A New Beginning

So how did it all start? Deciding to move across the world and start a new life in Australia.

Melbourne

When I was younger, my parents took me to many places - mostly in the Caribbean for Christmas holidays. I began to love the excitement leading up to a trip. I began to love packing for it - I’d play some music, try on my outfits, and dance in the mirror before putting them in my suitcase. I began to love airports - sitting with my family in a restaurant and having a drink before the plane departs, reading a book I had stowed in my carry-on while watching the planes taxi on the tarmac. All of these things, and obviously the travelling itself, lit a fire in my soul.

When I was 19, I went to Europe for five weeks with my step-sister Jenny. We went to France, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, and Greece. This was the first trip I took without the guidance of my parents. Then, I went to Vietnam and lived there for 8 months. Afterwards, I came home to Canada and stayed there for a year. I worked as a travel agent for about 8 months. I was sending other people away on vacations, honeymoons, and anniversary trips. All day I was talking about travel, and when I wasn’t working with clients, I was planning my own dream trips - which included climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and visiting Iran. But, during all this time, I had been daydreaming about moving to Australia. I was getting restless, because I wanted to leave the familiarity of home again and start a new adventure. I had hoped to be in Australia by about June of 2020. This idea had been in my head for about 6 months. And then…. I met Thomas.

Tom was born and raised in Australia and I met him while he was travelling through the USA and Canada with his friend Dom after they had both graduated from University. We went on our first date in late November. After our first date, we spent 4 days together before he left for Niagara Falls and then New York City. At the time, we weren’t really sure what would happen with us. We knew we had real feelings for each other, but we lived on different continents. Three days after he left, he called me and told me he was going to book a flight back to Toronto after he was done in the USA in a month and that he was going to make me his girlfriend. In the meantime, we decided to be exclusive before we could make it official in person. So, we did long distance for a month and then he came back on New Years. We spent another week and a half together, started dating, and then he went home to Australia. We did long distance for another two months, and then, after the most stressful 48 hours of my life, I arrived in Australia.

Views from the Great Ocean Road

Originally, I had gotten a transfer with my company in Canada to work in Australia. I had planned to work and live in Melbourne and Tom and I would see each other a couple times a week, since he lived an hour away. But, seeing as we are currently in a pandemic, I lost my job and that likely won’t be happening for a few months. In the meantime, I will be living with Tom, working on starting my own business, blogging, and hanging out - since I can’t really travel or explore the country right now. Next year, I will be moving to Sydney to study my Masters of Environment.

I was still lucky enough to get to explore a little bit. We drove the Great Ocean Road, which was magical. We also drove through a little bit of Melbourne, and I’m really excited to go back once everything opens up again. It reminded me of Toronto. We also climbed the You Yang Mountains, and stayed in Barwon Heads (a cute little coastal town where Tom has a holiday house - and where we self-isolated for 2 weeks after I arrived).

You Yang Mountain Range

Right now, a lot of things are up in the air, but I have a clear idea of the direction I am going in - so I’ll keep doing what I can to get there, even though it’s difficult right now in times like these. I have a feeling I’m really going to love it here, and much to the dismay of my parents, I may not be coming back any time soon.

But cheers to new memories, new friends, and new adventures.