Surf's up!

I am obsessed with surfing. I've been obsessed with it even before I learned how to surf. I first tried it when I was in La Jolla, CA., and I was hooked ever since.

Surfing is also one of the main reasons I decided to go to Australia in 2009. I surfed on the coast of Kangaroo Island, along the Great Ocean Road, and also down in the Fleurieu Peninsula! While I was on vacation in Bali, I also got to ride the waves at Kuta Beach! Hopefully, Transat Holidays can send me to my next surf destination!

Besides surfing the waves, I also thoroughly enjoy surfing couches! Couches...yes. Couchsurfing.org is an amazing non-profit network of travellers worldwide, and I've been a part of this tight-knit, super friendly and hospitable community since 2007. The site can be used to promote cultural exchanges, establish and maintain friendships, and of course, help you find some free accommodation!

I first heard about CS through some friends who had just been travelling around the world. Immediately after, I registered on the website and hosted my first 4 couchsurfers in the same weekend, and fell in love with the types of people I was meeting, and the wonder experiences they were sharing with me. As an avid traveller, it's always nice to meet people who are passionate about the same thing you are, conversations just flow into the wee hours of the morning, and you part ways feeling like you've made a new best friend.

Here are a few of my favourite couchsurfers/couchsurfing experiences:

Dom

Coolest German guy to sleep on our floor, in fact, we liked him so much that we let him crash on there for a full week. He was just starting out his around the world trip, Toronto being his first stop, when he stumbled upon my place. He was a nurse, he was also went to "clown school" so he had a heap of juggling material in his backpack and he was happy to teach us this unique skill. Well, Dom stumbles a lot actually, cause while he was out enjoying the city with my roommate, and showing her a little jig in the streets, he broke his ankle. Definitely didn't stop him from travelling. About 6 months later, he sends a couple of German girls, whom he met in NZ, just finishing their around the world trip to surf our couches. We still keep in touch, and today, Dom and one of the girls are married.

Tim

Oh Tim...showed up at my house one day and basically never left. Tim from Australia came to Canada looking for work and a place to live. A fun-loving, easy-going adventurous guy, he was couchsurfing all around Toronto (he surfed my couch twice!) before finally moving in permanently not too long after. Always had the best youtube clips. When I went to Oz, I ended up couchsurfing with his parents!

Karyn

Karyn has the best house in Prince Edward Island. Hands down. She was the most gracious host, gave us the best info on the coolest places to hit on the island, and just let me and my friend come and go as we pleased. Karyn also designed and made stage costumes for a living, and while we were there, she was working on a Anne of Green Gables production, and gave us so much insight and history about it. PLUS, we got our own beds, and she let us eat out of her fridge!

So, the sum of all this, check out both types of surfing because they both provide for absolutely enriching experiences. You can read about this all you like but there's nothing like diving right in, and getting your feet wet!

Creatures I encountered in Australia...(part 1)

One of my favourite things about Australia is the wide variety of animals you can run into! Living in a city like Toronto, it's not everyday that you get to come across wild and exotic animals. Well, there's Maria's yappy chihuahua downstairs...but it's just not the same.

So I thought I'd share a few pics of some of the rather interesting things (dead or alive) I came across during my trip that was close to the water.

Some type of blowfish. Wineglass Bay, Tassie

Skeletal Remains of a Massive Turtle on an Island off of Western Australia.

I'm not sure what this is. I don't even know how to google for its name. But they hissed.

Me with a baby pig-nosed Turtle.

Starfishes. Freycinet National Park.

If anyone knows the name of that scary black hissing thing, please leave me a comment. I'd love to find out what it is once and for all! Look out for another entry on cool creatures I encountered in Australia. If you're lucky...I may put one up of the renowned Drop Bear!

Potentially the longest day of November so far...

When I submitted my video application for the Transat Holidays Vacationer last night, it was a massive sigh of relief...for about a minute. Then I realized there's still a long road ahead of me for the rest of the interview process. Today, the hours have been ticking away very...very...very...very slowly while I sat and waited by my phone call from the Transat Selection committee...

Needless to say, I had a lot of time to think. For this application video, we were asked to profile a local tourist attraction so I spent all my time focusing on the hot spots in Toronto. But if I could've done the video anywhere in Canada (and I had an extra couple of grand in my pocket), I probably would've flown out to Whistler, BC!

I was out there earlier this year during the Winter Olympics and it absolutely blew my mind. For one, just driving through the Rockies is an amazing experience on its own. If you've never been, I strongly suggest the drive (I did that drive THREE times on that trip). Being in the valleys between these massive pieces of Earth for hours on end is an overwhelming experience. Really puts us in our place.

Then, once you're there and take the ski lifts all the way up, you're literally on top of the world! There's nothing but the sky, clouds, wind, snow, mountain, and a view that allows you to see miles and miles out. You become so in tune with your surroundings, and everything is peaceful.

But the main reason why I want to get out west again...the snowboarding, of course!! As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, winter is nearly upon us, and when you live in a really cold country, you just gotta embrace it. Nothing like a sunny day out in the powder!

Hmm...maybe Transat Holidays has a sweet two week winter vacation package waiting for the ultimate vacationers...

My video application!

After hours and hours of shooting and editing, here is my entry for the Vacationer job at Transat Holidays! It's been a lot of hard work, late nights, and youtubing other candidates' videos, but it was all worth it. This video was super fun to make and I just want to give a shout out to Transat Holidays for providing all of us dreamers/travellers/wanderlust-ers an opportunity to showcase ourselves like this!

Before I forget, I want to give a BIG MASSIVE shout out to Segway Ontario at the Distillery District. (check out their youtube channel) for teaching me how to use a Segway safely, and letting me goof around with it. I know this may be a bit of a tease...but I got quite a bit of footage while I had the Segway, so I may or may not be making a lil' video treat for ya in the near future...Excited?!?!

The Imminent, Cold, Canadian winter has got me itching to travel...

So stoked that my video application for Transat Holidays' Vacationer gig is almost done! It's been a really fun and inspiring process (and who knew it would take so long to put together a 2 minute video) and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to do this! It really got my creative juices flowing, and one of my favourite parts of prepping this video was sorting through all my travel pics and reliving all those memories. I'm not quite the scrapbooking type, so my photos are kinda all sitting in a folder withnames like "travelling pt 3 214.jpg" haha.

Plakias, Isle of Crete, Greece

Absolutely lovely little town on the southern coast of Crete w

ith a population of 139 (atleast that's what it was back in 2005). Just the quietest little getaway: you can easily spend your afternoons at incredible beaches sitting next to the perfect aqua blue that is the Mediterranean Sea, or get yourself lost hiking through the lush and plentiful mountains with hidden waterfalls. Oh, and the 3 Euro-for-1.5L of organic wine at the hostel didn't hurt either!

Barcelona, Spain

Even after a hellish overnight train ride, it only took me 10 minutes of walking in the city to completely revitalize my physical and mental well-being! Barcelona has held its place strongly as my favourite European city. The Gaudi architecture around town is just astounding, and the streets are always brimming with beautiful people and vibrant colours. Oh, how I miss thee...

Melbourne, Australia

Oz is a second home to me. I daydream about going there everyday. Melbourne just epitomizes everything I love about Australia. Beautiful, multicultural, and everything you can ever want to do/eat/see at your finger tips. It's got an amazing art scene, cool musos playing all over town, incredible shopping, and locals pack their cars with a beach kit...for after work. And my personal fave, the Great Ocean Road is just an 1.5 hours away. SURF!

I've got a big smile on my face just thinking about my travels. Transat Holidays, send me out there already!