Vancouver, you got me right in the feels!

Me: "Hi, can I please have Grande Pumpkin Spiced Soy Latte, with a toasted bagel with cream cheese"

Starbucks girl: "Sure! Would you like to upgrade your coffee to a Venti today for 35 cents?"

Me: "Yeah ok..." – Bloody hell they’re good at upselling!

After I placed my order, a couple of worrying thoughts immediately came to my attention:

1. The barista girl must think I'm an absolute dip-stick for ordering a cream cheese bagel with my lactose-free beverage. Cray-Cray, I know, but give me frothy cup of cows’ milk and I'll demonstrate my secret talent of beat-boxing, with my back-side.

2. I had very quickly, after only 3 days in Vancouver, converted over to my coffee arch nemesis Starbucks. Back home in Australia I was known for my connoisseur caffeine snobbery ( I blame my friend Antonis) and shamed anyone walking around with one of those stupid oversized Starbucks Ventis, filled with a White Chocolate-Salted Caramel, half strength skinny flat white, topped with cream and chocolate sprinkles. Mate, you’re probably better off spending that $7 on a tub of hokey-pokey ice-cream, smother it in whip cream, pour chocolate Ice-Magic on top and finish it with a teaspoon of instant coffee.



But I have now changed my coffee perspective and have become one of them. A mainstream Starbucks coffee causality, who proudly sits inside at the window, sipping away at her small popcorn sized latte, mooching off the free WI-FI and Instagraming the limited edition Christmas coffee cup with her carefully placed bagel. #ilovecoffee #ilovebagels #starbucks #pumpkinspice #is#this#considered#a#serve#of#vegies?




A change I will gladly sacrifice, because that's what you do when you fall in love, and I'm loving Vancouver so hard right now.




My first night in Vancouver City:

I checked into the Samesun Hostel where I was to be sleeping/eating/sleeping off my jetlag for the next few nights. 

The Samesun Hostel has everything any wandering traveller needs: decent hot showers; comfortable beds; lockers to keep your shit safe; cheap bar food and drinks;a full kitchen; a laundry; a social common room and a chill-out room with a plasma screen, which included an endless selection of Netflixs to choose from.

After dumping my bags in my shared room, I met up my flat mates - Alex, Kim and Sophie - in the common room as we took on the challenge of finding a rental house in North Vancouver to call home.

Stressed? No not all...pass that bottle of Canadian Club over this way will you Alex...ta.

At least the first night at the Samesun Hostel was charged on the The Working Holiday Clubs credit card and free WI-FI was on tap 24/7 flowing all through the hostel, making the search for homes on Craigslist a lot easier and let everyone chat to family and friends back home for as long as they wanted.

I needed to update my location status on Facebook so everyone back home knew I safely made it through Canadian customs with a 10KG boogie board bag filled with Tim Tams.




Day two in Vancouver City:

It appears the real estate Gods heard our prayers and came up with a bloody good answer. We took a trip on the Translink Seabus to the suburbs of North Vancouver to find a newly renovated 4-bedroom, unfurnished granny flat, underneath a lovely families home. 

The flat came with a full kitchen; a washing machine and dryer; two bathrooms; heating in each room and internet as was included in our monthly utilities bill. 

The biggest bonus about our new pad-it takes less than 15 minutes, to get to work, by bus, at Grouse Mountain.

Awesome find - CHECK! CHECK! CHECK!




Day three in Vancouver City:

Adventure time was on the day's to-do list, so no more stressing about living in a cardboard box behind a Tim Hortens coffee shop.

After exploring Downtown Vancouver for the past couple of days I’ve come to the conclusion that if Melbourne and New York got drunk and had a one night stand, Vancouver City would be their love child.

It has inherited Melbourne's cold, crisp wet weather, its architectural beauty, city trams and its easy-going, coffee dependent, friendly people.

Then, you recognize New Yorks bright flashing neon lights, noisy exciting busy city streets, its packed bars and restaurants and the convenience of a pizza and poutine shop being less than 10 meters away from you at all times.

The Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced latte has quickly become my new favourite coffee must have, but it's apparently the 'hype' flavour right at the moment, which means now I have to change my coffee order because I don’t like following trends (…excuse me, I just need to cough- huhk -hypocrtite-huhk…you own and Apple Mac and IPhone huhk -huhk). I prefer to be the rebel and do things out of the norm -so it look likes I'll be ordering a plain coffee for now on...no one orders those anymore right?

Later in the night we discovered Vancouver’s secret little gem, Gastown. Gastown is the city’s oldest neighbourhood, its streets are full of unique clothing boutiques, premium beer and wine bars, and cozy cafes and restaurants to satisfy any comfort food craving during the Autumn/Winter season.  Gastown charmed me with its romantic streetlights, fairy light filled trees, its old town cobblestone roads and a homeless women offering to sell me her bike, which she promised she didn’t steal, for $10. 


It's no secret that Vancouver has one of the highest rates of homeless men, women and youth in Canada, who will either keep to themselves, strike up a conversation with you in the hope for some coin or will do some creative marketing, like making a tinny boat out of cardboard boxes, sit in it with a fishing rod with the line dropping into a plastic cup, and written in black marker on the side of the 'boat' reads FISHING FOR CHANGE...someone give that man a job! 

The staff at Samsun recommended we don’t give any money as there are plenty of homeless shelter programs that can assist people with food and living arrangements. Other locals we have met recommend the same thing, but say that if you do want to give money, you can if you feel comfortable doing so.

It's kind of a case of- if you do, you're a gullible idiot for caring to passers by and if you don't, the old guy asking for bus money will mumble under his breath something about ' hoping bad things happen to you' and shoot you dirty look as he walks away. It's just a learning curve we will have to figure out as we go along.




Day four in Vancouver:

Feeling like daja-vu, I was once again rolling up my spacebags before they went back into my suitcase, which I had to do a belly flop stack-on so I could zip it back up, a good look in front the English backpackers across from my room.

It was moving day!

Before we started moving, I popped out for quick breakfast at Tim Hortons for another cream cheese bagel, but this time I asked for an Earl Grey tea to save myself embarrassment of having to explain why I'll have a soy milk latte with a cream cheese bagel. I mean, I don’t have to explain it - I can just feel the cashier girl judging me, which stresses me out, then feel compelled to explain myself, and just look like a total weirdo because she’ll be thinking: 

"Lady I don’t give two shits about your lactose intolerance levels, I’m just trying to get through this 10 hour shift, so I can go out and get white girl wasted with my girlfriends because customers like you drive me crazy, and you are holding up the line, so fucking hurry up and tell me if you want a sesame seed bagel or whole meal!?"

Well that conversation escalated quickly in my head.

After I filled out the Tim Hortons customer feedback form about staff being more understanding about customer’s strange dietary requests, I had one more stop before heading back to the hostel.

I was about to make a grown-up purchase and buy a queen-sized bed, probably the second most expensive purchase on this trip after my plane ticket.

An expensive purchase for, at minimum, a 6 month stay, but I promised myself I wouldn’t jeopardise my quality of sleep and I would buy a decent mattress when I moved into a house. I was able to buy an ex-display bed from Sleep Country on Granville St, at a discounted price for less than $800, which included the Contour Collection Sydney Queen mattress, bed base and wheels, plus free delivery. 

Alex also bought himself an ex-display from the Sleep Country people, while Kim and Sophie opted for Queen sized air mattress for their stay. Other fellow Grouse WHC friends have bought beds from Ikea for under $200 or second hand mattresses on Craigslist.

 It's an individual choice really, depending on your budget and sleeping style: can you sleep like a log in any awkward position anywhere, or do you have princess and the pea syndrome?  

One hour later, Kim, Alex, Sophie and myself were stampeding our way through the streets of Van with about 100kg worth of luggage between us. I think I found a new cardio trend - 'luggage lunging'. We made our way to the Sea Bus, got off at Lonsdale Quay and took the Highland bus line to our new home. Now you can imagine that four tourists with 10 pieces of luggage between them, on a packed bus full of senior passengers and mothers with prams, weren’t going to piss anyone off that morning, were they now?




