Getting to Australia; one Dramamine at a time

Right after saying goodbye to family. To Bozeman.

Selling most of my belongings to move to another country with no job, house, or life planned out was a first for me. And as everyone kept telling me, “You’re so brave!” I kept thinking to myself, “Am I?” I didn’t feel like what I was doing was brave or crazy. I viewed it as my last chance to find my purpose, to find a life outside of all the comforts I had for so long. However, after being in Australia for over a week, I am starting to see why people told me I was brave.

Starting off traveling to Australia was an adventure in and of itself. My friend Shae and I thought it would be fun to have a long layover in Fiji. We got day accommodations at a local hotel for about $17. We ate, showered, and chilled out by the pool. It was nice until I realized I had brushed my teeth with tap water and almost had a breakdown about it. Luckily since I was so tired I relaxed with the thought, “Well a little Giardia never killed anyone..right?”

We hailed a taxi and I learned the importance of bartering and NOT telling the driver how much money you have lol. We went to this little beach where we found all sorts of little treasures, and the ocean was the warmest I’ve ever felt it. Most of my experience with the Ocean hailed from the Oregon coast, where the weather was temperate but the water always freezing. As I walked, I found myself missing those childhood beaches and the rare but magical days you could get there. Fiji beaches were beautiful and had their charms, but I think no matter what beaches I find in my life, my heart will always belong to those cold shores with hidden gifts waiting to be found.

Smallest sand dollar probably ever found

Then comes the magical fun of checking into our next flight. Oh how I love checking into international flights on an airline I’ve never flown on. Word of advice if you ever do this. CHECK IN EARLY! Give yourself HOURS people, HOURS. I cannot stress that enough. I’ve come into trouble and almost missed a flight because I didn’t give myself enough time to make changes to baggage if necessary. So this time I was like a dad going to the airport. Looking at my watch every two minutes, telling Shae we may not be able to eat lunch because the food was taking too long and we needed to go. Well, this is why you do this ya’ll because we got into some deep sh*t. We had unknowingly booked on a BUDGET airline and we each had multiple bags. I think you can see where this is going. Our bags together had to weigh 23kgs which under stress I am like WTF does that mean! I need lbs people! I’ll do the work for you, 23kgs is 50lbs. Alright not too bad right? WRONG. When I had left the states I had one bag at 50lbs and another at about 26lbs so for this leg of the trip I was A LOT over. And I was packed to the brim. My life was in these bags and I had no ability to move stuff around. It was either pay or chuck my clothes and chacos into the garbage. I decided to pay and oh boy did I. Drum roll…..$300. Yup. $300.

I paid it and said, “Well looks like I’m not eating for a week.” Also joked with Shae that I gladly would’ve shown the airline attendant my boobs if it meant getting a discount! Oh how you fall when you’ve been traveling for days surviving on cliff bars and Dramamine.

Fast forwarding to the security checkpoint. I would like you to imagine waiting in a tight-moving line. When all the sudden you have to take off your bag, reach into its depths, take out every single liquid in your bag, and put it in a ziploc bag. While still moving in line. The people behind you are getting irritated because you are disrupting the flow of the line by trying to get your .5 oz hand sanitizer out and putting everything in a vacuum seal bag. After all, that’s the only clear bag you have. Only to STILL be stopped by security and be asked if you have any liquids while they tramp their sweaty hands through your toiletry bag. Because god forbid if you are bringing sunscreen onto the plane. Meanwhile, we literally have ‘substances’ on us that lets just say don’t travel well and they didn’t care AT ALL. NOTHING. They cared more about my freaking moisturizer! The comedy of it all was not lost on us.

I thought I was finally free. We got to a bar where I got a water bottle and Shae a much-needed shot to forget she had just spent $200 on her bags. Not to mention the years we lost of our lives going through security. We start to load the plane but alas! Another security checkpoint. Literally at this point I am at a loss for words and just “WTF” is on repeat. They took my Fiji water that I bought IN THE AIRPORT. And looked through my bag again for any liquids. I was convinced at this point I was experiencing human rights violations if I couldn’t even drink the water I had purchased after getting through security.

The plane ride was one I will hopefully but probably never forget. For you, the reader’s sake I will keep it short and just say that you had to purchase EVERYTHING on that plane. Snacks, drinks, etc. I had to ask for water and hoped they would give me some for free. A family in front of us was LITERALLY potty training their kid on the plane! POOP IN A BAG PEOPLE. POOP IN A BAG IN A TUBE WITH RECYCLED AIR.

If you take anything from this. DO NOT fly Jetstar lol. Let’s leave it at that.

Last happy moment in Fiji

Finally touching down in the land where most everything wants to kill you felt like the holy land. I wanted to kiss the ground knowing I was done with airports and planes for a while. We got a taxi to the rental car and started our adventure of driving on the other side of the road to Gundy, NSW.

River near Gundy

Gundy is a small little town out in the country. It is where we have been since we got to Australia. We are watching someone’s home and animals until June 12th. Then we will be moving on to Bondi Beach and the Sydney area. We look forward to a change of pace. But Gundy was the perfect reprieve after the craziness of our travels. We have had peace and quiet to reflect on what we hope to gain from our travels here and ground ourselves. Journaling, resting, reading, exploring, and show-watching have been our lives the last week and we look forward to experiencing all that Australia and her people are willing to show us.

Thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far! If you’d like to see more of my travels feel free to follow my Instagram at ‘wannabenomadd’ and subscribe to my email list to be notified when I post more blogs in the future! Cheers!