Wandering About Chasing the Dream

In life we are all chasing a dream, in the United States it is a constant drumming to children and middle-class workers to live the American dream. Growing up in Australia, I can't remember any defining dream-making stories, which is probably the reason why I created my own along the way. My parents can probably vouch for me on this one, if I wanted something I worked out a way to make it happen, and it was usually not what everyone else wanted. At some point growing up, I turned against what most people thought was normal, it was a coming of age moment when after my 10th birthday I didn't want to be the girl that blended in with everyone else. I quit dance class, threw out all of pink decorations in my bedroom and pulled my hair back. I decided at a young age that I was going to define my own dreams, and chase them. I am proud of that moment, and 14 years later, I have another itch to chase my next dream.

I had just finished an organic, filling and mega-tasty breakfast at my favourite cafe in Cronulla. It's a ritual to come down here for a Saturday starter in the sun, but I had the morning off work to head to a medical appointment and wanted to make the most of the gorgeous weather Sydney had been lucky with this Winter. Maybe since living in Melbourne, and being under a blanket of grey 90% of the time, I needed to embrace the blue skies I had missed so much. 

After brekky, I had an hour to kill until I needed to head to my appointment, so I walked 4 kilometres around Bate Bay in Cronulla, and took in the phenomenal views that cannot be taken for granted. I love this spot. I have my earliest memories in this place, whether picnicking on the grass behind Shelley Beach as a toddler, or body boarding at Eleura as a teenager, this place is as home as it gets. For more than just the memories, but I own a property here and have lived right in the thick of it for a year of my life so the weekly visits were permanent at some point. I love people watching and as I listen to people walk together chatting about what their plans for the weekend are, or how they're not speaking to their boyfriend right now because of how much of a jerk he is, I wonder what their journey in life is. I am here this morning only because I have a morning off work to go to the doctors, but these people around me have tans that take an effort so mornings here must be frequented. How do they do it? I would kill to be strolling the beaches of Vietnam, or the Swiss lakeside just one morning at a time, what are these people doing each day wasting time here, or is this just the lifestyle they worked so hard for? I must admit being stranded until my next departure makes me an envious person, I think it is due to lack of travel in the last year and my soul is yearning to be driving to that airport for an international departure - on a one way ticket. 

A spot to contemplate, with a view - Growing up in Cronulla, New South Wales

45 minutes later, I head back around the bay to wait for Shaun to meet me. This 10 minutes I spent waiting was a ground breaking moment for me. The first time I have never thanked Shaun for making me wait. I sat down looked at this spectacular view, and knew that everything we had planned was right, and we were heading in the right direction. Any inkling of doubt was washed away that morning at the beach, to the point where I would even sell our property to make our dreams come true. That property was 500m up the road, and our tenants were probably coming home from night shift working at the hospital or cleaning up the apartment to get ready for a party there were probably going to throw to start off the weekend. Who knows, we don't know them, but they're living there while we are stuck with the lack of financial freedom to leave the country without a doubt. 

Contemplation time was over, I was sitting in the waiting room to see my gynaecologist (sorry for the overshare, but it's a woman's world). Literally 15 minutes in the room with my doctor, I am back at reception paying over $200 and booked in for surgery in less than 2 weeks time. The receptionist smirks at me as I ask her how much my Private Health Cover will pay for the surgery. She prints me all the fees and asks me to pay a deposit, I smile and nod and say thank you so much... for just destroying my dreams. The silence between Shaun and I is as awkward as anything, I know what he's thinking, he knows what I'm thinking and the whole car ride home was silent a part from me forcibly asking what he wanted for lunch. Once we're home, I have a quick 30 minutes for lunch before I get to work for the afternoon. We're grilling some chicken and Shaun says to me, so what are we going to do. I hyperventilate inside and say well I have been thinking, we have a few options: 

1. We cancel my surgery..... "Carissa your health is important, no."
2. We delay the trip another 6 months to save more money..... "Carissa we have already delayed this dream of ours, no."
3. We look at selling the apartment to have the financial freedom we desire and have no mortgage that bleeds into our travel funds..... "Bingo, yes."

I couldn't believe 4 hours later my exact thoughts were now translating into reality, and he agrees with me. Our plan was to break even with the mortgage and the rent while we were away, but we needed X amount of savings to do that before we went, and the medical bills (that private health insurance sneakily doesn't cover) were a big rain on our parade. I explained the unnecessary to Shaun, how I always feel like I have my head in the clouds and I dream so big and high sometimes, that when something like this happens I feel so deflated and I start sinking back down to the ground again. I need to control this feeling, and selling the property will do that. OK quick, I have to get to work now...

