Raft Cove & 5 friends on North Vancouver Island

Hello hello! What a summer it has been so far, as you may know my partner and i, along with three other friends, went on a 5 day camping trip to North Vancouver Island last week. What a wild place, completely out of civilisation, mobile service, paved roads, grocery stores, ameneties - just ancient, old growth forests and wilderness as far as the eye can see, and huge, sandy beaches. Oh boy, did i need that vacay!

For those of you who know me, you know how much i love work and being busy, but it is also so important to take breaks and reset a little every once in a while. And adding some adventure into my life, shaking my soul a little, are the moments that really spark my creativity and motivation to continue working and striving for my goals. And this trip was definitely an adventure, doing things that took me out of my comfort zone, including hiking through a mud covered jungle with a big, heavy backpack; bushwacking/crawling through giant ferns and salals; sleeping in a tent after running into multiple black bears 15 minutes prior; skinny dipping in ice cold water and drying up by the camp fire; living off of freezedried and canned food for multiple days. Sounds pretty uncomfortable, i know! But these moments are what sets the soul on fire and really pumps that life force through the veins, and that’s what i love!

I was having this conversation with a friend the other day, and we were talking about how different summer holidays are here in Canada from in Finland, where i grew up. In Finland we got almost 2,5 months off in the summer, so growing up with that much freedom kind of sets a habit of really taking time off in the summer and not working your butt off, missing out on the best time of the year. That is basically what i work for all year, saving up enough so that i can take as much time off as possible in the summer.

I did mention how adventures like this spark my creativity, so i really hope you enjoy the photos that i took during the trip. I used to love lifestyle and travel photography, but have been in a rut the past year, not really creating content i used to love to create. I was really inspired to take lots of photos this trip, so i hope you’ll enjoy them!

Have a fantastic summer my friend, and remember to step out of your comfort zone and do things that set your soul on fire!

- Nicolina