Hey there

I'm Maddi, 27 year old Canadian chica, nice to meet ya! Thought I would take a moment to introduce myself and what I plan on sharing with you all. I hope to express a number of tasty tibits of my life with you, from makeup to real talks. But, first and foremost, I love to travel.

I embarked on my first backpacking experience in 2010 to Europe, after spending a year of hard budgeting and saving. A friend and I toured around, armed with our Eurorail pass and enourmous backpacks, collecting 8 or so stamps on our passport pages. Despite the challenges and money spent, I had developed a thirst for travel that I could barely wait to quench...

Unfortunately, I had to wait to continue my adventures until after I finished post secondary... So after 5 years of humming and hawing about what the hell I wanted to do with my life, I finished half a Bachelor of Arts degree, a Design Certificate, and a Diploma in Design and Digital Media. During this time I also built some mint friendships, attended some sick music festivals, and partook in a number of dope roadies. However, as some of my friends began to land careers and buy houses, I knew the last thing I wanted to do was settle down. So I took a few months to save up some money, and planned my next adventure to Central America with some like minded companions, starting off in
Costa Rica, then off to Nicaragua and beyond.

This trip started a two year on again off again love affair with Nicaragua... Central America is a stunner in general, but Nicaragua still has my heart. I've been back to CA three times to date and plan on returning in the Spring if I can swing it.

After a hard decision to return home to Canada, I realized that I had barely seen any of my own gorgeous country. I made plans to move to BC to try my hand at the snow bunny lifestyle. I toyed with the idea of moving to Banff, Whistler, Nelson... there are a plethora of fantastic mountains to choose from here, so spoiled. But I finally landed on Big White, a small mountain village just outside of Kelowna, on account of the draw of ski in/ski out mountain village living.

It was a whirlwind of a season full of ups and downs. I more than once found myself looking up flights to escape back to my tropical lifestyle of bathing suits and no shoes and tacos everyday. But I stuck it out, and enjoyed the icey beauty of Western Canadian winter, more than a few silly nights, a heap of days on my ski pass, and met my man Sam after years of swearing off commitment of any kind.

Unsure of that to do for the spring and summer, we eventually decided to check out Banff, a mountain town I grew up visiting. After stopping there for a few days before or after music festivals and for weekend ski or camping trips, I knew it would be a sick place to spend our summer.

This summer carried with it one of the most trying times in my life, perhaps detailed in future posts, but we also met some marvelous people with colorful backstories and made some unforgettable memories. I was prepared to stay throughout winter, in our awesome loft. But Sam really wanted to hit up Biggie again, so we secured a place and jobs and committed to another silly ski bum winter.

We did take a quick jaunt back down to CA for a month to get our vitamin D fix though. We embarked on a whirlwind trip through Caribbean side of Mexico and Guatemala. A feat that sounded much easier in planning than it was in practice. Nonetheless, still a brilliant time.

Just a teaser, more in future posts...

And this brings us to present day Mads, sitting on my couch accompanied by my 10 roomies and friends, prepping for a slushy opening day on the mountain. I plan on sharing my current escapades and kookiness entailed in my mountain life, as well as throwing it back to my past adventures, sharing my tips and tricks I have gained over my years of travelling, from budgeting and hostels, to planning and packing and everything in between.

Hope you decide to come along for the ride!