Entry 15 – Summary & costs for our Canada holiday 2022
It had been about 4 years from the commencement of our planning for our Canada trip to fruition. This included a 2-year pause caused by the world wide covid19 pandemic.
Our initial thoughts had been for a 2-to-4-week period in Canada for our daughter’s wedding.
After copious conversations with Canadian couple, Ernie and Taylor whom we met during our 2017 Canada trip we were enticed to extend our time in Canada with a focus on travel.
We could apply for a visa, permitting us to stay in Canada up to 6 months which we did.
We were unsure of the practicability of a 6-month period spent in Canada for many reasons. Some of those reasons due to impacts from its severe weather conditions, we were travelling very much out of our comfort zone, wishful we could have utilized our own Australian travel rig and issues living in very close proximity with other people.
We included a contingency plan, if we decided to reduce the 6-month timeline permitted to stay in Canada.
Our Canada experience achieved a fabulous 4-months of exploration when we decided it was appropriate to pull up stumps and return home.
We spent copious time researching locations of interest, prior arrival and during our time in Canada. Many of those locations when we did visit provided awesome, jaw-dropping scenery, making all that effort pre-arrival and during our time in Canada worthwhile.
Our Canada time equated to spending about 10-weeks with Canadian couple, Ernie and Taylor living in their trailer and riding in their truck. We travelled about 11,000 kilometres across Canada together.
Our part of everyday living costs whilst with Ernie & Taylor about $100 per day.
Our 50% share of daily costs incurred = about $7,000
Other personal costs / treats during this period = about $2,000
We travelled by ourselves, for a period of about 6-weeks covering about 4,000 kilometres with rental cars. This costing includes rental car costs, flight from St John’s to Toronto, additional return flight costs back to Australia and all other incurred expenses.
Our costs, during this period about $250 per day.
Total = about $12,500
Other incurred costs prior to leaving Australia, including flights, extra equipment like camera, insurance and tablet plus laptop computer about $15,000
Our overall costs incurred for a 4-month Canada holiday = about $36,500
The above costs were presented in Canadian dollars.
Of interest during our 2017 time in Canada the Australian dollar and Canadian dollar had a similar value. During our 2022 time in Canada the Australian dollar was worth about 75 cents to the Canadian dollar. Politics and people playing with currency values, grrr.
We started our Canada travels in a caravan, finishing in a tent.
We utilised a flight specialist agency when booking our initial flights to and from Canada. We were disappointed with some of the agency actions and in future would book directly with the chosen airline on the day.
All other research and bookings were conducted by ourselves.
We found costs in Canada to be quite inflated from our 2017 experience.
Of interest our Canadian travel associates whom were experienced travellers like us had conducted an initial costing estimate, for our travels with their tow vehicle towing their caravan from their travel experiences. Their cost calculations were aimed at the upper level of costs we could have incurred. They became very distressed when our actual costs were double of their estimates.
There was the outbreak of the Russian war with Ukraine, inflating the price of fuel and some food expenses. We thought most accommodation costs had near doubled since our 2017 Canada experience. We thought possible reasons, partly due to inflation costs and more likely businesses were trying to recouped lost revenue from the world wide covid-19 pandemic. We were travelling just as the world was reopening for business after nearly 2-years of imposed shut down by the covid-19 pandemic. With competitive pricing to attract your spending not yet at as energetic levels as prior to the pandemic times.
We were mesmerized by the scenic beauty of Canada. We could easily return again and again. There were still many other locations we would love to experience.
Intermingling with Canadian citizens was a rewarding experience. Quite often we would receive: “I love the tone of your accent, where are you from?” There were huge smiles, when they became aware we were holidaying Australians enjoying the real Canadian great outdoors. Most responded; “Welcome to Canada. We hope you enjoy your stay.”
And we did.
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