How to go on a working holiday to Canada without using a company | Banff |

I (Tyler) did a Working holiday to Canada and went through a Company called “Global work & Travel”. It was my first trip away from home so I had no idea what I was doing so I was the easiest victim for companies like this. in their defence, it worked out not all bad for me and I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t go through with it all. Although, working holiday visas in our opinion are the easiest money scam out there and i'll show you why, here’s how it works:

You’ve heard all about Canada (or country of your choice) from the internet, seeing all the pictures and videos on social media, your friends who have been tell you all about how amazing it is and you know because you’ve been following their trip persistently on Instagram for the past 6 months… by this time it’s too late, you’ve got the burning itch to go and you need to scratch it ASAP. You start looking into what you need to do; getting your visa and all that goes with it, booking flights, airport transfers finding a job, finding accommodation, making friends, getting your snow equipment there… the list goes on. Your un-contained excitement is suddenly shot down. You scrolling around and see multiple company’s advertising to do all of this for you with no hassle in the world. You ring them up, they promise the world and reassure you 100x over and it seems too good to be true. You agree with their deal and go through with it. With prices ranging from $1200 up to over $10000 to do all this for you to get you on your way.

Let’s break all that down for you so you don’t land yourself in the situation myself and so so many others have done.

First things first, when you get that uncontrollable excitement when your dreaming about your trip, Don’t lose it! Once you start diving into it, you realise there is a lot more to it than you ever expected but I’m about to tell you how easy it really is....

www.canada.ca ~~ This is going to be your bestfriend!

Before doing anything at all, get onto this website, find the application for the “working holiday visa” and print out the visa requirements list. Go through one by one and check off each requirement and apply. It literally is as easy at that. The companies will make out as if its a lot of work and that you will need their help with it to which they are already there waiting for you to say yes with their hand out for your money.

** Your visa will come in the form of a suspiciously simple confirmation email and you will not actually pick it up until you arrive at the airport in Canada **

Location

This is something I cant choose for you although I 150% recommend going to:

Banff, Alberta.

• If you wish to party every day and every night.. you can, or you can choose not to. If you wish to shred insane snow in the Rocky Mountains every day and night.. you can, or you can choose not to. It’s completely up to you and everything you ever have dreamt of is at your fingertips.

• The temperature is a lot colder in Banff than most other places getting down to -37.5 degrees Celsius last year a few times whilst I was working at Mt Norquay. Banff is a very tight knit ski town where you know every single person walking by you in the street.

• The partying is awesome and you can do as much or as little as you like. The clubs and bars aren’t over crowded and you cannot be left 5 minutes on a night out without running into 10 of your friends.

Whistler, BC

• Whistler is much more of a party scene and is a famously renowned ski town.

• Whistler is littered with pro riders all the time and attracts thousands upon thousands of tourists per day leading to queues lasting hours.

• On the defence though, I went to whistler for 2 nights and ended up staying for almost a month as I loved it so much!

• The snow is great and it’s a lot warmer than Banff getting down to only -19 degrees Celsius last winter

• Partying is on a bigger scale. With endless clubs and pubs and bars and thousands of people out every single night.

Flights

Booking flights through the companies will cost you an arm and a leg (mine cost almost $2k only to find out when I wanted to leave Canada that it was only a one-way ticket) they lure you in with “flexi-flights” and the cheapest deals. I can assure it’s all a load of sh*t.

• Search for the cheapest flight with the most amount of baggage

• If you need to book a return, do so. I recommend booking a one-way as you have no idea where you will end up within your time there.

• DO NOT book a flight until you have your email confirmation that your Canadian visa has been approved and is waiting for you at the border when you arrive.

Getting a Job

A company will come with the promise of a guaranteed job and it being the best job you can get as they claim they have all the best contacts. I can assure you again that this is a also a load of baloney. I have a load of experience in construction and earthmoving equipment and wanted a job in Whistler or Banff, in return they offered me an assistant chef position in sunpeaks which is hundreds of miles from anywhere I wanted to be and do.

• Apply for jobs as soon as you start planning to go to Canada. Apply for absolutely everything, email every company you are interested and every job that looks like a good fit for you, spam them with emails, show them how keen and determined you are to get the job. Woo them with confidence.

• If you send out 200 emails applying for positions, you are certain to get at least 20 jobs out of that. Applying for too many jobs can never be a bad thing.

• Once you’ve got a few offers back, pick the best suited job for you and your on set!

Accommodation

Most of the companies in seasonal spots offer staff accommodation for their employee's, so definitely try and get into a company who offers that as it will take out the house hunt hassle, it is always a lot cheaper than doing it yourself and you'll be with a great bunch of people.

If your work doesn't offer staff accommodation or if it is not where you want to stay then you can always do it yourself.

• Get onto Facebook and find the Facebook pages for your location. ie: `Banff buy and sell/bow valley home finder/whistler winter/whistler summer etc

• Shop around! compare all prices and rooms and take into consideration the location, walking distance to town and the amount of people living in the accommodation.

• Move in! It's great moving into a new place and meeting the people you'll be living with and spending all your evenings with.

You're all set! Time to jump on that plane and start breathing that fresh Canadian air. If you're time in Canada was anything even close to ours, you are in for the best experience of your life!!!