I'm now excited, motivated and restless. You can hear the exhilaration in my voice as my dreams are getting closer. In less than 24 hours, we met with our most fabulous real estate agent and signed the paperwork. A lot of you might be thinking, silly, silly girl. A lot of you don't know me, and how being spontaneous my whole life had lead to a lot of success and happiness. And lately I had been lacking spontaneity and it felt so good to be alive and ready to go! 

A question I asked my followers - Would you?

I know what I want, it's been a while since I have been able to make a decision, sometimes not even knowing what to have for dinner. So knowing what I want is just as liberating as the idea of selling the house, successfully. We have the next couple of weeks on the market to see if this will all come together as we hoped, for those of you outside of Australia, the property is booming here, especially Sydney. You know when you take a journey in life, and things just work out, this is that moment in the making. With the potential to change our lives, the next step in this journey before departure, is to quit my job... A seven year career, stable, networked, well-paid and could I really do this? 

Quote of the Century

Wandering about new beginnings

The move from Melbourne to Sydney has given me a lot of time to think, but not a lot of time to type.
9 hours in a car, listening to trashy music to keep you awake, counting the sheep and kilometres as you pass down the highway can only keep you enthused for so long. We were strapped for time so the drive along the Alpine Highway or the Princes Highway along the East Coast were not an option so we took the Hume Highway (not exciting). One thing that I picked up along the way is that jittery feeling of excitement, that I left behind somewhere along the way. I know I am dreaming of adventure that is definitely coming my way. Or maybe it was just the over-caffeinated, drive across the South East of Australia...

Melbourne - Sydney 890 km in one day

I've spent a bit of time building up networks and followers to my Facebook and Twitter accounts trying to reach out to greater audiences of wanderers and bloggers like me. I hope to swap stories and hear journeys of liberation, adventure and wanderlust. I've tried getting in touch with people similar to myself to continue mustering up courage to live the ultimate dream.

While I am working, and saving up enough money for my next adventure, I need to remember a few things, and TravellingBuzz helped keep me grounded with: 20 things to do while your not travelling 

One of the problems I have is the ability to get bored really quickly, which is why I can't keep my feet on the ground for very long. So when all else leads to staying grounded, I need to get a little creative, part of the reason I have dedicated so much time to creating my new blog. I am forever interested in searching for new travel destinations that keep my spark alive, so any help in places off the beaten track to help fulfil my need for wanderlust - keep sharing! 

I now have an official Start Wandering Twitter and Instagram, and my next challenge now that I am settled (for the time being), is to work hard on building up this blog and turn it into a website. Any tips and ideas on progressing this for a full time worker starting out in this social media frenzy, would be great! 

Social Media is taking over!

Oh, and on a final note. One thing that is really scary in this life, is life vs. living. It is the struggle of the daily grind against earning enough to make a life, not a living. Why get caught up in the traps of living each day, month and year dreaming and never achieving. By all means this is not just about travel, some people are content in staying put and prefer the career ladder as a form of thriving and make it happen; or sport, or home-making, but if your not doing something to get you closer to your dream, your simply just existing. 

While of late people are not conforming to societies expectations, I have always liked to push the boundaries, and when people keep asking what is next on my list - the answer is not children, just not right now. No, I am not selfish that I want to live my life and travel the years ahead of me with my hubby - who in fact has bigger ideas on having his children on international soil. When I stumbled upon the Zapp family and took a page from their book. This family have been travelling non-stop for over 14 years giving birth to 4 children along the way - each in a different country of course!

What I learnt from their story is that life is surprising, and whatever your journey - you can make it happen. Where I end up, is not the point its where I go along the way that defines me.

Wandering what IT is all about?

Dear Wanderers,

Something has hit me hard this week. Well, two things really.

I am spending my final weekend living in Melbourne, and all I want to do is write about my motivations and inspirations and share them. Sharing them so maybe someone will speak out and say - You're not alone, this is exactly what I dreamt of, and now I am living it.

