Life Lately via Instagram

I’m sorry I’ve been slack with posting these past few months, but I’ve been busy doing what travel bloggers do best, TRAVELLING! If you follow me on social media, you would’ve seen I visited Laos and Thailand, road tripped from Los Angeles to Seattle, and spent some time in Canada, especially touring around Tofino. It’s been a great few months full of new discoveries, experiences, and (good) challenges. And I can’t wait to share all these travels with you soon (stay tuned)!

However, my biggest update of all has to be that Alex and I moved to Melbourne this month! I can’t express how excited we are! Those close to me have noticed a complete shift in me since discovering the news. This move has been a long time coming!

Previously, I expressed my struggles since moving to Brisbane. I’m someone who is greatly affected by my surroundings, as I have a strong sense of place. Simply put, what brings me joy, such as meaningful work, family, and culture, doesn’t exist for me in Brisbane.

Nevertheless, considering Melbourne is my favourite Australian city, I can easily find my joy here again! Melbourne is full of culture, which means meaningful work for me. It also reminds me of my hometown, Toronto, which is much needed after experiencing years of homesickness.

Though our larger travels might slow down, as we attempt home ownership, I’m excited to experience more local travels (post to come soon). So for now, here are some of my recent travel photos from Instagram. But feel free to follow along on my next adventure @jauntandflaunt. And a big thank you to all those that hosted, guided, and supported us throughout our travels and relocation.

Fun in the Sun, the Sun Smart Way

It’s time for another sun safety reminder! Yes, I’ve become that annoying friend who always says, “Don’t forget sunscreen”, “Let’s find a shady spot”, and “You should ask your GP about a skin check”. But this reminder a much more exciting. I’ve teamed up with my life long friend, who’s also an amazing photographer, Kieran Darcy, to share the sun safety message. Kieran was especially supportive and surprisingly inspired during my melanoma diagnosis. So when she asked to collaborate on a sun safety themed photo shoot, I couldn’t help but say, “OF COURSE!” And now that we can share the finished product, I can’t help but give Kieran a big THANK YOU!

The photo shoot took place at my favourite spot in the whole world, Georgian Bay, in Lake Huron, Canada. It’s a place where we’ve both spent many days of our youth under the summer sun. Every summer before this, since I was a baby, I would have either played or lounged in the sun, for the most part without any sun protection. I now honestly regret my audacity for the sun.

What also made this photo shoot special was Kieran not only captured great photos of their own, but the subtly that sun safety can be. You would be surprised how easily sun safety can transition into your everyday life. For example, we still enjoyed some fun in the sun, but under the shade of a tree and during sunset, when the sun is least strong. Additionally, instead of prancing around in my itsy bitsy bikini, I kept covered with my favourite go-to sarong and sunhat. But what you can’t see in these photos is that my body and face are slathered in SPF 50 sunscreen, even under my makeup.

I hope you keep this in mind during the upcoming summer. Though melanoma is scary, sun safety doesn’t have to be. We all have the capacity to form a healthier relationship with the sun. Not only am I an example of this, but my friends and family are as well, who delightfully informed me during my recent trip home that they decided to be more sun smart after hearing my melanoma story. How heart warming is that?! Look below for all the amazing photos from Kieran and check out @kierandarcyphoto for more inspiring photos.Photos by Kieran Darcy.

New Year’s Reflections

First of all, Happy New Year! I hope all of you had a good celebration, whatever you got up, wherever in the world you are! Like any blogger out there, I can’t help but reflect on the past year and share my plans for the year ahead.

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been a bit apprehensive about the new year, since the last three years have been my hardest yet. As I navigate the last year of my twenties, I can’t help but think what a roller coaster it has been. I know a roller coaster ride through my twenties isn’t unique, and most of you can relate to the tribulations we all face, along with the sheer joy that comes from those accomplishments, new experiences, and celebrations. I don’t want to dwell on the negative, but there is one thing that changed my perspective about life entirely, and believe it or not, it didn’t come from travelling (oops).

