Vancouver, eh?

I’m starting a new blog for Canada!  Here’s the link: http://www.vancouvereh.wordpress.com

Check it out if you want to see what becomes of Will and I in Vancouver, Canada!

My Canadian visa is in hand!

I received my holiday work visa to Canada today!! Yay!  It is official: Jacqueline is going to the land of ice hockey and maple syrup.  To live. And work. For at least 6 months.

So, what’s next?  Not sure, really.  I don’t know what I’m going to do for housing or employment yet, I suppose just take it one step at a time, right?  Will and I are debating whether to get jobs first, and locate housing near our jobs, or find housing first, then do the job search.  Comments?  Suggestions?  My argument is that most job applications require an address… but, of course, that can be turned around, in that most landlords want proof of employment before they rent.

For my visa to be valid, I have to enter Canada by the 15th of February, which is extremely inconvenient considering the Olympics start the 12th, and Will may not have his visa until mid-February.  Ah well, can’t anticipate everything.  That’s why Victoria might be a better option for jobs and housing, we’ll have to see!

Canada

Will and I have been trying to figure out how to be together in spite of the obvious we-live-in-different-countries thing.  Our answer? Temporary work visas.  Oh yeah.

So we narrowed it down to two options: Canada or New Zealand.  Flights to New Zealand are rediculously expensive, but it would be relatively easy for us both to get temporary work permits there.  The other, and more appealing option, is Canada.  Will and I, because we were recently full-time students, are eligible for a temporary work program for students called SWAP.  So it’s time to pack my skis and mittens because it looks like I’m headed to Canada in February!!

More to follow soon

Will had a great time visiting me in Seattle last week, and he’s looking forward to giving the Vancouver area a look!

Seattle

Well, I made it back to Seattle safe and sound.  It feels good to be home, but I’m missing Will like crazy!!!  His visit to Seattle can’t come soon enough!

It’s been an awesome trip; I saw so many new places, made a bunch of new friends, and experienced a bunch of different cultures and I wouldn’t take it back for the world (especially not Belfast: best decision I ever made!).  I definitely caught the travel bug, and I’m sure I’ll be building on this blog or starting a new one before you know it!  Next stop may be New Zealand, Australia, Canada, or England.  Maybe somewhere else.  Basically wherever Will and I can get visas to together!  Time will tell!

Wales and England

At the museum in Cardiff

Cardiff Bay

Will has a very steady hand for photos

About to climb through the Brecon Beacons

I was being held up by the wind here

Will, hiking

Hiking

A castle we stopped by on our way to Bath

Will kicking some butt

Monica playing pool

Will :)

Beautiful architecture

The Twinings shop in London

Les Miserables! I was practically in a box seat!

Les Mis

After the show

I can not believe that my trip is nearly at an end!! Taking this trip was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and I wouldn’t take it back for the world.  If you have the opportunity to travel Europe (or anywhere, for that matter) alone for a few months, I would highly recommend it.

Will and I finished up exploring Cardiff by spending some time in the natural history and art museum; Will befriended a few of the dinosaur fossils, aw.  The art collection (except for the impressionist works), is not worth mentioning.  The sun was about to set in an hour (at 4), again (I think that is my least favorite thing about winter), so we got a late lunch down on the Cardiff Bay marina. Apparently the bay was all artificial!  Crazy stuff.

After Cardiff, Will and I drove into the secluded, middle-of-nowhere Brecon Beacons.  Oh, and when I say “middle-of-nowhere” in reference to England or Wales, it means that a town is at least a 15 minute drive away.  We got there just after nightfall, so the hostel was a bit tricky to find in the pitch-black-darkness of…. the middle of nowhere.  The wind felt like it was that of a mild hurricane, and the hostel was an old refurbished farmhouse.

So it’s dark, windy (really windy), and spooky.  We were walking down a windy driveway to the front of the hostel, in the dark when…

…wait for it…

….a GIANT plastic bag whips across our path with the speed of a freight train!  Okay, a bit anticlimactic, but it scared the crap out of me; I screamed and jumped quite a distance off the ground.  Good times!

