Chevy Chase - our new car!

The pain in the ass that has been trying to get around without a car has finally 'driven' D & I to decide a car is a definite must for our time in Canada. I'm sure the public transit in bigger cities like Edmonton & Calgary are more than fine but our smaller town of Airdrie only operates a bus Mon - Fri between 8 - 6pm and weekend transit is non-existent. Also, the fact we want to explore outside of Airdrie and take a few road trips to the States means that we really do need a vehicle of our own. We needed an Alberta license to own and operate a car here so that was the first step.

Initially we thought there was no way around surrendering our Australian drivers license in order to get an Alberta one which totally put me off. It's illegal here to hold more than one drivers license but I wasn't ready or willing to trade mine in as it is my link to freedom at home and I just couldn't part with it.... Well that plus it took me ages to take a license photo I actually liked. We found the only way we could keep our Australian license AND get an Alberta one was say we had 'lost' our licenses from Australia and submit a paper copy from QLD Transport instead. Of course we didn't have the paper copy with us so had to enlist the help of D's dad back home to get it and send it to us.  A 2 year license here was $40.... MUCH cheaper than home!

Next was to actually find a car. Despite being pretty picky about things like make, model, colour etc at home I pretty much had no preference this time. Going without a car this long had rendered us desperate for anything and although we have had awesome work friends offer to drive us around and even lending us their cars for longer trips we both really hated depending on others. Being in Alberta there are lots of big trucks on the road and of course D was mostly interested in those but considering they were older and more expensive to run it just wouldn't have been practical. We looked for a while online to get a feel for the types of cars in our price range and then went to see a couple in person. One was in Red Deer (about 1 hr drive North) which was a total waste of time as the owner wasn't there when we went and his wife could only speak Mexican - FAIL! Then D spotted one right here in Airdrie so we met up with the guy and instantly loved the car - a maroon (damn can't escape the QLD colours) Chevy Impala, 2000 model with power everything, woodgrain accents, a huge trunk and even a sunroof and neons haha talk about quarter life crisis!Within 24 hours of first seeing it we had paid the money, bought the insurance and registered it into our names.

In Canada you own your license plates and keep them for each car you have. This will be coming back to Australia with us when we go so we can hang it on the wall

"Chase" our new car, I can't tell you how great a feeling it is to have my freedom back!

The 'high school' neons made us laugh - and I added the dice i never drive without them!

We are so excited to FINALLY have our independence and freedom and are now planning some weekend drives we can do to see more of Alberta/BC. I doubt we will be at home much when we aren't at work from now on. Nothing beats hitting the road, one of my favourite things to do at home was just driving in my car. Because we lived about 1/2 hr drive from anything there was always plenty of time to vibe out with my music turned way up while picking my nose (i'm not kidding i'm terrible for doing it in the car!). Driving has been something i've REALLY missed and now I don't have to miss it anymore! Some longer trips to Yellowstone & Glacier NP in the US state of Montana are also on the cards. We are finally hitting the road, Jack!