A Week Away

Adapter

In a week and one day Dale and I will be departing for London. This week I finished up my volunteering, which was sad. Bye, kindergarteners! And I drove my car one last time. It is now staying in my grandparents’ driveway for the year. I purchased basic storage insurance for $71.00 for the entire year from Sussex Insurance, and in their office filled out a couple “Letter of Authorization for Temporary Operation Permit” forms to give to Papa. This will give him permission to put temporary insurance on my car if he needs to move it or use it while I am away. Papa gave Dale some advice for whoever is taking care of his car as well:

1) Fill the tank with gas, then pour in a 946ml bottle of Sta-bil from Canadian Tire ($6)
2) Keep the tank full of gas throughout the year
3) Now and then run the car at least until the fan turns on
4) Move the car even slightly so that the tires don’t get flat spots
5) Check the tire pressure and fill them up accordingly

I successfully managed to unlock my Blackberry using freemyblackberry.com! It took 24 hours to get my unlock code and quite a bit of fiddling around with my phone’s settings, but it was free and all the necessary instructions were there. You can also rush your code for $3. I can now purchase a SIM card in Ireland and I won’t have to worry about getting a new phone, or roaming charges if I were to stick with my own provider!

Running errands this past week, Dale and I picked up blow-up neck pillows for the plane for $11.99 from Superstore. I think my neck injury will thank me. We bought a small bathroom kit for Dale. The cheapest adapters with a grounder (three prongs such as for laptops) that we found were from Superstore too. Weirdly enough, all of this was in a bathroom/travelling section. However, we bought our adapters from Futureshop for $21.99 because it allows you to use two plugs at once. For UK, not just continental Europe. We also bought a very, very cheap two-prong adapter from MTF Price Matters for $3.99, which was impressive since they are usually $10-16 at least. We looked into converters, but it seems our laptops will be able to convert the power on their own. They can handle 100-240 volts with the AC adapter (black box) that comes on their cords. The AC adapter works as a converter. Blackberrys also have built-in converters. Dale is trying to talk me out of taking my laptop in favour of sharing his actually decent laptop and his Tablet. I’m still thinking about it, but I like the sound of less luggage. And not having security ask me why my laptop is missing both corners—I dropped it a few times. Without a converter, I will probably not even be bringing my travel-sized hair straightener. We can’t figure out what voltage it accepts, and it was cheap anyway. Then we purchased earplugs and luggage locks for $1.25 each at the dollar store.

So what’s left? Re-packing my bag, carry-on, and purse a third time, last minute research on banking and what fees we are looking at, research on rail passes, booking our Dublin hostel for an unknown amount of time, and booking our Warner Brothers Studio Tour for the Harry Potter set in London! And maybe the walking tour as well. Oh, and we have to move Dale out his apartment and into my tiny bedroom! We gave away his couches already, and started moving some boxes this week. But there’s much more furniture still to go.

On top of all that, we have people to visit all week and my birthday on the weekend. Still, it’s not nearly as crazy as I thought it would be. I’m rarely even nervous and this is coming from someone who never, ever, planned to travel without a plan. I hope I haven’t spoken too soon.

The Christian Sisters Graduate!

The Christian sisters graduate!

As my papa pointed out, I can now write my name, “Nicole Christian, BA.” This week graduation day finally came around! Danielle, Dominique, and I walked across the stage one after the other, with only me wearing the white arts colours among a horde of green-striped business students. Strangely enough, Biff Naked was also there receiving an honorary degree. She seemed like a nice lady. Considering I knew almost zero of the business students, it was odd that everyone seemed to know who the three of us were, one woman actually asking, “Are those the Christian sisters?” While I had a vision of a group of nuns, she was actually excited to get a photo of us for UFV’s alumni page. It just goes to show how unique it is for three sisters to graduate together.

