Mini mini-break in Vancouver

Just one of the many views en route to Vancouver

Saturday morning we were up bright & early to begin our long drive to Vancouver. James’s Dad was flying back on Sunday so we decided to make a weekend of it & spend the night there. The drive south-west was beautiful, the sky was blue & that made the scenery even more stunning.

We arrived in Vancouver & headed straight for Granville Island.

A sample of some of Granville Island Brewery's beers

None of us had been there before but we’d been told we should visit & we were very glad we did! It was definitely worth the drive! Granville Island was so unique, full of galleries, studios, shops, cafes & restaurants all along the waterfront. Not to mention the theatres & brewery, which we popped into for a quick taster of their beers. We spent a lot of time just sitting in the autumn sunshine taking in the atmosphere & the views across the water.

Granville Island, Vancouver

The view of Vancouver from our hotel room

Later on in the afternoon we went & checked in to Century Plaza Hotel which was located perfectly for our trip. We strolled in to Downtown & had a look around the shops in the Pacific Centre before seeing a bit more of Vancouver, including the Rogers Arena, home to the Canucks! In the evening we nipped to the local supermarket to buy some dinner & had a family picnic in our hotel room while watching the sun set over the Vancouver horizon.

In the morning we packed up our bags & set off for the airport. Once we’d said our goodbyes to James’s Dad, we headed back in to Downtown Vancouver for the afternoon. James & I walked to Canada Place & took a stroll along the pier. Once again the sun was shining, making the views even more incredible. We could see across the water to Stanley Park & further afield to Grouse Mountain (where we will definitely pay a visit to on our next trip!).

The view of Stanley Park from Canada Place

All too soon it was time to head back to Kelowna. We’d had a brilliant weekend & I’d managed to make a long list of things I’d love to do/see on our next trip to Vancouver. This includes another trip to the inner city haven that is Granville Island.

If I had a million dollars….

I know I’m deviating from my usual ‘diary’ but sometimes change is good! (Plus nothing very exciting has happened lately!)

So, for a start I’d buy James a shiny new laptop to make up for the fact I’m always stealing his!

James & I have a list of countries we’d love to see. The list is incredibly long & as I am a tad on the pessimistic side I can’t see many of the destinations being crossed off. However, while we’re in Canada it’s a lot cheaper to get to the USA than it is from England, so we’re hoping to see some of the States. Number one on my list is a three-way tie between Orlando (for the theme parks), New York (simply because it’s New York) & San Francisco (it just looks beautiful).

I’ve spent a lot of my evening on Westjet Vacations browsing through their destinations & prices & getting incredibly over excited about being maybe being able to go to Orlando once we’ve saved up some money. I never used to be interested in going to Disney Land, but that has changed (especially in the last few minutes!). I now want to go & eat my weight in sweets & run around in Minnie Mouse ears singing ‘I just can’t wait to be King’ at the top of my voice. Despite this sudden urge, the main pull for me is absolutely The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I love Harry Potter. Well, to be exact I love Ron Weasley (& Rupert Grint). I’ve read the books over & over again & love them all, so a trip there would be like heaven to me!

The gorgeous Mr Grint

I only really felt a pull to go to New York after the season 2 finale of Glee, which was set in New York & after hearing my Mum say she’d like to go, which was a complete surprise to me! As I mentioned in a previous post (Window Shopping…) I would love to see Wicked on Broadway. That production is just sensational! I’d also just like to be a tourist & see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, Times Square & buy something in Bloomingdale’s so I can get a Little Brown Bag (amongst plenty of other things!).

I first wanted to go to San Francisco after watching The Princess Diaries. It just looked like such a fun, vibrant city & of course I’d love to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

So there are 3 things I would do if I had a million dollars, but there are many more! (One of which would be to open my own bakery…)

In other ‘Helen News’ I discovered just how much of a big deal Halloween is in Canada today! James & I went to Walmart to do a grocery shop & half the store (ok, I’m exaggerating, but stay with me!) was full of fancy dress costumes & Halloween products. I was actually speechless (which is a rarity!).

Giant inflatable cat!

Adorable pumpkins

I spent the afternoon baking again & made one of my favourite cakes – titled Lemonylicious (find the recipe in this book), which I would post a photo of but it is already half eaten! Guess I’ll just have to bake another, after all I need to prepare for when I open my bakery…

6 week waiting time? Don’t count on it…

I’m just doing this to fill some time before I head off to the beach (it’s a scorcher today!), & it might be of use to anyone thinking of applying for the Canadian Working Holiday Visa.

The first step for me was signing up to BUNAC (http://bunac.org.uk/), a company who you go through to obtain your visa.The joining fee was £254. Little did I know this was the cheapest part of the process & also unnecessary, as I could have gone through the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website for free. Still, BUNAC were always helpful when I called for advice.

