In Canada with Adventure Canada!

After contracting with Adventure Canada for just over three years, I finally got to meet the team in person. They hosted their annual staff development days in Quebec in December and invited me to join. I stayed in Canada for two weeks.

Note: I know this post is four months late!

It was a bit surreal, honestly. You build a working relationship with people over Teams calls and shared files, and you think you know them. Then you actually meet them and realise you only had part of the picture.

Adventure Canada is a leader in Arctic expedition travel who runs voyages to some of the most remote places on the planet. Meeting everyone in person confirmed what I'd already sensed from the work — they care deeply about what they do, and it shows. I left feeling even more glad to be part of what they're building.

Quebec and Toronto in December

The snow and the trees and the whole landscape was something else. Beautiful in a way that's hard to describe if you haven't seen it — everything quiet and white and a little unreal.

I made a snow angel at some point. It felt necessary.

One night we went axe throwing at -18°C. As someone originally from Indonesia, this was not on my life bingo card. And yet there I was, in the dark, throwing axes and not being very good at it at all.

I also brought two Christmas ornaments from home for the office tree — a fantail, my favourite NZ bird, and a Buzzy Bee, which is a classic NZ toy. A small piece of home on their Christmas tree felt right.

The development days also included a paint and sip with the whole company — we painted auroras. It was genuinely fun, and I got to be part of that with everyone, which meant a lot.

Old Quebec in the snow, with the Château Frontenac lit up at golden hour, is a sight that's hard to forget.

After Quebec, I spent a bit of time in Toronto. Monica, Adventure Canada's video editor and media manager, took me around the CBD. We ended up at a Christmas market, which was lovely.

It's an odd but happy feeling when you meet someone in person after years of working together remotely. The work doesn't change. But something about the relationship does.

Grateful to the whole Adventure Canada team for having me. Long may it last.