The hostel was actually quite cozy, and after we got some dinner from a supermarket in town, we settled in and watched some movies over a bottle of wine.

Surprisingly, the wind had only barely begun to blow the night before, and the following morning it felt 10 times stronger.  That was the day we planned to hike through the Brecon Beacons.  Against the advice of reception at the hostel (Will claimed the guy was a… “poof”?), we gave it a shot anyway.  I almost got blown off my feet a couple times near the top, so I decided to forgo actually going to the highest point.  Will wouldn’t have been satisfied if he didn’t climb all the way up, so he snapped some photographs for me.

Bath was our final stop before London, and on our way we stopped outside a castle (with an expensive admission fee), and some lame mines (that weren’t even worth getting out to look at), and listened to Westlife, again.  We arrived in Bath just after nightfall and met up with Monica.  She put us up for the night, and Will showed off his cooking skills once more by baking us some delicious stuffed chicken with pasta.  The next morning we saw the rest of Bath, I learned about fly-tipping (ask Will about it, he has a great story, but it actually means dumping trash in a public space), and in the afternoon Will and I headed towards our final destination: London.

It was a looong drive.  Unfortunately we got on the road at one of the most inconvenient times (rush-hour) and crawled towards London.  And when I say crawl, I mean crawl for half a second, stop for a few minutes, and then crawl again for half a second.  Getting dinner in Reading was a bit of a relief, and by the time we got back on the roadway, traffic had cleared significantly.

Today Will was off to Oxford for the day/night, and I entertained myself in London.  I went to buy some tea and other odds and ends on Oxford street.  I stood in line for an hour, or two I think, while trying to get half-price tickets to Les Miserables.  I kept hopping from line to line, trying to get better seats for better prices than what I’d just been offered.  It was a brutal hour and a half (it was lunch time!) but  I’d never seen Les Mis before, and the hassle was worth it, I got a great seat for a great price!  The performance was sensational!!  I can definitely see why there has always been a fuss about this musical; it is a must-see!

Now I’m off to bed, and I’m trying not to think about tomorrow as my last day (and definitely trying not to think about it as my last day with Will for a while).  On the upside, I’m so excited to see everyone Monday night!! Mom and Dad, I’ll call you tomorrow to confirm everything

Jacqueline

London

I’ll be spending my last few days here in London; Will has something to attend to in Oxford so I’m on my own for the day.  Tonight I’ll update with some pictures and stories from the past few days

Cardiff

Will, with his godson, James

Dartmoor

Will enjoying his pasty

My first Cornish Pasty

Salcombe Bay

Will is really excited about fudge

We watched the sunset in Sidmouth

Almost to Wales!

Now entering Wales!

Will and a rainbow :)

My iceskates!!!

In front of the skating rink

At the tapas restaurant

At the tapas restaurant

Will and I spent a little longer than expected at his parent’s place in Exmouth, but it was really nice to slow down and take in the scenery.  We went all over Devon and saw some of the most beautiful seaside towns in England, and last night I enjoyed another wonderful dinner (cooked by Will, of course, who is a fantastic cook) with the family.

This morning we took off towards Wales and arrived in Cardiff midday.  We found the hostel and went off towards Cardiff Castle.  According to Will, there’s not a lot to see, regarding the castle, besides the outer walls (and to be honest, I was more interested in the rainbow hovering just above the castle) so we stopped for some lunch.  After lunch, we had every intention of hitting the National Gallery, until we came across the winter carnival.  There was an ice-skating rink, and Will came up with the brilliant idea of going ice-skating.  As many of you know, I’m sure, I’ve been ice-skating about three times in my life, but hey, why not?

It was so much fun!  I wasn’t all that great, I’ll admit, but I didn’t fall once!!  That’s an accomplishment, right?  And I had a fantastic time skating with Will  Afterwards, we sipped some mulled wine and found a brewery/bar to order a few pints in.

8:30 seemed like a decent time for dinner, so we stopped at a tapas restaurant and enjoyed a light, perfectly sized dinner of tapas and wine.  Now, back at the hostel, we’re relaxing and soon will be planning our next few days in Wales!!

