Embracing Courage

As of writing, I am sitting in a small food court in Perth’s Terminal 4. In a few hours, I am heading back to Singapore and I have a lot of time to spare to reflect back on this adventure that has been my 14 days in Perth.

I booked a ticket to Perth spontaneously a few months ago. It was pretty random and I regret the decision almost immediately. Perth was never a place I thought I would ever visit. You can ask everyone who knows me and they could name a couple of cities they could identify me with and Perth was definitely not one of them. But anyway, fast forward to Good Friday and I was on a plane on my way to Western Australia. For the next two weeks, I found myself experiencing things I never ever imagine I would choose or do in this lifetime.

The Australia How-To

Illustrations by Che

I am not much of a traveler. Don't get me wrong, I love going to new places, experiencing different culture, eating new food and all that but I am not fond of the hassle of it. Traveling means planning--lots of it. I hate organising itineraries, booking flights and hotels, dealing with foreign exchange, and getting lost in translation.

And I am a Virgo, and having some sort of organisation and order is a must. So when I spontaneously booked a trip to Australia almost a year ago, I had no game plan.

It was strange but liberating, to say the least. I enjoyed the fact that I wasn't tied down to my own rules and expectations. I liked this new me, this spontaneous me. 

Hong Kong 2017 Travel Log

There's something about Hong Kong that keeps me coming back, with each visit still leaving me breathless. It's my fourth visit but it has been a while so I was expecting a lot of changes. Hong Kong is a taste of New York in Asia--fast-paced and bustling, neon lights and juxtapositions left and right. I love the mix of old and new, East meets West culture and the high and love.

I built my itinerary on two simple goals--scour the best places to shop and the yummiest food to eat. For the list of food, I got mine through my brother and for shopping, basically from my rusty memory and a bit of research. To be honest, I could have done more and I would have wanted more. But I had my parents in tow... At night, I did venture out and explored on my own.

Australia 2016 Travel Log

People often think I'm such an independent person having lived abroad for six years. In a way, it's true--I've been financially independent since I moved out. I, alone, have control over what I want to do and how I want to live my days. But in certain aspects of my life, I still feel inadequate. I still feel like a little girl who needs to be taken care of by her parents and older brothers. And living in Singapore, you feel so safe and secure that you forget that there is a world out there so big. 

I turned 29 and felt that I needed to do something with my life. I made a lot of grown up decisions and one of those was to travel abroad on my own. So without any hesitations, I booked a two week holiday to Sydney, Australia (even spent a weekend in Melbourne). Technically, I wasn't entirely alone, but for the most part, I had no one to rely on but myself.

I made a video of my two-week trip there. It was tough to make it concise and even tougher to select good footage. Aside from the music, which I knew had to be Australian, I didn't have a gameplan as to what sort of video I wanted to make. And I also didn't realise my Gopro was too shaky. Anyway, I still hope you enjoy. If you're watching, don't forget to go HD... and enjoy.

Australia blog to follow up... hopefully!

Malacca