It's Time to Go...

Moving home from Germany has meant that our lives have slowed down - in a good way.

Living back at home has its obvious benefits. We've fallen into a good training routine at the gyms we grew up in. But like I said, it's time to go.

Zach and I ventured to Montreal last month to look at apartments. In three crazy days, we drove up, went to four viewings, all of which were on training days, and drove home. We applied to three of them, and one accepted us.

Then, as always seems to be the case, our plans changed. The apartment we locked in bailed on us, and we were left scrambling. We would have settled for the second-place apartment - though we had already told them we were no longer interested. Montreal is also supposed to be a permanent home for us for the foreseeable future, so settling didn't seem right.

With this plot twist, we decided to toss the February 1st move-in plan out the window and go to Montreal. A month's stay at an Airbnb is about as much as rent on an apartment, as it turns out. Although an Airbnb isn't home and we have to delay our provincial transition for another month, it's certainly a path forward.

For me, the IFSC season is fast approaching. Something about turning the clock to 2024 puts the pedal to the medal in my mind. The first event in Shanghai is on April 8, and Studio Bloc Masters is on March 9. Before that even, there's an event in Vermont on February 3.

The point is - we need to get to Montreal and take advantage of their facilities while we're still in the off-season.

We'll drive to Quebec on Wednesday, staying until Valentine's Day. The next day, we fly to Vancouver for the Canadian High Performance Competition, an important event for team selection. On this trip, I'll also visit my coach in Victoria, making our British Columbia stint eight days.

Less than a week later, my mom and I will fly to Germany for Studio Bloc Masters.

If all goes well, when we return from Germany, we should be able to move into an apartment of our own in Montreal.

Fingers crossed.