Newfoundland

The year 2020 has been a challenging year for the whole world. Challenging is understatement because COVID-19 has practically ruined every single thing for each and everyone. Whether it is family-related, travel-related, work, career plans, health, economy, everything as in everything! 

I'm fortunate enough that I'm in Canada and though I was laid off from my two jobs (and later being recalled back to work) I could feel the frustration, the anger that everyone has felt especially back home in the Philippines.

Nobody could ever comprehend that at this day of age with all our technological advances, a pandemic has still been declared and nobody has been spared. Even those rich countries with all this big budget on economy and health. 

Suffice to say, everyone felt the craziness this pandemic has brought to all of us.

I was laid off from my hotel job in March and weeks later has been recalled because they still need their Night Auditor. I'm still working with the Brokerage but we transitioned to working from home because we're sharing PCs with other people. I love working from home because having two jobs is really hard in terms of going back and forth to each workplaces. I'm not driving either so it is a great advantage for me to be just home working. 

Amidst of all of these, being in New Brunswick (one of the Atlantic provinces) is a huge relief because in July they opened the Atlantic bubble wherein the four provinces (NB, NS, NL and PEI) could travel to each other without undergoing a 14-day quarantine. I dreamt of traveling again even just going to the nearby province. I have plans in March to bring my mom, sister and niece to visit me here but pandemic happened in the middle of March and my plans got scrapped.

Since I filed a vacation week last week of September and I'm no way could "cancel" it, we decided to visit Newfoundland. We thought about it a million times if we really wanna go because we need to drive more than 3,000 kilometres two way. I'm not driving at all but I will do everything from the preparation, itinerary, to hotel bookings. I'm happy that I'm still part of the Hilton family where I could still have my team member discounts. It was an 8-day adventure that started driving from Fredericton to North Sydney in Nova Scotia. We the took the big ferry from Sydney to Port Aux Basques where we stayed for the night because we have to drive for another 4 hours or so for the Tablelands in Gross Morne National Park. My dream of seeing the Tablelands came true that day and I couldn't be happier. The following morning we then drove again for another 6 hours to capital of the province, St John's. I'm relieve that upon arrival we were told that I got a suite upgrade! Sweet! We stayed there for another 3 nights wherein we visited the Signal Hill, the Cape Spear National Historic Site and the Quidi Vidi Fishing Village. 

The epic trip won't be complete without getting screeched-in at Christian's Pub at the famous George Street. We became honorary Newfoundlanders haha! 

Also, we visited the The Rooms. This amazing museum in the heart of St John's is a must to see when you visit. You would see how Newfoundland started as a place for Irish settlers and immigrants. Friends of mine know how I love to visit museums and just be enamoured with all these historic people, places and events. 

We went wine tasting as well at the Newman Wine Vaults and got drunk haha! 

Going back home we drove to the cute, famous town of Dildo and we visited part of the Terra Nova National Park. 

We went home full of wonderful memories and unforgettable experiences! Newfoundland is something else. I said before that it feels and looks like a different universe and not being part of Canada.

I'm thankful and happy that I was able to experience it even though travel is limited and most of the tourist destinations that we are meaning to visit are closed at that time. Hopefully 2021 will be so much better!