The Rockies!

Just over 3 months since we went  to the Rocky Mountains and it's only now I am getting a chance to write a post about it. I seriously admire people who can write blog posts a few times a week. I know it's just a hobby of mine but still, its takes so much time and effort. Being dyslexic doesn't help either because it takes me longer to write and there are probably lots of mistakes but sure it's better late than never.

Back in May we flew to Calgary. We got in late so we booked a hotel close to the airport, that way we could get a good nights sleep and get up early in the morning to head to the Rockies.

The next morning we woke up around 7am and headed away on our adventure in one of my favourite cars, a Jeep Wrangler! I couldn't believe how close Calgary is to the Rockies, only about an hour and a half drive. Also, It is kinda crazy, you drive along and it's all flat and next thing... BAM!!! The mountains are just there!haha.

We were staying in Banff but we stopped in a town called Canmore on the way. It's a gorgeous quaint town and not as touristy as Banff. I would highly recommend it, especially if you are looking for something a little quieter. We continued on to Banff to our hotel. We stayed in the Fox Hotel and Suites. I would highly recommend it. There is an underground pool, it looks like a cave that has an opening at the top. I'd imagine it's also beautiful in winter when it snows.

After checking into our room, we quickly freshened up and went back out to explore. We knew where we wanted to go first as the weather was sunny and clear. We went to the Banff gondola. It's $65 plus tax. Kind of pricey I know but SO worth it! The wait wasn't that long, I imagine that would be different during peak times though. The ride to the top is amazing, however if you're afraid of heights, this might make you nervous. I cried on the way up but to be fair I cried on the Ferris wheel that is in Cork at Christmas too. Hahaha! I just don't like moving heights, hate roller coaster or anything like that! I make myself do it though as I know I will feel great after. I am so glad I did go up the gondola because the views from the top were spectacular.

I have a good camera and I am pretty proud of some of the pictures I have taken but pictures don't even do these mountains justice. They are huge!! I kept saying to Parker "they look fake". We were very lucky with the weather. When we got back down from the mountains, we didn't really have a plan. We decided to pick a few lakes and just drive to them. Sitting in the car looking out the window was just as fun too as the views were breathtaking. Lake Minnewanka (apparently its pronounced different to what you may think, lol) was one of the lakes we drove to. The water was beautiful and so blue. After of long day of sightseeing we went for dinner and drinks.

The next morning we got up early and drove to the Ice Field Parkways, it's about a two hour drive from Banff. It is suppose to be very cool (no pun intended) but we wouldn't know because after two and a bit hours driving with no GPS, as it stopped working on the way, we gave up and turned around. When we got back to an area that had signal, we checked where we had turned around, to see how far from the parkway we were and it was...10 MINUTES!!! So annoying how close we were but all was not lost, we pulled in along the way to some beautiful lakes.

On the way back from our drive, we went to the famous Lake Louise. I was very excited to see this lake prior to our trip. Honestly, I was slightly disappointed! Yes, it is very beautiful but what put me off was the amount of tourists that were there. It is something you don't see from those Instagram perfect pictures of people standing between the two mountains with a bright blue lake behind them. There are thousands of people with selfie sticks. People will stop you a few times to take their photo and you have to nearly get into the lake to get a picture for no one to be in it! lol. Another thing to note if you go, is the time of year. We went in May and the lake was still mainly frozen . The height of summer is when the water is that famous turquoise blue colour. We were lucky to see some blue lakes that had thawed faster. Don't get me wrong, Lake Louise is worth the visit but there are so many more lakes that are just as beautiful. Two lakes that we didn't get to, that are suppose to be incredible also are Moraine Lake and Peyto Lake.

Our last day we went to Johnston Caynon and "hiked" up to the top of the waterfall. I am calling it a hike but for most people who actually hike, it's a walk. I am unfit so it's a bloody hike! I really enjoyed this day besides thinking a bear would just appear from the trees every so often. Lucky I had my bear bell on my bag though. Haha! You think after seeing Niagara Falls three times I would not appreciate smaller waterfalls but there is something so beautiful about waterfalls surrounded by mountains and nature, which is something Niagara Falls lacks.

Overall, our trip to The Rockies was incredible. It's somewhere I said I wouldn't leave Canada without seeing  and it's another place ticked off my bucket list. I genuinely think it's somewhere everyone should see at least once. I would love to go back.

Before heading to the airport in Calgary on our last day, we met my sister friend (and someone I consider my friend now too, hope that is ok Steph) who lives in Calgary and she gave us a very quick tour of the city. From the short glance of this city that I saw, it is somewhere I wish I had thought more about visiting. I will just have to come back.

