Touchdown in Calgary! I got through customs and officially started my two year working holiday visa. As I entered, I was told to go straight to a Service Canada Centre to get my social insurance number (SIN) so I could start working. Tired, but still stirring with nerves and adrenaline, I was ready for the start of something completely new and so excited that I was doing something that I’d been wanting to do for ages, living overseas!
I got a bus from the airport which dropped me off near the centre. I remember walking out of the airport with my all my luggage; the sky was cloudy, the air was cold and fresh and it felt so comforting and nostalgic for some reason, almost as if I was returning home. On the other hand, I laughed to myself, I had just spent the past two and a half years with no winter as I’d gone back and fourth from Australian summer to American summer and that got me worried…I struggled in the winter time growing up in Sydney and now I was about to spend a long amount of time in the minus temperatures. What the hell had I done! The next few months were going to be interesting…
I spent the afternoon getting my SIN number and emailing the manager of the job I had lined up of my whereabouts. I had no SIM card and no internet, which meant I had to use the free WiFi that I could get ahold of at the service centre and at the greyhound station later on, as I waited for my delayed bus from Calgary to Banff. The drive of course, was absolutely stunning, I caught the sky at sunset and watched out my window as I slowly passed city lights, eagerly watching the gigantic mountains come into view. For some reason the bus only dropped us all off at Canmore which meant I needed to get another local bus into Banff. It was night time by the time I stepped off the bus. It was snowing hard and I was so happy to hear the crunch of snow as I walked up Banff Avenue, but so ready for sleep. I met with the manager at my job who showed me to my staff accommodation.
The first week was a dream come true and very productive. I was still pinching myself at my now backyard. We had just had a big dump of snow and I’d never, in my life, walked to work in calf deep snow - it was exhilarating. I set myself up with a bank account and got myself organised in my new room, sharing with a roommate. I got to know who I was living with and so far everyone had been incredibly welcoming and friendly. However, the job wasn’t the best, the work was easy but I found the environment quite stressful and I didn’t want to give it up as it was only my first week. I wanted to give it a fair crack before I got decided what to do next, I also was on an extremely tight budget so I wanted to try my best to stick it out to make a bit more money.
On the weekends, I explored and hiked around Banff and Bow Falls, Tunnel Mountain and Vermilion Lakes. I also met up with my good friend Lauren (who I knew and worked with from Sydney) as she was living and working up at Lake Louise. Lauren was (and always has been) such a hilarious and kindhearted person, it was incredibly comforting to know and hang out with someone that I knew from my hometown area. I got to meet some of her work friends too when we hung out and it was nice being able to form some friendships in Banff and Lake Louise. Lauren took me canoeing on Lake Louise which was one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever done, an experience I will never forget. I’m forever grateful for that time. We got such a beautiful and picturesque day, the lake was so blue that it looked like blue Gatorade, whilst the mountains and the trees were covered with snow. We canoed all around the lake, chatting and laughing and it was truly magical! We also explored and hiked around Lake Louise and got some absolutely stunning views of the Fairmont and the surrounding area.
I became really good friends with all the people I lived with and I quickly learned how much everyone in Banff loved to go out and party, there was something going on every night of the week! I’d been to places like Bruno’s, High Rollers and Brew Pub and it was so much fun. It was great to socialise and have a good laugh, I met a lot of people that were living in Banff for the winter, backpacking and from different countries and it was nice to be able to relate to others when it came to travelling and wanting to live overseas and just learning about different people, where they came from and what brought them to Banff.
Everything seemed almost too good to be true and I was already having the time of my life, but I struggled in my second week working at this job I wasn’t enjoying. At the time, I didn’t realise that I’d already made my decision that I didn’t want to keep working there, but my thoughts went to the “what ifs…” Where would I go? Would I leave Banff or stay? Would I be able to get another job? What if I just called it a day and went back to Australia? I didn’t want to do that, but I had never been in this position before where I wanted to quit so soon, I was very unsure and anxious. It played a lot on my mind and was a massive thing to me at the time, it makes me laugh now as I write about it because that was such a tiny part of my journey, but I hope that in writing about it, someone could relate to it.
At that time I had no one relate to and it was difficult having no one to tell me how normal it all was. It’s funny to say that I did absolutely nothing about what I was feeling towards that job, I stayed. I loved everything else and wasn’t ready to give it up. I wasn’t ready for change so quickly and it was a big safety net for me. With the job came money and housing and that was all I needed to be able to stay in Banff for a bit longer.
Thanks so much for reading this month’s post, I hope you enjoyed it! If you ever have any questions or want to chat about travelling, feel free to DM me on my instagram: the_runuawayredhead. Stay tuned as I continue on my journey living and working in Banff.
Talk soon,
The Runaway Redhead
