Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Niagara Falls: Must-Have Experiences that Go Beyond the Boat Ride

Episode Date: October 19, 2019

Believe it or not, Niagara Falls is wine country. “We’re on the same parallel as Northern California, so it's perfect weather conditions for wine,” says American expat Andrea Jones. “We have a lot of wineries just 28 minutes north of Niagara Falls in Niagara-on-the-Lake.”    Andrea started out life in Miami, then moved up to Atlanta, and now she finds herself living in a small Canadian 15 minutes away from Niagara Falls. She ended up in Fort Erie after meeting her Canadian husband on YouTube!   On this episode of the Postcard Academy, learn more about Andrea’s modern romance and hear her favorite things to drink, see, and do in Niagara Falls (visit postcardacademy.co for show notes).   I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Did you know I host another show called Podcasting Step by Step? Check it out if you’ve been wanting to start a podcast. Every week, I break down ‘how to podcast’ with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams.   Ready to travel? Get your free guide to cheap airfare.   Thank you so much for listening to this show. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audibletrial.com/postcard   This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insuranceDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy. I'm your host, Sarah Micgetel, and today I will be speaking to Andrea Jones, an American from Atlanta who now lives near Niagara Falls in Canada. I reached out to Andrea because she's a social media genius and founder of the Savvy Social School, and I wanted to interview her on my other podcast podcasting step by step. Andrea agreed, and then I found out that she's also an expat and that we have so many other things in common as well. And the crazy thing is, we will both be in Atlanta this weekend for the She Podcast Live Conference. So we will get to hang out in real life. I love this about podcasting so much. If you want to learn more about how to podcast and or you want to learn more about social media from Andrea, check out my other podcast podcast

podcasting step by step. Right now, let's talk about Niagara Falls, which can be a day trip from Toronto or a travel destination all on its own. Welcome, Andrea. Thank you so much for joining me today. Oh, thanks so much for having me. So you're an American who has since moved north to Canada. Where did you grow up? So I was born in Miami, Florida and lived most of my life in Atlanta, Georgia, so hot Atlanta. And so from the time I was seven to 25, that's where I spent my life. Well, so you're just moving up to like colder and colder climates. Yeah, creeping up there. I will say I've learned to hibernate in the winter. Still not, still not a fan of the cold. It's be nice and cozy up there, I guess. Yes, for sure. So did you always expect that you would live abroad? Did you do a lot of traveling as an adult? Yeah. So that's a great question because my mom used to tease me growing up. She said that I would marry someone from, well, at the time it was someone from England and that I would leave the nest and that's what would happen. And so there was all, I was definitely the adventurous one out of all of my siblings and the first child. So I'm,

fine with being the trailblazer. And so for me, living in another country was just like, oh, that's probably something I'm going to do at some point in my life. As far as traveling goes, I didn't really travel that much, but I did really want to go to England, specifically London, when I was in high school, mostly because of Harry Potter, to be honest. So my mom said if I graduated with honors. I did really well.

She would take me. And so that's what I did. That was my whole motivation for being good in school was I get to go to London. So we did that when I turned 17, graduated from high school and went to London for 10 days. And that was my first time out of the country. And it was amazing. And ever since then, I've been, you know, wanting to travel. When I was in university, I did a study abroad program in Italy.

and lived there for a month, studying Shakespeare, which was a lot of fun. But I haven't really traveled much outside of those two kind of pillar trips. Well, those are my two primary countries, England and Italy. So I feel like we're the same person. I wish you did end up in England. We could have been neighbors. So why did your mom think you would end up in England? Was it because of Harry Potter? Yeah, pretty much. Like, I got a little like fan-girly about everything in British culture, I would start saying words that were, you know, British like, oh, I'm going to the loo or, you know, whatever silliness at the time. And I got into other like British TV shows and books and things. Really loved the BBC Sherlock series, for instance. And so there