The following night we hosted a grad party with a live band—Broken Triangle, my mom’s boyfriend’s brother Jeremy’s band—a fancy cake from my mom’s friend Cheryl Arsenault’s Caked, and the event at a local club thanks to Danielle’s boyfriend, Tank. The party was more fun than I even anticipated, and thanks to such connections, was free! Many lovely gifts and visits were had; thank you to all!

The one tricky aspect of graduating is that I now have to pay back my student loans. In British Columbia I get a six month grace period after graduating, which means my first date to pay is November 30th. However, interest still gains during this period. It is just another reason why I need a job nearly as soon as I walk in the Irish door. While it is difficult to rely on your family, when it comes to an important life experience such as living abroad for a year, I think the best option is to accept their generosity, be grateful, and just be sure not to abuse it. Mum has offered all the money she received from selling our beloved tent trailer to loan me the money and avoid interest. I will slowly pay her back at the government’s minimum payment level! The loan must be paid from a Canadian bank account, so I will be sure to leave her with all the information I gathered from the National Student Loans Service Centre.

I will also leave her with a copy of both my Canadian and British passports, which I photocopied today along with my long and short birth certificates, my degree, and my Social Insurance card. The copies of the last three will be travelling with me.

This Friday I am retiring my car with Nanny and Papa. I have to purchase storage insurance beforehand. Then I start my year without my own transport! This is another goody I will miss about home. Along with Gon Sushi’s Red Dragon Role, which Dale is going to treat me to one last time on my birthday. Dale and I hope to get bicycles to travel around on in Ireland, or use the Dublin Bikes Program. For a fee, the program allows you to pick up a city bike and drop it off at any other station. I am actually pretty stoked about cycling around, especially in the summer!

I have at last purchased my insurance! I went with Travel Cuts because so few places actually offer a year’s worth of coverage. The cost for the whole year was $435. I went with Plan B, which does not cover my baggage. True, it’s a risk, but I’m going to trust the airline. Tomorrow I will call BC Medical again to see what further coverage they might offer me. I have already informed them of my dates of travel, but because I have not made enough money this year I wouldn’t have to pay for their coverage regardless of whether I was away longer than their six month allowance or not. It is important for me to have insurance while travelling because I have already experienced three years’ worth of serious back and neck trouble thanks to fainting while on a camping trip. I landed gracefully on my face and on gravel, and have the scars (thankfully small) to remind me that freak accidents do happen. It’s scary to be relying only on my exercises to keep my spine in shape, but I will be devoting serious energy to the stretches so that this year will be possible. But if any more accidents come up, I'm covered.

What I Will Miss about BC

Check out my sister's Webstagram account,
where Loki features prominently: @sydneejc

There are a few things that I will miss about British Columbia. My family for one. My poor mom has already had one child move out, and in a few weeks I’ll be off to Ireland for a year. My next sister in age is thinking about moving out, and my youngest sister is heading to Wales in January for a semester abroad (and for the summer that follows). Okay so maybe it’s temporary, but that’s a lot of kids to fly the nest within one year. I’m really hoping to have visits in Ireland to keep the family-withdrawal at bay. For all of us.  Like I said, there will be Skype chats, but that doesn’t put us all at the little church on Mary’s Street for Christmas Eve. Once upon a time I would sink my teeth into the pew in front of me because it was level with my mouth. I can still taste the pine, hear the little crack of the malleable wood as it gave, and smell that odd perfume that always floated around the Romanesque building. I’ve never missed a Christmas Eve there, and never been able to stifle giggles with my family while we sang carols. That might be a tricky day for me. I may have to drag Dale to church.

I will also miss Loki, our cat. Mostly he’s Dominique’s cat I suppose, but still. He’s only just over a year old, very orange, damn giant, and quite a loudmouth. He has a ton of personality, and as someone who can’t remember life without a cat, or at least one pet, that’s going to suck. It’s not like I can explain to the poor guy that I’ll be home in just a year. And he certainly can’t visit me. I hope I’m not too miserable without a cat to cuddle.

