After a little more than a month of relaxing and catching up with my family and friends, I was starting to get anxious. As usual, when I come back to Canada, I’m afraid I will not find the strength to leave again. I know how silly it is, especially since I always leave again without much issue but the problem remains.
This time, my struggle was to decide to either go on holiday somewhere new and then eventually make my way to New Zealand, or to go there right away. I have a working holiday visa for the country which means that because I am Canadian and under 35, I am allowed to travel and work in the country for up to 23 months.
In the last few days, I had been feeling quite down. I couldn’t seem to be able to make up my mind. So I decided it was going to be it. I was going to make a decision, buy a ticket and finally relax.
I was getting ready to buy a ticket from Canada to New Zealand but it had a super long layover in California. Since it’s already a very long flight, I wasn’t too keen on waiting for hours in an airport. That’s when I received a message.
A friend of mine whom I met in Dubai but now is back in France was telling me how much she needed a few days away to breathe and find herself again. I’ve been missing her a lot since she left, so I started to check into flights to go to Europe, so we could catch up.
One search led to the other and eventually I found a decently priced flight from Québec City to Lisbon, in Portugal. Having never been to that country and having only heard good things, I jumped on the occasion and booked my flight out of Canada.
During my search, I also found a somewhat decently priced one-way flight to New Zealand. It was leaving from Zurich though, so at first, I thought I could always get a low-cost flight to catch up with that long haul. I wasn’t too excited at the prospect of spending only one night in Switzerland in December. Not because of the country itself, since I actually love how stunning Switzerland is. But mostly because it’s already been snowing here for a few days and I know that I’ll have enough of winter in a few weeks time. With a few more searches, I ended up finding a similar flight out of Lisbon.
My decision was made.
Sometimes all we need is to commit to making a decision for the fog to start lifting and for us to be able to see more clearly. The flight from Portugal to New Zealand is a rather long flight, but at least it’s a more direct route, with only one short layover on the way. So not only do I get a flight much better suited for me, but I also get to have a week-long holiday on my way!
I don’t know yet if my friend will be able to make it work and catch up with me in Lisbon. While I do hope so, finally booking my flight out of the country was exactly the push I needed. It refilled my inner energy, and finally, after a few weeks of not-so-relaxing sleep, I finally slept through the night, even though the snow plow were busy cleaning the streets all night.