I’m Gabrielle and I’m in love with travelling, sustainability and positive living. I created Gab Travelling as a space to share my passion and help others to create a life worth living. Keep reading to learn more about my story, why I started travelling and where I am now!
My Story:
At 16, I travelled from Canada to Brazil for a one-year Rotary International Exchange. This was my first time on a plane, and being away from my family for so long. As intimidating as this journey was, it completely changed my life. It was the best year of my life and made a huge impression on who I would become. I also loved the ability to travel for a long period and feel part of another culture.
I fell in love with the country, the food and the people in Brazil. It’s still one of my favourite countries to this day!
After the year in Brazil I returned back to Canada to finish high school. I felt incredibly out of place to somewhere I once considered home, it was hard to adjust back to a ‘normal’ life. Once I got my drivers license, I started visiting Vancouver and decided it would be a great place to grow some roots.
So, a week after graduating from high school, I packed everything in my car and did just that. About a year after moving to the city I found out my Dad was sick and his health was deteriorating quickly. I didn’t expect to lose my Dad at 18, but as devastating as it was, it also really shifted my view on life. Seeing my Mom lose her life partner and all the plans she had for their life together, was devastating. I didn’t want to wait until retirement like my parents had to travel. But, I had just started my degree and knew it was best to finish it before travelling long term.
Eventually I began to travel again, this time to Europe for a month. I visited France, Italy and England, a few countries on my bucket list. As soon as I came back to Canada I tried to reconfigure my life so I could travel more.
After (finally!) finishing university and graduating with a degree in journalism, I worked as a journalist for about a year. But, I quickly realized this full-time office job I wanted for years, wasn’t fulfilling.
What I really wanted was time to travel, live close to nature and have new experiences, but not just a two week vacation. I wanted to live somewhere new and travel.
I decided on Australia as the first country on my list to live. A big part of this trip wasn’t to move to another city and get into the same groove I was in before. I wanted something very different. So, I decided to move into a van and travel the country while working on the side. And after a year, and two working holiday visas, I’m still in Australia.
Sustainability
As I’ve been travelling more and living abroad, I understand more than ever the need to respect nature and ensure sustainability. I talk about sustainability and plan to increase the content around sustainable practises on my blog. Recently I’ve noticed the word sustainability come up as more of a popular topic and I find some people don’t take it seriously.
To learn more about sustainability and the planet I encourage you to research fact-based resources, a few favourite documentaries I’ve seen are: Cowspiracy, Seaspiracy and David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet.
Whenever I discuss sustainability it’s about the entire world and how it reacts to certain problems. Such as travelling sustainably, which refers to travelling in a way which doesn’t cause harm or negatively interfere with the local people or nature.
At no time do I use unsustainable practises while photographing and travelling when it comes to content made for this blog, or in my personal life. If anyone has any questions about living sustainably, send me an email (shown below) and I might come up with an article about that.
Our planet as we know it won’t be a sustainable place for human life unless we all make drastic changes. And, I’m all for making positive changes!
Follow this blog for tips, guides and resources for travelling Australia. As the blog develops I’m working to add more categories such as travelling, lifestyle, road trips and more.
For the most up-to-date adventures, check out my instagram @gabtravelling and to see where I am!
Thanks for reading, and happy travelling!
– Gabrielle
