A Canadian travel enthusiast with a passion for history, culture and all things macabre, Wandering Crystal wanted to experience somewhere new by becoming a local. To transform that dream into a reality, she moved from Canada to Scotland. The adventure she had moving abroad was the most rewarding of her life and she hopes to inspire others to have their own meaningful experiences through living abroad, too.
This is the second to last interview in my Free Spirits Friday series. (Sadness!) You can check out the others by clicking the link above!
If you’re only interested in one particular interview, here they are:
- Lauren from Never Ending Footsteps
- Daniela from Digital Nomads Peru
- Matt from Nomadic Matt
- Beth from Hardly A Globetrotter
- Earl from Wandering Earl
- Martin from Breaking Barriers
- Eric & Grace from Wandering Ravens
Without any further ado, let’s see what Wandering Crystal has to say about her time abroad and her life as a nomad.
Introduce yourself to our readers and talk us through your travel story.
Hello, friends! I’m Crystal and I fell in love with traveling when I took my first trip out of Canada at the age of 16. Having stayed with a friend in his home country of England, I became completely captivated by the similarities and differences between both cultures.
In addition to being bitten by the travel bug and making immediate plans to backpack across Europe once I graduated, I began to wonder what my life would be like if I lived elsewhere. I loved the idea of experiencing the world in an entirely different way.
Related: Studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain
I thrive on learning about people’s lives. Besides: getting to know others from around the world opens doors to their countries, languages, histories and what it is about their home they’re most proud of. It really helps me understand the world and makes me feel closer to humanity as a whole.
Canada is very multicultural, so you don’t have to travel far to meet people from all over the world. This means I get a lot of opportunities to learn about other people and the countries they’re from.
Since I always wanted to experience life in another country, working, mixing with the locals and feeling like a member of the community, I decided to make it a reality. This led to me moving to Scotland for 2 years and it was the best decision I ever made.
Why did you choose to move to Scotland? Was there a specific reason why you chose Scotland over other parts of the UK?
When I was first picking a place to live, I had a limited choice of countries. I had to go somewhere that would accept a temporary worker from Canada and a place where the residents spoke English. This restricted me to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland.
As I have a love affair with Europe, I decided the UK was the place to be! And since I like a challenge, I wanted to live in and explore a country I’d never been to. Having already visited England, I decided Scotland was the way to go. Plus, I’d seen pictures of the lush green fields, quaint stone buildings and a city with a castle that sits upon a hill, which automatically earns a few points in my book! I was also smitten with the Scottish accent — it’s one of my favourites.
What attracts you so much about the “macabre side of the world”, as you so eloquently put it?
I wish I could pinpoint a specific moment in my life that made me fall in love with the macabre. I’m passionate about understanding the history of a place and European history is something I find particularly fascinating.
I like to understand the thought processes and reasons events happened long ago, visiting ghost towns and abandoned buildings, imagining what life was like in their heydays. I also love seeing Victorian gravestones and envisaging what the person was like and how they lived.
The macabre side of the world appeals to me because I can learn how humans reacted when they were at their most vulnerable, such as during the Plague and world wars. It reveals a unique side of history.
Related: Why I visited an abandoned children’s hospital in Berlin
How easy it is to find dark tourism attractions in the UK? Is it easier or more difficult than in Canada?
Europe is a haven of dark tourism because there’s so much incredible history. I was completely hooked when we started learning about European history in highschool — I found life in the 1400s-1900s completely captivating. The way the world was changed through wars, diseases and the advancement of technology helped me discover a world that I hadn’t been part of. But studying history created a new world that I was now part of.
Due to Edinburgh’s history of darkness (being affected by the Black Plague, having public executions and witch trials, and being home to infamous body snatchers Burke and Hare) it was the perfect place to explore as a dark tourist.
I became obsessed with historic places in the city, like the South Bridge Vaults and Mary Kings Close. Seeing how people were treated during the outbreak of the Plague was completely fascinating.
In my part of Canada there are a few dark tourist sites, such as ghost towns and a creepy museum called the Museum of Fear and Wonder. But it’s considerably more challenging to find and explore dark tourism sites in Canada than it is in the UK. I believe this is because Canada is a younger country. Its large size also makes it a lot more difficult — it really takes a lot of planning because sites are so few and far between.
In general, how did you experience life in Scotland as a Canadian woman? Were you treated differently than you were in Canada?
I didn’t notice a difference at all. People treated me exactly the same in both countries. I never felt unsafe in Scotland (nor do I in Canada) and I never felt like my gender got in the way of working or travelling opportunities in either country.
What was the biggest opportunity that living abroad gave you, that you never would have had access to if you had stayed in Canada?
