Our Blog

Throughout the month of December, Travelance celebrated the second anniversary of the Super Visa program. We invited you to share your Super Visa stories and what family means to you by visiting our website www.travelance.ca. We’d like to share some of the thoughts and stories you submitted.
This is the third blog post of a three part series.
Family – there is something special we feel when we are with them. We feel something even stronger when we are without them – when we long for them. When we hear the word family, most of us think about happy memories or remember the warm and comforting sights, sounds and smells that made our house a home. Perhaps we reminisce about the laughter and tears we’ve shared with our families over the years. For those of us who live far away from our families our hearts long for a warm embrace, a home cooked meal or simply to be in their presence.

What does family mean to you?

Families provide guidance and love. They provide emotional support, care and encouragement. They take care of our well-being, add balance to our lives and ground us. ~ Lindsay, Ontario
Family is my support, my centre, my faith. ~ Madhuri, British Columbia
Family means joy. It gives you happiness whenever you hear about your family. It fills your heart with gladness whenever you hear stories from your family. And because of that, you are able to sustain the bond that you have, despite the distance that you have in between. ~ Elena, Ontario
Family means strength, because no matter what you and your family go through, you know that you will be able to surpass all, as long as you work together in one single goal. The success of one’s family is not about money or wealth. It is about the tight bond and relationship that you have with one another, making you all strong enough to face all challenges in life. ~Antonio, Alberta

Your Stories

For many of us the holidays are synonymous with family. While a growing number of families keep in touch online through chat services such as Skype using a webcam, human contact and physical presence cannot be replicated.
Diwata shares her story.
I want to share my personal story about my family. This Christmas, while I am excitedly wrapping gifts, I can’t help but think of my family back home, who are many miles away.
I was raised in Asia, but when I got married, my husband and I decided to migrate to Canada. It has been 15 years already, but I can still say that sometimes, I miss spending Christmas back home, with my parents and siblings. Because now, I only get to see them on my laptop’s webcam, and you can bet that tears fill my eyes whenever I see them. But those tears are not just sadness…it is longing for their embrace and the warm atmosphere back home. How I wish I could bring them to Canada so that we could be together again and celebrate Christmas Eve while drinking a nice glass of wine, and feasting on the delicious meals that I have prepared.
Family for me means everything. If I can bring them all in one place, that will really make me happy and complete. It is my wish this coming Christmas. I really hope that I can make this wish come true, so that we can all be together again, happily celebrating Christmas Eve, just like what I have been dreaming.
Raj shares a similar story.
I have to say the hardest thing for me was to make the decision to leave my family behind and move to Canada. I knew this move would help me to provide a better life for my loved ones. After careful consideration, I sought their advice and approval. With their support I decided to take my chances.
During the holidays, it’s the hardest. We are a big family, and every Diwali and New Year we would all gather together, eat, give each other presents and talk about our future. Seeing my mother, my father, my grandparents, and my brothers and sisters all together, laughing, having a good time – that’s what I miss the most. Of course, during the holidays we use Skype even more, but it’s not the same. I watch my child, nieces and nephews grow up from far. And I can’t wait to see all my dear ones and have them near me again.
But the good news is that I will be doing this soon, and I can’t wait for this coming year as my mother, father, wife and child will come visit me for the first time since I arrived in Canada four years ago!

About the Canadian Super Visa

As the years pass, we tend to remember the time we spent with loved ones while other experiences in our lives fade to the background. Programs like The Canadian Super Visa have made visiting with parents and grandparents in Canada easier than ever. Set to become a permanent program, the Super Visa offers a flexible option for parents and grandparents to visit their children and grandchildren in Canada. The Super Visa take an average of 8 weeks to process, it is valid for 10 years and visa holders can stay in Canada for up to 2 years at a time with each new re-entry.
For more information on the Canadian Super Visa program please visit: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/supervisa.asp Travelance specializes in emergency medical travel insurance for Visitors to Canada! To find out more about Travelance and our ‘Super Visa’ plans, visit our website: www.travelance.ca.