I had many reasons why to start travel and live abroad but the main reason was to turn some of my dreams into reality. At the beginning when I was deciding whether to work and live abroad or to live in my country and go a few times a year on a holiday the decision was clear. If I wanted to accomplish my dreams I had to work hard to reach them. What travelling dreams did I manage to turn into the reality during the 8 years of travelling, living and working abroad and how many more travelling dreams I have left to accomplish?
Travel, live and work in United Kingdom
I had many countries on my bucket list, where I wanted to live. The first one was United Kingdom which attracted me because of its culture and sights. I always thought no matter where you are living in United Kingdom the culture will be the same but it wasn't true at all. I lived almost a year in 3 different parts of United Kingdom and was able to compare all of them and realized each of them is very different. I lived in England in Welwyn Garden City, traveling around, visiting London and south coast.
Travel, live and work in Scotland & Wales
I moved to a small town in Scotland called Crieff (situated on the border of Lowlands and Highlands betwen Perth an Stirling). The culture truly amazed me, especially castles, history, Lochs (lakes), coasts, towns, nature and the culture. Nothing can be compared to the feeling when you are walking in the town and suddenly from nowhere appears bagpiper playing scottish songs. I have to mention everywhere present whisky destileries as well. I wasn't a big fan of whisky when I was arriving to Scotland. When I was leaving Scotland I enjoyed a good whisky.
I moved again the next year to experience culture of Wales. I lived in an breathtaking town called Llandudno which is also considered as seaside resort. You wouldn't believe how much history, brethtaking sceneries, mountains, beaches, historical towns and myths can be found in Wales. Not mentioning National Park Snowdonia which you can't manage to explore all in just a few days.
Travel, live and work in Iceland
Why did I chose Iceland? When I was living in Wales I found out my niece visited with a school trip for a week Iceland. She was so impressed by Iceland which was a good enough reason for me. (I don't need a big push :D ) I didn't know anything about Iceland and all information I knew were photos from Google. I was impressed by endless mountains, glaciers, coasts, waterfalls, different culture and northern lights. I was waiting for approval of my working visa to Canada and as I already explored United Kingdom I decided to visit more different culture. Iceland was perfect and in a way was on the way to Canada. Living in Iceland was an endless adventure with possibility to explore various wonders of nature, local myths & legends and different culture. One of my travelling dreams was to see at least once in my life to see northern lights. How lucky I was I had this chance more than a few hundred times. Yes, I still do enjoy to see northern lights. Just be careful as northern lights are common cause of FOMO (fear of missing out).
Travel, live and work in Canada
If you would assume I knew at least more information about Canada than I knew about Iceland you would be wrong. Before I landed at Vancouver airport the all I knew about Canada were photos from Google - I start to see pattern here, thank you Google :) - and information presented in TV show How I Met Your Mother (yes, they do call money Loonie and Toonie). I met many travellers on my journeys and several of them recommended me to go to Canada because of an amazing nature and friendly people. This much I needed to make a decision to live a year in Canada. I wanted to explore Vancouver (finally a city life, what a nice change after the experience in Iceland where I lived literally in the middle of nowhere), visit lakes, climb mountains, hike in forests, sleep in nature, see different National Parks and of course to learn more about Canada, its culture, meet canadians and find out what is Poutine :) Canada is much bigger than I would guess from my keychain in the shape of Earth. I couldn't explore the whole Canada as I hardly explored fully Vancouver, British Columbia and Alberta but the time I spend there was one endless adventure full of an amazing memories and breathtaking views. I would like to come back in the future and exlore more.
What is still on my bucket list?
My list of countries where I would like to travel, live and work kept growing along with my journeys. The longer I was travelling the longer was becoming my bucket list as you can see below.
My bucket list of countries where I would like to live:
Alaska, USA, Japan, New Zeland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Greenland
Challenge accepted :)
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