A long overdue update 2022-24

Back in September 2022, we moved away from Canada. I’d be lying if I said this was my decision.

The plan was to spend the next 12 months or so travelling around Europe and figuring out where we might want to live full-time. I wasn’t happy about leaving Vancouver, but was excited about the prospect of travelling to new places.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice I’ve titled this 2022-24 which is 2 years.

So are we any closer to figuring out where to live full-time? Where did we go during that year? And what are our thoughts about Canada now we’ve left?

2022

First up on the list of objectives for the year was a vacation with my family in Italy. A trip that had been planned for 2 years to celebrate my Dad’s birthday, but was delayed by 2 years due to the events of 2020.

Well actually, first up was a flying trip to Oslo to hand in our marriage paperwork and get our license to be legally married a few months later. But that trip was so quick it almost doesn’t count.

In Italy, I re-visited the beautiful Tuscan hilltop towns I’d become first acquainted with during family holidays there over a decade before. I also got to spend more time with my niece and nephew and we quickly became best friends.

After Italy, we had a few weeks visiting friends up and down the UK, before heading out to Tromsø in Northern Norway in October. We spent 6 weeks here where I did a lot of hiking before the snow got too heavy, carried on with my university degree in Environmental Science that I started back in early 2020, and made the final (or actually, all of) the plans for our wedding which marks our 10 year anniversary of dating, at the beginning of November.

We got incredibly lucky with the weather and spent our wedding morning hiking up a mountain in Tromsø, before meeting our family and a few close friends on the beach for the ceremony. We celebrated with dinner and drinks followed by a sauna and a dip in the Arctic Sea (yes, in November).

After the wedding, my husband(!) and I headed down to the Lofoten Islands by car for our honeymoon. We visited the island of Sommarøy and Senja, and then spent about 6 weeks in Lofoten doing even more hikes, enjoying the beautiful polar night skies and the quietness of the area before heading back to the UK for Christmas.

2023

Scotland

We started 2023 by spending three months in various places around Scotland. I had my Irish passport already and so was raring to go and get exploring continental Europe, but since my husband didn’t yet have his, this stay in Scotland was effectively to reset our Schengen Zone days.

Plus, I’d always said that if I ever were to move back to UK, then Scotland is where we’d live.

We spent the first month in Edinburgh, the second in Glasgow, and the third in Doune just outside of Stirling.

While I love the mountains of Scotland and it’s hard to deny its beauty, staying in the UK just doesn’t have any appeal for me, and I was more than ready to head back to Europe by the end of the three months.

Portugal

From Scotland we headed to Portugal, spending two weeks just outside of Lisbon and another two on the Algarve Coast. The sunshine was much welcomed after three months in Scotland and we both fell a bit in love with Portugal.

Portugal was never a contender for somewhere we want to live full-time (it gets too hot for us!), but definitely somewhere we want to revisit.

Scandinavia

From Portugal, it was time to head to Scandinavia. We spent some time in Copenhagen, which I enjoyed exploring and was surprised to find so many beaches, then headed across the bridge to Malmö in Sweden; the last remaining contender for countries outside of Canada we might want to live.

Malmö’s beaches and small-town vibe were something I liked and it felt relaxed. We next caught the train to Gothenburg, the only city we’d previously visited in Sweden (though in winter), and had loved. We took another trip out to the archipelago and roamed the forests near the Airbnb. We ate cinnamon buns bigger than you could imagine, and generally got very good vibes.

I wasn’t thrilled about leaving Malmö and returning to Scotland at the beginning of June but my husband’s Schengen days were, once again, up since we were planning to go to Switzerland in August.

Scotland

We ended up in the town of Largs in Scotland which isn’t somewhere we’d have ever chosen, but with a last-minute Airbnb cancellation from our hosts, and sky-high summer prices, choices were limited. We made the most of Largs and enjoyed runs along the water, spotted dolphins, and took trips out to the islands nearby.

I attempted to hike the whole of the West Highland Way solo but pushed myself too hard by walking 60 km in a day and a half and pulled something in my leg. Next time!

