In this post, I will share the story of how I decided to travel from Australia to Ireland via Canada in 2024, and the leadup to this intrepid adventure of a lifetime.
I’m currently sitting in my private dorm room accommodation at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. I’ve been in the capital of BC for four days now, and Canada for eighteen days. In just two weeks, I have spent time in Vancouver, the Okanagan Valley, Banff and 100 Mile House. By the time I got to Vancouver Island, I was very much ready for a break. I have been sightseeing around the city of Victoria, but more on that later. This is the first opportunity I’ve had to sit down and write something about this trip.
In this blog series, I am going to take you along as I travel to Ireland via Canada. But first, I’m going to tell you where it all began.
In December 2022, I made the decision to do a working holiday in Ireland in 2024. I had wanted to do trip this since 2019. I was inspired years earlier after watching Long Way Round, a British TV series documenting the 31,000 km journey of Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor from London to New York City on motorcycles. They travelled eastwards through Europe and Asia, flew to Alaska and continued by road to New York.
Everywhere is a long way from Australia, whether I decided to go northwest through Asia and Europe or northeast through Canada. I had wanted to visit my Canadian friend Janine since we met on a Britain and Ireland Topdeck Tour in 2012, so I decided to set my path to Ireland via Canada.
Inspiration turns to Commitment
In late 2022 I had started seeing a guy who I’ll refer to as W. We were set up by mutual friends, and had a lot in common- I was a writer, and he loved reading. Things were moving steadily along, unfolding at a much gentler pace than my previous relationship. Things seemed to be going well. W seemed keen- he diligently sent me good morning and goodnight messages, and we texted frequently during the day.
I invited him to come along to the end-of-term performance night at the circus school where I trained aerial hoop. In the week leading up to the event, W’s daily text messages, while still consistent, felt less interested. He repeatedly mentioned how busy he was at work, and this was only going to increase moving into the New Year. He usually worked at home on Fridays, but a few days before the performance night he claimed he had to work in the office and couldn’t make it to the event.
Just as I was about to take the stage for my aerial and hula hoop showcase performance, I checked my phone. W had sent a text message stating he wasn’t ready for a relationship.
I pushed through my performance, but spent the rest of the night crying. W’s sudden withdrawal seemed contradictory to the apparent positive progression of our connection.
Later that night, as I sat with my mum crying, I made the decision to do a working holiday in Ireland.
W’s lack of commitment led me to finally commit to myself and my travel dream
After W, I decided to take the break from dating that I desperately needed. I had been dating on and off for the past two years, and while I had cared very much for some of those people, deep down I knew I couldn’t settle until I did this trip.
My long-time partner of nine years had not had the burning desire for travel that I did, certainly not to to do a working holiday. I was now single, and had a second chance to go on this adventure. In December 2022, I committed to the goal.
It took me awhile to start planning for my working holiday in Ireland. Initially, I felt overwhelmed by the idea, and didn’t know where to start. I read articles online about selling everything and moving abroad. I read Home Sweet Anywhere, a memoir by Lynne Martin who decided with her husband Tim to sell their house and possessions and live abroad full-time. Their story was vastly different to mine- they were self-funded retirees staying in hotels, and I would be a backpacker on a budget. But I did have one takeaway from this book, which was to spend a few weeks after moving to a new place to adjust to the new living situation before launching into exploration of one’s surroundings. To build the foundations of the new home and establish the basic routines of the new life.
I had a car, a bedroom’s worth of belongings, and a small pantry of groceries. This still felt like a sizable amount to pack and sell. What I found most daunting was the idea of selling my car. I hadn’t even bought it on my own. My dad could help me, but he lived two and a half hours’ drive away on the Sunshine Coast.
Before I could think about selling anything and going anywhere, I still had to save up a few hundred dollars more to meet the reserve amount required to apply for my Irish Working Holiday Authorisation. When I reached this goal, I then saved up enough to renew my passport. Once this was done, I gathered the personal documents I needed to apply for the authorisation-copies of my birth certificate, drivers licence, healthcare card, and copies of my resume and professional qualifications. I sent these away with my application form and passport to the Embassy of Ireland in Canberra. I received my Authorisation in the post with my returned passport a week later.
After I decided to do this trip, I proceeded to have the most expensive year of my single adult life. First up was a $170 fine for parking on a nature strip outside W’s apartment complex. A spot he had told me was okay to park. Another sign from the Universe not to go back there.
I then had a costly service on my car, including replacing all four tyres. The car would need more work done, and I was counting on getting a tax refund to pay for it. Not only did I not get a tax refund later that year, but ended up with a tax bill to pay instead.
These issues were trivial compared to what was to come. In early March, I had to make an emergency move out of the sharehouse I lived in with an alcoholic drug addict.
Regardless of all these challenges, I diligently continued to save what money I could when I could.
In late August I applied for a writer’s residency in Homer, Alaska. If I was successful, my idea was to start my travel adventure there, and then move onto Canada, and then to Ireland. I was aware throughout the process that there was a significant chance I would not be accepted for the residency, but clung to the possibility that I would. I envisioned receiving the letter of acceptance.
In early November 2023, I learned I had not been successful in my application for the residency. There had been 900 other applicants. It was not meant to be this time.
Amidst my disappointment, my travel plan needed to be re-assessed. I had researched other writers residencies and retreats in Alaska, but I wouldn’t hear back from them about whether I was successful until February-March 2024. I wanted to start planning and booking flights. So I shelved the idea of an Alaskan residency or retreat for the time being. I contemplated flying straight to Ireland to get my working holiday underway, but my heart was still being pulled to Canada, so I set about charting my course there.
In the next post, I will share how I planned my intrepid trip to Canada, from the West to the East Coast.
Kate Kelsen 