Getting off the bus, we noticed all the houses in our neigbourhood, including our own, made us fell like we were living in a fairytale.

Some look like gingerbread houses and others looked like Edwards home out of Twilight.
 YES,YES, I used a Twilght reference, keep your pants on. Im just trying to paint a picture here, OK? 

Do you know what, just watch Twilight and that's what our town looks like - no shit! Get out your Twilight movie collection box set, put on that Team Edward shirt you have at the bottom of your 'ugly shirt drawer', and re-live those secret Edward fantasies and hate on Kristen Stewart all over again.

Then aftewards, you'll remember why that t-shirt you're wearing was at the bottom of the 'ugly shirt drawer' in the first place.

Our landlord, aka Helen, who lives in the home above us, was sweet enough to give us an old TV with cable and fill our fridge with what looked like a 20 litre bottle of milk, 2 cartons of fruit juice, half a carton of Canada Dry (dry ginger ale) and good old fashioned apple pie. I know what we're having for dinner tonight!

We picked our rooms, dumped our suitcases and headed straight to Canada's most iconic landmark: Walmart.

I bought the essentials of course - oats, almond milk, a giant coffee mug, $1 frozen meals, thumb tacks and a Snickers bar. I felt these were far more important than other 'essentials' like pillows, bed sheets or bath towels; those materialistic things can wait.


After popping our Walmart shopping cherry we headed back home, but not without pissing off the people of North Vancouver, yet again, on their public transport, by taking over half the bus with more bags than our arms could physically carry. We should really get a taxi next time.

We arrived home, unpacked our crap, and ate apple pie out of the tin because we had no plates. We then helped Sophie and Kim pump up their Walmart air-beds in the lounge room, where we were all sleeping that night as Alex and I had to wait for our beds to be delivered the next day.


I'll tell ya, after one night on a blow-up bed, I know I definitely do not regret splurging my money on that Queen bed set. Maybe I should have bribed the Sleep Country guy with a pumpkin spiced latte and a cream cheese bagel for it to be delivered that day? No, you’re right -a caramel latte, two bagels and large serve of poutine chips, yep that would have done it. Ah well I'll know for next time. 

Until next time Twihards.

Amanda x 
Instagram :@amanda_maguire

Discover your Working Holiday Club adventure here!

See ya, laters, bye, ta-ta.

My last 4 days in AUSTRALIA before I flew out to CANADA:

Monday night:

The last hang-out night with my original first ladies - Renae and Danielle.  

We assembled at Danielle and her husband Jarred’s home for the etiquette-free pizza and pasta pig-out feast.

Danielle was still in disbelief that I was leaving, and couldn't understand why I would want to move to a country cold enough to give me frostbitten nipples. She was certain this was a real condition, so we googled it of course. No such condition to support her argument.

Tuesday night

At 12.30am, my inner nagging Nancy decided I didn’t need sleep, despite my 8.15am chiropractor appointment and 9.30am dental check. You're right Nancy, sleep is for the weak, what did you need to tell me? :

Hey...um....Should you pack summer clothes if you stay longer?

How much underwear do you need?

Where did you put your travel SIM?

Crap, you need to call the bank...

Do you really need to buy those Lorna Jane leggings?

You need to buy thermal socks...

When are you going to start doing your washing?

How catchy is that new Little Mix song?...'hey, get your back off the wall...da,da-da,la-la,la....'

Why are you awake? You have a really early appointment in the morning!

Wednesday night

Another ladies only farewell pig-out feast, but this time with my fellow ex-work mates/European travel sisters - Marisa and Bree.

Thai take-away, Tim Tams and wasabi peas were on the menu while we watched Big Brother - embrace sloth position now.

I asked Bree and Marisa how they would feel if I took a lock of their hair with me.

Bree wasn't ready to part with her mini-mullet on the back of her neck.