In July we drove further north to Inverness. This was somewhere I was keen to check out given its proximity to the mountains and while the city wasn’t unattractive, it just didn’t feel like home. We did, however, get to attend our first Highland Games event, I returned to the Isle of Skye, and we spent more time in the Cairngorms which I loved getting to know better.

Switzerland

From Inverness, we spent a week in Bristol before a friend’s wedding and then started the drive down to Switzerland.

Switzerland again wasn’t a real contender for somewhere to live but I needed mountains and if we were going to live in Europe full time, then checking out what the Alps has to offer in summer was a must for me.

We stayed in the Valais region, high up on a hill with the most incredible mountain views from the window of the chalet.

I hiked most days, we explored the towns of Zermatt and had lunch right by the Matterhorn. We went to Chamonix and saw the finish of UTMB and a seriously impressive (but rapidly shrinking) glacier at the Aletsch Arena. Honestly, this was one of my favourite months of the year.

I’d planned to spend two months in Switzerland originally but realised we’d miscalculated my husband’s Schengen days so had to return to the UK again.

Cornwall

September was spent in Cornwall, enjoying the beaches and a slower pace of life. I’d been to Cornwall on family holidays, and it was nice to return and explore things on my own. We hired some bikes for a bike ride, explored Bodmin Moor and did the finishing touches to our second wedding (lol) — a party for extended family and more of our friends in Oxfordshire

It was so lovely to see so many friends from university and from school all in one place and made the pressures that come with trying to organise an event (especially when you live nowhere nearby) all worth it.

Canada

Then, at the end of October, we headed back to Canada. We still owned our house in Sun Peaks and spent some time there hoping and crossing our fingers for early snow so we could enjoy the slopes.

Unfortunately, the start of the 2023/24 season in BC was pretty snow-free, though we did manage a day on Mt Seymour closer to Vancouver while house/dog-sitting for friends.

Going back to Canada instantly felt like home. We biked around the seawall, we hiked and ran in the North Shore’s forests, and realised just how friendly and ‘nice’ Canadians are. When we headed to the SkyTrain to leave the airport, multiple people offered us their day ticket for the train, and servers in restaurants and cafes seemed happy to see us (whether they were or not is a different question).

So you might be surprised to hear we didn’t end up staying.

2024

Georgia

At the end of January, we headed to Georgia (the country, not the state).

I’d bought tickets to a blogging event the summer before and, having heard a lot about the mountains in Georgia and opportunities for skiing, I was keen to check out the country.

We spent a couple of weeks in Tiblisi (saying hello to all the street dogs), before heading to Gudauri for a week of skiing.

We had some of the best skiing conditions I’ve ever had: over 10cm of fresh snow and no lift lines. We spent a whole day enjoying fresh powder and the next few days enjoying the beautifully groomed slopes and amazing views.

Sweden

Then, since the middle of February, we’ve been in Stockholm and are starting to feel a bit more settled here. Though, I’m still not sure if we’ve found the place we want to be full-time. Who knows?!

I started Swedish lessons almost immediately, we rented an apartment and have since moved into another one, I joined a rowing club 10 years after I last rowed while at university, and have been trying to make friends in a country that’s notoriously difficult to do so. I’m having some success though.

I spent a month in the north of Sweden working with Stockholm University in Arctic Fox Conservation. I camped for up to 10 days at a time, hiking off-trail and through bogs to make it to fox dens and monitor activity. I’ve also just put the finishing touches on my dissertation which marks the end of my degree and we spent a weekend for my husband’s birthday by getting a ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki and then taking another day trip by boat from Helsinki to Tallinn in Estonia.

Being able to travel by trains and boats instead of being limited to planes is one of the things that makes me want to stay in Europe. It’s so cool to be able to get a train from one country to another and be somewhere with a new language and culture. While I didn’t necessarily miss that while living in Canada, I definitely appreciate it now that I can do it again.

I will always love Vancouver and we could still end up there again at some point.

What turned into a year of trying to figure out where to live stretched into two, and we’re still giving it some time before we make a solid decision, so it’ll likely be three years.

The fact that we’re lucky to be able to work remotely to cover the costs of this, and have a passport that allows us this freedom hasn’t passed me by. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do this.