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: I know this is a bit of a departure from my usual topics (travel and books) but I thought it’d be fun to include a little wedding planning on the blog too, since that’s what I’m up to. As much as I’d love to run around a Bed, Bath and Beyond with one of those price guns (or the covid equivalent: sit at home and add things to my Amazon wish list), we’re probably going to skip the registry. not putting up lighting, we’re not draping linens, we’re not making centrepieces, we’re not renting lounge furniture, and we’re not putting up cute chalkboard signs or candles in tall vases. If we were having a larger wedding, I’d definitely do a seating chart as I think they’re helpful, but it’s just not necessary for 20 people in our space.

One year ago, we were making the decision to stay in Prague and finish out our expat year, or fly home to Vancouver three months earlier than planned. None of it would have been possible with the pandemic, but we had plans to host Colin’s cousin for Easter, travel to Berlin in late April, meet up with Colin’s family in London in May, journey up to Scotland and road trip through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on our way to Paris to catch our flight home. We created a life in Prague where we found favourite restaurants, discovered new parks and beautiful sunsets, made new friends, got new jobs, learned a few words of Czech, rented an apartment, and enjoyed a world where cellphone plans are reasonably priced and beer is cheaper than water. Abroad we traipsed through the gardens of Vienna’s Schonbrunn Palace, bought Colin a new work wardrobe in Dresden, castle hopped in Sweden, made plans to retire in Tuscany, drank beer at Oktoberfest, climbed castle stairs in Budapest, stomped around Pompeii in the rain, ate the best gelato in Rome, strolled the Christmas markets of Salzburg, saw a much too long play in London, fell in love with Seville, camped in the desert in Morocco, and hiked up waterfalls with Ellie in Slovenia.

Luckily, it’s easy to find cost of living information online and most travellers have a general idea of what places are expensive (like Scandinavia and Australia) and what places are cheap (like Southeast Asia and Mexico). You probably don’t need to know the exact population numbers of every city you’re considering moving to, but a general idea of the size of the cities is helpful. For example, we wanted to be in a main big city with lots of English, great public transportation and easy access to travel It was a big city with great transportation, great travel links throughout Europe and great English-speaking job opportunities.

Each month I’m featuring a fellow world traveller to share their travel stories, inspire a little wanderlust and show some love to a fellow blogger! Just before the pandemic started, I took a trip to Mexico and stayed at the Grand Sunset Princess Resort in Playa Del Carmen. Head on over to Brianna’s blog to follow along with more of her travels and stories, and stay tuned for April’s Traveller of the Month! A travel blog and book blog for those who seek (just a little bit of) adventure and enjoy a good read along the way.