Tag Archives: inspiration

“Why not go out on a limb? That’s where all the fruit is.”

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I have seen the above quote attributed to both Will Rogers and Mark Twain. Sometimes, the internet is confusing. It could even be neither of them. But I like it anyhow.

Today, I am going to fully launch this thing. The blog, the facebook page, the twitter account…may as well go all out if I’m going to do this.

What do I hope to achieve?

Well. A show on the travel channel? Bill Bryson status? Yes, please. But just a blog for now. Baby steps.

I want to share my travels. My adventures. And misadventures. I want to inspire those who dream of an extraordinary life to just go out and make it happen. All it takes is for that switch in your head to go off – for you to realize that all of the societal pressures and material things that surround you are really nothing in comparison to the experiences that you can have in this world – and you are unstoppable.

I had a dream – it was called Australia. I am now living that dream and let me tell you that it is absolutely nothing that I expected. It has been fun, but also downright depressing at times. I have doubted myself many nights. But then I wake up some mornings and marvelous, sometimes peculiar, things happen. And these experiences make the homesickness and dreary, stir crazy days all worth it.

I read travel memoirs constantly. Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Everything ever by Bill Bryson. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. (I know, I know, bandwagon. I just happened to read the book at a point in my life that I NEEDED to read it. And it really is just a good book, for all of you doubting book snobs out there.) Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman. Anything by Paul Theroux. Happy Isles of Oceania being my favorite.

What happens in all of these memoirs? Everyone doubts themselves. Nothing goes as planned. At some point, there is despair. Fear. But you know what? Everyone gets something out of their travels. Whether or not they accomplished exactly what they set out to do, exactly how they planned to do it or not (usually not), these people all have  extraordinary experiences that surpass anything that could possibly happen in an office cubicle.

And that’s what I want. And that’s what I want for any of you out there who also have the dream…the itch. The inkling that life is so much bigger and better than anything anyone out there is trying to sell to you.

So. Anthony Bourdain has moved to CNN. Samantha Brown has just had twins. It’s my turn now!

Big, messy brain dump

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Not really sure where I am going with this post…so, bear with me. I am not exactly in the writing mood, but the only way to get any better at it is to practice, practice, practice.

The next few weeks should really be fantastic. My sister arrives in Melbourne this Friday. She will be here for about 9 days. Half will be spent here in Melbourne, the other half in Sydney. I can’t wait to see my sissy-bear!

She leaves on the 20th, and on the 22nd I have tickets to see Against Me! That shall add to the fabulousness of January.

Then…and then! Evan arrives. I think he is trying to surprise me, so I do not know the exact date. “Somewhere in the middle of February” is all I know.

Things are looking up.

I am still only working once a week assisting in a salon. Who knew it would be so difficult to get a job as a barista? A little over a week ago I had two VERY promising trials at a cafe. I was supposed to sit down with the woman who would train me at the end of my shift to discuss my schedule and other paperwork. She then got a call and needed to go help out at another location. Said she would call me at the end of the day. When I had heard nothing by the next day, I called her. She answered, “sorry mate, I know I was supposed to  call you yesterday! I actually just got off of a plane, can I call you in about an hour?” That never happened, either. And then the holidays happened in Australia.

They really take their free time here seriously. Which I think is absolutely fantastic. Exactly how I think the whole world should work. You put in your 8 hours, then you have your damn free time. You get your damn vacation time.

But holy shit. I could use a job. I am holding on to the hope that, although the cafe was open for the second half of this week, since nobody had seen my would-be barista trainer since before the holidays, she is still…on holiday. Tomorrow is Monday. Fingers crossed that I will get an affirmative phone call. If not, back to the drawing board.

Again, I could easily get a salon job. But I came here to learn something new. Maybe I have learned something new – what it’s like to be turned down from a job. Not to boast here or anything, but this truly is a new experience for me. I have never been turned down from a job before. Ever. This is a bit frustrating (…a BIG bit frustrating…) and a bit humbling, I suppose.

Anyway, the new housing situation is still going well. The landlords are great. We hang out just enough and I have just enough alone time. Balanced.

Hm.

Other new things I have done/seen/learned:

-Beers on the beach

-I have learned that you can order different types of fish from a fish and chips shop

-Because of above, I have ordered, eaten and learned what the most common type of fish in “fish ‘n’ chips” in Australia is: “flake” aka “gummy shark”…I have eaten shark.

-Apparently, there is no law against females bathing topless in Victoria. I will be getting rid of these tan lines, thank you.

-I have never in my life taken a cold shower. I do not like being cold. However, the other day it was 104F and I sure as shit took a cold ass shower.

-Made one of the ice creams from my previous post – the avocado coconut lime raw ice cream. It tasted like lime. Just lime. So, I added agave, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Still not my favorite, but much better. (Speaking of raw food, this raw pot luck must happen.)

-Sometimes, things just don’t go as planned. Try as you might to steer the universe in the direction you want it to go, sometimes it is YOU who has to change direction. And you’ve just got to give in and open up. I used to watch a certainly unhealthy amount of the Travel Channel. Mostly just Samantha Brown and Anthony Bourdain. Once, Samantha Brown said something along the lines of, “You’ve always got to have a plan B and C. Because sometimes plan A goes wrong. And then sometimes plans B and C go wrong and you’ve got to be okay with going along with plans D, E and/or F.” Well, I thought that I would immediately have a job in a cafe. 2 and a half months later, no dice. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?! Something. Nothing, maybe. But, nothing has gone as planned and I’ve got to be okay with that and keep on truckin’.

