I have traveled quite a bit in my 28 years. Traveling has always been a big part of our family life. I grew up going to the airport in the middle of the night because my Grandmother was taking off to some far away land or arriving home. We always loved these trips. In hindsight I love even more that my parents thought it necessary in the middle of the night to drag their kids out of bed and to the airport to welcome home their grandmother from her many adventures. To some that might seem irresponsible, but I find it wonderful and showing a value for family. I mean who doesn’t love to arrive home from a trip or head off on a trip and have the people you love there with you ?
I also experienced the not so fun side of travel as a little girl when my parents went to do missions work in China or went to America and England and left me behind, I mean, how dare they go on an adventure and leave me behind.
My very first flight as a little girl was a ‘Mystery Flight’, they don’t do these any more as far as I know but basically you paid for a flight and you didn’t know what part of Australia they were going to send you to for the day. I remember my mum asking me if I would prefer a new porcelain doll or a surprise and I thought about it and decided on surprise. That day I thought the surprise was we were going to Mc Donalds for breakfast at the airport, I liked the airport and getting to have Mc Donalds was a big treat so I thought it was a great surprise until I realized we weren’t just having breakfast, we were off on a plane. We ended up in South Australia that day and drove around all over the place exploring and flew home that night. I think I was destined to have the travel bug with the family that I was born in to.
Almost everyone in my family has traveled all over the place. I remember being so sad crying at the airport one day when I was a little girl, my mum asked if I was sad that my Auntie and Cousins were going away and I said no, “I’m sad that I don’t get to go to Africa like they do!”, I’ve always had a fascination with other lands, as did my family. My auntie and her girls always taking off somewhere. One of them living in Japan for a little while, the other living in England and marrying a Scotsman. My uncle moved to England and lives there now, my sister traveling to America and Canada and Germany, my brother traveling to America at 16 and meeting his now future wife (Californian babe).
It was normal in our family for someone to always be traveling somewhere! When I was 6 years old we went on a missions trips for 2 weeks to Vanuatu which I loved. Tropical, beautiful and when you’re a kid you just go with the flow and just carry on being a kid wherever you are. Playing with the locals, taking it all in, swimming in crystal clear oceans and drinking my very first coconut water straight from the tree. I remember telling my mum when she asked what I was most looking forward to about going to Vanuatu, “I can’t wait to eat a fresh mango” (I was one of those kids), sadly though it wasn’t mango season so no mangoes in sight for that little blondie that seemed to stand out like a sore thumb.
When I was in grade 5 I think, my best friend and I flew alone to Queensland (we thought we were so cool) and stayed with some friends for a week. We loved it!
When I was in grade 6 I went to England and Ireland to visit one of my best friends that had moved to Ireland for her dads work. I loved visiting these places, new places, with so much history and beauty. For a girl that often lived in imaginary lands travel was the perfect touch of reality to inspire greater imagination.
I have visited Indonesia a few times now and it is so beautiful there, the people and the culture are inspiring! I have lived in Canada for a few months studying French and my goodness that is a beautiful part of the world! Whilst I was there for a few months someone gave me a bike and I just spent my free time riding all around and adventuring and finding islands with freshly juiced apples on Apple Orchards and Chocolateries and getting lost and arriving home 6 hours later with some very tired legs. Canada in the fall took my breath away with hillsides covered in Autumn leaves. I have never seen anything like it, still to this day.
When I was 15 I moved to California for a few years with my family. America was never somewhere that I had a desire to visit, but yet when I found out we were moving there I was excited and loved living there. I also visited Mexico while I was there and it was fun and quirky with delicious salsa and chips 🙂
I have since been back to England a few times as an adult, I have visited Italy of which I loved every city that we visited, so beautiful and different from home here in Australia. I have been back and forth to America several times now. I have visited the ever beautiful Netherlands and the one and only France. People say that they either love it or hate it and considering I had imagined going there for so long I was a little anxious thinking there could be a possibility that I wouldn’t like it, but NO, of course I LOVED it! I mean how could you not love Paris! Its stunning and beautiful and Paris! I can’t hardly wait to go back to France and explore more, along with visiting other countries such as Norway and Finland and New Zealand and well the list could go on and on and I look forward to my next adventure, wherever that may be.
My most favorite thing about traveling is the people you meet and experiencing different cultures. I always feel like I learn a lot by observing the people around me when I am in different lands. I find it a very beautiful and eye opening thing, and of course just exploring new lands is a whole world of fun. Those are the times I am happiest and find myself smiling like a big goof with perfect joy and peace. I respect those that are happy where they are and don’t feel a need to travel, but I LOVE travel, it is a wonder to behold and such an incredible opportunity to meet the world in which we live, to be immersed in a culture and learn new things and move outside of your comfort zone to see how other people do things in life! I am thankful for all the opportunities I have had to travel and all the opportunities that lie ahead!
#photos of some of my more recent travels
WHOLENESS.WONDER.WELLBEING 