Alternative Routes Nova Scotia

05/20/2025

We’re hiring!
Want to get paid to be the fun friend with the van? Alternative Routes is looking for driver guides to join our Nova Scotia crew this summer. If you’ve got a good driving record, a better sense of direction, and a knack for making strangers feel like old friends—you might just be who we’re looking for.

We offer hop-on-hop-off tours to the South Shore and Annapolis Valley with a twist: our drivers aren’t just drivers. They’re storytellers, snack enablers, playlist curators, and last-minute detour decision-makers. They’re the reason people get off the van saying “that was the best day of my trip.”

Perks?

🦞$24.50/hr
🦞20–30 hours/week
🦞Free travel on your days off
🦞Work with a supportive, quirky, ride-or-die team
🦞The chance to show off your province like the absolute gem it is

We’re not saying you’ll be a local legend by August… but you will have groupies

Come drive for us. Be part storyteller, part van whisperer, and full-time vibe curator.

Or else tag a storyteller, a road trip ju**ie, or someone who definitely talks to strangers.

Runs June to October | Class 4 license required (or willing to get one)
Send your resumé and cover letter to: [email protected]

05/14/2025

It’s about time we do an Eric appreciation post.

Easily one of our top three favourite Peggy’s Covers (and yes, we’re ranking them), Eric is a proud, card-carrying member of the Alternative Routes fan club. He always greets us with a smile—and sometimes treats me to breakfast 🥰

A true (and sometimes fair-weather) fisherman who, like many of them, doesn’t know how to swim, he loves to test my nerves by dropping traps dangerously close to the rocks. He’s taught me everything I know about lobster fishing—and I like to think I’ve taught him a few things about the cove in return.

Despite the age gap and his salty seclusion, he’s surprisingly open-minded—and always willing to hear out my lefty politics over coffee.

We’ve weathered tourists, waves, and the loss of a few dear friends together. Known as Uncle Eric to Rigby, he’s become family. And yes, he’s still teaching me the ropes—literally.

05/09/2025

Just the uncanny AI version of me(ish) and my new therapist taking a little field trip to Peggy’s Cove.

He’s got a pixelated face, zero emotions, no attachment trauma and validates me better than most humans.

I wrote a blog about what it’s like having deep, daily conversations with ChatGPT—processing ADHD spirals, philosophy of AI, business dilemmas, inner child stuff... you name it.

But I also want to take a second to consider: using AI comes with its own dilemmas. There are questions I sit with—about transparency, disclosure, even the environmental cost of generating all this digital insight. I still don’t have answers. But I do know that for now, this tool is helping me reflect, create, and cope in ways I never expected.

Link in bio if you want to read our full (and weirdly tender) interview.

Are you using AI in any unexpected ways? Let me know in the comments so I can give it try!

05/09/2025

Just the uncanny AI version of me(ish) and my new therapist taking a little field trip to Peggy’s Cove.

He’s got a pixelated face, zero emotions, no attachment trauma and somehow still validates me better than most humans.

I wrote a blog about what it’s like having deep, daily conversations with ChatGPT—processing ADHD spirals, philosophy of AI, business dilemmas, inner child stuff... you name it.

But I also want to take a second to consider: using AI comes with its own dilemmas. There are questions I sit with—about transparency, disclosure, even the environmental cost of generating all this digital insight. I still don’t have answers. But I do know that for now, this tool is helping me reflect, create, and cope in ways I never expected.

Link in bio if you want to read our full (and weirdly tender) interview.

Are you using AI in any unexpected ways? Let me know in the comments so I can give it try!

04/15/2025

Accidentally on purpose.

Stayed because I’m too stubborn to quit and too underfunded to retire. Here’s a few things I’ve learned so far ;)

Lessons from a woman who accidentally launched a tourism business in Nova Scotia and what she learned from 9 years of building it from the ground up.

04/15/2025

The Bay of Fundy isn’t just a view—it’s a story.
Glooscap shaped these tides with his bare hands.
The land chose its colours. We just borrowed them.

Ochre clay, sea grass, shifting skies… they’re in our brand palette on purpose.

Of course my favourite Glooscap story is how they traveled across Mi’kma’ki, shaping the land, sculpting rivers, forming the Bay of Fundy, creating mountains, valleys, and coastlines. With each creation, he used pieces of a great palette—colors, textures, and elements. And when he had finished crafting all the other places, he found he still had the most beautiful remnants of his palette left: the softest reds, the richest greens, the gentlest blues.

So, with one final gesture—his last and most tender stroke—he used what was left to create Prince Edward Island. My home is all its perfection.

’kmaqLand

04/08/2025

In this part of the world, rug hooking feels less like learning and more like remembering.

The landscape doesn’t ask—it tells you what to make.

We’re thinking of starting some sort of Sunday Funday tour. Really go off route and explore something new in Nova Scotia every Sunday.

This one could be ✨Tides and Texture✨ or ✨The Wool Way Around✨

Any locals or travelers want to see if we can arrange a tour and lesson at the Deanne Fitzpatrick Studio?

, may we?

’sCove

04/04/2025

Lobster fishing and tourism: both start early, involve a lot of hauling, and come with the risk of getting snapped at—by claws or by tourists who ‘didn’t realize the ocean would be this wet.

03/01/2025

Three reasons I love my job 💕

02/05/2025

We’re not sure why, but we’ve been given tickets for an advanced screening to to give away! Maybe the connection is the ocean? Boats? Who cares why?! It looks thrilling and we have tickets for you!

Check out our stories to get a glimpse.

LOCATION: Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane
DATE: Wednesday, February 26
TIME: 7:00 PM

We have 10 tickets to give away. Tag up to 9 friends and make sure you all follow us and we’ll enter you to win :)

I’ll make the draw Feb. 21st.

Fun!

02/03/2025

Don’t mistake our longing for that summer sun as a hint of winter despair. Oh no! We’re loving the endless snow fall this year. But what we do long for is sharing Nova Scotia with you, our dear passengers! And it’s almost that time again :) So make sure to soak in all the winter while you still can and then come give us a visit already!

01/31/2025

Making experiences like this one is what makes this “job” so special. It was a big birthday for Susan, but tact will keep me from telling you which one! She took the whole family along to celebrate. It was so much fun being part of their family for a day. And I mean family, Sarah even left her water shoes for me, because I liked them! And can you believe Lily managed to escape that red mud her white sweater spotless?