FLYING THE NEST: MONTH 3

Well, here we are. Month 3 done and dusted and officially a quarter of the way into our year of fulltime travel! This month we really tried to buckle down and try to not spend too much of our dwindling funds as we began to experience life in Vancouver, Canada.

Where We Went

Two days in Whistler / Canada

The rest of the month was spent in Vancouver / Canada

Highlights

- Our very first sponsored trip. We have been so, so lucky to have gone on amazing sponsored tours throughout our travels this year, however never an actual trip away (accommodation and all). We were taken away to experience Whistler for the weekend, and it was one of the best weekends we have had this year so far.

- We finally learnt to ski at Blackcomb in Whistler. We had previously attempted to ski two times prior to our Whistler trip. Firstly in New Zealand (which was a complete failure as we couldn't afford a proper lesson) and the second time in a shopping centre in Dubai (I know, crazy right?) We can now officially say we can ski (at least on the kiddie slopes ... for now)!

- We freakin' bungee jumped! Another highlight during our time in Whistler was when we jumped off a bridge! Yep, we can finally say we have bungee jumped (still not sure if Jess would ever do it again), but what a crazy accomplishment. So many things on our bucket list already ticked off...argg!

- Bald Eagles! During our day out on the water in Richmond on the look out for some sea lions, we saw our very first bald eagle - and more then one of them! They were all nesting as spring has now sprung here in Canada. We have been on the look out for a bald eagle ever since we landed here in North America. Now we just need to see wild orcas and a grizzle bear and our trip will be complete.

- Jess is a working class girrrrl. The main reason we chose Vancouver as more of an extended holiday during our year of travel was to use it as a time to get some extra mullah. Jess was able to land herself a job during the last month or so during our time in Vancouver, which is just what we needed. Being able to experience living in another country (even if its only for a few months) is such a cool experience. Which brings me on to our next highlight...

vancouver

- That expat life. We have always wanted to see what it is like living in another country. Not just travelling to a country for an extended amount of time. But finding an apartment, getting a job and living like a local. We chose Vancouver as our place to call home over the next few months and will be sharing what we have learnt in a new section of the site called Living Abroad.

- Endlessly Exploring. After years of stored footage from past escapades around the world Stephen FINALLY started his own personal YouTube channel. Each week he is going to share a short film with you all, showcasing a destination we have experienced.

- Our very first giveaway. We have recently had our 6 month anniversary here on Flying The Nest and when GlobeIn contacted us asking if we would be interested holding a giveaway we thought it would be the perfect time. Congrats to Vera K & Little D for winning our first ever little giveaway!

Vancouver 2

Lowlights

- Itchy feet. Now that we have been living in Vancouver for over a month and trying to save our dollars for adventures later on in the year we are starting to get those travel blues. We miss hopping on a plane ever other week to a new and exciting location. We know we are located in such a beautiful city which we can explore, however now that Jess is working and again money is being saved we can't spend as much time exploring it as we would like. We are located quite far out of town and for a train ride to and from the city it costs us $20 a pop (thats $100 every 5 trips -ouch). BUT, money is being made and saved and before we know it we will be back on the road wishing we had time like now to stop and relax.

- Fear of heights. Jess has a major fear of heights. Over the past few years she has been working on conquering those fears and has now accomplished many adrenaline junkie activities she never dreamed she would do (parasailing, paragliding and sky diving to name a few). Bungee jumping was the one thing she swore she would never do, but being in Whistler and wanting to get rid of her fears she said she would attempt the dreaded bungee. Unfortunately, instead of helping her get over her fears the experience has worsened her fear of heights!

The Funds

We shall forever remember month 3 as the month of noodles and soup. We really tried hard to cut back this month, trying  to eat cheaply and travel smartly (not sure if smartly is a word, but we are rolling with it). Living in one of the most expensive cities in North America we feel like we did pretty well this month. We ended up spending $2342.68, most of this spent on housing expenses.

As always we shall break that done for all you nosey people out there (don't worry, we are quite the nosey ones ourselves). We spent $1356 on housing expenses, $335.26 on food, $94.25 on transportation, $75 on tours, $108.55 on snow sport travel insurance, $79.39 on entertainment, $45.90 on coffee and $105 on spare cash.

Work

Now that Jess has landed a job we are getting some extra income (though the pay in Canada is not the best, at least it's something). Stephen has been working super hard on his freelance work and has landed a few extra jobs throughout the month which has helped us a lot! This was the best month we have had so far using Adsense, yet still nothing we could live off. We are going to look into more affiliate programs over the next month to see if we can find some companies that would be a nice fit for us to work with.

Quick Numbers So Far…

Flights taken: 4

Kilometres travelled: 18,168

Photographs taken: 5509

Days uploaded to YouTube: 88

Coffee’s Had: 69

Where To Next:

We will still be based in Vancouver over the next month. We do have some plans to venture out and see more of Canada, but for now we are experiencing the expat life.

Thank you so much for coming along on our journey of leaving home and travelling the world!

WANT MORE? READ MONTH 1 & MONTH 2

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