Julie, WHV in Canada and Australia, cofounder of pvtistes.net

Hi, my name is Julie. I’m 39 years old. I’m from Paris, where I majored in foreign languages (English and Spanish) before doing my working holidays.

I went to Canada on a working holiday with Mathieu (read his interview). It was my studies that made me want to embark on the journey. I found that in class, I wasn’t practising the languages enough. My goal was to improve my English, so I wanted to be immersed in the language. That’s why I proposed the idea to him and he said yes!

Mathieu stayed in Canada beyond our WHV, but I went back to France for a few weeks before departing on my second working holiday. After my time in Canada, I had realized that I loved discovering new places and living in different environments. So I looked at what other English-speaking countries were available to French citizens. I ended up choosing Australia for my second WHV.

Like Mathieu, I first worked for a few days at the Salon du livre de Toronto. And then I signed up with a placement agency, which found a week-long project for me at Deloitte.

Later, I found a job as a French teacher at a school called Berlitz. I also worked for them as a translator for a few weeks.

After a while, I decided that I wasn’t speaking enough English in my everyday life since I was teaching French (which was a shame since I was living in the anglophone city of Toronto), so I went back to the placement agency and they found a position for me as a telemarketer. It paid the bills and allowed me to speak English on the phone. I continued to teach French twice a week at Berlitz.

Eventually, I got a job as a bilingual receptionist in an office for 6 months, where I was able to practice English all day long. And the hours were normal too, it was perfect!

My working holiday in Canada taught me that I love travelling. It allowed me to improve my English, and to gain independence. At the start, we lacked money because we didn’t find stable jobs right away. It was difficult at times, and there were moments when we questioned the whole thing. Thankfully, one opportunity led to another and everything worked out in the end. It was a great lesson in perseverance.

My working holiday in Australia was a magical, unforgettable experience. Unlike my WHV in Toronto, this one was nomadic so it was totally different. Everything was in constant motion. I harvested melons, planted trees, taught French at Berlitz again, worked in a solarium, and tried my hand at bartending. Above all, I travelled – not only in Australia but also to New Zealand, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. What an incredible year, one of the best of my life.

During my Canada WHV, I would say that it was my travels to Quebec, New York, Chicago, Florida, and New Orleans. Of course, the birth of pvtistes.net will also always be one of the most unforgettable memories. At that time, everyone on our discussion forum knew one another. Working holiday makers in Montreal would come to visit Toronto and be housed by the local working holiday makers. When the Toronto working holiday makers went to Montreal, they would return the favour. Those were some very touching moments in our story. When Mat and I arrived in Toronto, a couple of pvtistes who had been living there for a few months came to our hostel to welcome us, it was very sweet.

In Australia, impossible to choose; everything was amazing!

Mathieu explained everything in his interview. In the planning of our own working holiday, we realized that there was basically no information online about this topic. So we started small, without any idea that it would become what it is today. It really was a project born out of need and passion.

I’ll start by saying that I regret not doing more working holidays. If you are reading this and are still eligible, don’t wait! I would have loved to do a WHV in Latin America, not necessarily for a year but maybe a few months, just to discover the fascinating cultures and meet incredible people.

Asia would have also been quite tempting to me, but I already had the chance to visit Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan. I just need to visit South Korea (and I’m certainly planning on it) to round out my list of these 4 beautiful destinations in Asia! That’s already not too bad.

I would advise not underestimating the importance of financial savings. With greater savings, their arrival in the country would be less stressful, and they’ll also have more budget to do things on their bucket list: skydiving, scuba diving, international travel etc. It would be a shame to have to say “I want to do this but I don’t have the means”, when one is precisely on a working holiday to make the most of the adventure.

And of course, I would also advise them to get health insurance. You truly never know what might happen, and it costs only between €1-2 per day.

I would say, to continue further on our trajectory. Keeping a website up to date is not easy, especially because we have hundreds of articles. And who knows, maybe there will be more bilateral accords that get signed, which would present even more destinations for pvtistes.net to introduce!

This is a bit more than an anecdote, but a few months into my time in Australia, I gained more and more confidence in myself and my journey. I started to believe that everything was going to work out and that there would always be a solution. One day, I took a flight to Cairns with the hopes of finding a job there. When I landed at 3am, I asked three travellers from the UK if I could spend the night in the same corner of the airport as them (to avoid the cost of a hostel) and await sunrise. The very next day, I found a job. Later in the year, I hitchhiked without a plan B for how to get to my destination. People stopped and got me where I needed to be. It might seem anecdotal, but this way of thinking really struck me. It opens the door to countless possibilities, and believers of the law of attraction might say that positive thoughts bring positive results.