Ile d'Orleans

Hi,
This week I went on a adventure on the beautiful Ile d'Orleans near Quebec City.
Why I'm here you will learn in another blog :)
So Ive been up to some amazing things on this little island.

A must see is actually just of the island, but worth the trip.
The Montmorency falls, who I"ve heard are 30m higher than the Niagara falls but of course not as wide. There is a bridge hanging over the falls and thats where I was. I'm really afraid of heights so this was a big deal for me, all by myself. But I did it and proud that i did :)
The view on the side of the falls was beautiful and breath taking. The view on the other side I didn't liked so much, but thats because you really felt/saw how high you were. It was nice but I was to scared to fully enjoy it. I went down on a lookout post to enjoy feeling and hearing to power of the waterfall. I just love nature so much and there you just felt the power of it.

The other day I decided to go to a tasting and because I love fruit I went to try out some cassis.
I went to Cassis Monna et filles and had an amazing time.
I did a little walk till there cause the weather was just so nice.
You had a little restaurant, an ice cream bar and the shop. Also you had a barn to learn more about what they do there and a little workshop area.
First I went to have the tasting, for only 2,50$ you could taste 3 wines and 1 liquor. They all tasted so good, I even liked it more than regular wine :)
You could also taste for free all of their other products, like ketchup, mustard (yes also made with cassis), but also confiture and compote. It was all just so good.
After all the tasting I went to the ice cream bar and had some cassis ice cream, who was so good and refreshing on a hot day like this. Just ate it on their beanie bag with an amazing view.

On my way to the tasting I've found a little hidden way, so I decided to go and explore it.
It was a way down, I think if I would've continue following it I would end by the water. But I just did a little walk into the little forest.

I had an amazing time on the island and would recommend it to people who are near to Quebec city. It's only a 20min drive and worth your time.

Love,
Sarah

Montreal

Hi,

The past days I've been looking for a job and place to stay for the summer time.
I found a place to stay (still waiting on last details), but still looking for a job.
Saturday I will leave for 2 weeks to Ile d'Orleans for a volunteering job in a motel.
I will keep you posted on how that goes :)
After those 2 weeks I'll go volunteering in a small town moving a back down a bit, to help with dogs and feeding cows. Looking forward to that.
And end of june I'll go back to Montreal to stay at the place I found and hopefully start working in a job I'm still looking for. If anyone has some tips about jobs, it's more than welcome.

But meanwhile I've still been up to visiting a bit more of this beautiful city.
The part I love the most is the old part of time, but for us europeans this is not that old :)
Saturday i finally got my canadian phone number and after that I walked till the Mont Royal.
On top I've meet up with a friend from the hostel. I didn't know you could go up by bus (like she did) so I walked till the top. It was more than 300m high and it was really steep. Some crazy people did it while running, but most people walked and were tired like me. I was so happy there was a drinking fountain on top cause my water ran out quickly. It was a very nice view of the city.
Went to visit the Biosphere but it was closed, but got a good close look of it. But I saw a bit of the wildlife around it.
But I'll be back in summer time to see more of it and the little islands around it.
And of course my sister comes after summer to join me further on my path in Canada.


My next post will probably be next week when I arrive on Ile d'Orleans.

Love,
Sarah

First days in Montreal

Hi,

So my long time dream came out and now I'm here alone in Canada :)
Not that my dream was to up here alone, but I'm pretty social and my sister comes in September :)
I've settled in the hostel and I have 2 nice roommates, so for that I'm happy.
It's my first time in a hostel so that will take some adjustments  for me, like living with so much people together. At home we're at 6 but up here it's a lot more, but I will get used to it, I hope ;)

On the plane from Iceland (my layover) I met a nice girl from Manchester who is here to stay a few months. So the first day she invited me to stay over at Verdun ( a part of Montreal). We had a walk in the streets up there, it's so nice and you have a lot of vintage stores. It was such nice weather so we got us some fresh fruit and went to sit in the park to enjoy the view and weather.
After that I went back to the old port area where I'm staying. I had my dinner by the water, with an amazing view. It's such a nice area to walk around, I've did almost the whole of the walk around it. I think there will be a lot to do there in the summer. There were already a few food trucks and music.

The second day I went and did all my paper work and got myself a canadian phone number :)
So now the job and apartment hunting can start :)

I will see if maybe I'll find something to do in the weekend, maybe going to a bar or party.
Keep posted for the rest of the adventure, I'll try to post as much as I can.


Love,
Sarah

What to pack for (long) travel

Hi,

So like you read on my last post I'm going to Canada for a year.
To work and travel :)
I can only take 20kg of luggage with me and thats not much at all.
So I thought to give you an idea of what I packed.
Reminding you that all the winter stuff I think of buying there.

- Underwear (10)
- Swimsuit
- Pants (2)
- T-shirt (3)
- Top (2)
- Long sleeved t-shirt (2)
- Turtle neck
- Towel
- Skirt
- Short
- Raincoat
- Jacket
- Jogging
- Sweater / hoodie (4)
- Pj's (3)
- Socks (6)
- Plaid (for winter)
- Scarf and gloves (winter)
- Chargers
- Adapter
- Shoes (2)
- Purse

In my pink bag for toiletries I've packed:
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Hairbrush and tides
- Nail clippers and file
- Lip balm
- Small shower gel

I also have a small first aid kit with me.

In my backpack I've packed:
- Small camera
- Phone
- Laptop
- Papers (all my documents)
- Gum
- Wallet
- Headphones

On the plane I will wear a comfy outfit because it's a 7 hours flight with a stop of a few hours.
I know I don't have a winter jacket or so and winters are really cold up there, but thats why I'm going to buy that stuff up there :)

I hope you enjoyed this and that maybe it can help you to have an idea what to pack.

Love,
Sarah

I'm back :)

Hi,

I know it's been a long time since I've wrote something.
Life happened you know :)
But I'm back and I have big news!!
I'm leaving for Canada for a year!!

It's with a working holiday visum and I'm just so excited.
First I'm going to fly for Montreal and stay there the first months and hopefully find some work.
It's all so new and exciting and the first time in a very long time I'm going so far and all alone.
Thats the scary part, the going all alone part.
But I'm a big girl and I always wanted to do this, so this is my chance.

And of course I'm going to write a lot more about my whole adventure and keep you updated!

Love,
Sarah

Portugal

Hi,
I know it's been a while, but here I am again :)
A few weeks ago I went to Portugal with my sister and her friend, to be exact we went to Porches.
We stayed at a places thats called Vila Senhora de Rocha, a beautiful place with all different houses and apartments. We stayed at one of the apartments and it was lovely. Here is what we were up to :)

Day 1:
We took our plane in Ostend at 7pm and arrived in Faro around 9pm, what we didn't knew was that there was a time difference of an hour :) but we found that out pretty quick. So after finding our taxi that we had pre ordered we went on the road. It would have take us about 50min but that driver was crazy and it only took us like 30min. After finding our apartment we went on to settle in, took a shower and went to bed, so we could get up bright and early the next day.

Day 2:
We woke up early because we had to do some grocery shopping, thats the part of being in an apartment and not in a hotel, but we like it that way. So we looked up the shop online and it would take us 15min by foot, so thats what we did. It was already quit hot but we hoped we could get back before the real heat :) The shop was big and we found everything we needed, we had 3 bags and a six pack of water, so we had a lot. And we had ice cream with us, so we quickly went back home.
There we had some breakfast and after that the lady of the apartment came by to fix the wifi. And then we went for a swim, because we had a private pool and beach :) First we went to the beach and on the way we saw a little shop at 5min from the apartment :( To get to the beach we had to go down through some stairs, but from up top the view was amazing and from the beach it was also pretty cool. The water of the ocean was super cold but we could use the refreshment. We could also go to another beach through a whole in the cliff, so we tried that out but we preferred our beach, it's was more quit over there :) After a few hours at the beach we went home for some dinner and after that we went to see the outside pools we also had access to. Then we headed back home to shower and play some games before sleeping.
 And like that we had a great first day :)

Day 3:
After breakfast we went and found a place to do some sightseeing of the caves. Because this place is famous for having the most beautiful caves of Europe. We found a place where we could hop on the boat directly and for not much money, so we did it. We were alone on the boat and the boat was pretty small, but we found out that this was great cause now we could enter even the smallest caves. Our captain was a cute old guy who didn't speak much english but still showed us amazing details, we ended up understanding him. For example when we got out of a cave he told us to look up because the rock above us looked like a face, all such small things made this a great experience. Also getting in the smallest caves was awesome, because even boats a little bigger than ours couldn't go in there. This boat trip was the highlight of our trip!! If your there one day you have to do it!
After getting back from the trip we went back home to trop everything of and just leave in swimsuits and towels, because we had a plan. From the boat we saw that just next to our beach there was a cave we could swim to if we went around a cliff, so thats what we did :) It was amazing! At one point my sister went crazy and swam on a rock because she thought there was a shark :) but it was a false alarm. After that we went back home for some diner. Then we went to the cliff to do a little hike and call our parents to show of the view.
After that we went for a swim in the pool and then back home to shower and sleep.