Feel free to ask me any questions if you are thinking of visiting. I could write way more but think it is already long enough. I'm off to enjoy a long weekend and celebrate starting a new job on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!

Talk soon xx

Zita J 

NYC

This day last week, I was getting ready to head to New York. I am still recovering from the madness of the weekend and I have serious holidays blues. Once again, NYC did not disappoint! Last year we went in February and got unseasonably good weather and this year we got so lucky again. The sun did not stop shining all weekend.

Myself and Parker arrived from Toronto on Friday night. The flight, after a delayed take off was quite scary, they are small planes and the wind was bad, so the turbulence was the worst I have ever experienced. When we did land it was an hour and a half wait in customs. We didn’t get downtown until around 11pm. We were staying with friends in an Airbnb in Greenwich village and the location was ideal. Myself and Parker dropped off our stuff while my friends were in the pub and when I went to open my suitcase, I realised that a can of 7up that Parker put in my bag while we were on the train downtown had burst over ALL my clothes. The poor guy felt so bad! I had a little cry and then got over it and headed out to meet my friends. We headed to a cool speakeasy bar in Greenwich Village that you must walk through a FIVE GUYS to find. I love things like that, so I was very excited! It was great fun.

The next morning, my 7 up clothes had dried and although some were a bit crunchy there was nothing I could do! Lol. As it was St. Patrick’s Day and the rugby match was on, we had to get up bright and early to head to a pub! We headed to the Brass Monkey around 9.30am and had full intention of getting breakfast in there. However, it was super busy, so it was drinks for breakfast! After celebrating a great win and feeling super proud to be Irish we headed for lunch in The Standard. We went upstairs after to the roof top to have a drink and admire the amazing views.

We then headed to 5^th avenue to catch some of the St Patricks day parade and again I felt so proud to be Irish. We even spotted Des Bishop who waved and remembered my friend from his show 2 nights before. One of the highlights of our weekend. Lol!My friends then headed back to the apartment to rest and myself and Parker went to meet my cousins for a drink, it was great to catch up with them.  We went back to the Airbnb for a quick change and headed out to a few bars. I honestly don’t know how we kept going.

Sunday, after a well needed lie in we headed for brunch before going to Brooklyn Bridge. I didn’t get a chance to go there last year so it was high on my list. It did not disappoint. The sun was beaming down, and the views were incredible. I really enjoyed it. After we walked over it into Brooklyn we headed to the “the most Instagramable” spot in NYC, the street with the view of Manhattan Bridge. It was kind of crazy how busy it was. Everyone doing it for the gram. Lol. We were all a bit tired and hungry so went to Shake Shack to get food. I have never been so disappointed with somewhere in my life. It's highly over rated. To be fair, I felt a little sick, but I will just say, I wouldn’t be rushing back.

We then went on a hunt to find a nice roof top to watch the sunset and went to The Wythe Hotel rooftop to catch the incredible views of the sun going down. Sunsets are my absolute favourite. That night we went to “Fat Cat” in Greenwich Village. It is an underground jazz bar with a games room also. We were all a little tired from the day before, so we didn’t say out too late.

On Monday, we headed to Facebook NY as my friend works in the Dublin office and she was able to take us in for a tour. We even got some breakfast and snacks. Hence why I loved it so much, haha. The FB office was amazing, and I felt really inspired after coming out of there. It would be a cool place to work. We then went to the Freedom tower, as last year I never went up to the top. The views are unbelievable up there. We spent the last few hours walking around down by the water and went to see the Irish hunger memorial by Battery Park, which was great to see. Tired and sad to be leaving we said our goodbyes to my friends (only for a short time though) and headed back to Toronto. 

I have fallen in love with NYC even more now and I am already thinking of when I can go back! Its not long now until my next trip and I cannot wait! Roll on May.

Talk soon xx

Zita J

Quebec City

So, our first trip of the year happened 2 weeks ago. We flew to Quebec City from Toronto City airport on Saturday morning. I love flying from Toronto City airport, its a 10 minute walk from our apartment and the departure lounge has free refreshments, which makes me feel like a VIP. lol! 

One thing I am not a fan of is the tiny planes, for someone who loves to travel, I am not the best flyer. I blame watching the film Final Destination when I was younger. Haha!

Quebec City is so beautiful. I have been to Montreal but I think Quebec City is completely different. It doesn't feel like you are in Canada. Everyone speaks French and all the menus, signs etc are in French. I obviously knew this going there but I did not expect it to be as French as it was. I really liked that though, I felt like I was half way across the world.We mainly just walked around the old town and took pictures of the main building Chateau Frontenac which is spectacular. The old town is so pretty that you can spend hours wandering around all the cute little streets.

