As I write this I have just touched down in Canada. I’m Back!

Last summer was my first time here and I really fell in love with the country, the people and the landscape. When I got home last year I just knew that I would be back, so much so that I applied for my Canadian 2-year work travel permit almost as soon as I got home so I could come back for longer. Applying is done in 2 stages, the first being to say that you are interested in getting a visa and then you are invited to apply by the Canadian government to put in all your documents and pay the fee. After this, it is just a waiting game to see if you will get accepted. I think in total from my first applying it took about 8 weeks for me to get my confirmation that I had been approved to get a permit. You get a letter that you have to bring with you to the airport along with travel insurance and proof that you have a certain amount in your account. When you get to the airport you give all of these documents to the Customs official and they then decided whether to give you the visa or not.

I am happy to say that I got my Visa with no problems yesterday, so Canada you are stuck with me for 2 years. It is actually quite an easy process if you have everything you need and then you can work and travel around Canada. Here is the website if any of you want to take a better look or are thinking about it, where you can get all the information.

With my visa approved I looked to what I would do and there was really only one answer for my first job and that was CAMP. I fell in love with this way of life last year and knew that I wanted to go back again. I applied again to NYQUEST as I wanted to head to a different camp somewhere knew and they are just amazing helping with any problems that you have. I’m pretty sure I talked to nearly every single person in the NYQUEST office last year with different questions and they always did their best to help in any way possible. With all that accepted and interviews done I ended up getting a job offer for a camp in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia which was very exciting. It is a Tim Horton Children’s Foundation camp and so works with children from low-income families to give them a chance to go to camp. It is going to be a new experience for me but I am so excited to get started.  With my offer and visa ready all I had to do was book my flights to Halifax and get ready for camp again. I got my flights sorted and after around 2 weeks at home to see the family I was off again for my next adventure and very excited about it.

And so, I am here in Halifax currently sitting, waiting to check into my hostel after a very long day of travel yesterday. From leaving Ireland at 11am to then a cancelled flight from Boston which turned out to just be a changed plane to then a 5 hour wait in to Boston, arriving into Halifax at 10pm, then waiting to go through immigration when I finally booked into my hotel for the night at 11am all I wanted to do was fall into bed. I was so happy that past me had booked the hotel which was right at the airport and so I didn’t have to walk very far or think about anything to get there.  The hotel was the Alt Hotel right in Halifax and I couldn’t recommend it enough, it is slightly more expensive than other hotels by the airport but it is right in the airport and so for convenience it is perfect. Also, the bed was probably one of the comfiest beds that I have ever been in. After almost 24 hours of being awake, I got to the room and fell into bed asleep right away.

This morning I was up bright and early to have some breakfast and then get the bus from the airport to downtown. Now I am just going explore Halifax for a few days and get all my social security and bank sorted before heading to camp on Sunday.

Stay tuned for what I get up to in Halifax and the adventures I am going to get up to in Canada over the next 2 years.

Emma

xx