The Travel Journal
001
Looking towards the Cullin Ridge from Beinn Na Caillich, Isle Of Skye.
‘Fernweh’
German word meaning - a longing for distant places, a yearning for travel.
Some call it wanderlust, feels like more of an urge to me…
Like many people around my age I’m caught somewhere between feeling like a kid playing dress up and being a fully fledged adult making adult decisions, some mates are married with kids and some are still living at home eating 2 minute noodles for dinner. I think most young adults could fit somewhere between these two points.
Having spent the last 10 years selling my soul working for the so called man. A 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week sometimes 6 and even 7 and “living for the weekend”. Stupidly we even had competitions to see who could work the most days in a row, my record was 28. Each year has consisted of one big holiday, usually around Christmas, pretty much the only time tradies are allowed to take time off. Spending the winter months battling it out for a local sports team and a couple of public holidays swing by. Not long after silly season starts and then bang, I’m back at Christmas again wondering where 365 days got to. Don’t get me wrong, some people love this way of life and if that’s what fills your cup and gives you purpose, that’s a beautiful thing. With the addition of the opening and closing of relationships, it’s pretty easy to summarise my years, essentially they’ve all been mighty similar.
I think in our late teens we all thought in 10 years time we’d have it all figured out, but in all honesty, what does that even mean? The only thing I’ve worked out is living is bloody expensive (not a revelation by any means) and I’ve developed the urge to be outside as much as possible.
Like a hamster in my wheel of life going round and around and age 30 creeping around the corner, (age should not be a deciding factor but sadly working visas are a whole heap harder to get after the age of 30) I needed to jump off. Surely this can’t be my life for the next 30 years? And with this, a mighty plan to pick a destination and leg it was born.
Having never been to Europe. The U.K was to be the place. English speaking and being lucky enough to be born into the commonwealth a working holiday visa was relatively easy to obtain. Nearly exactly as far from home I could physically get without leaving earth, Scotland would be where I’d land and dive head first into a new life.
Reborn? Maybe not quite, but with endless opportunities lying ahead, the door was open, I just had to walk through.
White tailed Eagle.
Like most of my peers I’d dabbled in buy now pay later schemes and credit cards, soon learning if you don’t have the cash you simply can’t afford it. After paying these out and cancelling the 4 subscriptions of streaming services that I was lucky enough to watch maybe 2-3 times a week, I was well on my way to funding this venture. By the age of 29 I have managed to gather a hefty amount of cool stuff, also known as junk by others. And if your anything like me you’ve spent a fair chunk of time raiding garage sales, mill markets and op shops for the last 5 years. A skill luckily handed down by my Dad. If not you’ve probably spent a fair amount of money on brand name clothes or other expensive things that can be sold on. So I started snapping photos and annoying my mates with all my Facebook market place listings. I figured that if I’ve bought it, surely someone else will be interested in buying it? Combining this with the odd cash job, filling most hours of daylight working, I had managed a sizeable travel fund. (Including a emergency fund if I were to find myself up sh*t creek without a paddle as some would say).
After moving back into the nest with my parents, the wheels were in motion. Most people my age would be reluctant to do so but with washing sorted and home cooked meals, although mum may slightly overcook some things, I was loving it. Secretly I’d say they were too.
Key take aways
Stop pointless spending.
Scrounge together as much cash as possible by selling stuff and working extra hours.
Build an emergency fund locked away in another bank.
Left - Old Man Of Storr, Isle of Skye.
After roughly 30 hours spent in and out of airports I had landed. Fortunately I had organised to live with my mate on the Isle of Skye. First thing was to find a car. I found a 2007 Audi A4 wagon, figuring if things got really desperate the back seats would go down and it would double as home on wheels. But funnily enough as I write this, the “trusty” steed I had picked currently sits in pieces scattered across the floor of a mechanics shop… more on that in a later episode.
The next order of business was to find a permanent place to call home for the foreseeable future, luckily a room had opened up at one of my mates, mates places. Perfect timing I’d say. Also I feel like I had manifested a fair amount of this, predominately winging a fair chunk of these plans. And thirdly a job was on the horizon, deciding I probably couldn’t live like a bum for too much longer as sadly the funds would slowly dwindle. I’d always liked the idea of working on a boat so through some connections, I’ve managed to find a boat in need of a 29 year old ammeter fisherman. Lets see how this goes….
Favours are a funny thing, generally a verbal transaction between 2 people. Giving one out you can never guarantee you’ll ever see anything reciprocated but asking for a favour, I’ll always feel indebted. All this proving the age old saying “its not what you know but sometimes who you know” truer then ever. And that it pays to develop friendships and connections with people no matter where they hail from, besides you never know what opportunities lie beyond a simple “Hello” or “G’day mate” . This whole venture circulates around the fact that I’ve been lucky enough to call in a favour….
Key take aways
Make friends with everyone.
Manifest the life you want, it seriously works.
Don’t buy an Audi. (only kidding or am I?).
Only 1 month into this, I certainly have not uncovered the meaning of life but I’ll finish with this quote,
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust. Retina.
Which may seem a bit contradicting with all being said but without new eyes, the way we perceive the world, no matter where we go, will always be the same.