Vancouver Bound.

I’m currently at LAX airport. Cannot believe it. The time is finally here to go back to Vancouver. The last few months have lead up to this point. No big deal! I do admit that sometimes I question whether this is the right decision and right now I’m having one of those moments. But I think it’s right. For now anyway.

The last few days in LA were good. It was lovely to see and catch up with April again. Jet lag was really tough though. It took a good 4 days to feel normal and actually sleep through the night without lying awake for 2-3 hours at a time! Yesterday was the first time I felt myself. You forget how much travelling that far really takes a toll and the fact that not only is it the time difference (only 17 hours), but also the climate and food have an effect too - because everything is new and different again! Even simple things like crossing the street is strange. Without a doubt I look the wrong way every time.

Anyway, catching up with April again was great. We went to the LA Ultimate Women’s Expo yesterday which was interesting. It had a lot of products geared towards women, notably lots of wine tasting and those belts that supposedly help you lose weight! We scored a lot of freebies. Bonus! It was in downtown LA which is nothing to write home about. We then had a lovely 10km walk around the Santa Monica/Venice Beach area. Both of us were trying to take advantage of the warm weather and the beach as we both realised that it would be a long time before either of us experienced both of these again! April is heading back to Banff where it has been snowing (!!) and Vancouver has been raining…surprise, surprise!!

Thanks April, it was great to see you and I look forward to catching up with you soon - either in Banff or Vancouver! x

So now the holiday is officially over. It’s time to find a place and job. A place to live is high on my priorities as Canada rentals work by month. Everyone moves in to their new places on the 1st (or sometimes 15th) of the month. As November 1 is next weekend, I really need to find something!

I have a few leads and have made a few contacts which I will meet up with this week once I get a phone number. Need to look at a few places though before I decide.

Really looking forward to catching up with my friends too, so that’s also in the mix in the next couple of weeks.

That’s all for now, will update again soon. Let the new chapter begin!

First stop. LA.

I made it! After so much planning and saving I'm finally here! It's still so surreal, but that could also be the jet lag speaking.

After an awesome week in Cairns, I had 2 days to pack all my stuff that I wanted to take. Let me tell you, packing your life up is a little difficult! Had a bit of difficulty fitting stuff in, but by Tuesday night it was all well and truly done!

Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night. Not good for the upcoming flight. Think I ended up with about 4 hours sleep. We were up early and at the airport by 7.30am. I was still worried about the weight of my bags. Max. allowed was 23kg per bag. We weighed them and they were a little over. So had to get rid of some more tim tams and lollies. Oops! May have been a bit enthusiastic in buying them!!

Anyway, there was nothing to worry about. Check in was easy. After a lovely coffee with Mum and a phone call to Dad, it was time to go. Many tears were shed by both Mum and I. It's always hard to say goodbye.

I won't go into the boring details of the flight. There's not alot you can do on a 12 hour flight except watch 4 movies, have 2 hours of broken sleep and eat. However, I did watch Wild with Reese Witherspoon which was very good and also quite enjoyed Jurassic World. Except I couldn't get over how the lead actress could run around for the whole movie (through the jungle) in heels!

We landed in LA at about 6am. Gee the airport is nice now! So much better than before. After a quick freshen up it was time to face the customs guard. Far out. Have never been asked so many questions by border security before. It was all basically because of the address I was staying at. As I'm not staying at a hotel and staying in a house I had to go into every single detail of how I knew the people who own it, what they do, how'd they get their green card, what I do, what I'll be doing in Canada, my job back home, when my flight to Canada is, what I'll be doing in LA, do you plan on working in the US, why did you go to Blaine so many times etc etc. FAR OUT!! I may as well have just told him my life story. Just let me in the country, I only want to stay 5 days!! Next time I'm staying in a hotel or at least putting down the name of a hotel!! Didn't need that with the little amount of sleep. It's a little stressful.

Anyway, I'm here and got to finally see April! Have not seen her since she waved me off in front of my place when I left Vancouver in January. It feels like no time has passed. After a quick hello and brief catch up, she left me so I could have a nap and a shower which was fab. Later in the afternoon we caught an uber to Whole Foods then went for a walk on the path between Santa Monica and Venice.

April signed me up for Grit Cardio and Bodypump. I was keen to give them a go but by this stage was feeling pretty tired. I could barely get through the 30 minute Grit Cardio session. Being tired and not having much energy really takes its toll! So I left April and caught an uber home. (Gee uber is so good and so cheap!) I was still awake by the time April got home and we ended up catching up until about midnight! Oops! So much for going to bed early.

After a decent 9.5 hours sleep, I've pretty much chilled out for the majority of the day. April has been out all day so I've done really exciting stuff, like updated my resume, looked for places to live in Vancouver, taken the dogs for a couple of walks and basically just chilled out. Still pretty tired so thinking it'll be an early one.

Not sure how regularly these blogs will be written, but thought I'd better do one while I have the time!