It took a trip to the other side of the planet to find out who I was. Travelling alone was fabulous, being the sole person in charge of my own destiny was great. I would decide where I went, who I spoke to, what I did, what I ate (sometimes money decided that too – I did live on cheap white bread and 2-minute noodles for a while). But I was free and I was in charge.
When I decided to travel I didn’t even blink, it was just a natural decision for me to make and so I worked two jobs and saved up to get myself on a plane and over to the other side of the planet. The process was fun too, it took me 18 months (it may have only taken 6 if I didn’t keep drinking all my wages – but hey, a girls’ gotta live right?). During that time the Angie who went travelling was born. That fun, carefree, sarcastic creature that I’m sure still exists inside me somewhere…
Those years preparing to travel and then the 18months I spent wandering through Australia & NZ was fantastic, they set me up for the life I now lead, in Australia. See my love for Australia never really left me. I found a place I felt like I belonged. Aussies are great, so relaxed and happy all the time, with their slurry twang that makes everything sound likes it’s awesome just because they shorten everything. You know where everyone is your “mate” where you invite your “mates” round for a barbie (because BBQ was not shortened enough so they feel the need to shorten it again) in the arvo (because heaven forbid you might say afternoon) and invite Stevo because he usually brings a slab of coldies (beers to anyone who is not Australian). I love it, its colloquialism to the highest degree, the sound, humour, relaxed nature and fun of the people, the culture and the landscape drew me in like a magnet. I’m still firmly held in its delicious grip.
Deciding to keep coming back to Australia wasn’t a difficult decision to make. I knew that leaving England meant dividing my family, but the pull was too hard. I’d seen the other side of the planet and the grass was definitely greener over there.
So off I trotted on my own with my big blue backpack and a plane ticket and never really returned. Being able to make that decision and stick to it was mostly down to the fact that my parents gave me permission to be whoever I needed to be. They saw that I loved travelling, that I was happier when I did and that I had emerged from the confines of my shell I’d chosen in England. I’m a hermit crab and I’m ok with that.
Growing up from Angie the backpacker has been a little harder than one might imagine though. I often still refer to myself as a “backpacker by trade”, its where I learnt a lot of things about myself so it was like doing a TAFE course in life, except you could drink beer throughout the course. I graduated and then had to accept that if I wanted to survive post travels, I’d need to pack away the backpack and bring out the more sensible wheelie suitcases. This I struggled with. I had been defined by experience and part of me will always be “Angie the backpacker”, but you cannot keep being 21.
Now I’m a mum, wife, businesswoman, mentor, author, speaker, marketer, athlete as well as a lot of other things, including “unpacker”. The metamorphosis has been both beautiful and arduous. I feel like a butterfly that has just emerged from her chrysalis.
A long time ago I wrote this poem, it still resonates today.
This transforming Hisk
Evolves at light speed
Aware and Conscious
yet still unfurling
The journey is long
But every twist and turn
brings a new insight
and unfolds opportunities
that I can choose to
make part of my path.
Twelve months of metamorphosis
and my cocoon is starting
to split. Awaiting the great
realisation, that I have wings…
