UNB Alumni
Telling our #ProudlyUNB stories

Written and submitted by Andrew Martel (BCS’15) & Kayla Renée Ossachuk (BA’15)

Two years ago, we started thinking of the idea of travelling around the world for a full year. To be fair, Kayla had been thinking about it for most of her life, but we only started brainstorming ideas back in 2022.

At the time, the thought was that we would save up for a year and continue to work while travelling. I’m a management consultant for a firm out of Toronto – a job that is almost fully virtual, and Kayla runs her social media and  video editing company from any spot with decent Wi-Fi.

When we started to plan, we also started to think of potential issues, risks, etc. (I love a good SWOT Analysis). Looking back on that pre-planning, there is so much that we never even thought about or knew – that has made this experience much more enjoyable and sometimes challenging at the same time.

If you’re thinking about a big trip, or even a small one, hopefully you can learn from these lessons:

1. There is help everywhere.

When we started this trip, we knew that we would have friends and family visit us along the way – which was a great way to find companionship during the year. However, we didn’t think we would need much help outside of maybe restaurant requests. We couldn’t be more wrong.

Early on, during our second country, we hiked 12km to Machu Pichu.  That was great, until the last kilometre turned into a downpour. Do you know what you need to get into Machu Pichu? Your passport. This meant we all had our passports on us – and no matter how good a rain jacket or backpack is – it isn’t meant to keep you dry if you’re swimming in the rain.

I ended up getting minor water damage to my passport – and needed to replace it. Thankfully the process of dealing with the Canadian Embassies was easy – helpful – and has ensured continued success as we travel to new countries.

Beyond the available help and guidance of a national embassy, we’ve also had the pleasure of meeting up with UNB alumni along the way. All were able to provide localized guidance, help, and a warm welcome to their home. To those alumni, thank you – and if you’re ever in Fredericton, look us up!

2. Language is the gateway to the world.

When we were planning this trip, we started learning Spanish on Duolingo. While many people joke about (or disregard its capabilities), I’ve been very thankful for the ability to minimally communicate with locals in 1/3 of our countries on this trip.

As we started moving outside of the Spanish world, we have now dealt with Italian, Greek, Croatian, and more recently, Arabic – and aside from Italian – none of them are as easy as we had hoped.

However, we’ve seen firsthand that the simple ability of learning “Hello”, “Thank You” and “Please,” and maybe how to say “Beer” in the local language, has helped us get so much further.

As New Brunswickers, we are blessed with bilingualism in a lot of our interactions – and seeing the benefits in our everyday lives is multiplied 100x when you go somewhere internationally, and no one expects you to take the time to learn. So, when you do, it opens so many opportunities and experiences, from free shots after dinner to learning the mysteries of a hole-in-the-wall bar inside an old castle. The simple gesture goes a long way.

3. Access is everywhere.

In planning this trip, we were very strategic in picking our countries and where we would stay. The main concern has always been to find places that had good and accessible Wi-Fi. From scouring reviews to looking into global rankings, we did our homework.

That being said, while we do travel annually, we never realized the vast availability of Wi-Fi almost everywhere we’ve gone. From Greek islands to the hills of Panama, we never had any problems in taking Teams calls or answering emails.

Further to that, the rise of eSims and WhatsApp has made the ability for self-reliance and communication much more accessible when you’re in another country.

In addition to communicating with work, it has allowed us to communicate with hotel/hostel hosts about recommendations, to utilize live translation apps when communicating with shop vendors, and to simply find directions on the back roads of Cyprus to return to your hostel.

So I guess, the takeaway, don’t restrict yourself – as many parts of the world are now connected and inter-connected.

4. Be open to the unknown

A simple and final lesson learned (if you haven’t gathered that already) is that NOT EVERYTHING goes as planned. We’ve had to rebook hotels or hostels due to them…no longer existing. We’ve had to re-return to a historic site because they’re closed on the last Wednesday of the month. Things happen, plan falter.

Our advice is two-fold:

1. Don’t wait until the last day to do the thing you really want to do. Do that day one, then if you love it, do it again. I learned that lesson the hard way when I discovered Thai Iced Tea a day before we had to return home. I now dream of that perfection.
2. There is a difference between trusting your gut on something that may be dangerous and testing the waters on something that could be exciting. We’ve fallen for our fair share of tourist scams (where we didn’t listen to our gut), but we’ve also had the unique experience of seeing turtles nesting because we said “yes” to an unplanned opportunity.
   
   

Overall, if we could give a final lesson, it is to please travel. To another city, another province, another country or another continent. There is so much beyond your own road that will not only help you understand the world better, but understand each other better too.