Travel is my Home

Oh yes! I am a free spirit at my core, a citizen of the world. I've drunk absinthe in Prague, litre mugs of beer in Munich, English pints in London pubs, and fine wine all over Italy. I've sipped Guinness in Dublin, Heineken in Amsterdam, and the waters of the Trevi Fountain. I've walked the paths of ancient Pompeii, marveled at the expanse of Loch Ness, been amazed at the architecture of Barcelona. I've been dazzled by the azure blue ocean waters of Capri, eaten pizza and slurped spaghetti in Naples, and been awestruck by Venice. I saw the Colosseum in Rome and experienced the intense back streets of Bangkok. I got lost in Florence, and found myself again in Paris. I left a personal note on Jim Morrison's grave and left a lipstick mark on Oscar Wilde's. I got lost in translation in a French tattoo parlour, and plunged headfirst into romance by a fireside in Interlaken. I got confused with languages in Switzerland and grappled with pre-Euro spare change from every Western European country. I shared dorm rooms with strange ones, and those who were crazy, some who told me their life story, and others who were terrified of the unknown.

I got the last room in a high attic with an outlook over snowcaps, and wrote the story of my own life to date while drinking cheap port. I slept at a bus shelter in Spain, and woke to a hundred sleeping bodies under a giant roof in Germany. I've been chased by stall-keepers in Bali and had my lunch stolen by monkeys in Ubud. I walked the cobblestoned streets of Edinburgh, retracing the steps of J.K. Rowling, and was deeply enchanted by the castle on her hill. I cried over Greyfriars Bobby in Scotland, and Anne Frank's story in the Netherlands. I popped a cork in Cork, enjoyed the fruits of Findhorn, and jived to infectious pub music all over Ireland. I've walked through the red light district of Amsterdam and been charmed by its canals and coffee shops, where anything but coffee was consumed. I was saddened by the Dachau concentration camp, the grey skies of London, and by the many steel bars of Belfast. I've seen Nice whizz by from the window of a Eurail train, and stood by the Berlin Wall. I watched The Sound of Music in Salzburg and witnessed the political murals of Belfast. I've been chased by a car-full of thugs in Manchester, pursued by gypsy children in Prague, survived the mean streets of Glasgow after dark, reflected on the swinging sixties at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, and danced merrily in the streets of Galway.

Not to forget Australia, I've lived in four different states of our own beautiful country, bathed in the warmth of Darwin, the mild winters of Brisbane, the searing heat of Alice Springs, the rainforests of Cairns, and the beauty of the Northern NSW hinterland with ocean views … I aspire and deeply yearn to live in the northernmost parts of this land of sweeping plains again someday, where boab trees dominate the landscape with their unique and unequalled beauty, geckos click, the heat reminds you you're alive, the heady fragrance of frangipanis abounds, and menacing crocodiles glide through the muddy waters. I long to feel the warm breezes of a dry season winter and dance in the wet season rains. I will never stop exploring, never stop yearning, never cease to be amazed by the endless possibilities our magnificent country offers to those who seek her beauty, her essence. I long to be free to wander, and at least for now in my inner world and my mind's eye, I am free.

This is only a short account of my many adventures! And you wonder why I feel so stifled and oppressed being 'home', in the one place? Because this isn't my home - nowhere and everywhere is, all at once. My real, true home is to be found in travel, for that is where my heart, soul and spirit always reside. My bucket list attests to this lifelong love affair, for I am an eternal seeker and student of travel. Oh yes! I am a rolling stone at heart, a roaming soul at my core, a citizen of the whole world. I am the quintessential free spirit, ever wandering in the vast realms of exquisite adventure.