Adventure. Freedom. The unknown.
A few of the reasons I wanted to travel. But where did my real roots of travel desire come from?
Travel has always been in my life. I got on my first airplane at only 9 months old, on a trip to Canada. I went on many holidays from a young age (including numerous trips to the USA), I did a road-trip around some of Europe with my family, I traveled to the USA and even China on school trips. Big holidays were a part of my upbringing – I was very lucky. Perhaps these adventures were subconsciously the start of something for myself.
Travel was something that I could do, and would do.
I remember in school, when in French class, being asked to write about our future. My response was always: ‘Je voudrais voyager’. I hadn’t really thought about it deeply, but I think I simply knew a life stuck in an office or another boring job was not for me. Never did I think these words would really mount to anything but alas, they did.
In 2013 I had my first real taste of moving abroad – I moved to France for 9 months as part of my university course. Perhaps this was the best and worst thing I could have done.. I realised how easy it was to just move your life (especially seeing as I made the decision to actually go about three days in advance – welcome to my life), but I also realised that I would never be fully content living in one place, at least during my twenties. I didn’t know what I was doing, my French skills were very far from great, but there I was pushing boundaries and going into the unknown. Because you know what, if all went wrong I could always just leave – what I always tell myself if I am uncertain. Leaving soon became the last thing I wanted to do, but of course, I had to!
After going back to my Scottish university for two more years I still dreamed of my stint of ‘living abroad’. I knew I had to do something like this again. Australia had been on my radar for a while, I’m honestly not sure if I ever really believed it would happen though.
In summer 2015 I saved all my tips from working as a waitress, telling myself it was my ‘Australia fund’. I continued, much to my dismay, to work as a waitress for the months after university. I became a bit stuck, knowing I wanted to leave but not really plucking up the courage to properly sort anything out. Sure, I’d been on many long-haul family holidays, had traveled to China on a school trip, moved to France (but it’s such a short flight away), but never as far as Australia (and so far on my own). Then the perfect opportunity arose – my friend, who was working as an au pair in Australia, prompted me to apply to take over from her role when her time would be up. It was too good to pass up on, and I was soon offered the position.
So, could I just move to the other side of the world? (Having done it now, the world really doesn’t seem so big when you realise how easy it is to travel right across it).. The answer, SURE, why not? I had no commitments at home, no high end job I was dreaming of, just the desire to experience the world with no fear of doing so as a solo female traveler, and bonus: already a job and place to stay waiting for me. So eventually, I let the use of my Australia fund become a reality and set off for Australia in March 2017.
I spent the next year based in Adelaide and travelling extensively around Australia. An unwillingness to give up my new life then led me to New Zealand for a year. Eventually I made it back to the UK, however my itchy feet were back very soon and I left again for a month in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka then led to a trip to France, when I eventually had to accept I needed to work again and give up the travel life for a bit. The last year has been spent in the UK, going back and forth between Scotland and London – still never really settling anywhere.
I had planned to travel again from May of this year, but staying put ensued as a result of the current pandemic. However, I am ready to get back out into the world when it is safe to do so!