Frozen Maple Syrup

Twice I was forced into doing the toboggan slide (cos I am a wimp) which is located right beside the Chateau Frontenac. Both times, I loved it. I need to be pushed to do these things some times and I usually, I wont say always, enjoy it! The view from the top before you slide down is amazing. It's something I would definitely recommend.

We went to Quebec City with our two friends. The same couple we went to Vegas with 2 years ago. There is a little joke we have about Vegas as it was a bit of a disaster. It ended up being a very relaxing long weekend instead of the crazy Vegas weekend we had imagined. When we were going to Quebec, we joked that we couldn't wait to catch up on some sleep. However, this trip ended up being a bit of a messy one and while I had plans of writing about all the great food recommendations and fun activities, to be perfectly honest we spent it either drinking or hungover. Sure, how bad!

The two pictures above were taken from the restaurant Ciel Bistro Bar. I think its a must if you go to Quebec City, its a revolving 360 restaurant so you get to see so much and the cocktails are delicious! I would definitely recommend Quebec City, I'd say before Christmas would be a magical time to go.

Only 14 more sleeps until our next trip to NYC for Paddys weekend!!! Woohoo!

Have a great weekend and I hope you all enjoyed the snow days in Ireland. 

Talk soon xx

Zita J

My travel plans so far this year

Happy Friday!

Look at me doing another blog post already. I was too excited not to share my travel plans this year, so I said I would fill you in seeing as the first trip happens tomorrow. This weekend is a long weekend in Ontario. There isn't that many long weekends in Canada so you really need to maximize these days and do as much as possible.

Tomorrow we head to Quebec City. We have been to the province of Quebec last year when we went to Montreal, click here  to read my post on it but Quebec City was on my list too and when the chance arose we had to take it. Montreal was so beautiful and very french and Quebec City is suppose to be even more french. Pity French was the reason I repeated my Leaving Cert. Here is hoping they speak English back to me!

We are heading with our two friends for two nights. We decided to fly there because driving is around 10 hours and a train is 8. A one hour flight was the best option. The airport that we fly out of is also a 10 minute walk from our apartment which is so handy. I am really looking forward to seeing Quebec City and enjoying a little break away.

Streets of Montreal

Our second trip is going to be in March for Paddy's weekend. We are heading back to NYC. Two of my friends from home are going that weekend too so we are meeting them there. Its only an hour flight from Toronto so I couldn't resist. When I went to New York the last time, I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. I think about it a lot and I can't wait to go back and see more of it. You can read my New York post here. I think going to NYC for Paddy's weekend should be so fun too.

The latest trip we have booked, is the one I am most excited about. The reason being is I have wanted to go to this place from the day I decided to move to Canada. It's what I picture when I think of Canada... trees, mountains and bears. Don't get me wrong I love Toronto so much but I need to see the "real" Canada before I leave. So, in May we are flying from Toronto to Calgary, staying in Banff for two nights and exploring the beautiful Rockies. We are also staying two nights in Calgary. I am beyond excited for this trip. Its only a 4 day trip but as I said we get very little holidays here so I am making the most of it. From Calgary we are flying to Cork via London. One of  my friends is getting married and it's the first of the girls to get married so it's so special. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Hoping to see more wildlife in Banff

We fly back to Toronto then via Iceland. Its a lot of flights but we tried to book it so it wouldn't be crazy expensive. All these stopovers will be worth it! Right, I am off to finish packing and to get ready for Quebec City.

Have a great weekend!

Talk soon xx

Zita J

Me and my little blog

I think every post I write lately starts with, "woah I haven’t written in awhile". It’s true though, I've gotten really bad for writing every week. With a full time job, I’m usually so tired when I get home that I just want to eat dinner and watch TV. I forget however how much I enjoy writing these blog posts. Nearly 3 years ago I started this blog to document my journey to Toronto and my life here. I never thought I would keep it up! I did it so family and friends can keep up with my little life as it’s not always easy to explain what’s going on over the phone or on a quick text. I also enjoy when I’m home and people say something about my blog posts, I’m always shocked that people actually read it besides my family and close friends. I always say “ah stop, you read it, it’s shite”.

Obviously it’s not an extremely successful blog and I’m ok with that! To me, I am proud that for someone with dyslexia that I do keep a blog.I know that people can read it and potentially see my mistakes, misspelling etc but I continue to do it because I enjoy it! We all have struggles and difficulties but I try never let mine get in my way.

One of my new year resolutions was to write more posts, I know it’s February and this is my first one but January was a struggle for us all! Haha. Another resolution is to try care less about what people think of me, what I mean by that is, in today's social media world we are questioning everything we do and if it is prefect enough. I put up a picture on Instagram the other day but I wasn’t going to because I thought it wasn’t “perfect”. My coat was bulky and I felt it made me look bigger than I am but then I said “f*ck it”, I liked the picture and it’s bloody winter I have about a millions layers of clothes on! Lol!

