Inspiration from Down Under

I was travelling from London to Helsinki when a very lovely Australian girl sat down next to me.

Among my many friends that travel for work we liked to joke about the odds of getting a ‘hot girl’ next to you. Typically it would be a huge sweaty man. So when she sat down I felt it was only right to start a conversation.

She was a journalist from Australia, travelling to Finland with her mother and sister to visit her maternal grandparents. AussieGirl was blessed with that easy going nature of an Aussie and the pretty features that you find in Scandinavia.

We talked for all three hours of the flight and covered topics as diverse as travel and love (although I am assured that the two aren’t mutually exclusive); She told me about her ability to leave a relationship after two years if ‘he wasn’t the one’ and I talked about my 14 years of contentment (but not true love). We then got onto the subject of travel. I told her that I was planning to visit Australia and that I had enough BA Miles to go for free and in Club, but I was waiting. Waiting to use my ‘companion’ ticket which entitles a second person to travel free of charge.

AussieGirl had a very interesting view; Why was I waiting for this perfect companion when she could be waiting for me down in Australia? The free ticket would only benefit the other person…

So I booked my flights… A last minute BA sale meant I travelled in First Class. Seat 1A is a pretty good place to spend 23 hours. A fully flat bed that magically gets fitted with a mattress and duvet while you are in the bathroom putting on the BA PJs, with three windows that curve in front of you.

Once in Australia, I started in Brisbane and then drove south. AussieGirl had talked about Byron Bay, a small surf town, so I made a point of staying a couple of nights.

On my second day in Byron Bay, on a morning walk, I had the strangest piece of luck. I walked by a couple stood at a bus stop and carried on a few steps. That guy looked familiar I thought to myself, so I turned back to see Kenny beaming at me. Kenny had been the Best Man at a friends wedding in Aberdeen – bizarre! It was an amazing but of luck because they had missed the bus.

After a couple of great nights by the Bay we said our goodbyes. They were heading North and I had Melbourne firmly in my sights but we would both be in Sydney for Xmas so arranged to meet up.

My route continued south, where I stopped at the Blue Mountains:

and Canberra:

and onto Melbourne where I had a nice breakfast with AussieGirl. Yes that was it, just breakfast.

I returned home from Australia with loads of great memories but still single and lonely. The day after I got back, I made a decision – sell my house and move to Australia for a new beginning!

Sadly that decision didn’t work out. The UK was in the middle of a downturn and my house was barely worth enough to cover the mortgage. On top of that I had managed to build substantial credit card debt. This was near the bottom for me, my golden was dead and I had no money, lived in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t get out. I was trapped.

All my travel meant that I borrowed my dog from the petsitter for the weekend so after a chat with my Ex I arranged for her to go and live with her best friend (the cat). Part of my money saving plan was to swap cars with her and sell the Alfa.

It felt strange buying the car that I had bought for my Ex, but I couldn’t think of a better used car than one I had know since it was 18 months old with a known service and owner history. So I was now the owner of my second Golf GTi, a 1.8 Turbo, a car that is always capable of raising a smile.