Thursday Night:

Operation - Pack your entire life into a suitcase without going over 23 kg - are you pine nuts?

My sister Jenna was the brutal voice of reason when it came to what I really needed to pack.

"Amanda, why on earth do you need a bikini?"

"Are you seriously packing that top?"

"Let’s be serious here Amanda, you're NEVER going to read all those books."

We narrowed 356,969 items of clothing and other miscellaneous crap down to only 2000 items

All thanks to this one magical product. 

SPACE BAGS.

Friday morning:

In the words of Rafiki from the Lion King

'It is time!'


My entourage (Mum, Dad and Jenna) came along to bid me adieu, but not before we ripped my suitcase apart to sacrifice 3kgs worth of luggage to meet the 23kg limit.

R.I.P

Milo tin

Top Shop Orange blazer

Oroton evening shoulder bag

My 'A' Baseball Jacket

L'oreal Million Lash Mascara

Revlon eyeshadow

Neutrogena face cream.

Knitted scarves

OPI nail polishes in Don't Pretzel My Button and Kiss Me On My Tulips.

Checked in my luggage, swapped my phone SIM and took that dreaded walk to the departures gate.

Jenna was blubbering like she had just won Dancing with Stars and I all I could do was laugh through my snotty tears. Mum shed her share of salty eye drops and said 'you will be fine' and Dad told me to 'be safe and be aware of my surroundings' (i.e don’t lose your wallet and passport in a Starbucks)

As we parted our ways, the last thing I said was "nobody die while I'm gone or I'll be really pissed."

I really do wear my heart on my sleeve.

The flight was not as horrendous as I imagined it would be, I shared my seat row with one other girl who wore techno-coloured tights and had special dietary required meals just like me.

She was gluten-free girl and I was vegetarian girl.  I really hope those breakfast sausages were made of chickpeas.

I was able to take advantage of the extra seat between us and sleep in some kind of yoga position which I changed every time I started losing feeling in my legs or my backside. Damn those butt cramps.

Still Friday...

Land in Vancouver Airport. Yay!

Getting through customs and then the immigration office, only took a measly 3 hours of standing in line while I carried a 10 tonne backpack that was slowly disfiguring my spine into that of a 100 year old woman who once was a circus performer with the job of riding around on a small unicycle with 3 bearded women and dancing poodle sitting on her shoulders.

Note to self: Find Swedish backpacker at hostel.

After successfully picking up my two year work visa and my suitcase, followed by a 15 min train ride to Vancouver City Central and a 5 min walk in the rain to that neon blazing Samsun Hostel I finally, finally, made it to Vancouver, Canada.

Until next time, eh?

Amanda x

Discover your WORKING HOLIDAY CLUB adventure here!

In other news...

You may have noticed the new fancy pants photograph going on up ^^^^ there, thanks to my friend Dani and her picture making business called Danielle Stevenson Photography. 

As you can see I'm standing on the beach with a snowboard, a sun dress and an owl beanie. You may also notice my dress giving the illusion of a buxom booty.  (No, I didn’t go to Thailand and have cheap butt implants put in while sipping on mai tais) 

If you take notice of my 80’s wind-fan hair and the choppy surf behind me, we were experiencing brutal gale force winds. This was strange given that the weather was perfect off the beach, and was even more perfect when we visited the week before.

So, no – instead of beautiful, it was sand shit storm attacking our faces with tiny sharp salty needles. 

During the photo shoot we also had the delightful experience of seeing a flock of dead crows floating around our feet while shooting in the water, and if that wasn’t bad enough, my knickers were being flashed every 10 seconds to a group of wind surfers. 

I’m not sure which event will mentally scar me the longest.

Despite the asshole conditions, Dan was able to come up with the goods like I knew she would. What a clever dick!

Dani put the finishing touches to it with some fancy font and Jarred weaved his computer nerd magic to make Pluggers to Powder the gnarly blog site I envisioned. That’s right, I said gnarly as if I was bona fide cool person.