I’m interested to see whether it rains similarly in Ireland as to how it rains in the Fraser Valley. People here like to complain about it, and all you ever hear about Ireland is that it’s always raining. Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is. Rain is rain. However, I will miss our hot summers, and our huge mountains and forest hikes. I include my occasional outdoor buddies Aasma and Brandie in this one! I will be scoping out natural scenery since I’ve been spoiled with the outdoors here at home. I hope big-city life doesn’t make me claustrophobic; I really do need to be outside. Dale and I will be starting in Dublin if not making ourselves at home there, so it will be an adjustment. Dale’s SWAP guidebook says that most people find jobs and a place to stay in Ireland fairly easily after they have arrived. So apart from comparing hostels, which are cheaper than in London, we have not done more than browse www.daft.ie, a reputable housing website. We have also stopped applying for jobs on www.jobs.ie, which offers a fill-in-the-blanks CV (Curriculum Vitae, or in our land, a resume). I also have checked out websites suggested in Lonely Planet’s The Big Trip, but most of them seemed to be for Americans. However, I think I’ll get back to applying for jobs soon. The only reason I stopped was because I was looking for temporary work in Canada as well, and then I became preoccupied with Irish real estate.

I will miss the kindergarten class I volunteer in  every week. I’ve also started volunteering at the Community Centre thanks to a connection I made at the elementary school. Luckily for me, one of my relatives in Dublin is a teacher and he has asked his principal if I could come and volunteer at his school. As long as we stay in Dublin through September that will be great! I will get plenty of experience—which always looks better when it’s from another country—and this will help me in my application for the Teacher Education Program at my university. I also found out that I will not need Garda Vetting to volunteer, which is similar to a Criminal Record Check, but that I will need Garda Clearance, which should be an easier process.

By the way, I packed my bag back in May. Yesterday I was up until 3:00am re-packing it, as well as my carry-on. I've been determined to live in the leftover clothes so that I don't get sick of what it's my suitcase over the year I'm away. I'll miss some of my clothes, if I'm being honest. Yet my bag is stuffed full. So full that Dale has kindly offered to take my flats and a pair of shoes in his suitcase, which we packed on the weekend. I have read multiple times on Pinterest that you shouldn't pack much, and that you will buy clothes abroad, but I am disregarding that. I hope I won't regret it. The fact is, I don't have spare money to spend. So if by some miracle I land a sweet job, I'll ship any new belongings home or throw old stuff out.

What won't I miss, you ask? Easy: school. I get to write for fun now! For two years in a row I have written novels for NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, in November. It was insane to be working, volunteering, going to university, and writing 1667 words every day. But it’s such a fantastic way to force yourself to work, and you have an end product in only a month rather than saying, “One day I’d like to write a book…” for the rest of your life. I have never known such a feeling of accomplishment before. I can’t wait to completely finish the second novel, edit the crap out of both of them, and get somewhere with publication! Then I can start a new story this November! I also want to try writing a short story or a poem for the Louden Singletree this year. I was the Webmaster last year, so I wasn’t eligible, but I want to give it a shot now. I’m very excited to write in my free time. And I’m not going to lie, I haven’t read a novel for fun in ages. Harry Potter is calling my name for the…fifteenth time, maybe? I think I lost track after eleven.

Exciting News!

Keeping my Rogers Blackberry

Exciting news! Dale officially has his VISA! A package arrived in the mail for him today, and although I haven’t seen it yet, I’m excited to hear the information that SWAP sent him. I am also starting to receive emails from family in Ireland with helpful hints such as “try to find a place to rent along the Dart (tram) or Luas (train) line” in Dublin, both of which can take you into the city centre.

