Category: Uncategorized

The End of a Chapter

I’m writing this while sitting at the airport in Hong Kong, waiting for the flight that will take me back to Canada after almost 6 months in Asia. There are no more routes to plan, hotels to find, or new currencies wrap my head around. Instead there is only time to sit back, relax, and reflect on the journey, and what a journey it’s been!

Almost a year ago I made the decision to quit my job, pack my life up, and embark on this trip. During that time I’ve seen some incredible places (being the only one around for miles on the Dempster Highway and seeing the arctic circle) and things (Sunrise at Angkor Wat and Adam’s Peak) and met some wonderful people.

It’s not always been positive, as a traveller in some places you’re often seen as a walking bank and harassed to check out my shop (who knew I had so many friends) , that you can’t walk anywhere and need a tuk tuk (despite my rebuffs of the other 12 tuktuks right beside you), or the blatant scams (it’s why I F*@king hated Colombo). I also missed my family and friends and being around for the good and bad. But all and all was it worth it? Absolutely!!!! Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Am I a better person for taking this trip? I think so.

I feel that this trip thrust me out of my comfort zone, and by doing so it honed a lot of the characteristics I like about myself and that my time in Edmonton had dulled. I embraced my sense of adventure and learned to scuba dive, I ate bugs (more than once), or I got up at god awful times of day to hike. I realized I’m more sociable and better at making friends than I thought (otherwise this would have been a lonely trip) and that I’m much more resourceful and resilient than I thought. I think this trip gave me the time to get perspective on my life and it made me aware of who I am and what I want out of life. It let me grow again and in doing so made me feel like I can be more than what I was.

And so I’m coming back to Canada but I’m not going back to the life I had. I’ve got a new job lined up in a new city. I’m excited to have a routine and to be doing meaningful and important work. I’m also looking forward to being in one place for more than a few days, and all the depth of experiences that can only come with being in one place. But I’m also looking forward to exploring a new city and keeping this sense of adventure alive!

Does this mean I’ll quit travelling? Never! My backpack will probably beacon me to hit the open road every time I see it ( I may need to hide it) but for now I’m excited for this next chapter.

Thanks for coming along on this journey, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

One last sunset

P.S. I promise I’ll get around to posting about the rest of my trip at somepoint!

Welcome

I’m starting this blog while sitting on a beach on the island of Koh Samui. If you would have asked me six months ago if I could imagine this is where I’d be, I would have said no way – and yet sitting here it feels so right.

I had a good enough job where I managing the day-to-day logistics of getting a clinical trial setup for a cancer therapy. We were doing good work, I generally liked my boss and coworkers, believed in the project, but I needed something new.

I’m starting this blog while sitting on a beach on the island of Koh Samui. If you would have asked me six months ago if I could imagine this is where I’d be, I would have said no way – and yet sitting here it feels so right.

I had a good enough job where I managed the day-to-day logistics of getting a clinical trial setup for a cancer therapy. We were doing good work, I generally liked my boss and coworkers, believed in the project, but I needed something new.

Plane about to land on Koh Samui

After much deliberation I decided on weekend in April that Monday morning I would tender my resignation letter and leave when my current contract was up at the end of June.

And so, after three trips to my bosses office that morning I tendered my resignation. The question was – what next?

Did I find a new job in Edmonton? Did I move to a new city? Did I start living in a cardboard box down by the river? In the weeks that followed I sent a few applications out but didn’t find anything that particularly screamed – this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. The one thing that I kept coming back to is that I wanted to travel.

I had been on a few amazing trips over the years and had seen some incredible places, but always had school or a job that I had to come back to.  Perhaps this was the time when I truly had the freedom to go where and when I wanted. So I ceased job searching and set out to wrap up my life in Edmonton.

I decided I would leave for SE Asia in the fall and see where the road takes me. This blog aims to outline these travels. Thanks for coming along on the ride and don’t forget to the sunscreen!