Into the Unknown

This time of the year is always fun, because Google Photos likes to remind me of all of the photos I took when I was on a trip a decade ago…a solo trip to Australia.

To this day, it’s still my favorite trip I’ve done; I haven’t been on many excursions as an adult, admittedly, but it was something that just came together in a way that has always been deeply satisfying to me.

It’s a good time to go down memory lane, so let’s go down memory lane for a bit with some pictures, some thoughts, and some experiences.

2016 wasn’t a great year for me for various reasons, and I was really at an emotional (and mental) low point. Around March, I started toying with the idea of taking a trip to Australia around what would be my birthday. As the month progressed, I started to seriously do some investigation, and around the middle of April was when I started to lock in the idea that I wanted to go for certain. I looked into the feasibility, settled on a fortnight in Sydney (abandoning my original plan to spend my birthday on a beach in my home state of Hawaii, because of expense), and locked in both my plane flight and my accommodations.

I had a pretty decent idea of the kinds of things that would be there in Australia, but I wasn’t going in completely aware of everything, and so it was an interesting experience to fly in somewhat “blind”. I had a guide book and a map, but that was pretty much it. 12 days in Sydney, no hard plans but ideas aplenty, and a need to just reset, refresh, and get away from things.

In retrospect, I probably should have stayed longer, because I loved it there, but I didn’t want to risk being there longer than I would have been comfortable with. Considering my camera died the last full day I was there, I would’ve had to figure out a solution to that.

I think there’s something rather cathartic about just doing something. Instead of dithering about and putting things off, I took the opportunity and had the trip of a lifetime, an experience I won’t ever forget. I’ve wanted to make a return visit at some point, but life’s been good at getting in the way, and I also have wanted to do other trips and see more places I haven’t yet experienced.

As mentioned before, I didn’t really go in with “plans”. I’m very much someone who loves improvising when I travel; I had a couple of thoughts about what to do, and I tried to have a “goal” for each day that I made usually the night before.

And even then, I still had plenty of things where I changed plans based off of what seemed suitable or weather forecasts. There were two really bad, stormy days that I took easy (or easier), but the wather was great besides, and I even still figured out things to do on those bad days.

The farthest afield I went was a day trip to the Blue Mountains, which involved some train trouble halfway there, but I still made it and had a blast. For the most part, though, there was a lot to do: walks, zoo trips, other landmarks, walking, more walking, even more walking…

I’m someone who prefers to walk, if possible. I’m not terrible with navigation, but it’s helpful to have a sense of the “lay of the land”, and it clicks best for me when I have the experience of walking places.

For the most part, Australia didn’t really color my writing; this was a period where I was trying to relight the flame, and I just needed time to recover it. But the experiences helped a lot, with getting used to things and having the chance to explore a place I’d never been and none of my family had ever been before me.

If you’ve wanted to travel, and you have the means to, take this as your sign to just do it. Life’s too short to regret things, and the memories will last a lifetime.