I don’t know if this is necessarily something that everyone gets by living abroad, but it really gave me a new lease of life. Living abroad was incredibly challenging, especially as I’d never previously lived in or even visited Scotland before. The experience taught me so much about myself and made me incredibly happy. I learned to say yes to people and experiences I would have previously avoided and I learned how to push myself in a positive way. I gained confidence which transformed into happiness.
If I had stayed in Canada, I would have never experienced the same kind of happiness. Canada was my comfort zone, but I wasn’t happy with how my life was. I wanted more and Scotland gave me that.
Did you travel a lot when you were based in Edinburgh?
I didn’t travel as much as I wanted to. Yes, I visited a few countries, but spent most of my time exploring Edinburgh and a few other parts of Scotland. I really wanted to get a taste of Scottish living and I was completely in love with Edinburgh. I spent the entire first year of my 2-year stay in Scotland there. It was exactly the kind of life I wanted to experience at the time.
I ventured out to other countries in my second year of living there and I visited some amazing places! I do wish I had more time to explore a bit more. But because I want to be a long-term and full-time traveller, I hope to be able to experience this kind of travel eventually.
What’s the perfect one-day Edinburgh itinerary for people interested in dark tourism?
Start your morning in Princes Street Gardens, formally the Nor’ Loch which was once a large body of foul, stench-ridden water that the residents of Edinburgh used as a waste dumping ground. It was in these stagnant disease-riddled waters that suspected witches were drowned. After that, head towards Lothian Street, where an incredibly beautiful graveyard sits in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard. The gravestones here are weathered and covered in moss.
Then spend an afternoon on a tour of Mary King’s Close beneath the City Chambers, deep below the Royal Mile. This close was greatly affected by the Plague in 1645 and it’s where you can learn about this period of history and how they figured out what caused the disease.
The best way to spend the evening is to take a ghost tour in the South Bridge Vaults. These vaults are also tucked under the streets of Edinburgh and were once a breeding ground for thieves and murderers, including the infamous body snatchers Burke and Hare.
Top your night off by lurking in the darkness at Greyfriars Kirkyard. There’s a particularly well-known poltergeist called the Mackenzie Poltergeist who’s known for giving passersby a push or even leaving a scratch or two!
Why did you decide to move back home?
My working holiday visa was only good for 24 months, so I had no choice. I originally only planned on living in Scotland for about 7 months, but loved it so much that I stayed for 22! If it was easier to live in countries other than Canada I would definitely spend my life living and moving from country to country. I love the experience living abroad gave me – I would happily do it over and over again.
After moving back to Canada, how was your life different now that you had experienced two years abroad?
When I came back, my life wasn’t really any different than it was prior to moving abroad. I felt a lot happier than before I moved to Scotland. It seemed to refresh me and I wanted to tell everyone how great it is to experience living abroad. It also gave me even more devotion to explore. I realised that travelling was truly my passion and I needed to get back out there.
As much as I love Canada (it’s an amazing country!) and being a Canadian, I knew that if I settled here I would become unhappy again. I would slink back into the depression I felt before I moved to Scotland and I was determined not to let this happen.
Canada may be home but the world is exciting. That exciting place is where I want and need to be to live a truly fulfilling life.
What was your favourite part of living abroad as opposed to living in Canada? In other words, what things are Scottish people better at?
I loved being able to walk around everywhere, I loved the rain and the cooler temperatures. It was always hoodie weather! Plus, it’s so much easier to explore other countries using Scotland as a base. I was finally able to say what all North Americans dream of: “Oh, I’m just going over to Italy for the weekend.”
Plus, Scotland has way more free and cheap services than Canada does. They have free banking (we pay extortionate bank fees in Canada), cheap unlimited mobile phone plans, really cheap contacts and eyewear and you pay a max of 3 pounds for any medical prescription.
Same question, but the other way around: what did you miss about Canada when you were living abroad?
I missed a lot of things — friends, family, my pets and most importantly a place to buy a good pair of pants! Furthermore, I learned that I really enjoy nostalgia while living abroad. I found myself bonding strongly with one of my coworkers who was born and raised in Philadelphia. She was living in Scotland with her husband and we would chat non-stop about awesome things from our childhoods in North America.
Now that I’m back in Canada, I’m more nostalgic than ever! I love watching old movies, shows and chatting with friends about our childhoods. Also, where I live in Canada we have 4 seasons. Scotland really only has rain in the summer and colder rain in the winter. Canada is home, but Scotland is my home away from home and I wouldn’t change a thing.
I want to thank Crystal from the bottom of my heart for giving us some insights into what life is like for a Canadian woman in Scotland.
You can follow Crystal’s stories on her blog, Wandering Crystal and her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.
Thanks for reading!
-S