was a lot of things that I just loved about the culture. And so that was kind of like the the teasing growing up was like, if anyone had a slightly exotic accent, I was like, please talk to me more. So how did you end up in Canada? So I met my husband on YouTube. So we were making YouTube videos just about our lives. He was doing these like comedy, like angry rant videos. And I was just basically vlogging my life and documenting. And we collaborated on a video together, which we were both doing with other people at the time. So it wasn't weird to collaborate on a video together, but we had some chemistry. We just kept talking. And then he invited me to come visit him in Toronto. And all of my friends and family were like, you're crazy to go to another

country with someone you don't know. But the thing about the internet, and we were kind of talking about this beforehand, but the thing about the internet is you can feel like you know somebody by consuming their content. It's not like, you know, there's like this catfish thing happening. It's not like that because, especially with video and with audio, like there's a real person behind that. It's not like some wall of text or something like that. So I felt like I could I could trust him. I knew him enough, at least enough to go visit the first time. And then after that first visit, we knew it was meant to be. I was moving here six months later. And then three months after that, we were married. That's amazing.

Yes. Oh my gosh, I love that story. So tell us about where you are living now. Yeah, so we lived in Toronto for six months and definitely not my scene. I love cities to visit them, but to live in them as an introvert feels very overwhelming. And we wanted a house. So we have two dogs. One of them's quite large. He's a 90-pound lab. And being in the city, there's not a lot of space. We had a little like bachelor apartment. And we wanted a house and houses in Toronto are like $3 million. So we didn't have that kind of pocket change. So we decided to move and we landed in Niagara Falls. And we actually live in a little town called Fort Erie, which is about 15 minutes from the falls. And this happened completely by happenstance. We just wanted to live somewhere that was close enough to a major airport because we both like to travel. But also, also like a reasonable living conditions because we both were starting our businesses at the time. So we wanted to have space to grow, but also like if we had to go get like a fast food job to put food on the table, we could totally do that where we are now.

So this place is called Fort Erie where we live. About 15 minutes outside of Niagara Falls. We love it. It's nice, cozy little small town, lots of retirees. And it's right on the border of the U.S. and Canada. So I technically live very close to Buffalo, New York. So about five minutes from Buffalo, New York. I can see Buffalo from my street. You know, I thought that might be the case because I took a look at the map. And I was like, whoa, I think she can actually, yeah, throw a stone to New York.

Yeah, absolutely. And flying out of the Buffalo Airport is so easy. It's not a major airport, but it's fairly large and has a lot of connections. So it's actually easier to fly out of Buffalo than Toronto. The Toronto airport, while it's larger, is like such a headache to get to. And it's just so busy and parking's expensive and blah, blah, blah. So I feel like we landed in a really good spot to kind of live a comfortable lifestyle, working our own businesses. And like in a reasonable, reasonable size house and all of that good stuff.

To get to that Buffalo airport, is it a pain because you've got to cross the border to get to the airport, right? Yes, we do have to cross the border. It's actually not that bad. It depends on time of day. So actually, since we're on a border town, there are quite a few people who are dual citizens, and so they go back and forth. So the border crossing, they're used to that.

We're like, oh, we live in Fort Erie. They're like, yeah, yeah. We have friends who, like, go over for groceries and things. Okay. Yeah, it's not that bad. As long as you have your passport, when I was in the application process, it was challenging because I had a U.S. passport,

but I was living in Canada, especially before I got permanent resident status. I got pulled aside and asked a million questions all the time in that kind of phase. So we didn't really travel as much in that time. We did a lot of traveling inside of Canada. But once I got my passport, it was very easy. For now, you're a legit Canadian citizen. You're a dual citizen.

I'm official. I love it. I got my official status. Oh, I'll be celebrating my year on November 19. or 20th? I have to look at the exact date. Oh my gosh. I think I became a dual citizen on November 20th. Andrea. Oh my God. We're twins. Andrea, I would love to talk to you about Niagara Falls.