As sad as it will be to leave Will and England, I am really looking forward to seeing my family in less than a week, I miss you all!!

Jacqueline

Exmouth, Devon, UK

Will finding me a deer in the park

A heron

Will climbing a tree at his old university

Monica and I at dinner in Bath

Being pensive in front of the Bath Abbey

Will being thoughtful in front of the Bath Abbey

Will and I

Will and I

Will at the driving range

Will cooking me a proper English roast

British potatoes

Our English chicken roast

The past few days have been favorite from the trip so far!  Like I mentioned briefly in the last post, we started in London on Tuesday, stayed near the airport for the night, and then drove to Bath so I could visit Monica.

On our way to Bath, we stopped off at Hampton Court Palace Gardens (aka Bushy Park) because apparently there are hundreds of deer that roam about the gardens.  I love animals, so we stopped off to find some.  It wasn’t looking promising, likely due to the fact that it was cold, wet, and breezy, but then Will spotted a male’s antlers in the tall brush.  There turned out to be three of them there, and after taking a few photographs, it was a successful mission.

After the park we drove back to the “motorway” (not highway, or freeway) and had another quick stop at Will’s old university, the University of Reading (pronounced “reding”).  We took a look around the campus and ate lunch on campus, before our final drive towards Bath.

Finding the hostel was a bit of a nightmare (they have very narrow streets which cause humorous but frustrating maneuvering) and after checking in we literally ran to the city centre to meet Monica for dinner.  She suggested a reputable Italian restaurant and we chatted over dinner, a bottle of wine, and tiramisu for a couple hours.  A cheap pub was the last stop of the night, and I’m looking forward to seeing Monica when we stop back through Bath on our way down from Wales.

While in the city centre the next day, we saw the abbey and ate one of the most amazing breakfasts I’d ever had at a small cafe down by the water.  We ended up sitting near Bath’s rugby teams, one of the most reputable in all of England, according to Will.

It was a wet drive to Bristol, but during a few dry periods we stopped at some gorgeous outlooks in the city.  We drove across the Clifton Suspension Bridge and then went through the city to find some talked-up cider.  Will kept talking about how this was the best cider, and it took us an hour to find the place after getting disoriented from parking, only to get to a closed restaurant.  Luckily we had some hot beverages in the mall while waiting for the rain to subside.

Last night we arrived in Exmouth, Will’s hometown, and stayed at his home for the night.  He cooked me a great English chicken roast.  Yum!  This morning he indulged me with some more of his culinary mastery by preparing a fluffy omelet and cream tea.  Today I’m going to learn about rugby!

I’m not sure how long we’ll be hanging out in Exmouth, but with the biggest storm of the year thus far rolling in, it might be slightly longer than expected

Jacqueline

Roadtrip!

I am on the road trip of a lifetime right now with the most amazing Englishman, Will!  We’re about to go shopping for food to make dinner with, and I’ll upload some photos soon.

Wednesday we drove from London to Bath to visit Monica (and pulled over to a deer park on the way, Bushy Park I think, and I saw three deer); we ate at a famous Italian restaurant and enjoyed some pints afterwards.  We might stop back through Bath on our way back down through Wales.

Yesterday we drove through Bristol and stopped at a bunch of beautiful lookouts over the city and river.  Will got excited because we had breakfast at a table next to the Bath rugby team (Will is really into rugby).

Finishing up in Dublin

I’ve fit in all the last-minute sights here in Dublin! I uploaded another video from Belfast; you can check it out in the post below this one. I think it’s pretty funny, and I thought people would get some amusement out of it.

My flight to London leaves here at 6:55 tomorrow evening and I can hardly wait! Then I’m hitting the road to see most of Southwest England and Wales with Will On Wednesday I’m stopping by Bath to visit Monica; she’ll be the first person from home I’ve seen in months! I’m not sure how much of a chance I’ll get to blog, but I’ll do my best to keep in touch. I think I’ll go to bed now so that tomorrow will arrive quicker.

Jacqueline