Out of all the fears that get my heart racing, my biggest travel fear is running out of time to explore every corner of the globe. For almost three and a half years I’ve lived as an expat in London and taken the opportunity to travel as much as I can while I’m closer to the rest of the world than Australia. Around work of course, travel doesn’t pay for itself! In 2017 alone I’ve had the following travel experiences:
- cared for orphaned rhinos in South Africa
- visited family on New Year’s Eve in Australia
- got engaged at The Minack Theatre in Cornwall
- celebrated my birthday in Paris
- lived like locals in Bath
- took Ned the dog to the Cotswolds
- met distant family members for the first time in Scotland
- explored the five villages of Cinque Terre by foot and boat
- been pickpocketed in Madrid
- camped on a farm in England for Nozstock The Hidden Valley music festival
There’s more. In a few days we fly to Santorini to cheers to our newly married friends before catching a ferry to other Greek Islands – Mykonos and Milos. The rest of our year is a blur of European destinations including Germany and Austria before quitting our jobs and inter-railing around parts of Europe on our travel bucket list (particularly Eastern Europe) we are yet to see.
The beauty of living in London for a limited time is at the start of each year we agree on our travel bucket list and make it happen. Each month we book and pay for what we can from our salary in order of priority. In November we move back to Australia and whilst I’m excited to see family, friends, the beach (!) and generally slowing down from the pace of life in London (e.g. getting frustrated over having to wait two minutes for the next train), I know the travel bucket list will take longer to tick off. Gone are the days of a weekend getaway to a new country! And before you say anything, I’ve already been to New Zealand, Bali and Thailand.
As we settle back into life in Australia and I settle for one, maybe two overseas holidays a year (first world problems I know), I wonder, will I see everything on my travel bucket list in this lifetime? Do I really want to have kids yet or squeeze in a few more destinations that I’d really like to be selfish in without children in tow? The fear is real and the reality is, my travel bucket list is always growing. There are almost 200 countries in the world today and I’ve only experienced 36 of them. It’s time for me to let go. On a positive note, I will be even MORE excited about travel, cherish every moment and never take it for granted.
Lastly, I’d like to apologise in advance for being that person on the plane with a screaming baby.
August 2017