And if we were making a trip to Canada, what experiences that we should have there? I know you really like it. I don't know that much about it. I went there when I was 14 on a class trip. I remember being wet on a boat ride. And I think that day. decades ago, it was really popular with honeymooners. My grandmother may have even gone there on her honeymoon, but I don't know that much about it. So can you just tell us what is Niagara Falls all about? Yes. And you know, it's still very popular for honeymooners. But I am obsessed with the Falls. Even though I've lived here, you know, over five years now, it's just so magnificent to look at. So if you like nature, I highly recommend just coming to look at the falls.

It's free. You can kind of hang out, take pictures. And there's a nice trail on the other side of the river called the gorge that you can hike. So it's a very nice experience if you kind of enjoy that kind of thing. The other thing I like is we're technically in wine country here. So we're on the same parallel as like Northern California. So it's a perfect kind of weather conditions for wine. It's not too hot.

It's not too cold. So we have a lot of wineries just 28 minutes north of Niagara Falls called Niagara on the lake. And so my favorite thing is to go wine tasting. And it's the only place in the world or one of the only places in the world where you can have ice wine. So it's something that was made here. And because of our weather, there's like a certain period of the year where the grapes will actually freeze, creating a different effect. And so 90% of the world's ice wine is produced. here. It's like kind of like a sweeter, like it's very luxurious and decadent type of wine. And so if

you're here, I highly recommend checking out the wineries and having some ice wine. Oh, do you have any wineries in particular that you would recommend? Um, I'm very basic. And so there's one called Pellar estates that the locals are like, oh, you know, it's not as, you know, it's like one of the bigger ones. It's not as niche or popular, but I love it. Um, so it's like, almost too popular, I guess, for local people. But I love it. And they host a lot of events there. And they just have a good variety. So you can try like so many different, like I'm a cab sov drinker for my reds. And then I like, you know, a nice reason for a white wine. So you can like kind of try a variety. That sounds so fun. I didn't even know there was wine up there. So thank you for sharing that with us.

Yes. I love it. What other experiences should we have when we're in the Niagara Falls area? Yeah. So if you are going to see the falls, there's an area of the road called Clifton Hill. And it's this hill that kind of goes down into the falls. And it's a little cheesy, almost like a Las Vegas kind of cheesiness. But it's fun, like if you've never been there. So there's lots of arcades. There's lots of like touristy things to do. Like, you know, you can take pictures. You can go see the wax museum. All of those things that you would think of that are. touristy is there. So it's kind of a cute little area to hang out in. They also have this brewery right on Clifton Hill that is Niagara made beer. So that could be really fun thing to do as well.

And then the last thing I really love, I'm a huge eater. I love food. I travel for food. And so I love that the Niagara Falls area has food from all over the world because it attracts people from all over the world. And I just find in general in Canada, and you may find this too, Sarah, where you live, is that it's just a little more diverse, especially I love Indian food. There's a lot of Indian food here, Thai food, like Asian food in general. I just love. And so you can find a lot of that in the Niagara Falls area. What is it about Niagara Falls? Do you think that attracts such an international population and also honeymooners? What's drawing them? I think the honeymoon thing is just marketing, to be honest. I think that that started years ago.

The other thing is, I think there was some law about the age you can get married. I think there's something different in Canada versus the U.S. that I don't know fully, but I know that that's something about it. It's like people come here to get married or a lope or honeymoon. but I do find the falls themselves just feels romantic. I talked about, you know, going to Italy in university and that I went to Venice for a weekend and that city feels like it's romance overload. And I feel like the falls touches on that kind of vibe just a little bit where it's like it feels a little bit like romantic like looking at the water going over the falls and the

rainbow in the mist. and I don't know. Something about it feels a little romantic. Force of nature. Yes. So, okay, Niagara Falls offers international food, which surprises me. Are there any traditional Canadian foods? Like, say I'm from Italy and I am in Niagara Falls a holiday and I want to try something traditional Canadian. What would you suggest? You have to find some putteen. That's like the most Canadian dish. ever. It's basically french fries with gravy on it and cheese curds. And then it's almost like

nachos where you can just add anything else on top of that. But the basics are French fries, gravy, cheese curds. And if you Google a picture of it, it looks kind of gross, but it takes really good. It sounds good. So where would you recommend we go for that? there's a place I'm blanking on the name right now but if you just search for Putin if you're in Niagara Falls there's like a chain that's everywhere and so that's kind of the place to go but pretty much any kind of like bar style restaurant will have Putin even McDonald's has Putin interesting yeah it's very Canadian I would say though if you really want like a traditional putine and if you're coming to Canada, you got to go to Montreal.

It's about six hour drive from Niagara Falls or like an hour flight. There's like flights that go there on a plane called Porter. And if you're if you want to have like the true experience, the French Canadian experience and you go to Montreal, you've got to like just go there and have Putin. It's that good. What are the flight prices like on that airline porter? Oh, they've gone up in recent years. I'd probably say you could get a flight for like 150 bucks from like Toronto to Montreal, maybe less. There's quite a few people who commute that way. Wow.

So we could actually even do it like for a day. I mean, I'm guessing we would want to spend more than a day in Montreal, but we actually could do it in a day. Absolutely. Yeah, you could. And there's a lot of people. So like on the way is Ottawa, which is the capital. and so you could make, if you wanted to do like a mini tour, I would suggest like if you're coming to Canada and you've got like two weeks, I would definitely suggest like spend two days in Niagara Falls, spend a few days in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal. And I feel like that's a really good kind of like quality trip where you kind of get to experience because they're very different cities and you get to experience them all.

Do we need a car or is public transportation good in Canada? It's good in the major city. So Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal are great. Where I live, it's not as good. They're working on it, though. So there's a lot of kind of day trains coming down from Toronto, which is about an hour and a half away. In the falls itself, there's buses, but they're not great.

We have Uber now, which is good. That came in like the last three or four years. But public transportation is not the best here. Going back to Niagara Falls, you mentioned it sounds kind of like old, timey seaside village with the arcades. And I've heard people describe it as like techy, but in a loving, in a loving way. Is there any sort of like modern hipster vibe? Like are there any food halls happening there? Unfortunately, not much. I would say if you're into beer, there's. quite a lot of breweries. There's one right on Clifton Hill, as I mentioned. But there's, there's few breweries kind of outside of the major city that are up and coming, especially if you like cider. The cider is kind of big here. I imagine it's the same in the UK because there's,

I think that's where cider was born, if I recall correctly. But there's, there's like, kind of like that brewery bar style, but maybe I don't know if it's just like the circles I hang out in, but I didn't get like a hipstery vibe at all. Okay. That's refreshing because it seems to me that most of the globe, it's strange. It's like I often feel like cities are just sort of copying themselves. Like I could be in any city, but it's stuff that I like, you know? Like I do like hipster coffee houses and different things like that.

But there's so many of them, like you could be in Berlin or Istanbul or New York and it's quite similar. So I actually like that thing. It sounds like things are quite different in Niagara Falls. Yeah, I would say it's, it almost has more of a traditional feel. It's not a, it's not a big city, but it's definitely a touristy city. So you'll get a lot of the traditional touristy things. And then like throw some wine into the mix. So what does a perfect day in Niagara Falls look like to you? Where are the locals hanging out? Yeah, so the locals don't really hang out in the falls. So if you want to like be a local, hang out with the local, about 15 minutes north, east of the city is a bigger city called St. Catharines. And it's where most of the people in this area lives.

And if you go to St. Paul Street, there are a ton of great restaurants and bars. I love vegan food. I wouldn't consider myself a vegan. I still eat meat. but I like eating a lot of vegan and vegetarian food. So there's one vegan restaurant called Rise Above that is like the top rated restaurant in the area. And it's excellent. Even if you're not a vegan, like go there, you will have your mind changed about vegan food.

It's so good. People travel down from Toronto to go there. But it's definitely more of like where the locals hang out. Okay. Just because Niagara Falls is so touristy, I do find not a lot of people go there. I'm trying to think outside of that. There's kind of like uprising in these puzzle game rooms, you know what I'm talking about? Where they lock you in the room, you've got to figure a way out.

Oh, escape rooms is what we call them here. Yes, escape rooms. That's probably what we call them here too. And I'm just blanking. But those are popping up everywhere. And it feels like everyone's doing them now. So if I want to buy a souvenir that reminds me of my trip to Niagara Falls, what is like a typical product from that region that you would recommend I get? You got to get some maple syrup.

I know it depends on where you're going back to like traveling with food, but they usually have like little travel sizes. And it's it's kind of like super Canadian thing that you can do is to get some maple syrup. I give it to my family as gifts on Christmas and they've got like cute little maple leaf bottles that you can like give to people. It's cute and it's so abundant here. I want pancakes just thinking about this. Yes, yes.

And people here put it on like everything. It's kind of, it's different. It's kind of like elf. Do you see that movie? Yes, yes. Where he's putting. Like what else are they putting it on besides pancakes? I don't know if this is just my husband.

I actually literally have to ask him, is this a you thing or is it a Canadian thing? He puts it on his whole breakfast, like the sausage, the pancakes, the toast, everything. That's too much. But I know what you mean. I have a German friend. And I used to just assume that everything she did was universally German. And I was like, oh, I should actually double check if this is like a broader cultural thing or just my friend's quirks. Yes, yeah, I do have to ask that. And there's actually quite a lot of Canadian actors and actresses who now live in the U.S. And so I always have to Google it because I'm like, this feels like an awful lot of Canadians in Hollywood. But no, there's a lot of them.

Well, before I let you go, can we do a little lightning round of your favorite places in the Niagara Falls area? Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. So it can either be in Tourist Central or also in the outskirts where you said, the more local people hang out. Well, actually, it's your favorite stuff, so from wherever. Okay. Okay. What's your favorite bakery? Oh, I really like, I'm so basic. Like, I just go to a Starbucks, honestly. That's such an American word, I think, basic. We don't, I don't think it's. come across the pond. But I just find it such a funny word because I'm like, I feel everyone's

basic. You know, like everyone I know likes pumpkin spice lattes. Everyone I know. We are all liking the same things. It's like, oh, you know what they say here instead of basic, they'll say. I know it's so middle class, but as like an apology for what they like. But you know, We all like this stuff. Let's just own it. Yes. Yeah. So I'm a middle class peasant and I like Starbucks. I here, I like my local shop, but I also go to Starbucks as well. I like their reliably strong coffee and Wi-Fi. And here, actually, they have different food items and they've got quite a few vegan items, actually. Yeah. Yeah. I love how popular veganism is. becoming. Like I said, I would never consider myself a vegan, but I eat a lot of, like, vegan and vegetarian food. Yeah, well, you'll have to come visit me here in Fokston because for the

town of its size, I think there's like maybe 50,000 people or something. There's several vegan and vegetarian restaurants and like every pub has like a veggie or a vegan like option for Sunday roast and Sunday and like English breakfast and everything. It's amazing. Oh, I love that. Come come. All right. What's your favorite coffee shop? So there's one called Whistle Stop Cafe that is on my street where I live. So it's a bit outside of Niagara Falls.

But I love it because it feels like I'm going to someone's house. Like it feels very homey. And they always like are very friendly to the point where, you know, being in a small town, they're like, oh, it's Andrea again. You're usual. And I'm like, yes, my usual. I don't know. I just love that.

That's a really nice feeling to feel like you're a local. I'm fairly new to my town. I've only been here since January and since then I've traveled a lot. So I'm only just starting to like meet people and make friends and start to have my local places. And as much as I love London, you know, it's a huge place. Whereas here, yeah, I feel like I'm becoming part of the neighborhood, which, yeah, so I can totally relate to that.

And you work remotely too. So do you go there to do work ever? No, I am like a huge fan of silence for working. Yeah, I actually find coffee shops distracting. So I go to just go. Okay. And if I ever have to meet a friend or something, I usually want to go for coffee. I'm trying to cut back on like the wine.

So yeah, usually I'll just say, hey, let's meet for coffee. and that's like a really great kind of way, reason to get out of the house because I work at home. And then also reason to like reconnect with someone. Yes, very good. How about lunch spot? So I love Thai food. And there's a fah place called cyclo, I think it's called cyclo cafe. And this one is in Niagara Falls.

And I go in and order this like veramicelli noodley dish. that's so good. And yeah, I just love it. And where do you like to go for dinner? So there's this place in the falls called Mokshah. It is an Indian kind of bistro, I guess. And they have an amazing Tika Marcella, which I love. And it's super spicy, though.

Like word of warning, if you go to Mokshah, it's like, you have to tell them, like, I want it like Canadian spicy. otherwise I get Indian spicy, which is like super spicy. Good tip. Good tip. So you already mentioned to me that I don't think you have any food halls or food markets. Is that right? Yeah, there's not a lot.

There's a little like a Sunday or Saturday market in a town called Ridgeway that's near me. But there's not a, I mean, they're mostly like, like, you know, your regular grocery store. Okay. So we're not seeing any designer markets or like people selling like shirts they've like printed or anything like that? Not regularly. They have something called the handmade market in Niagara Falls that happens once a year. But it's not something that happens regularly. Okay.

Okay. So where do you like to hang out at night? So my husband and I really like bar food or pub. food, as you guys would call it, across the pond. So there's like just a few bars around that are like little holes in the wall. One that's near us is called South Sides. And they kind of have bands on the weekends and they have a karaoke night. And it's just kind of one of those places that, again, it doesn't feel too like big or crowded. It's kind of like just some people hanging out having a drink. And so that's kind of fun. That does sound fun. So it sounds like you're in a

small place. Niagara Falls sounds like it's more nature and amusement kind of fun. Are there any cultural things that we should be checking out? You mentioned the Wax Museum. Is that something we should actually go to? If you like more of the cultural side of things, I would highly recommend going to Toronto. There's just a lot of museums there. They have a lot of like up-and-coming art. They have a lot of like kind of avant-garde movie festivals and that sort of thing. Like the culture, I would say, is definitely more so in Toronto. I would say there's, if you're a history buff, the war of 1812 happened in Niagara. So there's quite a lot about that in the town that I live in Fort Erie. there's an old fort that I love, and I love museums and history stuff like this.

So if you like that kind of stuff, you can go and they do a reenactment and you can go for the tour of the fort. And it's like where they fought the War of 1812, it used to be owned by the US and then Canada took it. And then the US took it. And then they kind of just decided that it was Canada's. And so if you like that kind of stuff, you know, there's like a lot of artifacts and things that you can look at. And it's not just here.

It's all across this area. And then the other thing is the Underground Railroad ended here. So there's quite a few houses that have historical meaning in the area where the slaves hid. But they didn't really stay here. They kind of moved on to bigger cities like Montreal or Toronto. But there's still kind of like these historical homes that are in the area. So if you like that kind of thing, there is a bit of history here as well. Ooh, I love history. So can we go into those homes? Yeah, some of them you can. Some of them just have kind of like these plaques on the outside that kind of are descriptive of what they are. But there's one in Niagara on the lake actually that's quite historic. I have not been in it myself yet. But you can go in and kind of take a tour and look around and go like in the basement and kind of see where people hid and that sort of thing.

back to the War of 1812. I confess that I don't know that much about it. So did you say that was about the U.S. and Canada fighting over territory and then in the end, Canada won? Yeah. So it's really funny just being like looking at the history from both sides. Both countries say they won. So U.S. history books say the U.S. one. Canadian history books says Canada won.

