Australians are everywhere
Or so it seems
After what seems like a long break from writing to first go travelling and second to catch up on all things work before I host a friend from overseas for a few weeks, I’ve decided to talk (vaguely) about the fact that Australians are everywhere. Almost every time I travel I bump into Australians, with two exceptions — China and Cuba. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t other Australians in those places at the same time as me, it just means I never noticed them or overheard their conversations to pick out the accent.
Australians are literally scattered across the globe like stars across the night sky. So is it any wonder that on my most recent trip to Central America with a global travel company I was not the sole Australian in the group of 16. What are the odds? Three Australians (+ two New Zealanders) in a group of 16. Considering I was almost 15000 km from home, it’s kinda crazy that we made up almost 20% of the entire group (31% if you include the New Zealanders), especially in such a distant locale.
So why is it that Australians seem to be everywhere? Why do we travel so much? Even when we are so far away from the rest of the world, it costs us a fortune to get anywhere, and there are just 26 million of us in existence. Even before I met the other Australians on my most recent trip, others in the group were telling me that I would not be the only Aussie on the trip. Even they knew there would be others about as, you know, Aussies love travelling and are everywhere. While I agree, Aussies are everywhere, not all of us love travelling. I have family who ridicule me every time I go on “another” trip. Do I even work, they ask. Well, I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to pay to travel, but obviously I do work. I only work so I can travel, but that’s another story.
I can’t speak for the millions of other Aussies that set off on adventures across the globe, but I can speak for me. I imagine they just might love to travel, and the distance and cost is secondary to that love. For me, I love my home. I love where I live - my somewhere as I’ve said before, but travelling is just another level of life. I love where I live, but I want to see what else is out there. I want to have a reason to love where I live, somewhere to look forward to coming back to after a few exhilarating days, weeks or months away from it.
I don’t want to die wondering. I don’t want to regret not living my life. I want to see what’s out there before I’m too old for long-haul flights, for hikes in the mountain forests, for spontaneous adventures, and thrill-seeking. I want to do all the things and see all the sights. Well as much of them as I can on my near-minimum wage. It all comes down to priorities and dying with zero.
Travelling is about the experience, it’s getting overseas as often and as far as I can, it’s meeting new people from all over the globe, it’s experiencing this beautiful planet we call Earth before we fuck it right up.
Tuvalu anyone?
There are far too many stories of people waiting to retire to enjoy life, waiting to retire before travelling, waiting, waiting, waiting and then suddenly getting a terminal diagnosis, having a heart attack or some other unexpected turn of events that prevents them doing what they have been waiting their whole life to do. The irony! Saving and waiting, waiting and saving, only to have a fatal heart attack or being told they have six weeks to live due to an aggressive cancer and all that waiting and saving, all that work, has been wasted. For what? You worked for what? To retire and die without doing any of the fun things. I know it’s a macabre way to think about it, but I know too many colleagues, bosses and family friends who have succumbed to this unfortunate experience of life.
In my younger days I used to avoid other Aussies when I was overseas. Like the plague. I did not want to hang out with other Australians. I wanted to meet people different to me, I didn’t want to travel or hang with people I could hang out with at home. I had romances with all nationalities; there was no discrimination. Albanian, Samoan, Egyptian, Hawaiian, English, Chilean, and New Zealanders to name a few. I saw the sights with Americans, South Africans, Germans, and Koreans, although I must admit there was the odd Australian thrown in. It’s unavoidable! They are freaking everywhere. I once stayed in a small hostel in Nice and there was an Australian girl from Darwin working front reception and then three guys from Melbourne rocked up on my second day. There’s no escaping from Aussies while travelling. I must admit that now I quite enjoy hearing them when I’m in some underrated destination on the other side of the world. It feels like a warm hug from home and makes me so much more appreciative of my ability to travel while I’m somewhat young and healthy.
If I were to die tomorrow, I know I would have made the most of my life. I would not regret a single thing nor wasted a single opportunity. And if I don’t die tomorrow, I will be super excited to go on my next big overseas adventure and maybe meet-up with some far-flung Australians who have also ventured far from home for an impossibly amazing adventure on the other side of the world.
Stay safe and travel heaps!
What I’m reading: This book details everything that is wrong with social media and what goes into content creation. I stay (mostly) away from social media these days and this book cements the reasons why.
What I’m watching: I watched a multitude of movies on several long-haul flights on my recent trip and one that I loved was Deep Cover. Far-fetched but so much fun. Must be available on a streaming service somewhere.