My diagnosis of stage 1 melanoma was a huge wake up call, to say the least. Though it wasn’t life threatening at the time, I can’t help but appreciate my life a little more each day. I know I’m not where I thought I would be at 28, constantly hoping for that dream job and new home, but I have to listen to the words my father said to me during a mini meltdown of mine on a ski hill in Japan, “Don’t be so hard on yourself, sweetie”.

I’m finally coming around to appreciating those little things and becoming kinder to myself. So I welcome this new year, not hoping, but knowing it will be different, in a good way. Obviously there will be travel, Bali or Northern Territory of Australia (maybe you can help me decide), South East Asia, and road tripping the West Coast of North America are all planned. I also want to regularly post to the blog, as I have a bunch of tips ready to be shared, and contributions from fellow travellers and expats planned. jaunt and flaunt is slowly transforming into the space I always wanted it to be, so stay tuned for a new look. But ultimately the goal of this blog is to connect with you, so keep those messages, comments, and likes coming. I hope know this will be great year for us all!

The Day I Realized I am not Invincible

Sparkly toe nails and Claude cheering me up!

Some of you might have noticed I took a little break from jaunt and flaunt. The following will explain why. I was feeling a bit off recently, summer had arrived early in Brisbane, with it allergies, creepy crawlies, and blistering heat! I promised myself I would make adjustments this year to deal with my least favourite season in Australia, and luckily they were working. Then I visited my dermatologist for my annual skin check, a necessity while living in Australia, the skin cancer capital of the world.

It had actually been 18 months since my last skin check, you could say I was putting it off, mostly due to the cost (don’t get me started), as I had to see a specialist for the large amount of moles that I have. I was concerned about one mole in particular, but to anyone else, including my dermatologist, it looked like any other mole on my body. My dermatologist explained what she looks for to indicate melanoma:
A – Asymmetry
B – irregular Border
C – uneven Colour
D – Diameter usually over 6mm
And the most evil of them all…
E – Evolution

When I told her a mole on my leg quickly appeared during the past year or so, she decided to take a biopsy. Since it didn’t qualify under any of the other characteristics, she thought it was just a non-melanoma skin cancer that we would monitor or easily remove. I’m also hypersensitive to all that medical stuff and have a low pain threshold, so you can imagine the biopsy was far from pleasant. But I left the office, hoping for the best.

The next day everything changed when I was informed my biopsy results indicated stage 1 melanoma. My initial reaction was fear, scared of what all of this meant. But ultimately I realised I was no longer the invincible, youthful person I thought I was. I was just like most people out there who thought it could never happen to me. Though, I’m lucky I paid attention to my body, trusted my instincts, and caught this early.

The one thing I never said was “Why me?”. I knew why it was me; just like a smoker diagnosed with lung cancer, I embraced the Sun and reveled in my sun-kissed golden skin like many other people in my life. I have Mediterranean skin tone, which made me low risk, but I also have a lot of moles, which made me high risk. I will never know exactly what caused my melanoma, but I can assume what it might be from. It could be when I was sunburnt as a child, as I threw fits when my parents would put sunscreen on me, I hated when they wouldn’t rub it in all the way and I had to wait to go swimming. It could be when I used tanning beds a handful of times and tanning oil instead of sunscreen as a teenager. It could be when I binge tanned on any warm vacation I took. Or it could be when I was very sun smart while living in Australia, but couldn’t avoid the strength of the sun here.

During my 28 years I learnt to love my moles, as each has an identity. I know which mole is my boyfriend’s favourite one, a mole on each palm of my hands makes me incredibly unique, and sometimes I match the moles on my forearms with constellations. However, this mole’s identity wasn’t as charming.

My next reaction was, “Get this thing out of me, I don’t want anything to do with it!”. I have since had my melanoma quickly removed, which was a big deal for me. I’ve never had a broken bone, stitches, or even a bee sting (thankfully). I look at my bandaged leg now and try to look past the scar forming underneath and think about my plan for the future.

