Get Up And Go!

When I arrived for a year of adventure in Canada, I had not anticipated that I would be able to add 'Beluga Kayaking Guide' to my CV, but then again most jobs I fall into are a bit of a surprise and have often made my travels more fantastic than if I had simply been able to afford to travel without having to work.
For this reason, I have never resented having to work as I make my way around the world, on the contrary I love the variety of each new job as much as the excitement of discoving a new area of the world.

I have been travelling, solo, with a great friend and for the last five years with my gorgeous Australian boyfriend through several new countries each year, discovering the most amazing sites, wildlife, people, history, art, music, languages & cultures - its like living in National Geographic every day, and we manage to do this with no credit cards, no loans, no bailouts from lovely parents back home. There is no stress about where the money will come from for the next flight or the next hostel, as there is always a way to make money and there is always work available, it is simply how you look for it, what you are willing to do and how creative and proactive you are with your skills.

I hope this blog will help those who may be a little nervous about taking off on an adventure with little funds, or who have been led to believe that you have to save for years before you can start backpacking - all you need to do is get your visa, your flight and your backpack - then just go!!

I have been a receptionist, a rockclimbing instuctor, a ski area presenter, a promo chick, a bar prop, a restaurant manager, a website designer, a housesitter, a personal trainer, a lettuce picker, a boat cleaner and a hundred other jobs, some great, some tough, some miserable, some well paid, some crimnally paid, but all bringing me into contact with great people, hilarious times and wonderful places.
To work in the middle of the rocky mountains in Canada I was a waitress and housekeeper, tiring, uninspiring work at times, but when you can hike up a mountain on your break and see bears and wolves when you're done for the day - who minds what work you have to do when it can bring you such a fabulous place.

There are perks of so many jobs - in a ski field you often get a season pass and in the best ones, free rentals of all your gear. Hospitality work leads to free meals, and a bizarre mixture of freebees that get given out at balls, banquets and conferences and are often thrown away or given to staff afterwards. I worked for one great catering firm who always gave all the pre-paid wines and beers that had not been used to the staff to take home along with boxes of left over canapes - the other people in the hostel loved my job, I was like a walking party arriving home each night.

When you work for small companies, they quickly become your friends and we have been treated so often with great kindness and hospitality, we have been taken on amazing trips to see local highlights, gone skidooing across moonlit fields, been taken whale watching been invited to parties, festivals, socials, weddings and so many fantabulous times that we would never had been asked to as a tourist simply passing through.