I have been living in Melbourne, for work, well my husband's work but I landed a gig here too. The experience of this cultural wonder of a city is spectacular, but without the flair of wandering I feel I am still missing out. As I look back, it has been a stressful year and a bit, filled with doubt, misery, a little bit of loneliness, and all those combined - boredom. The type of personality I have, is to branch out, make the most of anything life throws at me, but I stumbled while living here with not much passion to do anything at all, even struggled to chat to the local check-out chick at Coles. It dawned on me only recently, I hate the RAT RACE.

I'm a 24 year old married female. Firstly most of the readers right now are probably thinking, 24 and married does that even happen anymore? Yes, yes it does, and why not? I have been in a career for the last 7 years, and now look at it as a job - not going anywhere. My husband and I bought a property in Sydney and we have a 3 year old... mortgage, currently paid off by a couple of people we don't even know. Secondly, most of the readers right now are probably thinking, you have achieved so much in such a short life, you should be proud, happy, and fulfilled. Yes we have but it goes along with an attitude of making shit happen! However, it doesn't equate to a happiness you seek outside of what you own, a happiness of wander.

So it's true what they say..

Before I met my husband, I had my first overseas stint at 19 y.o on a cruise to get a taste of the big wide world - my family had never travelled greater than 800 km on the road or the shortest flight from Sydney to Brisbane. After that was no turning back, and I knew there was too much more for me to discover and the cruise was just a teaser for what else is out there. I bought a backpack, took 3 months leave at half pay and flew my first, long, 3 legged journey to London Heathrow. I backpacked through 26 cities and 12 countries by plane, train and automobile. I exposed myself to a global addiction,  an intoxicating PASSION for culture, wander and discovery. There was times when I was lost, no map could find me out of a dead end road, but in my heart I had found out so much about myself - and that there is the drug that keeps me going. A craving for going beyond what you thought possible, as a human with a beating heart wandering this earth.

Coming home, I needed to find a travel companion where I could journey with someone who shared a similar passion, and who wasn't afraid to wear a backpack and get lost. I met my husband, Shaun not long after and he proved to be the perfect match - flying halfway across the globe to surprise me on my 21st birthday in Las Vegas! We were both hooked with each other and travel and took 4 overseas trips that year, and ended with an engagement in New York City.

We have become two Wanderlovers and although we have worked hard to do and achieve what we have personally and professionally, somewhere along the way we have missed what we need to achieve passionately. 

 As our time in Melbourne has dissolved and there are empty boxes and packing tape sitting in the corner of our fancy-pants, over-priced architectural apartment in Melbourne, my heart is pounding for adventure. We are finishing our jobs here and returning to Sydney, where I vow not to be a part of the rat race but work towards creating a greater life for both of us. I am frantically Googling these searches: Career vs. Travel; Travelling with a Mortgage; Quitting my job to travel. 
 
Then I found this blog, Young Adventuress and the inspiration I needed found me. 

As I read Liz Carlson's words my heart raced, I felt like it was me in months time. I imagined the process all through my mind. And I thought maybe  I could do this too. But how can I just read one person's blog and let it influence me? What kind of person just quits their job? To be honest, I don't know but I am sick and tired covering up that tingly feeling in your gut. You know what feeling you get when your climbing the hill on a rollercoaster? I ran from that feeling for too long and now as I type this it is coming back all the way to my fingertips. 

Don't run from that feeling in your stomach - it's life screaming at you!

 As I finish up in the job I am in, I spoke with a fellow colleague. Someone who I seek work advice from when a tricky employee situation occurs, I spoke to him about my dreams to travel. I spoke to him about the career and property I have that have set me up, but not set up my happiness. That all I want to do is go on an adventure, travel the world. His response was: You have everything you need here, and this is life to make a living and set yourself up to have a family. He was telling me every reason in the world to convince me that what I am doing is right - all he did was convince me even further that it's wrong! I couldn't disagree more with what he was telling me, and how that was not what I wanted in life - so I just smiled and nodded. Just because we're told we should have a career, get married have children, and be content with that doesn't mean that life is complete. 

But THANK YOU for opening my eyes to discover - I want, need and have to Start Wandering

So there are two things that hit me hard this week: 

1) Stop running from the things that scare you, most of the time it's what you love and want most
2) Adventure may hurt you, but monotomy will kill you

The best thing I read this week

So as I power through on preparing for the beginning of our next journey, I want you to share your experience if you have done something you were once afraid of. Or if you are currently afraid let's help each other conquer our fears to reach our dreams. 

If it's the world you seek, there is no better time to Start Wandering