Starting a new chapter

Hello fellow travellers and welcome to "Ski on me" - my travel blog.

This blog is just another one of those self-indulgent quarter-life crisis fuelled attempts at documenting people, places and experiences during my time travelling. Hopefully it will evolve to be more than just a blow-by-blow description of my daily tasks and triumphs, although if you’re looking for hard analysis and heartfelt musing I suggest that you might be better off looking elsewhere! Or... not?

I’m going to Canada… No, really!
Destination: Big White, British Columbia, Canada
Winter vocation: Lift ticket sales
Date of commencement: Monday November 28 @9:00am
Why am I smiling? I’ll be skiing again!

In a few days I will be in Canada. First stop Vancouver, then the British Columbia snow fields. I have a job and accommodation waiting for me there. Although right now this knowledge is accompanied by a feeling of disconnected unreality. I know I’m going. I know I’m going soon. Yet, I don’t think I’ll actually believe it until I’m on the plane in mid-flight… I wonder what they’ll feed me for morning tea?

Trip in planning
Visa? Check.Passport? Check.Tickets? Check.Luggage? Check.Checklist? Check.
Now what could I possibly have left behind?

This trip has been some time in the making. It has it’s genesis in the first quarter of 2005 when I started considering priorities and options. While I enjoyed wearing a suit the past few years, I felt it was past time to break out of my comfort zone and explore. To this end I started investigating places and set the wheels in motion. 8-months later and my plans are coming to fruition. I have my visa and passport ready. The plane tickets are at hand. I have a job and place to sleep already locked in. It’s now just a matter of making sure I’m at the right place the right time. Can’t mess that up, right?

What's in a name?
The name "Ski on me" came from a conversation I had at worko on my last day. It's a bit of dodgy play on words, following on from some comments about Canadian wildlife - how I should be wary of grizzly bears and moose, and watch out for beaver. Once the laughter had died down I was asked what I'd be doing and I suggested that, working in the ski ticket office, people could 'ski-on-me' if they turned up (an unlikely event). Somehow it got mis-interpreted and started another round of laughter... a few nudges and one or two sly winks.

… And now I sit
So now I’m sitting here early on a Sunday morning .The last month has disappeared from under me with work, study, social obligations and friendly catch-ups. It’s been hard to adjust to the thought that I won’t be seeing my friends and family for an extended period, although I keep on promising to stay in touch via calling cards, cell phone SMS, email and this blog. Hopefully I’ll get my act together and send through a few stray postcards. I owe people quite a few!