Living in Australia makes it impossible to avoid the Sun, but there are still steps I can take to ensure a healthy future for myself. The day before my surgery I bought a wide-brimmed hat, now I’m on the look out for a long sleeve sun shirt. I’ll continue to walk, stand, and sit in the shade when possible. Applying sunscreen to any exposed skin will become part of my daily routine, as I only applied sunscreen to my face daily to combat my fear of wrinkles. And I will have to get frequent skin checks for the rest of my life.

Believe it or not, I consider myself lucky now that I caught my melanoma early and gained a new perspective on my health. Though the initial blow was shocking and sad, it was what I needed to hear to make healthy changes in my life. I was like many of you, who don’t see the harm in a little tan every now and again. This is why I’m sharing this with you, as I hope it can inspire you to evaluate your relationship with the Sun and make the adjustments you need to stay healthy.

First and foremost, know your body, like many women are taught to give themselves breast exams, monitor your skin and moles. Next, talk to your doctor about regular skin checks. Also, trust your instincts, you know your body best and are your best advocate. Finally, be sun smart, as cheesy as it sounds, SLIP on a shirt, SLAP on a hat, and SLOP on sunscreen.

For more information about melanoma, check this out.

Getting Real with jaunt and flaunt

For those of you who follow me on social media, you would have seen that I was lucky enough to help out at TEDx Brisbane this past weekend. It was my first TED talk and it did not disappoint. In true TED fashion I was incredibly inspired by each idea shared.

It is fascinating how instances in life come together, as the day before I ran into a good friend of mine and her friend, in a place I would not think to run into someone I know. We got coffee and I was lucky that these two inspiring women also blog and were willing to share their insights with me. We all agreed that we respond to blogs that get real, bloggers who show their true selves.

But when I thought about it, I might not have done that with jaunt and flaunt, in an effort to stay positive. Well it all came together with the first talk of the day at TEDx Brisbane, by up and coming artist superstar, CJ Hendry (I might have a girl crush). Her talk related to Mike Tyson’s famous quote, “We all have a plan until we get punched in the face”. She referred to herself as a “planzilla”, something I can definitely relate to, only to receive wake up call after wake up call, ultimately forcing her to pursue her destiny of drawing, a career she was somewhat embarrassed about. Safe to say she is not embarrassed anymore, as her works sellout within five minutes of releasing the images to Instagram, for up to $50,000 each, with celebrity clients such as Kanye West (one of my favourites).

So here we go, I’m going to get real and expand on my little “About” blurb. If this had happened to me a year ago, I would not have taken notice, now I am grateful for how far I’ve come, appreciating what this experience has truly meant.

I was (and a little bit still am) a planner. Everything I did was to execute my master plan of a successful career. I was an overbooked high schooler. I was accepted into one of the top three universities in the country to study my passion of archaeology, or dinosaur science as I referred to it as a child (I now realise it’s called paleontology). I got as much work experience in my field as possible, so I would be sorted with a kick-ass resume when I graduated. Throughout this I always wanted to travel, so went on an exchange semester to Australia, then traveled after I graduated for about a year on and off. I was accepted into one of the top five universities in the world for my Masters. Continued to gain relevant work experience. But then I met a man who asked me to move to Australia with him. It was ok because it still fit in with my plan; I thought I could start my successful career in Australia, no problem. Then I got punched in the face (figuratively speaking).

My plan did not go to plan when I arrived in Australia and I’ve spent the past three years trying to adapt (that’s the short version, depending on how this is received I might tell you the long version later). I think it is safe to say I am out of the storm now. But I’ve had to redefine what success is to me, realising that it might not include a career behind the scenes at a world-renowned museum, or even a 9 to 5 job at a desk. However, throughout all of this, I continued to travel and quench my thirst for world cultures, my other major was anthropology after all.

So there you have it, jaunt and flaunt was born. It is the embodiment of my passion for travel. It inspires me everyday and I hope it inspires you.