My point really in all of this is that I’m going to continue writing my little blog even if 5,50 or 500 people read it! I enjoy taking pictures for it and even more excited to take more pictures with my new camera. I also love looking back over the previous posts to see how things have changed or not changed and I enjoy sharing my life no matter how perfect or imperfect is it!

In my coming posts, I will be putting up some after pictures of our new apartment, just waiting on one more thing to be delivered before I take my last picture. I might also put up a before and after video. I’m going be writing about our up and coming trips that we’ve planned and I need to bring back Foodie Friday as I think they're my favourite posts to write!

We are off to The Coronas tonight (again). We only went in December but they were brilliant! Have a great weekend!

Talk soon xx

Zita J

News news news!!

Woah, I haven't written a post in awhile. I have been so busy lately and so much has been going on for us. We had a stressful couple of weeks leading up to going home in September. We didn't have permanent residency yet and we were at the point where we didn't know if were able to go home on our temporary visa but luckily everything worked out and now... WE HAVE OUR PERMANENT RESIDENCY! We are so happy that we finally have it. It was a very long, daunting and expensive process and now it feels so worth it!

Rewind to the week before we received our PR, on Halloween night we got a notice from our landlord saying we needed to leave the apartment by December 31st. This was not the news we needed especially as we are heading home for Christmas in December. Waiting for confirmation of PR is stressful enough and now having to find somewhere new to live, I felt like nothing was going our way. I was and still am very emotional(what's new) about the thought of having to move out of the apartment we are in now. It  is the only place that's been our home away from home for the last 2 and a half years. The day we close the door for the last time I know I will be bawling just thinking of all the happy memories there.

On a brighter note we are not moving far, in fact just one floor below the apartment we are in now. We found out on a Tuesday about our notice and by Saturday we had the keys to our new apartment. Getting somewhere so quickly is unheard of in Toronto at the moment. I have heard stories of people getting turned away for credit history, people being out bid and others getting really small apartments for crazy rent. So we are really counting our blessings that the landlord liked us, that its slightly bigger and that the rent isn't as crazy as it could be. By chance we were the first people to ring the landlord about the apartment and he had made up his mind to take us before he even met us, I think. The day we met him he introduced us to his whole family, wife, children, sister and mother in law, we had not even seen the apartment yet! He was so nice though and we couldn't be luckier.

Now saying all that the place needs a little love, the walls were full of children's drawings. The carpet in the bedroom needed to be professionally cleaned and the landlord needs to get us some wardrobe doors as the old tenant decided to take them with her! lol.

We have been cleaning and painting the past week and we are slowly going to move our stuff in. We are officially moving in the weekend of Nov 25th. Below are some pictures before cleaning and painting. I will do after pictures once it is all done. Follow my Instagram for more regular updates (zitajames).

Have a great weekend!

Talk soon xx

Zita J

Our trip home

Happy Friday,

Hope you had a great week and you're looking forward to the weekend. For me I'm glad this week is over. Last Thursday after work I didn't feel well, thinking it was my usual stomach issues, I didn't take too much notice but as the night passed I knew it was something different. I spent the whole weekend this way and eventually had to go to hospital to get checked out as I wasn't getting better. They think I had some stomach virus but my god it was unlike any bug I've ever had. The cramps were just unbearable. I heard yesterday then that there is a dangerous bug going around Ireland so I may have picked it up at home. Be careful if you do get that bug and stay hydrated.

Speaking of home, this day two weeks ago we were home attending Parker's brothers wedding. What a day! Such a beautiful venue and ceremony and the rain stayed away. I got my skirt in a boutique in Toronto called Pearls and Pockets, its hard to see in the pictures but it's a beautiful grey colour with lace detail and my top is from a boutique in Ballincollig called Silk Peaches. The back was my favourite. I accessorized then with shoes and a bag from New Look.

The rest of our short trip home was spent having quality time with family and friends. It was just what I needed. I even fitted in a spa day with my Mum and sister in the Kingsley Hotel. I had never been there and I was very impressed with the spa and even more impressed that they gave me my own gluten free tray when we got afternoon tea. I am staying away from gluten for now as much as possible, so I get very excited when restaurants make an effort.

The trip home was very short but perfect and it's only 10 and a bit weeks until we are back again.
This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to a long weekend relaxing, enjoying the lovely weather we are getting and eating (I have to make up for the lack of eating last weekend) lol.

Have a great weekend!

Talk soon xx

Zita J