The Week Leading Up
So it’s nearly here. The part of the 27 adventure that I have been avoiding thinking about because it makes it hard to breathe. It’s been too big to think about ever since I realised that it was going to happen. It’s not an if, but or maybe. It’s the reality that’s coming.
By next week I will be in Toronto. I will have my visa and the immigration officer will have decided for me whether it’s to be one year or two. I will have hugged one of my oldest friends and have seen glimpses of the city I will be calling my new home. I will be looking for that perfect place that I can call home for a while yet. The place I can unpack these suitcases and breathe that sigh of relief. I will be looking for work, and looking to make new friends and to see the city with the fresh eyes and a happy heart.
Right now though I’m tired. The bad parts are glaring at me more than the excellent time I’m having. I feel like sleeping for a week might help me feel caught up. I need to let go of the idea that I need to blog everything in order and right now. I’m doing so much, so quickly, it’s hard to share it all with you right now. Those posts are coming, but maybe not as quickly as before.
I have a new found respect for people who travel for more than 4 weeks for periods of time. I’ve never been so thankful that my planned 3 month backpacking trip around Europe at 21 never eventuated. But I was a different girl then so maybe it would have been ok.
I am looking forward to seeing New York and I’m loving that there’s only 2 stops to go from this lovely city, Philly. I think I just want to start working out the unknowns. I want to have a home to go to. To have an address and regular vegetables. I want to get this big idea that planted in my head at Alt happening. I want to eat vegemite on toast and to climb into my own bed.
I love that I’m doing this, and I don’t want to go back to Australia or wish that I hadn’t done it. I’m just tired and I want a place to call my own and to not have to pack my suitcase for many, many months.
I’m ready to fall in love with a new city. Can’t wait to meet you, Toronto. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together.
x
(PS that’s a random photo I’ve taken on this trip, not Toronto, as I’ve never been there before)
The Stability of Travel
Now, don’t get me wrong, travel can be lonely; overwhelming and scary but it can also bring a stability that wasn’t there before.
Since leaving home two weeks ago, I have met new people and caught up with wonderful old friends (who knew 5 years went so fast?). My anxiety is gone. I’m smiling more. Things are good.
I know it won’t always be like this, but this was the break that I knew I needed. Travel gives me those big belly laughs that I never found time for at home. It gives me fresh eyes on the world. It reminds me that there’s good in the world.
It’s these days that I need. They help to recharge the batteries that got so depleted before I left. I knew the hardest part would be leaving Melbourne, and so far it has been.
I’m loving the stability that being completely out of my comfort zone is bringing and that 7 months ago I realised that this was what I needed and somehow I made it work! That’s an awesome feeling!
I’m off to start stop 4 today, but I still have so much to share from stops 2 & 3, so it may not all be chronological as there’s just so much to share – especially from Alt. There’s so much more coming your way. I have loved Kansas City.
x
A Word. A Goal. A Plan.
It’s that time of year again, where everyone shares their dreams for the year. I find it really overwhelming, especially after 2012 was such a disaster (having spent the first half completely lost and the second half solely focussed on making 2013 ace).
I want to say that I’m not making big-lofty goals this year, but I guess the move kind of is one. But it’s not a pie-in-the-sky resolution, but something I’ve been working towards for 7 months. I’m instead trying to focus on my word for the year and make one or two little goals that are achievable and will bring happiness not anxiety.
A word: Adventure
A goal: To laugh more
A plan: To trust my gut and to take the opportunities that are right for me
I’ve planned my trip across the USA so I know where I’ll be on what day up until late Feb, but after that I know it will be about finding somewhere to live and making new friends and settling into a new home. I don’t need to overthink those right now. There’ll be a time for that, but for now I want to enjoy what’s coming and to let things roll.
Two weeks to go until the 27 adventure starts!