I’m sure that I have had other thoughts over the past few days. If I keep typing, this will turn into an even more jumbled, messy brain dump. So, here, I will bid you adieu. With a few views from my window.

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Pick it up

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Haven’t written in a while (obviously.)

It’s been a lot more difficult to adjust out here than I thought it would be. Perhaps because I have a lot of time on my hands. Who knows. My first holiday season away from home. I miss everyone!

I have also never had so much difficulty getting a job. I could still get a salon job, easy. But I came out here to learn new things. To try something different. I thought being a barista in a coffee shop would be fun, but it seems “on the job training” no longer exists. Everyone wants a barista with AT LEAST one year’s worth of experience. Now, how is a person supposed to get this experience if nobody will give them a break in the beginning?! Today was good, though, I’ve got three promising coffee shop leads. And a few more that said to check again when they reopen in January. (Almost everything in Australia and, I suspect, many countries, closes for 2-4 weeks during the holiday season. Rock on. Except I need a job.)

With all of this time on my hands, I have been reading through an old journal of mine that I started when I was about 17 and stopped writing in a few years ago. My goodness, what a turbulent time I made for myself during my young adult years. (Am I still a young adult? I’m 27…sure!) But, in the midst of all of those teenage and earlier twenty-something years, I ran across two quotes that I wanted to remember that two old, and still very dear, friends of mine said to me.

One was, ”You can be whatever you wanna be. When I was little, I wanted to be a dinosaur and I know if I stick with it one day I’ll get there.”

And the other was, ”I think you can do whatever you want to do, you have something about you that makes people believe that about you…most people aren’t like that.”

The first was thanks to Benjamin Teplitzky, the second, William McDonald. What silly, beautiful things to say to someone. Thanks, dudes. Who knew I would need to read that this many years later.

The Philippines or How I Began to Conquer My Fears

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October 16th, 2012…simultaneously one of the best and worst days of my life. I left home for my grand adventure on October 3rd, and, as difficult and bittersweet as that was, the really tough part was the day that I left for the Philippines – October 16th. Up until then, yes, I was missing my friends and family back home, but I was visiting other friends and family in the States. One of the superwomen in my life, Dannie, in Austin, TX. An aunt and uncle of mine – Madeleine and Chuck – in Northern California after that. My boyfriend, Evan, came during the second half of my California visit and to see me off on my last night. (I will note here, so that you all know how amazing he is: my flight left for the Philippines at 1:50am and his flight back home left at 7 something in the morning. With security and all that, I left his side around 11:30pm and, poor, wonderful, amazing Evan slept in the airport that night. Just so he could watch me walk away. Ah, love.)

So far, October had been a month of sadness, goodbyes and a little bit of anxiety, mixed with excitement. But October 16th…oh, October 16th. That day was filled with the breathless feeling that this was it, I was leaving my comfort zone, for real. Evan and I went to dinner alone and could barely eat. I tried to keep it light because it wasn’t quite time to say goodbye yet, but the impending trip to the airport hung in the air as dense as the smog in L.A. (Have you seen that shit? Good god!) After dinner, we drove back to my aunt and uncle’s house to start packing. And THAT’S when panic struck. Oh my god, the Philippines. Dengue fever, malaria, political tension, flooding, earthquakes, crime…I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The fear of the unknown combined with my imagination can be a disastrous mixture. I had never been to an Asian country before and, although I would be meeting a friend there, I was essentially going alone and I had no visual image to rely on. Of course, my mind was focused on all of the things that could possibly go wrong.

I expressed my fear to everyone I talked to that night. And I would like to thank here all of those who reassured me. Evan, Madeleine and Chuck all got to see me in full panic mode – not pretty. I even bought a calling card so that I could try to get a hold of my friend in the Philippines to make sure, one more time, that it was safe for me to go. I was unable to reach her. So, I gathered my things and off we went to San Francisco International Airport. Once I made it through security and waved goodbye to Evan one last time, my mind found the sort of quiet calmness that I am hoping comes in the moments before death. (DRAMA!) Acceptance of your fate. I was getting on that plane and there was nothing I could do about it. I just let myself be led like a lamb through the boarding process.

All things considered, the 14 hour flight to Taipei was not all that bad. I had requested an aisle seat, but was moved to a center seat. Thankfully, the old lady next to me and I had the same size bladders and every time I thought I needed the restroom, or just to stretch, she was already up. I was also able to sleep through most of it. I landed in Taipei and then in the Philippines without any problems. And once I sighted my friend through the customs window, my fears started to melt away.

As I am writing this, I have only a few days left here in the Philippines. I am so glad that I came and would once again like to thank all of those people who reassured me – this really has been a wonderful experience. I now have a visual to connect with unknown places, so next time I will hopefully be less apprehensive. Then there are all of the things that I have done here so far that I will no longer be fearful of – pulling apart and eating a whole (head still on, bones still in) fish, riding a 600 meter zip line, no toilet paper. (Ok…I can’t say that I have conquered that fear…I have merely learned to pocket paper towels and tissues everywhere I go…) I will say goodbye to the Philippines in a few short days, but will forever carry this trip in my mind as a fresh start and a place that I remain curious about.

And now for some photos: