I’ve had this aching feeling ever since I entered the professional workforce 9 years ago that the typical 9-5 office job just wasn’t for me. Committing to spending my weekday daylight hours at a desk surrounded by others who have agreed to the same sentence feels completely unnatural and inefficient to me.
2015 was such an incredible year. I spent the entirety of it in Australia, save for a 3-week jaunt to Indonesia. It was a beautiful blend of routine and adventure that saw me settling down anywhere from a few days to a few months at a time, exploring my surroundings and then going on roadtrips and excursions in-between.
Welp, the moment I’ve been dreading is finally upon me: my year on the Australian Work & Holiday Visa is almost over.
I knew before I even stepped foot on the Canberra Airport tarmac on Day 1 that I wouldn’t want to leave this country.
I’ve just moved into a share house in Camberwell, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, where I’ll be living for 4 weeks. Tonight, I’ll be sleeping in my 35th bed this year.
The latest chapter of my wacky Australian adventure saw me driving from Melbourne to Perth (4000km in 9 days), then flying across the continent the next morning from Perth to Townsville (4700km in 1 day).
I was supposed to have made it to Melbourne months ago. Even though I may not have officially declared my intentions in writing, I had it in my mind that I’d spend the bulk of my year on the work and holiday visa in Australia living in Melbourne.
You guys, I just turned 30 last month. 30. Remember when we were kids and thought 30 was OLD? I mean geez, my parents were younger than that when they had me.
When I look back at 2014, I think: Man, I worked hard and accomplished a lot.
I’ve long been a preacher in support of living a balanced life. It’s why you’ll never find me staying late at the office or bragging about how I went to the gym 6 out of 7 days last week.
On January 1, New York and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary. Except, unlike previous years, it didn’t feel like much of a celebration. I wasn’t happily toasting to another year of living in New York City – I was wondering how many more years I’d be ringing in here, and what would come next.
I was on a 2-week roadtrip up the west coast, reveling in my newfound freedom, eager to see and do as much as I could – simply because I could.