Basically they just decided where the border was going to be. Okay. Yeah. So, but there was a lot of conflict at the time of, um, basically fighting over that. Um, and, and at the time, Canada was actually mostly indigenous people. Um, so it was kind of like indigenous people mixed with like British soldiers fighting over the land because we're, you know, part of that. Um, I don't know. I actually don't know what to technically call it. I probably studied this for my citizenship test. Um, but, you know, we respect the queen. And,

all of that. So, um, oh, your commonwealth. Yes, Commonwealth. Um, yeah. So we, you know, the queen doesn't have direct say over things, but we do have a representative here who signs on behalf of the queen on all of our laws and things like that. Um, so yeah, so this war was over the, the border, uh, between the U.S. and Canada, which where I live is just conveniently divided by some lakes and rivers. So to me it's like, okay, seems pretty obvious now where this line should have been. Right. But yeah, but there was a huge fight over it. And basically in the end, both sides said they won. And they were like, this is where we are now. God, I wonder how many people had to die. I wonder how many people had to die to like say, you know what? You take this. We'll take this.

That's it. We both won. You know, that's, uh, yeah. Life world. Exactly. And it's, it's so funny how like, it feels such like a human thing where it's like if two people had an argument, they'd be like, oh yeah, yeah, I won that one. Yeah. Well, and nobody even remembers the War of 1812 anymore, at least not in the U.S. No, no. It was just kind of like a little blip. Yeah. That's funny how we kind of just rewrite our own tellings of history. I've seen that here to, you know, at the British Museum, They don't call the Revolutionary War, the Revolutionary War. I forgot what they call it, something like the War with the Americas or something like that. But, you know, everyone retells things in a different way, I guess.

Wow. Fascinating. Yeah, I actually went on a tour of Parliament a few years ago when I had kind of first moved to England. And anyone can sign up to go. So my tour group was a real hodgepodge of like some Spanish tourists and Scottish tourists. And our guide was British having like the hardest time because we would go back and see these pictures throughout history of like wars that had happened over the centuries. And like Spanish armada and like all different things. And the guide would say one thing. And the Spanish would be like, uh, that's not what happened.

blah, blah, blah. And then the Scottish guy was like, well, blah, you're like, what about all these people that you kill? And like the tour guy, it's like, oh, my God. I'm just telling like the history that I learned in school. Yeah, it's so fascinating how we call the same thing, different things. Yeah, and just remember it in completely different ways. Exactly.

But anyway, Andrea, we've talked about so much. I guess are you a live music person? Is there any places that you know of to see if you wanted some entertainment in the evening? I confess that I'm not as into the live music scene as I probably should be. I will say I do like theater. So I can tell you a bit about that. Okay. So if you like theater, there's a festival here called the Shaw Festival.

It's in Niagara on the lake. and it is amazing. They pull talent in from all of the world and every season they do plays in musical theater. And it's just like really high quality performances. Last year I saw Dracula, the year before that. I think they did Phantom of the Opera. And it was just such a great performance.

So if you like theater and you like kind of that world, highly recommend checking out the Shaw Festival. And did you say they have like a different show every season? Yeah. So they usually run, I think about six to eight shows a season. And they have multiple locations for like multiple venues to see the shows. So any night of the week, there's a show or two going on. And so and there's quite a variety and they kind of switch it up. And so you have kind of quite a few options. And I believe the seasons run from like September. through May, if I want to say that correctly.

So quite a bit of the year where you have the option to go see something really high quality. Are there any culture tips we should know before visiting Canada? Did you experience any sort of culture shock when you moved there? The thing is with Canada, it's like so minor that some of the stuff you're like, wait, what? So the first thing for me was the money. So the $1 and $2 coins are called a loony and a toony. And I thought my husband was joking with me. I've never heard of that.

There's no way that grown people say, here's a toony. That doesn't make any sense. But it's legit. Like, there's no, nobody says a $1 or $2 coin. They'll look at you like you're absolutely crazy. So Loonies and Tunis is the, is the current scene. The money, like the paper money, there's five, 10, as usual. It looks a little like monopoly money is very colorful.

But yeah, just keep that in mind. I'm trying to think that their accent is just a little different. But if you like, you know, if you want to hear the differences, there's like YouTube videos about that. It's kind of cute. I mean, I think it's cute. Obviously, I'm married one. And then there's minor things like the milk, at least in this part of the country comes in a bag. Is it like that in the UK? Milk in a bag? No.

