North America

As a Manitoban, one of my greatest travel dreams has always been to see beluga whales in Churchill. While Churchill is often considered a polar bear destination – it’s often referred to as the “polar bear capital of the world” – I was always drawn to the idea of seeing belugas in the wild. And finally, earlier this month, my dream finally came true.

Since moving home to Manitoba, I’ve been overwhelmed by just how much there is to do and see in the province. This summer was always going to be about exploring locally as much as possible; after years checking out countries abroad, I figured it was time to explore close to home, too. Given the world’s current dynamic, it made even more sense to keep my adventures local. It doesn’t hurt that there are so many amazing summer day trips from Winnipeg to keep me busy!

Even without the chaos of 2020, this year was always going to be about sticking close to home for me. After five weeks in Europe last year, I realized those kinds of trips no longer really appealed; with my home, my dog, my family, and my friends all in Winnipeg, Canada, I knew I wanted to focus more on shorter, more local trips.

Not only that, I was starting to feel as though I had severely neglected my own home province for far too long. I left Manitoba at 18 and, despite travelling to over 100 countries, I had never really explored the prairie province where I grew up.

First up? Manitoba’s second largest city, Brandon.

I’ve waited years and years for this… everyone, please meet Dottie!

As I packed up my blanket, still flying high from the previous hour and a half of amazing music, I realised something: I hadn’t taken any photos of the performers. In fact, I thought, I hadn’t taken many photos at all over the past three days at Folk Fest. I had brought all of my camera equipment, made sure every battery was charged, every lens cleaned, and yet… I had barely thought to take my camera out of its bag.

OK, so many of you already know this – the title shouldn’t be a shock to anyone who regularly reads this blog or follows me on social media. But I realised that I haven’t explicitly written about it on the blog yet, even though it’s been such a major shift in my life, one that – the more I thought about it – I realised did indeed deserve a post. I wrote about moving to London back in 2013, and then about staying in London after two years, and then again in 2017, when I decided to apply for the Graduate Entrepreneur visa and stay another year. But moving home to Canada? I wasn’t sure if it required any fanfare.

And now, more than six months on, I say fuck that: it deserves ALL the fanfare.