On 10 June 2022, Kaitlyn arrived at Chestnut Lake Camp in Pennsylvania to spend three months driving boats.

Exactly four years later, she returned to New Zealand with several ski seasons behind her, friends scattered across the world and a future husband she'd met while working at a sailing camp in Croatia.

There had been some questionable moments in between. One involved living underneath someone's house in Vancouver and making a large pizza last three days because she'd run out of money.

But the most interesting part of Kaitlyn's four years abroad isn't how many places she visited.

It's how she ended up in them.

And how so much of it began with a summer on a lake in Pennsylvania.

June 2022 | The Boat Driver

Kaitlyn left New Zealand on 19 May 2022, beginning with ten days in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, followed by two weeks travelling alone in New York.

She stayed in a hostel, explored the city and met people she'd unexpectedly find herself visiting again months later.

Then it was time for camp.

At Chestnut Lake, Kaitlyn spent her days driving boats and teaching waterskiing and wakeboarding. The lake became her favourite place, and her eight co-counsellors became some of her closest friends.

For three months, this was her life.

When summer finished, she spent another month travelling around America, making her way through New York City, Boston, Washington DC, Miami, New Orleans, San Diego and Las Vegas.

Then, rather than return to New Zealand, she headed north to Canada.

Late 2022 | The Three-Day Pizza

Kaitlyn activated her two-year Canadian working holiday visa and spent two weeks in Montreal, catching up with friends she'd met at her hostel in New York.

After that, she hired a campervan with her dad and best friend from New Zealand for a month-long road trip from Vancouver to Banff and back.

The trip was great. Her finances were not.

By the time they returned to Vancouver, Kaitlyn had completely run out of money.

She was staying in a room underneath someone's house in a dodgy part of the city, applying for jobs in ski towns across Canada and hearing nothing back.

At one point, she bought a large pizza and stretched it across three days, eating it for breakfast and dinner.

Eventually, she messaged the only person she knew in Canada, who lived in Whistler, and asked whether she could sleep on her couch while looking for work.

As it happened, her friend's roommate was moving out.

Kaitlyn could take the room.

On the very same day, she landed a job in a ski shop.

After weeks of getting nowhere, she'd managed to find a job and somewhere to live in a single day.

Whistler turned out to be worth the trouble.

She spent the winter skiing five days a week, going to the pub six, celebrating her first white Christmas and making friends she'd keep long after the season ended.

Before the snow had even melted, however, another summer was calling.

June 2023 | A Recommendation from Camp

During her summer at Chestnut Lake, Kaitlyn's boss had told her about a sailing camp in Croatia where he'd previously worked.

He thought she'd be perfect for it.

In January 2023, he recommended her to the director of its Teen Sailing programme.

Before starting the job, Kaitlyn managed to fit in a campervan road trip with her mum through national parks in Nevada, Utah and Arizona, followed by a visit to Spain to reunite with friends from Chestnut Lake.

By June, she was in Pakoštane, a small Croatian coastal town, preparing for another summer working at camp.

Her job was to look after eight girls aboard a 50-foot sailing boat.

Another instructor, Holly, was responsible for eight boys on a second boat.

Between them, they had sixteen teenagers, two boats and the freedom to plan their own adventures.

They also met the person they would eventually marry.

For Kaitlyn, a recommendation from her American camp boss had turned into something rather more significant than another summer job.

When the season ended, she and Holly travelled together through Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.

By the end of their trip, they'd decided to head back to Whistler.

Late 2023–2025 | A Second Life in Whistler

Kaitlyn's first move to Whistler had been an exercise in finding work before her money ran out entirely.

This time, she was returning with Holly.

They spent the next year and a half living and working there, skiing through the winters, enjoying the mountains in summer and escaping to Mexico during the shoulder seasons.

Whistler had become home, but eventually they were ready for a change.

Having spent so much time in one ski town, they decided to try another.

This one was in Japan.

2025–2026 | The Japanese Chapter

Kaitlyn and Holly moved to Hakuba for the ski season.

Kaitlyn ran a ski shop while Holly worked as a rental technician, and they spent four months living and working in the Japanese Alps.

When the season finished, they set off on the final stretch of their travels.

A month exploring Japan, followed by a month in Vietnam and another in Bali.

Then, after four years away, Kaitlyn was heading home.

10 June 2026 | The Long Way Home

Kaitlyn arrived back in New Zealand exactly four years and 22 days after she'd left.

Had Kaitlyn not taken the job at Chestnut Lake, she wouldn't have met the boss who recommended her for the sailing programme in Croatia.

Without that recommendation, she might never have found herself in Pakoštane, sharing a summer on the water with Holly.

It's impossible to know what those four years would have looked like otherwise.

What we do know is that Kaitlyn left New Zealand with a summer job waiting for her in America and returned four years later with a life that looked quite different.

All she'd originally signed up to do was drive a boat.

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