Zoe’s Guest Post…

My best friend, Zoe, isn’t a blogger but she recently spent 4 months living in Canada for a ski season, so I roped her into being my first guest post for my 2 week holiday!  Here she goes…

So one day I threw caution to the wind and decided to up sticks to Canada for 4 months – as you do! A friend and my boyfriend were already going to work the ski season for 6 months (November – April) and I decided I’d had enough of the London rat race and would tag along. I didn’t have a visa as my decision was so last minute, therefore I wouldn’t be able to get a job whilst I was out there. Let the saving commence!

This was in September and I planned to fly in December, it was NOT going to be easy – I had so much to plan! Because I wasn’t working out there I wouldn’t be allowed to stay in the staff digs and so I began our hunt for a cheap but cheerful house on the mountain. This was the most difficult part of the plan; let’s face it I was around 4,700 miles away! We got lucky and found a beautiful brand new apartment which was the entire ground floor of a lovely family home half way up the mountain – ski in ski out, glorious!

Then came buying my season pass and all my ski gear, as well as save up to be able to survive without a job for 4 months. Luckily I was given my ski boots as a Christmas present – though later on these would prove a pointless purchase as after a few weeks in Canada I gave up skiing and went over to the dark side; snowboarding!

I waved my friend and boyfriend off in November and begun the long long countdown of 6 weeks until it was my turn.

So the 28^th of December finally arrived. Two flights and a lovely long delay later I was greeted at Kelowna airport by our new landlady and SURPRISE the boyfriend was waiting too! It was dark by this time but the ride in her truck up to Silverstar still left me gazing out the window, jaw wide open at this beautiful new country I was about to call home.

We soon got into a routine of getting the bus into town for food shopping, partying (lots of partying!) and meeting some amazing friends. My boyfriend worked as a ski lift operator, ‘lifty’ they were called and he’d work 4 days on, 3 days off. As I said before I soon went over to snowboarding and would spend the 4 days he was working teaching myself how to board, all the while finding bruises on parts of my body I couldn’t even explain! On his days off we’d cruise the mountain with friends, soaking up the sunshine on bluebird days, discovering new off piste tracks on powder days and just generally having the time of our lives.

Anyone who’s thinking about getting away for a few months? Do it! Who wouldn’t want to wake up to this on your doorstep every morning…

Yes, this really was right outside my front door. Stunning.