The next step was downloading the many forms that needed to be filled out, sending off for a Police Certificate (costing aprroximately £35) & obtaining Proof Of Funds forms from my bank.

Once I’d recieved my Police Certificate & had my Proof Of Funds signed I had to post my application to the Canadian Embassy in France, along with an application fee (which I’ve now forgotton the cost of, sorry) I recieved an email telling me my application had arrived & to expect to be waiting a week to hear if I was through the first stage of the application. 5 days later I recieved the email I wanted, telling me my application was successful & it was being forwarded to the embassy in London. The email stated I would be waiting approximately 6 weeks until my visa would be granted if I met the criteria needed, 3-4 weeks longer if I required a medical, which I did.

6 weeks later I began to get my hopes up, thinking any day now I’d recieve some kind of correspondence regarding my medical exam. 8 weeks later I finally got a letter. I booked my medical exam for 3 days later, hoping the sooner I had it done, the sooner I’d be granted my visa. The medical wasn’t exactly cheap. Overall it cost just under £200 & consisted of a chest x-ray, blood tests & a full medical exam (which was pretty much me telling the doctor I was healthy).

4 weeks later I recieved a letter through the post with ‘The Canadian Embassy Medical Department’ stamped on the envelope. Instantly I panicked, with good reason. The letter stated that something was wrong with my medical. I read on & discovered the hospital had sent a blank x-ray disc instead of the disc with my x-rays on. To say I was furious is an understatement, especially as this was happening the day before James flew out to Canada & I had to wait 2 days to speak to someone at the hospital. Monday morning came & I was on the phone at precisely 8am. The woman who dealt with Canadian medicals was incredibly apologetic & sorted out the issue the same day. So again I waited, jumping every time my phone beeped an email alert, but still I heard nothing other than Pizza Express offers.

After another 4 weeks of waiting, thinking I was never going to get to Canada, I finally recieved my ‘Letter Of Introduction’. My visa had been granted after waiting over 5 months. The feeling of relief that washed over me was incredible.

But that wasn’t the end. I still had flights to book & insurance to buy. After spending even more money than I’d like to even think about, it was sorted.

So if you’re going to apply to ‘Work Canada’, make sure you’ve saved a lot more money than you think you might need. The application process alone was so much more expensive than advertised, not taking into account flights, insurance & what you need once you arrive in Canada. I’m just lucky that I have somewhere to live that isn’t costing me a fortune.

Cell phone Schmell phone

What a productive (if not slightly hectic) Friday!

First things first. I needed to set up a bank account & switch my MOBILE to a Canadian network. So James & I headed into West Kelowna to sort things out. Setting up a bank account was easier than I thought. I went with the bank all his family are with as they are happy using the branch. I was met by a very cheerful receptionist who said there was a short wait, & could I please take a seat. She also mentioned the free tea & coffee available while I waited, which was a good start! I was seen to very quickly by a lovely lady, who got everything set up (while laughing at my photos of my driver’s license & passport). In under half an hour I had a bank account & was ready to go. The bank suggested I check my card worked at the ATM before leaving, which was lucky as it didn’t. First my account was ‘unreachable’ then ‘unverified’. After a few tweaks by the bank staff, it was working & after hugging me goodbye (bizarre!) they finally let me leave!

Next we headed to Rogers phone store to set up my Canadian SIM card. I was expecting to walk in, say “I’d like this plan please” & for them to set it all up. What happened was nowhere near what I had hoped. The girl in the store was almost helpful, but not enough for me. Everything she said went straight over my head. Something about a $35 fee to set it up, buying credit & calling someone to activate the phone, & having the money for the plan being taken from that. What on earth? I mumbled some stuff about having a blackberry & wanting to use it for what it’s made for & she offered me a plan of $60 a month. $60 a month?! I don’t think so.

After nodding along like a useless idiot for what felt like a decade, James took over & sorted it for me. We left the shop with a $100 top-up voucher, all ready to set up online. On returning home I got straight on it (I’m a weirdo & love filling out forms), happy to be left tapping away on the laptop until I entered the number on the top-up voucher. A message appeared saying this voucher didn’t cover the credit amount, which was $40. Instantly, I got in a massive huff & made James take over, which he did willingly (being much better at handling complaints\unexpected errors). So now I have a Canadian phone number, I am on pay as you go, on a blackberry plan at $40 a month, but I have to top up more than that to cover the payment. Phew, maybe I should have just stayed with o2 & incurred some horrendous international charges. I hope everything isn’t as complicated as this!

On the plus side, that’s all sorted. The dog had a haircut today making her look like a Schnauzer in a skirt (she’s a Cairn Terrier) & I bought Zumba for the Wii. Lush.

Sleeping on a deflated lilo…

I have returned from my camping trip to Osoyoos. My tan has been topped up nicely & everything smells brilliantly tenty. What a great long weekend!