Yeah. It's like a plastic bag that the milk comes in. And then everyone buys like this additional plastic container that almost looks like a pitcher that they put the plastic bag in. But it's like a very specific size milk only pitcher that they put this bag in. Huh. It sounds like way too many steps. I wonder why they do that.

Somebody's like, yeah, got a kickback from selling these milk jugs, I guess. Yeah, and it's not like that all over the country. I've noticed out the West Coast, like I've been to Vancouver, they have milk in cartons or gallons like normal people. And the same thing is out in, I've been to Halifax before on the East Coast as well. It just seems to be like here that that is a thing. And so, yeah, milk comes in bags. So if you have to go to the store and grab some milk, you're probably also going to have to get like a plastic container to put the milk bag in. Okay, good to know.

If I'm moving to Canada, I need a proper milk chug to hold milk bags. Yes. So before you became a Canadian citizen, how were you able to live and work there visa-wise? Yes. So I couldn't work here until I got my permanent residency status. So technically my business was back home still. So I was virtually working in Canada, but my business address was home. So once I became a permanent resident, I set up my business here and was able to do that.

That process took about nine months to get status and honestly being married, fast-tracked it. So I did go to see a lawyer for this part. She said, basically, if you want to have this happen relatively quickly, you can have a baby or you can get married. Hello, social engineering. Yes. So I don't see babies in my future. So marriage, it was.

And it's kind of funny because we're both like not the, like we never imagined ourselves being married either. And so this kind of is like a little bit of a marriage of convenience, but we're definitely life partners. So we're fun with it. So if you had gone there on your own, would you still have been eligible to get permanent residency, do you think? It just would have taken longer or? Yeah, it would have taken longer and it's very challenging.

So you have two options. If you're not seeking asylum, so if you, you know, are from like a war torn country, you can come here and apply. But outside of that, you either have to have a job that will basically pave the way for you. and that job has to prove that they tried to hire someone within Canada first before going outside of Canada. So very challenging kind of thing to convince someone you don't work for to do for you. The second option is to invest in the country. So basically, if you are wealthy, you can invest in different ways into the economy

and some sort of like providing paperwork to get in. So it is still a challenge to come into the country. and become a permanent resident. I have people ask, especially with like the turmoil in the U.S., I have friends and stuff asking me like, how do I get in? I'm like, unless you have a family member who lives here, it's very tough. Maybe you can adopt us, Andrea. Technically it could.

And technically my mom is like, oh, I want to come live with you guys. I'm like, well, technically you could. But everybody's trying to get across that border. I don't know if you know this, but do you know if it's like, like easier for freelancers or people like you who had an online business since you wouldn't be taking a job away from a Canadian? I think so. And we did definitely include that in my application.

My lawyer was excellent in my kind of framing it as I'm adding to the Canadian economy. I'm paying Canadian taxes. I'm spending my money in Canada. So I think that definitely helps. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for talking to me, Andrea. where can people find out more about you? Yeah, so I'm online everywhere at Online Dreia, so online D-R-E-A.

And I prefer Instagram. That's where I spend a lot of time, but I'm on every platform. Thank you very much for telling me more about Canadian life. Thank you for having me. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'm about to go to the airport to fly to Atlanta for Shee Podcast Live. I'm so excited that I get to. to hang out with Andrea in real life. And if we get time, maybe we can do a cheeky little

Atlanta episode of the Postcard Academy. For show notes on this episode, head on over to postcardacademy.co, where you will find links and photos from today's discussion. That's all for now. Thanks so much for listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Actually, I think the one and only fan letter I ever wrote was to Michael J. Fox. I'm pretty sure he's going to Canadian, right? Yeah. I remember watching family ties and he would always say, sorry. I don't think I knew he was Canadian then, but I always like, it stuck out in my mind how he said sorry. Yes, and I find myself talking like that. Do you feel starting to talk with like a little bit of a British accent? No, and I wish that I would. I've been here since 2011 and people keep asking me like,

gosh, you don't sound British at all. Like back home, people are like, oh, we thought you would have picked up more of the accent by now, but I don't, unfortunately. I do use the proper words, though. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.