Why don’t we just give up?

Before we embarked on this journey, my partner’s brother-in-law asked what would need to happen on our travels that we’d just give up and come home. Of course, before leaving, it seemed like a stupid question. Obviously, our trip would solely be a lot of fun and nothing really bad would happen so why would we need to think about something like that. 

I’ve thought about it many times since. Especially when we crashed our motorbike in Thailand. And when we had a food poisoning during Christmas. And when we were discussing about breaking up after living in Australia for three months.

Why don’t we just give up and go home?

I called home a few weeks ago to discuss our vacation in Finland. We’ve been traveling for 11 months now and we’re going for a visit and then flying back to Australia. As I was talking about how hard the trip had been, how we had had troubles with money and with settling down, my dad questioned our choices: Why did you take two-way flights? Why aren’t you returning home?

It’s a good question and something everybody who has moved abroad has asked themselves in some point. 

Well, life’s not easy. And the fact that we thought it would be, is on us.

We came to Australia with nothing. We had never visited Australia or lived abroad. We had no connections and very little money. 

To start settling down to Australia you need to have a bank account, a tax file number and a job. You can’t have any of them without an address and you can’t rent an apartment without having all of them. It’s not easy to fly to the other side of the world and start building your life from a scratch with no connections.

So, to be fair, we’ve been lucky to have been able to find multiple jobs, buy a van and travel a bit around. Maybe we haven’t had the opportunity to make a lot of friends or surf on crazy paradise islands and maybe it hasn’t been very easy so far, but we have laid a foundation for a life in Australia and we’re proud of that.

This is only the beginning of our journey as nomads. And that’s why: We’re not giving up.

xx