Australia…..that’s a wrap.

Wow, can't believe I pulled off putting my feet in all the territories of Australia except Tasmania in 15 days. New South Wales (Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), South Australia (Adelaide ... I did stop there and have lunch, losing my driver's license prevented more), Northern Territories (The Red Center- Uluru, Kata Tjuṯa, Kings Canyon & Alice Springs), Western Australia (Fremantle) & Queensland (Cairns). I met new friends, new family members and visited old friends. I went to an opera at Sydney Opera house, the Melbourne Cup, hiked the sacred sites in the Red Center, saw the world's happiest animal, got felt up by a kangaroo and dove the Great Barrier Reef. Wow....just wow.

So many might be wondering how I can possibly do that. I'm not financially rich. In fact, I'm in the poverty level, but I am blessed with amazing people in my life, don't care about material objects and I'm not afraid to be out of my comfort zone. That's it really it.

Also, I most likely don't travel like most. I stay in hostels, take public transit and don't sign up for all the tours. There is a reason, beyond budget, for doing it this way. For instance, staying in hostels, yes, you deal with strangers snoring, waiting for showers and a complete lack of privacy, but this is what you receive in exchange...human connection. You meet people from all over the world and the shared kitchens and lounge areas are conducive to conversations. I have often had a better time sitting in the lounge area of a hostel talking philosophy, war, or just about what the cool things to do in town are, than doing all the must see things to do in town. You have to be a little vulnerable, but hey, isn't that the case with most important things in life? Public transit....you become a local. You see the town you're visiting, not rushing by you, but as a whole experience. Transportation becomes a tourist attraction rather that just something to get you from point A to point B. I love the feeling I get by the end of my stay someplace when someone thinks I'm a local and asks me for directions. I do take some tours, but limit them to maybe one or two. This allows me to make changes in my day. If I'm having a good time watching kids play soccer at a park I stay. I try to keep my schedule open. So that being said, I have three rules when I travel solo.

1. Make a plan and plan to change it

I start my day with a goal or a destination and then allow lots of time to get there, stopping along the way and experiencing something that catches my eye. I'll use my last day in Sydney as an example. I woke up to rain. Not excited about that, but it allowed me to get this blog rolling and it would be a good day to go see some Australian animals at the zoo. So my goal for the day was the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Now I didn't book a tour to get me there, but looked up that tickets were available at the door and using google maps found out I could walk down to the ferry and take it to the zoo. The ferry is public transit. So I walked down to the harbor but was getting a little hungry and loved the area called The Rocks, so I decided to grab some lunch there. The rain had let up and there was an open table outside Fortunes of War Pub. Perfect. After lunch I needed to go inside to use the facilities and noticed the bar was quite lively and there was one open seat at the bar. I figured zoos are always more fun with a couple beers in me, so decided to have one more. Well.... struck up a conversation with the people sitting next to me and the afternoon got derailed. A pub crawl commenced to some of the coolest pubs in The Rocks. So after Fortune of War, we went to The Envedour, Lord Nelson Hotel (oldest hotel in Sydney) and then eventually back to Fortune of War. It ended up being one of the best nights of the whole trip. Now I never made it to the Taronga Zoo, but it's not going anywhere and wasn't super high on my list. Making a plan is what gets me out and moving, allowing that plan to change provides space for spontaneity, and that my friend, is the difference between an okay trip and an epic trip.

---

2) Fear can come along because it tries to keep me from dying, but it can't drive. That seat is reserved for curiosity.

Navigating streets and exploring new things that you haven't done before sometimes causes anxiety, but if you just keep that anxiety at a very low level and replace it with something like .... "Wow, I'm actually in Australia right now, how exciting is that?" You get to see and experience some pretty cool things. I weigh the risks and benefits of what I'm about to do, consider the potential downsides and even the worst-case scenarios and then figure out what I can gain if I take the calculated risk. Usually the down side for me is missing a train or plane, but the gain is experiencing something amazing.

An example, on the way back home I had an 8.5 hour layover in Osaka, Japan. I had always wanted to see Kyoto, the ancient capital city known for its many Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Could I do it? First I figure out where I wanted to go, my goal destination. I decided on the Shinto shrine Fushimi Imari Taisha. This intriguing shrine was dedicated to the god of rice and sake by the Hata Clan in the 8th century. Foxes or Kitsune are considered to be the messengers of Inari, the god of rice and the bringer of prosperity, so there are 54 pairs of male and female fox statues throughout the shrine. I love foxes, rice, sake and prosperity, so the was the place for me.

I calculated out my time. I would have to go through customs and immigration, that would take about an hour. It takes about 2 hours by train to get to the shrine according to my trusty google maps app. There are 10000 torii gates to go through, 12000 steps and 750 feet in evaluation gain to get to the top temple. I could do that in 1.5 hours. 2 more hours to get back and 2 hours to make sure I get to my return flight in time. It was possible, but tight. So what is worst case scenario? I miss my flight. I took the risk.

It was epic and the first part all went to plan, but I didn't take into consideration one thing....that Osaka airport might only have one security entrance and that the line to get through security would snake all throughout the departure area.

I thought there was no way I was making my flight, but rather than get upset and demand I get through this line, I just waited with everyone else and surprisingly it went quickly. I made it to my gate just as the doors were about to close. Phew...that was a close one, but so worth it.

---

3) Make connections with people. It's not the sites you see that make a trip epic it's the people with whom you connect.

I met a woman when I stayed in a hostel in Paris who taught me this. Oriana was this spitfire of a woman, who like a little kid on a playground, just came up to me and said, "I'm really sick of eating dinner by myself, will you have dinner with me?" I said yes and we had an amazing time and are still friends today. But that took being vulnerable. She could have been rejected, and I could have wasted a precious night in Paris with a lunatic, but that's not what happened.

On this trip I reached out to cousins I've never met, talked to strangers in hostels, trains, and bars, said yes when people asked me to dinner or drinks and had no problem letting a group of 20 people know it was my birthday. I put myself out there and am so happy I did. That is where the color and richness of a trip come into play. That is where the magic happens, but it's not always easy to do. You have to be okay with others thinking you're crazy or weird. I seem to be getting better at that. 😉

So to wrap it up. I really enjoyed Australia. It's a country where importance is put on creating spaces for its people to interact, such as the plethora of green spaces, the beaches and the magic Ferris wheels. They celebrate art and culture and are not afraid of trying to right some wrongs of the past. Each airplane and train I was on started with an announcement honoring the aboriginal land we were in and it's people. Every place I visited was different, but there was a common thread that they were all Australians, a kind, friendly community of Australians and proud to be so. Great country.

To end I would like to say that I am so grateful for the people I have in my life that provided a path which allowed me to take this trip, and I am grateful to you, the people following me on this blog. You kept me wanting to do things worthy of something to write about. So thank you.

Best 50th birthday month ever!!!