I knew I was in trouble the moment the waiter frowned. Not a dramatic frown. Not a cartoon villain scowl. Just a subtle tightening around the eyes — the kind that says, you’ve misunderstood something fundamental, and now I must decide whether to correct you. As an...
I’ve always told people I’m “good with money.” I meal-prep like a fanatical monk, I keep a spreadsheet that would put an accountant to shame, and I can find discount flights like a truffle pig finds truffles. Then I went to Iceland — and within 48 hours my spreadsheet...
I didn’t arrive at the hostel expecting enlightenment. I arrived sweaty, under-caffeinated, and mildly resentful after dragging a wheel-less backpack over cobblestones designed by someone who clearly hated travellers. The building leaned slightly to one side, like it...
I came to Canada expecting snow. Big snow. Movie snow. Snow that squeaks under your boots and makes your eyelashes freeze together like some sort of frosty punishment for leaving Australia in winter. What I didn’t expect was the apologies. Not the meaningful,...
Rome wasn’t built in a day — a phrase I’d heard roughly one thousand times before landing in Italy — but no one ever warned me that it could absolutely dismantle a pair of Australian thongs in under three hours. In my defence, these weren’t cheap thongs. They were...
There’s a particular kind of confidence that only exists when you’re holding a smartphone at arm’s length, watching a thick blue line tell you exactly where to go. It’s the sort of confidence that whispers, Relax mate, satellites have got this. That was me in...
I didn’t set out to become a local landmark. When I landed in Vietnam, my goals were modest: eat everything, survive crossing the road, and not embarrass Australia too badly in public. At no point did I plan on becoming “the tall one”—a kind of roaming human reference...
I arrived in Ubud with a backpack full of loose cotton clothing, a Kindle loaded with books about mindfulness, and the unshakable confidence of a man who’d watched exactly three Netflix documentaries about spirituality. I was ready. Ready to shed my ego, open my...
There is a particular fantasy that grips many Australians the moment they book an international flight. It usually happens somewhere between clicking confirm payment and telling your boss you’re “off to find yourself.” The fantasy goes like this: you, alone, far from...
I didn’t come to Britain to learn anything. That’s the honest truth. I came for a working holiday, a bit of travel, and the noble pursuit of figuring out whether British pints really were warmer than Australian ones (they’re not warm, just misunderstood). Education...
