It’s been a bumpy few years since we all discovered the news that we’d be locked at home for the indefinite future in March 2020. But it gave me time to plan my adventure.
Before I take you for a spin around the globe, this post takes a quick look back at my time in this mostly undiscovered idyllic part of New South Wales – my retreat from the fast paced mania of the CBD of Sydney and life as a corporate drone.
Based in the beach-side suburbia of Merewether, life in Newcastle slowed me down. My pandemic-mandated working-from-home-days became punctuated with esplanade strolls, sunset pier rides and surfing weekends.
While the original plan was to stay there, house-hunt and get on the property ladder – it soon became obvious that while that was one path I could have chosen – that path is one that excludes many others, including paths I had started before and felt strongly had to be finished.
And that’s why I’m here, writing a blog about an adventure I’ve planned to start in Europe – an adventure I am enthusiastic to share with you.
This adventure has – in truth – been in the making since my first trip to Italy on exchange. A lot has happened since then, but in that time one thing seemed to always be the same; I’ll be going back someday.
As the moonlit bike-rides along the esplanade and out to Nobby’s pier became routine, and immaculately formatted document after document flew off my desk and into the fold, I was drawn to reflect on all the things that could have happened in that time since March 2020.
And so I made a New Years resolution to do something about it. Now – I know not everyone sticks to their New Years resolution – but a New Years resolution is about as religious as I get about something. Since I started making serious New Years Resolutions in December 2015, I’m about 5/7 on achieving them; and each resolution was ambitious when given its proper context.
I’m not going to elaborate (at least in this post) about what the resolutions were, but I will share that most of them involved career progression and money. I also won”t be posting large written posts in detail most of the time – just some of my thought processes on how or why I actually go about planning and executing my travel plans, along with the interesting stuff I encounter along the way.
That’s all for now – just wanted to kick off with a quick word and some of the images about the environment I was in when I decided to take off. Thanks for coming along.
