I flew out of Perth at 10.20pm on the second of July, 2014. They were (and still are) renovating the international terminal at Perth Airport, so I sat with my parents and little sister having average coffee at Dome, the only place open.
Clearly, I was unimpressed.
This is only a really short entry to set the scene, but hopefully, when I've done my reminiscing and going back over my travels, you'll be able to see how much I grew when I was off on my own in the world.
As lame and hipster as it sounds, I had some kind of notion of finding myself when I booked this trip on a whim during a study session in late 2013. I felt like I was drifting through the final semester of my undergraduate degree, drifting through a number of ill-advised relationships, and drifting in my head.
I don't know if I was running away. Sometimes it certainly felt like it. I vacillated wildly between being scared and wanting nothing more than for it to be July 2nd. My 21st came and went and then it was down to less than a week.
I cried saying goodbye to my best friend. I thought seriously about calling it all off, the night I was set to leave, out on the front lawn next to his car (and oh, we'd replayed that scene a thousand times a thousand ways over the years). I didn't cry at the airport.
So really, I don't know what I was looking for. I just charged the one way ticket to my credit card one day in a fit of reckless abandon.
The latter half of 2014 was the result; I hope you'll stick around to find out how it went.
Accompanying 8Tracks playlist here
Clearly, I was unimpressed.
I was terrified, actually. I've always had problems with being insecure; in myself and in my relationships. How was I going to cope without my friends? I don't do well inside my own head, and here I was running off for...oh, I didn't have a return date when I left.
It was the scariest thing I've ever done. But it was also the best.
This is only a really short entry to set the scene, but hopefully, when I've done my reminiscing and going back over my travels, you'll be able to see how much I grew when I was off on my own in the world.
As lame and hipster as it sounds, I had some kind of notion of finding myself when I booked this trip on a whim during a study session in late 2013. I felt like I was drifting through the final semester of my undergraduate degree, drifting through a number of ill-advised relationships, and drifting in my head.
I don't know if I was running away. Sometimes it certainly felt like it. I vacillated wildly between being scared and wanting nothing more than for it to be July 2nd. My 21st came and went and then it was down to less than a week.
I cried saying goodbye to my best friend. I thought seriously about calling it all off, the night I was set to leave, out on the front lawn next to his car (and oh, we'd replayed that scene a thousand times a thousand ways over the years). I didn't cry at the airport.
So really, I don't know what I was looking for. I just charged the one way ticket to my credit card one day in a fit of reckless abandon.
The latter half of 2014 was the result; I hope you'll stick around to find out how it went.
Accompanying 8Tracks playlist here