The Reasons I Travel

My best friend posed a question to me the other day that I didn't know the answer to at first.
Then my grandmother inspired me to talk about this whole topic that I've touched on in previous blogs, but is different in its own way. 

A few extended family members have dubbed me "world traveler." Now, this was after getting back from London and I didn't think it was necessarily true then and I don't think it's necessarily true now either. I suppose in comparison to them or people they know in their daily lives, I've traveled more than they have. I suppose I might be the only person they know who has lived in another country for longer than a vacation.

Studying abroad is the easiest way to see another country, honestly. I can not praise it enough and in the future all of my kids will study abroad for a semester or more (if there is such a thing as inter-continental travel by then / if humans haven't killed each other by then). But I digress.

I can concede that I am more of a "world traveler" now than I was after coming back from London, because Australia has been an adventure and extended vacation rather than a transplanted semester of college.
Either way though, I have still only set foot on three continents, two of which have English as the national language and one of which I was only in for three days.

Thus ends the prologue to my intended purpose of this blog, which is to address the question posed to me, "would you do this again?"

"This" meaning, moving to another country and living there as long as burdens allow. The answer is yes, I would do this again and I would do it happily. I have wanderlust, even though I've been to a few places there are three times as many I haven't been to that I wish to. If I made a bucket list for traveling, I can guarantee that at least half the countries on earth have something I wish to see.

Meeting the Fells, dear friends of my grandparents, who have been ALL over the world several times, who have seen more of the US than any American I know, and still - in their 80s - plan vacations and excursions at least three weeks long. Being in their house, it was impossible not to just look around and stare at all their knick knacks and furniture and art collected over their what, 60 years of travels together? I felt rude sometimes, letting my eyes wander across book shelves and ledges, listening to their stories about where each item of interest came from. I want to be them someday.

When examining the reasons I travel, I feel a need to talk about a few of them.

1) I like it.

Perhaps this is the most juvenile of the reasons, because it isn't really a reason any more than "because I said so." I travel because I like it. *shrug* there's no further digression needed there lol. If you don't like something, you don't do it. If you like something and can't do it, it should just serve as a motivation or a goal or a dream instead of a lifetime pining that won't be satisfied.

I like to travel, but so far I can say that I don't like the thought of traveling alone. It will really be put to the test while I am in New Zealand, because I will be alone there for a day or two. But for the future, I know that I'd enjoy everything a lot more if I was with someone. There is safety in numbers, and really safety is what I covet. 

2)  I enjoy living in other countries.

This is as political as I'm going to get on this blog (hopefully). There are some things that I don't appreciate about the US. There are some things that I can only distance myself from with literal distance. A lot of America's political decisions over the years did impact all of us when we were in London. Some people were very nasty to us - but an equal number were lovely.
In Australia, I haven't had a single person be rude to me after hearing my accent. No one here has been rude at all really. The only time I may have even mildly offended someone was when she asked where I was from, I said "America" and she rolled her eyes and said, "yeah, what part?" 
I enjoy living in other countries because more often than not, their media is objective - not like the US.
I enjoy living in other countries because I get the chance to prove some stereotypes wrong or explain the ones that are somewhat true. I also get to talk about politics, and laugh about the stupider / more corrupt things the US has done. The truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.
I enjoy living in other countries because it is the only way I can remember that I am still patriotic.
Just like its impossible to get homesick while living at home, it's nearly impossible for me to be patriotic while being governed by idiots.

Okay I need to stop now, things are spiraling out of control a bit lol. I don't want to get Guantanamo'd or droned. And I'm safer from being blown up by a drone in Australia than I would be in the US, because Obama can do that now....okay really I'm stopping.

Third reason I travel:
Why not?
Australia has been on my must-see travel list for years - pretty much since I saw the movie "Our Lips Are Sealed" (I love that movie and feel no shame admitting it). The fact that a very good friend of mine raved about it and has been here a lot and moved here and had a house with decent rent and spare bedrooms and I wasn't doing anything anyway? What else could have been a more perfect formula for a trip? (It being free I guess, but there was no chance of that). "Why not move to Australia for a bit?" could turn into a whole list of reasons why not - and let me list them now : money................yep that's it. It's a reason not to, but not a deterrent for me clearly. (I have since let money deter me from extending the trip longer than originally intended - I had always planned to come back around June, and that's what I'm doing).

Of course my priorities have been questioned by numerous people, those close to me and those not. But never once has something been pointed out to me that I didn't already think of - or that I didn't already decide was of lower worth than what I wanted to do.

I knew money was going to be an issue when I came here. I knew that things would be more expensive because their minimum wage is so high. I was stupidly optimistic about getting a job in this country (which every one I haven't gotten has been solely because of the type of work visa I have). If I had gotten a job at any point in the past three months, I would have been a lot happier obviously - because money does buy happiness no matter what the novelty wall hangings say.

I know I said in a previous blog that I have promised myself that I will not let my happiness be dictated by money. Let me clarify that - Money is a thing we all need. It is a thing we all work for just to be able to carry on existing. It is sad but it's true. Now, I would never toss out all of my funds in the name of happiness, because I still have a brain - but I will also never deny myself every single luxury or desire JUST because it costs something. This trip has cost me a lot, and it hurts to know exactly how much, but I also am quite confident that I took every legal chance I could to make that money back while here. The fact that I never got a job and therefore the money I spent is going to stay in Australia forever - doesn't keep me up at night. Here I had this adventure.
There's always a certain "well I'll never get the chance again, might as well" aspect for me while traveling.


I am still happy, I am still excited to be here, still sad at the thought of leaving.
I nearly had to have Emily push the button for me while I was booking the flight home. It hurt because of the expense of course, but I knew how much it was going to be (but thanks to a sale on the flight home, I am spending less than I would have if I bought a roundtrip ticket to begin with - fun fact).  But I also found myself really for the first time not wanting to leave. Brisbane is a lovely city. I'll of course be doing a blog post in the future of the things about it I'll miss and the things I won't ever miss - but that's another day!

I've made a list of everything that I still need to do in Brisbane before I leave.
I still need to plan what I'm going to do in Auckland for a few days before truly going home.

Emily and I are leaving on our trip to Melbourne and Sydney in precisely 8 hours. In 8 hours we will be walking to the bus stop and getting a bus and train to the airport.
I am so excited to see more of what Australia has to offer in terms of city life and attractions.
We'll be right in the center of Melbourne's CBD (Central Buisiness District) and in Sydney we'll be steps away from Coogee Beach.

I'll have internet for a bit throughout the week, so I'll try to make tiny posts as I go!
I'll be back in a week :)