We’re selling the house and hitting the road!
But not until July 2014.
It’s been in the planning stages for two entire years already but we are finally announcing it to the world at large. And it’ll work like this:
Partner-Guy’s job allows him to bank 20% of his salary each year for 4 years. In the 5th year he’ll get paid that banked money while he takes the year off. It’s been harder than I thought to live on 80% of his salary, but knowing that he will have 12 months off with pay is a great incentive.
So the plan is for us to see Canada from coast to coast to coast. Since we live smack-dab in the middle of this enormous country, we plan to drive all the way EAST first. Rather than find new hotels or campsites each week, we’ll rent a cottage for 2-3 months in one of the Maritime provinces and use that as our home base while we travel a little throughout the region. I absolutely have to see Green Gables in Prince Edward Island and I want to eat lobster every night for a week in Newfoundland. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick I want to explore the farms and villages. I also want to explore the history of that region, including my personal history–my father arrived on a boat from The Netherlands after WW2 at Pier 21 in Halifax where there is now a museum to honour the many immigrants.
By mid-Fall we intend to start our drive West. We’ll pass through Ontario and reconnect with friends and relatives then keep driving until we hit The Rockies. I really want to spend the winter in a chalet with a mountain view and maybe we’ll even learn to ski. In spring we’ll visit the Queen Charlotte Islands and spend some time learning about the temperate rainforest and the Pacific Ocean.
And before our 12 months is up we’d like to take a plane north to Iqaluit. It is possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity and I can’t imagine missing the Arctic while seeing Canada.
But here is the really, really exciting part:
We’re not coming back to Toronto! Since we’ll be touring the whole country, we expect to find a place that is a perfect fit
Quebec--Summer 2011
for our family to start a new chapter in our lives. I’m leaning toward the eastern countryside of Quebec, but I am truly open to living anywhere, as long as a few criteria are met:
- I have to be able to see the sunrise and the sunset from my front porch.
- The weather and soil has to be suitable for growing vegetables and berries.
- The house has to be big enough for at least 3 bedrooms + a learning studio + a home office.
- There must be really good Internet!
- It has to be accessible by car.
And preferably there will be lots of trees and our neighbours will not be able to see into our house from their driveway. You know what I mean!
So why are we doing this?
- Because the best way to learn the history, geography and culture of Canada is to experience it.
- Because to really understand the World, you need to understand where you come from.
- Because we really love being together as a family and having unique experiences to add to our family lore.
- Because even though I always tell my children that they can do anything they put their minds to, I am scared shitless to take this trip and so I am determined to step outside of my comfort zone.
- Because we don’t want to live in Toronto anymore but we don’t know where to go. Yet.
- Because I have spent my entire life watching other people do amazing and interesting things and thought “Wow. I could never do that” but I don’t think that way anymore.
- Because we each only get one life to live and I can’t think of any reason to stay in this tiny bungalow in this boring neighbourhood for the rest of mine.
Now tell me: What part of Canada do think we should ABSOLUTELY see on our trip? AND can we visit you?
Wow! Just, wow. I am so excited for you and so unbelievably jealous!!! Ha ha. I’d love to visit Canada. It seems like paradise when you live in boring old England. I hope you have the time of your lives.
England is boring? Didn’t you just have a Diamond Jubilee and a royal wedding?
Ha ha. Yeh in London. Things like that tend to be quite isolated to London and the upper classes. The country is falling apart with mass unemployment and crime on the increase, but meanwhile all the rich people get to have a party at our expense. It’s another world. Might as well be another country. I live in the North of England, which is very poor and very neglected with lots of social problems. The money is all concentrated in the south.
I do love England, don’t get me wrong. It’s beautiful. But it’s quite samey unless you go up into the highlands of Scotland. Then it gets wild and rugged. England is small and the countryside is all divided into farms and private estates. There’s almost no wilderness here. Canada seems like a dream.
Woo hoo!!!! Sounds so wonderful! We are in the midst of creating and planning for our dream future as well and it’s so great to see a family who’s taking the plunge! Enjoy and I can’t wait to read all about it!
And to the above commenter, how can England be considered boring!?
I guess boring is the wrong word. Maybe dreary would be a better one, or samey. I see images of Canada or places like Australia on TV, with their huge forrests, lakes and wilderness and it seems like another planet when you’re surrounded by farmland or dilapidated towns. England is so small, you can drive from top to bottom within a few hours. And all along you’ll see electric pilons and the other relics of civilisation. There’s no wild places, untouched by humans. Unless, as I say above, you travel up into the highlands of Scotland – about the only wild place left because it’s so cold and there’s so little economy that almost no one lives there. It’s my partner and I’s dream to one day get a piece of land in the highlands and build a life for ourselves there.
How about the Yukon? It’s where I live and fits all your criteria!
Can you put us all up for a night or two? I want to come when I can see the Northern Lights….
I’m sure we could–but you would have to come in the winter with short days as opposed to summers with loooonnnnggg hours of sunlight!
Don’t forget that Northernwestern Ontario is really really big! And gorgeous, and vastly underrated.
wherever you plan to settle down.. do your research and know the laws where you are going. Quebec … not an easy province to homeschool in.
you are welcome to visit us anytime, and my sister is out in Alberta so stopping in to see her might be a good idea.
Have fun.
Chase some migrating geese for me.
Yes, good point. Ontario really does have some of the most liberal homeschool law in the entire world. I know that in Quebec they require homeschoolers to follow the provincial curriculum. However, I know of unschoolers in Quebec who have managed to circumvent the rules.
We are open to living anywhere in Canada, so it will be quite interesting to see where each of us feels inclined to stay. Hopefully we can all agree!
And yes, we plan to visit all of our relatives across the country–or at least the ones who are interested in seeing us–LOL! It will be really great to reconnect with some cousins and to learn from them.
Wow!!! So awesome! I’m so excited for you!
We live to travel!
Just spent 2 months of summer travelling Calgary -> Hawaii -> Vancouver -> Seattle -> Newfoundland -> Bahamas -> Edmonton
It was our first time flying with a baby (6 months old) and we had so much fun!
That’s a huge reason why we want to educate our children outside of the school system – so we can take off anywhere at anytime and not have to worry about their school work or exams! LOL!
I love what you said about “the best way to learn about Canada is to experience it”! Amen sista!