Australia?

"And then I said yes!"

Jen & I Touring Sydney, Australia

I was sitting in the living room of my rented house in Hamilton when my best friend Jen popped up on my Facebook chat. As we started to converse, she told me how upset she was because her other best friend had just told her she would not be able to travel with her in the summer. I always knew Jen wanted to travel, and we always talked about it, but I never thought she was actually serious. I can't remember 100% how it happen, but all of the sudden she asked me if I would be interested to go. I looked at my bank account, saw that I had enough money to pay for my flight, and said "I think I will".

So many thoughts were flying through my head. Australia? That is so far away? What will my parents think? I had been on trips on my own before, and they were supportive, but Australia? This was a little too far off the map. Then a light bulb went on. I remembered I had family in Australia I had never met! Some of them yes, but not all of them. I quickly picked up the phone to dial my dad and explained the situation. He said yes! His approval was all I needed. 

Minutes later, I logged on to the Australian Government's website to apply for my Working and Visiting Visa. In a span of three hours, I had decided I was going to Australia, booked my flight, and applied for the Visa-which took them 20 minutes to accept- insane! I'll never forget how excited I was, and most importantly, how smoothly everything was going. It was as it was meant to be! I was 19 years old, with one part time job, finishing my second year of university at McMaster, and unsure with what I wanted to do with my life. But this I was sure of. I had from November to April to save as much money as I could, and I did!

I will be blogging about the different stops we visited in the two and a half months we were in Australia.

This picture was taken not long after we arrived in Sydney on our way to visit the Opera House. 

The beginning of a very fun adventure.

Exploring the land down under;

thetravelspot-wanderlust