WTF JULY! We started as strangers...

WTF JULY!

It really is hard to put into words what has happened this month, but I will give it a red hot crack.

Earlier this year, my friend Doc came to me with a crazy idea — to offer people the chance to join us on a holiday in Canada while I was there doing a mini-taster comedy tour.

Our slogan was: 'We're going anyway, are ya comin' or what?'

We planned to be like tour guides, who don't actually know anything about anything. We just know how to have fun. Within a few days, we had our crew of 8 signed up.

I had an extra week to settle in and perform my shows in Montreal and Toronto before meeting the crew in Vancouver. I love comedy, and I know I belong on stage — but this time round, I couldn't help but count down the days until I could get off stage and go meet our new holiday troupe.

Doc wanted to include as many 'WOW' moments in the trip as we could. It's hard to express just how many of these we had. And just how big the 'WOW's were.

We started with a couple of nights in Vancouver with the intention to meet each other and 'rest' after the flight. We partied through the rest day.

Then we did a 7 night cruise from Canada to Alaska, through 'The Passage'. You will not see more mind-blowing scenery than on that cruise — a glacier right outside your bedroom window, with seals literally floating past on icebergs.

We pulled our mattresses out onto our balcony and giggled until the sun came up.

We drank the bar dry of pre-made shots in Alaska while watching the World Cup, and ended the day in a random local's kitchen drinking Sambuca shots: 'Alaska. Where the women are men and the men are animals'. We fitted right in.

Random people, random places, doing random things — always my favourite kind of chaos.

We took helicopters up to a glacier and went dog sledding

We rode horses in the Rocky Mountains

We hiked the snowy mountains of Whistler (and partied, of course), and the crew came to watch me perform my show. My heart kept filling up. 

I buggered off for 2 nights to perform in Vancouver and Kamloops (my biggest and best show of the tour) while the crew went up to Tyax Lodge - a remote Heli-Ski Lodge only accessible via 4wd. I will check that out next trip.

We visited the majestic Lake Louise, and hiked to the Tea Houses for lunch in the mountains

We ate gummies and passed out in the movie room on recliners, like a bunch of teenagers that had been mates for life (not everyone took gummies, but they are legal in Canada so don't be judgey!).

We had our final farewell drinks in Banff - getting cocktail drunk at the Banff Springs Hotel, watching the scenery change as the sun went down; laughing, reflecting, bonding. We ended the day with a late night cold plunge in the river - just to tick it off the 'WOW' list.

The trip to the airport was a surprise Hummer/Limo with a few champagnes and final laughs. The overwhelm of what we had just achieved in this month started to really hit me. The sadness of knowing I had to say my goodbyes hit me.

I've always said I prefer the people to the places when I holiday. This trip had both. And the people who mattered to me most weren't the locals — they were our crew.

I laughed more this month than some people get to laugh in their lifetime.

I cried too. I had deep and meaningful conversations that lasted beyond the sun rising again. I shared trauma. I shared vulnerability. I shared connection. I felt love.

Not a moment was wasted.

We weren't 10 people 'on a tour together'. We were 10 people 'touring together'.

We started as strangers. We finished as friends.

I've come home feeling energised in a way that I didn't expect. I'm more motivated than ever to keep achieving my dreams, because life keeps showing me that I can.

Work hard. Play hard. Rest. Repeat.

Vanessa Larry Mitchell.x

(And for those of you sliding into my DM's to ask if I shagged any of our crew on this trip -

the answer is No. This was all way more special than that).