The highs, the lows, and everything in between of moving abroad…
I’m just going to start off by saying moving abroad and travelling solo is not for the faint-hearted, you have got to be very strong-minded to be able to handle it.
But if you can overcome it, I can promise you it will be one of the best adventures and experiences of your entire life!
Starting off the lows just to get them out of the way… there will be many, and I mean many, obstacles you will face from changes of plans, rejections, financial struggles, living situations, and weather problems, not to mention the feelings of loneliness and homesickness.
Personally, I'm not the biggest homebody, I don’t get homesick very often, I think this is partially due to the fact that whilst I was at uni I didn’t go home very often, maybe once or twice a year so I was already used to not seeing my family or friends from home often that when I moved abroad It wasn’t that much difference, just that they weren’t 3 hours away but 28 hours away instead! That’s not me saying I don’t miss my family and friends, I do, but Facetime and Social Media is a beautiful thing, I can still contact my loved ones just as much as I did living in England as I do now and can see everything my friends are getting up to in their lives and keep up-to-date with what they’re all doing.
There are times when I wish the distance was a little closer, recently one of my best friends got engaged and not being there to celebrate with her was hard. It’s events like that where I wish it wasn’t a 28-hour flight and costs over $2k in flights just to be with some of my favourite people. Not to mention friends’ and family’s birthdays or pregnancies, and births, I’ve even missed funerals which have been the hardest of them all.
Another big challenge you will face is loneliness, this will be around a lot more when you first start travelling and haven’t settled somewhere or made any proper friends as you will tend to do things by yourself. My best advice for this is to stay in hostels, get a job in hospitality where the age range will be similar to yours, you will meet a lot of people in the same situation as you and slowly but surely you will make new friends that will become your rock. I’m still best friends with several of the people I worked with when I first came to Australia back in 2019 and I couldn’t imagine my life without them!
The last big one can be money, if you’re struggling to get a job or get a lot of hours then finances can cause quite a lot of stress as you may at some point have more outgoings than incomings, this is where you become a budgeting queen (or king) and learn to ration everything. This won’t be forever I promise but at the time can be very scary - when I first got to Australia back in 2019 I had less than $1000 in my account and by the time I got to the Gold Coast had about $100 to my name, I ended up having to borrow money off my dad and thankfully the day after I arrived I got a job working in a bar and the rest is history!
Now onto the positives…
Moving abroad and/or travelling I personally believe is one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself, not only is it visibly and physically rewarding to experience new cultures, lives and seeing and experiencing amazing things but also mentally too. It’s cliche but you really do find yourself, you find out who you are, and what your passions are, you grow so much in having to be independent, yes you make friends along the way but it's solely you at the beginning and being so far from home there's no one to help you. You learn to fend for yourself, become so incredibly confident and it shapes you into an overall stronger human. I’ve never met someone who didn’t grow from their travels.
Oh and the places you will see, I can’t express this enough, is mindblowing. Coming from a tiny town in England with less than 10,000 people, seeing the same faces every day for 18 years to travelling Thailand and seeing Elephants for the first time and delving into a whole different culture, or skiing at Cardrona overlooking the mountains in Queenstown, New Zealand or even experiencing diving at The Great Barrier reef, I will forever be in awe at how incredibly beautiful this world is. There isn’t a day that has gone by that I’ve not been grateful for everything I'm getting to see and do.
One of my favourite parts of travelling is the people you meet along the way, whether they become friends for life or just for the month are what make the experience even better. I am still connected with so many people that I have met over the years, and it’s such an insane feeling to have friends quite literally all over the world! As I’ve mentioned previously I am still best friends with people I worked with back in 2019 at a random bar on the Gold Coast and I couldn’t imagine life without them, the memories you make will have so many faces you may not see again but they will make such an impact that you will treasure those times forever.
There is no doubt in my mind that the highs outweigh the lows, if you’re reading this and feel like you’re experiencing more lows than highs right now just know it's not forever. There will be a lot of people feeling the exact same way, maybe it's the person in the next bed to you at the hostel or a colleague from work, you aren’t alone - speak to those around you, don’t keep these emotions to yourself, we’ve all been there, myself included.
Till next time!
See you soon,
Ali x