The view from our tent

Our campsite (Nk’ Mip) was gorgeous, we had a tent pitch right by the lake, under the shade of a willow tree. Putting up our ten man tent (to sleep 4) was remarkably easy, despite the dog winding her lead round all the guy ropes, which in hindsight wasn’t the worst thing she did all weekend!

We spent Saturday setting up our pitch and swimming in the incredibly shallow Lake Osoyoos. Even I could touch the bottom! The sun set too quickly for my liking (being a sun worshipper) & soon we were throwing on jumpers to keep warm as the moon & stars came out. A few glasses of wine later & I was rolling onto my lilo, as the airbed had a hole in. Little did I know, the lilo did too…

I awoke to bright blue sky & an aching back where I’d slept on the cup holder. I didn’t let this bother me & emerged from the tent to have some tea & a delicous cooked breakfast. Sunday was another scorcher, spent mostly floating on the lake & trying to stop the dog from barking at jet skis every 5 minutes, like I said, almost pulling the tent down didn’t compare to her constant yapping at almost every watercraft that passed our pitch.

Cute now, but wait for the jet skis...

I ventured out onto the lake in our canoe on Sunday too. I wasn’t overly keen as my past experiences of this canoe didn’t exactly hold many fun memories (they involved the dog jumping out to chase ducks & almost capsizing us). This time however, the lake was quiet & I really enjoyed it. Another reason I was apprehensive was that it had already been tipped over that day, by another camper in our group who thought he was helping.

Sunday afternoon we went on a rattlesnake hunt, taking the dog with us for her walk. The hunt was cut short after she walked through a prickly bush & got covered in spikes. With that we headed back to camp. We spent the evening looking up at the stars & trying to work out if we could see shooting stars, planes or satellites.

Monday soon arrived & we took down the tent, put the canoe on the roof & were ready to go. Our departure from Osoyoos was slightly delayed by the car & its flat battery. After a few jump starts, it sprang back to life & we set off home, stopping at Tickleberry’s in OK Falls for some ice cream along the way.

If you think their chairs are big you should see the size of their ice creams!

We arrived home with no further problems (other than the dog clawing at my legs whenever the car stopped) & unpacked. It was still baking hot so we went down to the beach; a great way to end the long weekend.

Who invented jet lag?!

I’ll tell you one thing for free – I’m not in love with jet lag.

 

It’s day 5 of my 364 days in Canada, & I’ve unfortunately been awake since 6.15am. So here I am, about to launch into a recount of what has happened so far since my arrival. Read on if you like, but it might be what I like to call ‘snoozeworthy’…

 

I arrived Saturday August 27th at Vancouver airport to warm sunshine & an incredibly long immigration queue. I had already been awake for longer than I’d like, so I wasn’t overly cheerful at being faced with the ‘line-up’ (I got strange looks when I referred to it as a queue!). After less time than I’d expected, I was at the desk, greeted rather gruffly by the immigration officer. After a few questions about what I intended to do while in their country I was told I needed to move on to step two. Panic set in slightly when I saw the line-up for ‘step two’. It was about three times the length of the first line-up, & I had a flight to catch in an hour & a half. Needless to say, I missed my connecting flight. However, having a family to stay with upon arrival in Canada really is brilliant, & I was booked onto the next plane to Kelowna.

Later that evening (after I’d been awake for close to 22 hours) I touched down in Kelowna. After a 45 minute drive I was ‘home’. I only had to wait another three hours until my boyfriend would be back from work, & after 12 weeks of waiting, that couldn’t come soon enough! Being with him again (sick bags at the ready!) made me realise that although this coming year wasn’t necessarily going to be easy, with him by my side it wouldn’t be as difficult as I’d built it up to be. Dinner was a blur of chat & laughter, until I choked on some broccoli. Honestly, I can’t even eat without something going wrong. I was so happy to crawl into bed that night, & slept like a log. Apart from the coughing every now & then. Wretched broccoli.

 

Sunday came & went in a sleep deprived haze of scorching sun, swimming in the lake & eating sandwiches. Although being stung by a wasp certainly woke me up…

Monday & Tuesday too have passed without me really even noticing what I’ve been doing, other than skyping my family (& feeling very proud of my dad for remembering how to use it!) & drinking gallons of tea.

 

So much lies ahead, but for now I’m going to enjoy the sunshine I can see through the window. What happens, happens (let’s just hope no broccoli or wasps are involved!).

The long awaited arrival

Here I sit, gazing out of the living room window at the beautiful Okanagan Lake, realising that writing a blog is harder than I first thought! Still, here goes nothing…

 

I first decided to apply for a visa to work in Canada at the beginning of 2011, after learning my boyfriend had been granted his permanent residency. 8 months & a lot of money later, my tiny feet stepped on to Canadian soil, my work visa was stapled into my passport & I was ready to go!

Will it be as easy as I’m hoping? Or am I mad for giving up a job I love to trek halfway across the globe? I guess only time will tell!