I found out that my Visa Desjardins credit card was “glitching” because the PIN is five digits, not four... That one’s on me. I was also told that I cannot ask for a new one six months in advance, but that I can apply for a credit card abroad with free delivery. I then set up an online account so that I will be able to keep my eye on my bills easily. I think I will be using my Visa far more than I do now considering my current bank account will charge me for every withdrawal, but I can transfer money from there to my credit card no problem.

I called Rogers today to cancel my phone plan, and I ended up not cancelling it at all. I was told there is a new option that I could suspend the contract for six months, with the expectation that I could suspend again in January. This sounded like a great plan, as it would mean I’d be spending $15/month, equaling $180 for the year, rather than spending the $300 plus tax cancellation fee. However, when Dale called hoping for the same plan, he was told you can only suspend your plan once in 12 months. I had to call back. Unluckily for me, Dale’s information was correct. I’m just happy I found out now, rather than in January, in Ireland, when I was screwed. Instead, I will be suspending for the first six months for a lump sum of $90 (which equals $15/month), then I have to start paying my regular bill in January. But for that half of the year I will be credited $15/month until I return in July 2014, which means my bill will only be about $30/month. What this means is that I will spend about $270 rather than cancelling for $300. I save a tiny bit of money, but I also get to return home and get a new phone and deal because my contract is up and I didn’t cancel it. My favourite part is that I only spend $90 right before I leave rather than $300. I need all the money I can get if I’m going to manage my goal of leaving with $3000! I still have my fingers crossed that someone will want me to sign over my contract to them before July 2nd. My mom has kindly posted about it at work, and I have an ad on Craigslist, and the details on my facebook page too. My bases are covered. If no one takes it, my plan is to go through with what I have described above, but also get the phone unlocked, leave the SIM card at home, and get a new SIM card to use on the other side of the world. I hear they are much cheaper over there too! Plus I will be using Skype on my laptop for most calls, especially for calls to home. Skype to Skype calling, which includes a video chat if you want it, is free! I plan on enviously drooling over my family’s Christmas dinner.

So how do I plan to leave with $3000 when I don’t have a job? Well, nowadays I am making just enough money to cover the typical expenses that arise. For example, today I took a ton of bottles to the recycling depot and managed to cover the cost of my youngest sister’s birthday present. Happy 20th birthday Sydnee! I’m giving her a ticket to Vancouver’s Extreme Air Park, an indoor trampoline playground! If you know Syd, you’ll know how much that will mean to her. I have also been house, plant, and dog sitting for a family friend, which pays rather handsomely. And rather than buying new clothes—which I’ll admit I did a little of after Vegas—I have swapped used clothes with my mom, two sisters, and two friends! I basically have a new wardrobe to get sick of in Ireland; it is so great!

I now have $2781. I’m hoping to receive $400 back in medical expenses from my insurance, which would bump that number to $3181. Take away about $500 for traveller’s insurance—which I have yet to choose—and $90 for my phone suspension, and I will be left with $2591. But having said that, I am also graduating from university on June 14th, and my birthday is June 29th. Maybe I’ll get really lucky right before I go! If I have no job in Ireland for three months, that $3000 should cover my expenses. I’ll talk more about student loans on a later blog post!

Another exciting advancement is that Dale and I booked our hostel in London! It was frustrating, but at least it’s done. We were most concerned about security, but proximity to Heathrow Airport and the touristy area is important too, along with cost. We chose Smart Russell Square Hostel, which we heard mixed reviews about, and we will have to change rooms for the last night of our stay because it booked up fast. We will be in a 14 bed, mixed dorm, and we found the hostel from Smart Backbackers. For one person, the first two nights are $20 each, and the final night is $35. If we could have booked earlier we would have, but we’ll have to accept how this worked out and hope for the best. One thing we did make sure of was that our hostel is in the tube’s Zone 1 and 2 by looking at a map of the London Underground. This makes the distance to the tourist area both shorter and cheaper. We will be booking our Ireland hostel as soon as possible! We just don’t know for how long we will be stuck in it…