It was a Tuesday at the end of January. I went to bed way too late the night before.
We had a business dinner where we had a lot of challenges to tackle and we actually didn’t really come to a lot of solutions at all which was frustrating on so many ends.
So I here I was that morning thinking about what else I needed to pack while taking a shower and getting ready for work. I had 10 more hours left till Mr. V would drop me off the airport to leave for 10-day trip to Australia.
I had never been to Australia before, it had always been a huge dream to go, but also something that did not seem realistic to me: Too expensive, who would go with me and also time was an issue ( “if you go you should travel around Australia for at least 3 weeks” that’s what people had told me) as I couldn’t imagine and that I could be gone from work for so long.
So theoretically I should have been happy waking up this morning as well as I should have been super excited to be on a plane that same night, but it felt like it was more the opposite: I was extremely stressed by the fact that I would leave work, my colleagues and everybody around me in the most unfortunate time I could think of. It felt like there couldn’t have been a worst time to leave at all. Nothing was ok. Nothing felt like it could wait another ten days. I felt responsible to be around and get the issues fixed we were having at work.
I was also afraid I could not enjoy the trip at all and wouldn’t be able to turn my head off with all this things happening. I knew I would see the emails on my phone and it would kill me. So what was the reason for leaving at all, being on an airplane almost 20 hours and going through all this hustle if I wouldn’t get a holiday out of it?
On the other hand I had committed to my bestie to go on this trip and we even had tickets for the Australian Open which was amazing!
Plus we bought our plane tickets using miles and our accommodation possibility we were given was also more like a one-time opportunity – so there was not really way I could get out of this and just re-schedule to a better time. (Back then I still believed that there would be “good times” to go on vacation #nicedreams)
My co-workers back then didn’t give me any chance to stay. I had brought it up a week prior the departure date (because I saw the debacle approaching already) and all I got back from them was a clear and pretty short answer: “NO, YOU GO GIRL!”
Anyway – the day went by , people stopped by my desk asking if I was excited to go and I just shrugged my shoulders and went like “yes, kind of….” almost being a little scared as it became more and more realistic to me that I would be on this plane to Australia that same night.
Long story short we somehow made it to the airport on time, my suitcase was stuffed everything I could think of, not really being focused on packing, but thanks to my friend who had prepped the best long distance travel kit ever #firstclasstravelkitsittingincoach. The first thing she said to me when we met at the airport was though: “Did you leave your laptop at home?” That’s what we had agreed on (another stress factor for both of us!). I nodded thinking to myself “Oh my gosh, did I really do that on top off all of it? I must be crazy!”.
We started the check-in process and off we went. Before we knew we found ourselves in L.A. boarding for the long flight to Sydney.
The moment I said down and realized that i would be glued to this seat for the next 14 hours I decided to take a little nap. Guess what I woke up when we landed in Sydney. No joke. People were asking me what kind of sleeping pills I had taken. Obviously this nap was pretty much-needed.
Landed in Sydney, the sun was out and we had one more flight to catch to Melbourne. I did not even think about turning on my phone to check my emails. It felt kind of strange at first, but then I realized it’s NOW or NEVER that we are in Australia and that LIFE IS NOW. Something in my brain had switched and out of the blue I felt ready for this trip. It was awesome.
We had the best time ever, we had so much fun, we explored so much we never would have wanted to miss and we embraced every single moment of it. We had the time of our lives and when we realized we only had two more days before heading back to Oregon we almost tried to extend our stay as we loved it so much.
Everything that seemed so incredibly important before we left, had gotten so far away from us and had become so irrelevant while walking around Bondi Beach, getting sun burned, having avocado toasts for breakfast followed by Gin&Tonic Happy Hours.
Besides the fact that it really has been a trip of our life-time we learned so many things, and we managed to put work in perspective. We came out of it feeling super inspired, filled with so memories as well as so many ideas, solutions and on top it with a mindset that has set us up to make good and strong decisions going forward.
A lot of experiences we started integrating in our daily routines #greenjuices and the overall way of life we got explore and we were shown by our Aussie friends on the other side of the world helped us taking things easier being back in our daily working environments.
We never expected that this trip would do so good to us, especially taking circumstances when departing Portland, and we never assumed that we would find so many answers without even asking for it. It was amazing how much we gained because we let go and took chances.
Sometimes you just have to do it. Embrace it, go for it and leave all your worries behind you. That’s all.
NOW OR NEVER. LIFE IS NOW.
Happy Sunday & have fun taking chances!
Maika
PS: I am still beyond grateful for my friend having the idea to go on this trip as well as well as everybody who supported me making it happen. And by the way: In terms of timing this year would have been even worse and way more unrealistic. Who would have thought! One more time: TAKE CHANCES. It’s NOW or NEVER.
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