Who am I?

Hello there!

Nice to see you here today! I’m Andrée-Anne (even though nowadays I tend to introduce myself as Andrea).

I’ve been living a nomadic life for a few years already and I’ve learned and obviously changed a lot throughout my experiences. 

If you have ever wondered:

• How can I fund a long-term travel?
• What do I have to think about before I leave?
• What about food allergies or preferences… what will I eat?
• How about finding work abroad?
• Is there anybody who can help me figure out where to start from?

Or maybe you are looking for more personal things like:

• How can I deal with my co-workers without wanting to strangle them?
• What to do when you grow away from your friends or family?
• What about meeting new people when moving to a new city?

You are in the right place!

Having already completed one round-the-world tour, and now right into the second one, I have answers for you!

I’m excited to share my tips and experiences (the good and the…  not so good) with you.  Don’t be a stranger: sign up today to keep in touch!

Want to know more about me and my travels? Keep reading!

I grew up in the province of Quebec in Canada and spent most of my time between Quebec City and Baie-Comeau.

When I was about 18, I left for my first solo trip in Europe. I loved it so much that when I came back I decided to study in tourism. During my schooling, I did an internship in France and, later on, worked as an Event Planner.

In August 2008, I saw an opportunity to move to a different province and work with French immersion students for one school year. The Odyssey is a government funded program designed to send French speaking people to French immersion schools across the country (and vice versa for English people) to help kids learn the other official language through games and animation.

As my then boyfriend and I were tired of our jobs in Québec, it looked like the perfect opportunity. We both quit our jobs, rented our apartment, packed our things, filled up the car and left for a city we had never heard of before.

Thanks to great jobs and friends, our original 10 months plan somehow turned into almost 5 years: after a year in Fort St. John, we had bought a house. 

After a while I was itching to go travel once again, so we started to plan for our round-the-world trip while saving as much money as we could.

After quickly selling our house over Christmas time, we moved in a friends’ spare bedroom for a month to get everything sorted out and left our jobs. In February 2013, we moved from the bedroom to our Jeep, and left for a great road trip down to San Francisco and then across the USA and back to Quebec. We had to spend some time with our friends and family before we headed to new pastures.

In April, we flew to New Orleans, where we boarded the Norwegian Star cruise ship for a 16-day crossing ending up in Copenhagen, Denmark. We spent the following months in Europe, visiting many countries before heading out to Jordan to volunteer in a hotel.

After Jordan, it was time to move on East, so we flew to Nepal, were we had a great time hiking the Annapurna circuit. It was already almost Christmas time, so we decided that beach celebration would do! We went to Indonesia for a month. Our plan then was to spend a few months in South-East Asia, but the night before our flight back to Malaysia, we stumble across the opportunity of a lifetime.

The sailing vessel Infinity was set to leave a couple of weeks later from New Zealand, sail down to Antarctica and back up towards Chile. We never though there would be room left on the boat, but nevertheless, we sent an email. The next morning, we already had an answer that read: Sure! Fill out the questionnaire and we’ll get back to you. By then it was already time to fly to Malaysia, so when we arrived there we quickly booked our flight onward to New Zealand with a short stop in Australia.

A couple of weeks later, the boat and the crew were ready and we left for the most amazing adventure of our life. The most difficult, scenic and incredible two and half months. (You can see some pictures and read about it here)

After such a rewarding experience, we knew we needed a break. We travelled upwards in Chile to Santiago from where we flew back to Canada to surprise our parents. We had told them we would keep travelling for a while, so nobody was waiting for me when I landed in Quebec City airport. I took the bus and let myself in my mom’s flat. The total look of surprise on her face when she walked in was priceless!

I spent the first few weeks visiting and reconnecting with family and friends and eventually, we took a lease on a flat for one year. I started looking for a job, but unfortunately, it never worked out… so after a few months, I was ready to hit the road again. Seb wanted to settle down, so at that time we had to make a difficult decision; after 11 years together it was time to go our separate ways.

I applied for a working-holiday Visa in the UK, bought a flight ticket and entered the next chapter of my life.

Come with me and let’s see where it will take us…