back to the mainland and booked into the only hotel I could find with a secure internet connection, and it also happened to have a flat screen TV, a king sized bed and a hot rainfall shower. It was amaaaaazing after staying in a dorm with cold showers!! This time the internet connection worked and I thought the interview went really well! But then I didn't hear anything for weeks. WEEKS! It felt like forever. Then, finally, after about a month, that fateful email came in, and I finally found out I got the job. YAY!!
So I'm starting my new job next week. I'm going to drive from Toronto to Grande Prairie, Alberta where I'll be based. I was reminded of just how friggin big Canada is when I googled the route and realized it's almost 4000 km's and it will take 48 hours of driving to get there!! But it looks like I'll have some company for my road trip with one of my new co-workers, and I'm hoping to be able to visit some of my relatives along the way. Road trip time woohoo!!!
I'll be working for the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute as a Wildlife Technician. Basically I'll be living in a tent or trailer for most of the summer working in the wilderness looking at plants and animals all day! I'll be doing songbird point counts beginning before the sun even comes up, and then collecting a bunch of other samples of mosses, lichens and soil for later analysis. I'll also be doing fish surveys at some aquatic sites later in the season. I actually started out working on fish after I graduated from my undergrad degree, so I can't wait!!! I feel like this is a great step for me on my career path to becoming a wildlife biologist. It feels like everything is falling into place at the moment!
When I started off on this journey back in Feb 2013, I had no idea how it would turn out. I was totally in love with Ryan and thought we would move to Alberta and continue our life together in the mountains. But obviously that didn't happen. When we broke up a year ago, many of you know, I was totally devastated and it was probably the worst thing I've ever been through. In the aftermath, I actually lost the ability to feel any real feelings, good or bad, for about 6 months.
But little did I know then what a blessing in disguise it would turn out to be. I came out of it with a bit of a thicker skin, a stronger ability to not give a fuck what other people think, and a better ability to embrace the rollercoaster of life's ups and downs. If me and Ryan had stayed together, I wouldn't have had the last 7 months of traveling - I would never had met all my amazing friends on the Stray bus in NZ, spent hours scuba diving underwater with sharks and sea turtles, seen my best friends on their honeymoon in Thailand, jumped over a burning skipping rope at the full moon party with 100000 other people on a beach in the middle of the night, worked with orangutans in Borneo and held hands with a gibbon, summited a 4000m peak, been attacked by monkeys with one of my best friends in Bali, been overwhelmed by the beauty and chaos of India, or almost had my legs fall off from tiredness trekking through the Himalayas in Nepal. None of that would have happened. It just goes to show how true it is that sometimes, the thing you think is the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to you, can sometimes truly turn out to be the best.
I also want to say a special thanks to my amazing friends in Toronto, who always welcome me back into their lives no matter how long I've been gone. It is such a priceless thing to have those types of friends who you can not see in months, but then feel as if no time has gone by when you do reunite! You guys are the best, love you!
Well, mission accomplished! In the 14 months since then, I visited 21 countries on 6 continents, with a few breaks at home in Toronto in between trips. But for last leg of my journey, I literally went around the world and spent 7 months away.
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| Here's where I went from Feb 2013 - April 2014 |
Hands down, it was the best decision of my life to go traveling. If you've even read one of my blogs, you know I had tons of adventures and the best time ever. But toward the end of the last 7 months, I was starting to be ready to go home. The decision to book that ticket back was made that much easier one day in India when I checked my email, and got the great news that I got a new job! I finally had a reason to stop wandering.
You might remember this post http://jontheflipside.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-endlessly-changing-horizon.html about quitting my job with the Canadian Wildlife Service from back in December. Well, obviously my bank account has been taking a major hit and is now at a below zero status. A new job is kind of essential at this point before I seriously need to start scouting locations to set up my cardboard box over a subway grate downtown. When I left CWS, I decided for the future that I am not just going to go for anything, I'm going for my dream job and I'm going to make it happen. My dream job is a wildlife biologist position. I've done that quite a bit, but it was always as an aside from my real job doing environmental assessments. I want to study wildlife, determine what is happening with their populations and make sure they are conserved, full time! I'm going for it!
So from Mabul Island in Borneo, I sat on a patio at Scuba Junkie over looking a beach for days doing up my resume and sending it off for seabird research assistant positions in Alaska, and wildlife technician positions in northern Canada. My Scuba Junkie friends even helped me with practicing bird calls and species identification with charades. I eventually had a Skype interview for the wildlife technician position from Mabul Island, but the connection was too bad for Skype to work! Noooooo! So I begged to reschedule and went back to the mainland and booked into the only hotel I could find with a secure internet connection, and it also happened to have a flat screen TV, a king sized bed and a hot rainfall shower. It was amaaaaazing after staying in a dorm with cold showers!! This time the internet connection worked and I thought the interview went really well! But then I didn't hear anything for weeks. WEEKS! It felt like forever. Then, finally, after about a month, that fateful email came in, and I finally found out I got the job. YAY!!
So I'm starting my new job next week. I'm going to drive from Toronto to Grande Prairie, Alberta where I'll be based. I was reminded of just how friggin big Canada is when I googled the route and realized it's almost 4000 km's and it will take 48 hours of driving to get there!! But it looks like I'll have some company for my road trip with one of my new co-workers, and I'm hoping to be able to visit some of my relatives along the way. Road trip time woohoo!!!
 |
| My road trip route |
I'll be working for the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute as a Wildlife Technician. Basically I'll be living in a tent or trailer for most of the summer working in the wilderness looking at plants and animals all day! I'll be doing songbird point counts beginning before the sun even comes up, and then collecting a bunch of other samples of mosses, lichens and soil for later analysis. I'll also be doing fish surveys at some aquatic sites later in the season. I actually started out working on fish after I graduated from my undergrad degree, so I can't wait!!! I feel like this is a great step for me on my career path to becoming a wildlife biologist. It feels like everything is falling into place at the moment!
 |
| Can't wait to get back out in the field! |
When I started off on this journey back in Feb 2013, I had no idea how it would turn out. I was totally in love with Ryan and thought we would move to Alberta and continue our life together in the mountains. But obviously that didn't happen. When we broke up a year ago, many of you know, I was totally devastated and it was probably the worst thing I've ever been through. In the aftermath, I actually lost the ability to feel any real feelings, good or bad, for about 6 months.
But little did I know then what a blessing in disguise it would turn out to be. I came out of it with a bit of a thicker skin, a stronger ability to not give a fuck what other people think, and a better ability to embrace the rollercoaster of life's ups and downs. If me and Ryan had stayed together, I wouldn't have had the last 7 months of traveling - I would never had met all my amazing friends on the Stray bus in NZ, spent hours scuba diving underwater with sharks and sea turtles, seen my best friends on their honeymoon in Thailand, jumped over a burning skipping rope at the full moon party with 100000 other people on a beach in the middle of the night, worked with orangutans in Borneo and held hands with a gibbon, summited a 4000m peak, been attacked by monkeys with one of my best friends in Bali, been overwhelmed by the beauty and chaos of India, or almost had my legs fall off from tiredness trekking through the Himalayas in Nepal. None of that would have happened. It just goes to show how true it is that sometimes, the thing you think is the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to you, can sometimes truly turn out to be the best.
I also want to say a special thanks to my amazing friends in Toronto, who always welcome me back into their lives no matter how long I've been gone. It is such a priceless thing to have those types of friends who you can not see in months, but then feel as if no time has gone by when you do reunite! You guys are the best, love you!
