As with all of God's plans of late, our next chapter started with a random phone call. It was late June, our gloomiest month and Trav had just started the laborious job search. It had been a crazy week already, full of conversations with large & small hotel groups and every time Trav answered a call from an unknown number, we wondered if it would reveal our new destination. We were just beginning to list alternate places to live when another random number appeared on Trav's cell. He took the call and it was the National VP for a widely-known hotel brand. He confessed that he had no idea how Travis's resume had wound up on his desk as he had no specific openings to discuss, but after reading Trav's story (recapped in his most recent work experience) the VP felt the need to reach out, in the very least, to see how he could help. The two hit it off as they discussed personal and professional goals over the course of the next hour. As the conversation closed, the VP thanked Trav for his time and promised to be in touch with any opportunities he came across, wherever they may be.
Be careful what you wish for.
A week or so later, July had arrived, complete with its own share of problems. It was a particularly hot evening and the grey clouds had just moved in like clock-work before sunset. We had just finished dinner and were retiring to the couch for some quality time with our DVR when Trav read aloud an email he had just received. The first line read, "Thank you for your recent submission of application for Food & Beverage Director - Vancouver, Canada". I could list 1.6 million things that came to my mind in that very moment, but the three choice words that decided to pass my lips were: "What the F*&K?!" Was this a joke? Canada?! Are you kidding me? After reading further, Trav found that an application had been submitted, on his behalf, by the National VP. Travis looked at me in disbelief and said "What do I say?" and for once, I was speechless.
F-ing Canada? Are you serious? I was mad. No, I was fuming. I had been praying every second for an open door, promising to obediently follow any path revealed to us. I had been summoning faith from ridiculous depths on a daily basis, truly believing that an opportunity, just as mysterious as the Bahamas, was right around the corner, ready and waiting to answer all of our questions as to why this had happened. I couldn't swallow. The celestial pull towards Canada was palatable and I knew we weren't the ones driving this determined bus. I tried to tell myself to keep an open-mind but the thought of renaming my blog "How I became a Canadian Eh" made me want to cry.
I had never even considered Canada as a salt life replacement. Especially after recently deciding that Daytona was as far "north" as I ever wanted to live again. Not to mention, Canada would forever have a negative connotation in our household. Many years ago, Travis's family had taken a cruise that was supposed to spend a sunny week in Bermuda. Due to rough waters, they were unexpectedly re-routed to Canada! It rained the entire time, making it the worst vacation they had ever had and no one has gone back. I have heard the story 100 times and now somehow my life was on the same fateful cruise.
Vancouver and the powers that be were persistent, and like we did with the Bahamas, Trav and I kept taking each step through the newly opened door.
Throughout the long interview process, Trav had been honest with everyone he spoke with, advising that although he hadn't actually applied for a life in Vancouver, he wasn't opposed to learning more. Just like the Bahamas, we decided to take to Google and found ourselves intrigued by what we read. We then started talking to friends and family and the curiosity continued to grow. People didn't just like Vancouver, they LOVED Vancouver. Other than Austin Texas, I had never heard such incredible enthusiasm for a single place from people who lived there. I didn't even know Vancouver had beaches, yet several of its beaches topped "top ten beaches of the world" lists. People came out of the woodwork to advise it was "the best place they have ever lived" and "the most beautiful place they had ever visited". Huh!?
But who cares- Vancouver has rain and winters. Why, when we were exploring Florida in search of endless summers and year-round heat, were we even considering Vancouver? We asked ourselves that every day as we tried to push the Vancouver door closed gently. But the forces on the other side had other intentions.
We had been back from our Floridian adventure a week when Vancouver came knocking again. This time, a decision had to be made as Travis had made it to the final interview stages. They had given us two days time to decide if we were truly interested in the position and relocating to Vancouver. I prayed like never before for a "sign" and for two days straight, the sun didn't shine in Daytona. We had our sign.
Wednesday was "decision day" and that afternoon Trav received a follow up email asking for our decision. Trav transparently replied that we were interested, the position and the hotel brand were too good to pass up, yet, it was hard to advise definitely on relocation when we hadn't been to Vancouver before. He asked for more information, maybe possible realtors, that would help us get a better gauge on life in the Canadian city. We knew that wasn't the answer they were looking for, but all we had was honesty at this point.
Within three hours, Trav received an email from the Corporate Office's Admin Assistant with flight information for the following Tuesday. Wait. This again? We were reliving the Bahamas all over again. The flight for Travis on Tuesday was way too soon for us to get our things in order for me to attend the trip and check out Vancouver. Just like the Bahamas, we weren't going to be able to determine if the place was right for us without both being able to see it. Just like the Bahamas, the flight was out of Orlando (1.5 hours from Daytona), with a ridiculous lay over, leaving at 6:30am. So now what? I felt in that moment that it was very obvious that I had misinterpreted the "signs" and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into...
It didn't make sense for Trav to proceed with visiting Vancouver alone so, now in a precarious pickle, he again had to rely on honesty and reached out to the hotel advising on the predicament. If this would be the final rounds of interviews and they needed a decision shortly thereafter, he would need a little more time to arrange for his family to visit Vancouver at the same time, in order to be able to make a definitive decision. Within the hour, the Admin Assistant reached out with a flight for the following week and extended the visit from two days to four. Wow. We booked my ticket within minutes of confirming, and just like that, we were going to Vancouver.
Since there are three of us in this family and two of us were going to be gone for four days, Bob- for the first time since arriving to Florida, started to stress me out. Our first call was to Trav's parents. And when they said they would drive from New Jersey to hang out with Bob, there weren't enough words to describe how grateful I was. Hallelujah. The stars were certainly aligning.
That was step one. As mentioned, Bob is a beast and the condo we are living in is booby-trapped with land-mines in the form of ankle-biting dogs that make Bob go insane. That's the last thing Trav's parents needed after coming 1,000 miles to pet sit so we knew we needed a professional to walk him three times a day. I have interviewed at least 100 dog walkers for my company over the last 6 years, yet never have I interviewed a dog walker for Bob. I was completely freaking out when everyone we called advised they don't come to our part of Daytona. I had to resort to the Vista Print business card for a pet sitter in the lobby of the condo building and when she was five minutes late to meet us and Bob, I was going to lose my mind. But then, Allie showed up and thank God, she is awesome. A girl after my own heart, she walks dogs and works with Sea Turtles. God had sent us an angel. We'll see if she can handle our demon of a dog...
We had received a list of neighborhoods to check out from Vancouver's human resource department, so I started with Pinterest. I pinned for hours until my board looked like a travel magazine. I was officially excited to visit Vancouver. It didn't matter if it wasn't our end-game, we were getting the chance to see Vancouver, apparently one of the most beautiful places in the world!
I drew the worst hand-drawn map you have ever seen, to try to get a sense of where everything in Vancouver was, and I made a list of everything I wanted to see while Travis was stuck in meetings. He has interviews scheduled for four straight days so I knew it was up to me to soak up as much of the area as possible for salt life recon. I researched the top beaches and the top parks and everything a tourist and local should do in Vancouver. We made reservations on Open Table for restaurants we had read about, and reached out to realtors to see potential places to live. The more homework I did on Vancouver, the more the rain and winters seemed to slip from my mind.
We leave on Monday and I have no idea what Vancouver will bring. We have learned at this point to not have any expectations. As with this entire journey, we are just along for the ride.
Will we be singing O Canada?
Read Next, #23- Taking Vancouver by Storm, Aug 29
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