About Me — Jillian Amatt
This is the short version!
I have written a long version of My Story as well, which I will link below. As I was typing it, the familiar feeling of ‘Does anyone really want to know all this about me?’ crept in. The answer is that I’m not sure, so I decided to give people the option. If you feel moved to learn more about me, click the link at the bottom.
I was born in Banff, Alberta, Canada in 1976 and moved down the road to Canmore when I was three years old. Both towns are nestled into the Canadian Rocky Mountains and it is truly a stunning area. When most people dream of what Canada must look like, this is it. There are towering mountains, turquoise lakes and rivers, and green trees for miles. The air is clean and it is truly stunning. I will forever be so grateful for having grown up in such a wonderful place.
Some significant accomplishments in my life are:
- I danced in the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
- I sailed around the world on a tall ship for 10 months when I was 17/18.
- I hiked to Everest Base Camp when I was 19 with a group of 7 friends.
- I kayaked across 23 miles of open ocean in the Bahamas from one island chain to the next, we couldn’t see any land for about 16 of those miles.
- I’ve stood on the Great Wall of China.
- I’ve traveled to 58 countries or territories.
Some different jobs that I have had are:
- Bank Teller at the Royal Bank of Canada
- Bookkeeper/Admin for Powell River Film Festival
- Many roles at various golf courses
- Night cashier at a Beer and Wine store
- Owner of a renovation/house painting company
- Owner of an art gallery where I created and sold my own art on site
- Homeowner/builder building my own home with my husband
- Home renovations/house flipping business
- Gardener/Landscaper
Travel
When I look back on my life, travel has been my constant. My parents took me on my first overseas trip to England when I was just 10 months old, and at the age of 4, I flew solo from one city to the next to visit my grandmother.
My thirst to see the world is insatiable, and I do think that it will be my focus now until I die.
In 2017 my current partner and I sold all of our possessions in Canada to seek out a life of travel. We sold our house, our vehicles, all of our possessions and closed down our home-based businesses. We wanted to see what was out there waiting for us in the world. We were tired of the cycles of living within the constructs of society and craved for something different.
Since then we have lived in a dozen different countries, and have experienced enough to fill many books. We recently realized that we have been on the African continent now for most of the past 2 years, and I have started writing about that experience in a series of posts starting with this one.
Daring to live differently
This life that we have chosen has not been easy. While we have enjoyed our traveling immensely, we have also struggled with trying to gain a foothold in the online world of making money.
Part of how we offset our expenses is by painting murals in the places that we stay, in exchange for accommodation.
At the age of 30, I discovered, or should I say re-discovered, my artistic voice. My life changed drastically when that happened, and I have never looked back.
Chris has been an artist his whole life, so easing into this artistic life has been a natural progression for us. While in Canada, we didn’t have the time to focus on our art because we were too busy chasing our tails on the hamster wheel. But now, it is front and center of our lives and we couldn’t be happier or more fulfilled.
Current Reality
Currently, we find ourselves in Uganda, Africa. Last year, in 2021, we ended up painting murals near a village that we learned was quite literally starving. Almost immediately, we were able to raise the funds to bring them food and fresh water and did so for 10 weeks. We also took it upon ourselves to start teaching them about permaculture through soil building and composting, amongst other topics.
After leaving for 3.5 months at the end of 2021, we have just arrived back and we look forward to making more progress with them. A big item on our agenda moving forward is to secure them a freshwater source. They don’t have piped water, a river, or a lake to get water from. They depend heavily on the rains to bring them water, and in recent years the drought seasons have been getting unbearably long.
So we are fundraising through our GoFundMe page and will be directing those funds towards that project. If you are interested in learning about the work that we did there last year, plus want to stay up to date about our current and future plans, please click the link below to check it out. Read through the 60ish updates! We really accomplished a lot last year!
Wrap Up
So, this is me in a nutshell. I feel that all of the experiences and knowledge that I have gained in my life have been leading me straight to this place I find myself in now. Not a day goes by when I regret any moves in my life. They were all there to teach me lessons to carry me forward.
Really, there is so much more to my story and I would love it if you would pour yourself a drink, or grab a cup of coffee and read the whole thing. But I totally understand if you don’t because as I was writing it I was also feeling like scratching my eyeballs out! HA!
Thanks for following along on my journey in this life! It has been one wild ride and at times, I still feel like I am just getting started.
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Hi there, we are 2 Canadians, Jill and Chris from Artistic Voyages. We have been nomadic since 2017 living in numerous different countries, and experiencing the life and diversity of our planet on the ground and firsthand. We have now been on the African continent for 2 years! Join our adventure by hitting the links below!
