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It seems like there’s been a lot of “this is what I’ve done in 2015” post from travel bloggers. Yes it’s the 1st 7th day of January and I’m a little late to the party, but I figured I should do a recap of what I’ve done the past year. It is nice to kind of look back and see where I’ve been, and where I’m going this year and why I decree 2016 my year of awesome. There will be more from my time in Madrid, Spain and Helsinki, Finland soon.

My 2015 Travels

In March a friend and I took a winter road trip to Saskatoon where we went to a local museum, froze our butts off, saw a hockey game and I got to have dinner with some of my family. In July I spent my birthday weekend in Drumheller and The Canadian Badlands where I saw two amazing theatre performances. In August I drove out to Vancouver with a friend who lives there, and had a nice visit. Sometimes a small change of scenery is a nice. We even managed to get to Washington State (for 15 minutes…more on that later). For my big trip I spent a week in Madrid Spain, then a couple days in Helsinki Finland (and a brief 17 hours in Frankfurt, Germany) this fall. The last few months I’ve been at home, working, dog sitting for a family friend, and getting ready for my next adventures.

2016 The Year of Awesome

I made a photo calendar for 2016 last month, and I named it 2016 – The Year of Awesome. Since then I’ve declared that 2016 will be a year of awesome for me. See there have been some big plans in the works, but I haven’t announced all until now.

First up is the trip I’ve talked about before. In March I’ll be heading to Hong Kong and Japan for 2 weeks. This will be my first time to Asia. I have 6 days in Hong Kong, and 7 days in Japan (I arrive and depart from Tokyo, and I’m still debating whether I should go to Kyoto or save that for another trip). I can hardly believe this trip will be happening in less than two months. I’m nervous, but excited, which is how I am before every trip.

The big new though is that I bought a one-way ticket to London, England for the summer. How? Why? What? Well a while back I was invited to a Westjet media launch at The Fairmont Hotel McDonald. Westjet was announcing a new flight route across several cities in Canada to Dublin, Ireland. As a thank you everyone at these events across Canada got a 50% off a Westjet flight coupon (a few people even won themselves a free flight like Melissa from Suitcase and Heels).

I did some searching and found a one-way ticket to London for $200. At first I tried searching for a round trip deal, but the return price got really expensive (went up to about $900), but then I thought what if I don’t buy a return ticket?

This might seem crazy at first, but one thing I’ve always wanted to do is work and live abroad. There are a lot of ways to do this (I’ve read a lot of blogs), but the idea of a Working Holiday Visa sounded like a good solution. The problem is that most countries will only let you do a working holiday visa until you’re 30. There are however some exceptions like Ireland (as well as New Zealand, Germany, and a few other countries) where you can do a working holiday visa until you’re 35.

In July I turn 32. Getting a working holiday visa is one of those opportunities that I either have to take now, or not take and regret forever. Since London is relatively close to Ireland my plan is fly into London, spend a few days there, maybe go to Edinburgh for The Fringe Festival (a festival I’ve always wanted to attend) and then fly to to Dublin (or maybe Galway or Cork…not sure) where I can spend up to two years on a working holiday visa.

Will I stay in Ireland there for two years? It’s hard to say, but I’m hoping to be there for at least a year. Currently I’m crunching numbers and figuring out how much to save (I’ve got a good start), where to go, what to do. This is all very new for me and there are still a lot of things to do before I get there (like actually getting the working holiday visa…fingers crossed).

Once I’m in Ireland I’ll find a place to live and a job. I’d like a steady stream of writing and freelancing income while I’m there, but likely I’ll also be looking for a local job, maybe in the hospitality or food services industry (where I have some experience). Hopefully I’ll be able to explore more of Ireland and the rest of the UK this year. If I can find some cheap flights maybe I’ll be able to see some more of Europe, maybe even more.

Lots of stuff is up in the air, which is how I felt looking forward to 2015 at the end of 2014. While back then I was feeling a little despondent about that year (despite some awesome travels I did) I feel like 2015 was a great year, and while I don’t have everything mapped out for 2016 I have some big plans and I’m looking forward to a year of awesome.

What about you dear reader. Where are you planning to go in 2016?

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