Day 4:
Our last full day :( We decided to go see a town so we could get some souvenirs and such, because where we were there was nothing. So we went to book a taxi to go to Lagoa, but the driver told us there was nothing up there but he knew a nice place not far from that. So he took us to Carvoeiro which is a lovely little town by the ocean. We took some great pics there and did some shopping for souvenirs. We stayed there the whole afternoon. After getting back home I wanted to go for a swim because it was the hottest day so far, it was 35°C!! Then we went home for diner and after that the girls wanted to go for a swim in the pool, like every night they stayed there till 10pm. Then we went back to shower and sleep.

Day 5:
The last day :( We don't want to leave, this place is amazing, so much to do and so quit.
After breakfast we start cleaning and finish packing, then we go place our luggage at the reception and then went for a last time to the beach to enjoy the view and then we went to a bar for some refreshments. Around 2pm we went for some late lunch because we didn't knew if we would have something to eat later on. Then we went for a last walk on the cliff were there was a church on top of it and we enjoyed the view from up there. Then a last drink before leaving for the airport.
At the airport we still had some time to kill, because we were the last flight of the day. So we went to eat and drink something at PAUL, my favorite place for croissants :) Then it was time to check in and leave this beautiful place.

We had the best time on this trip and we recommend this to everyone :)
This place is so beautiful and quit, not like the big cities around. If you like to party you could, at our reception there was a bus leaving for a party place at night but we didn't felt the need to party.
Here you can go with kids, friends and family. It's just amazing and I would go back if I can one day!
Hope you enjoyed reading about my trip and if you go there one day let me know :)
We also made a blog about our trip on our youtube channel if you want to check it out :)
Love,
Sarah

How to pack your bags for (short) travel

Hi,
I know it's been a while since I last posted something.
Today I wanted to talk about packing for a trip with the plane.
Because when you'll read this I will be in Portugal with my sister and her bff.
We're going for a girls trip in the sun and will be gone for 5 days, but I'll update you about that in another blog :)

How to prepare before your holiday. (this is for the summer, for the winter I would pack warmer)

• After booking

          - Are all my documents / passport still valid? If not make sure all is are valid.              

• 2 weeks before departure

           - Do I need to buy any medication?

           - Can I still fit in all my clothes / swimwear?

• A week before departure

          - Do I have all my reservation documents?

          - Is my medical bag in order?

          - Are all my liquids under 100 ml and in total under 1l?

          - Do I need to buy anything else?

          - Do the last of your shopping (small deodorant, shampoo, body lotion,...).

• 48h before departure

          - Online check in for the plane.

          - Pack your bags (suitcase + hand luggage)

          - Make sure you don't have to much with you, check the weight you can bring (for us it's 10kg)

          - Print out all the needed documents

          - Take a cope of your passport / driver license.

What to pack?

• Medicines

          Dafalgan (or whatever you take for headaches), creme for wounds + band aids

• Beauty

          Sunscreen + aftersun, body lotion, shampoo + conditioner, make up + make up remover,               hairbrush, toothbrush + toothpaste, ... 

• Clothes

          1 shorts, 1 dress, 1 skirt, 3 t-shirts, 1 sweater, sunglasses / glasses, swimsuit, beach towel + beach bag, underwear, pajama, shoes (1 closed pair / one open pair)

What to wear on the plane?

I like to go casual, nothing fancy on a plane for me :)

I'll wear my legging with a t-shirt and a hoodie, we fly in the evening to go and in the night in return so I need my hoodie :) I'm always cold in the plane.

I also like to wear layers because if you go to the sun like I do now you'll want to undress a bit at arrival, if you leave from a colder country :)

This is my packing list for a short holiday in a sunny destination, if I would go longer I would of course take more and if I would go out of the summer I would take warmer clothes :)

I wish you all a great holiday with a lot of sun 🌅

Love,

Sarah