Things I Realised After Returning To the UK After 2 Years In Australia

When I landed back in the UK after being away for 2 years it was completely surreal. I felt almost shell shocked. I think it is situations like this that make your realise how much things have changed. This post outlines the main things I realised after I returned.

Australia : See You Soon

687 days. That's how long it has been. 687 days since I changed my life. Since I boarded that first flight bound for uncertainty, for a life that I had never know. For life. That's what Australia gave me, life, or at least a new perspective on it. I never knew when I boarded that first flight how much one person could change in such a small amount of time, but I did. I can barely believe my time here is over however a new adventure calls.

Reflections : June '16

Hello there, what a couple of months it has been! I have been living life to the fullest this and getting in some well deserved adventuring in before my big relocation. I haven't spoken much on my blog, Facebook or Instagram on what I plan on doing over the next few months but it is going to be pretty awesome. I'm currently trying to find motivation to sit down and write my last two months of wandering around into blogposts but somehow finding the time seems to be escaping me.

The Reluctant Wanderlust Turns Two.

In life it is great to celebrate the little things. Today I guess would be one of those days as it is two years since I pressed publish on its first ever post a while I may not have always been consistent with my writing, my thoughts have never been far from sharing my adventures with the world in a hope to inspire more people to take to the road and change their lives.

Reflections - April 2016

It is always the hardest thing, for me, thinking of how to start writing my posts. I suppose that is why recently i haven't been writing any. It becomes a battle of where to begin but at least today my story is happier than my last in this series.

Reflections :: Feb '16

Hello there, long time no see. I realise I had planned to write my reflection posts monthly and I feel like I should be in a confessional as it has been 6 months since my last Reflection but sometimes it is hard to know what to write when you don't know where to start. So this is me, starting.

As I look at bringing TRW into a new lease of life 'Reflections' will become a bit more like a 'Letter from the Editor' or "Behind the Scenes' into my life. I'm not great about writing about myself, heck I barely like having my photo taken but I realise that in the modern age of blogging injecting more "me" into posts is what readers expect and it is then another chance for me to step out of my comfort zone, so I hope you will be patient with me while I do this.

Wherever You Are, Be All There...

"Wherever you are, be all there"

~ Jim Elliot

Stockholm - My Swedish Escape

When I booked to go home to visit my family I decided I needed  holiday while I was back. I realise this will sounds like a contradiction to those of you who haven't lived abroad but visiting home is probably one of the most tiring experiences you can have, lucky for me I was forewarned by other Ex-Pats, and so Stockholm was my adventure of choice to visit my traveling companions. It was honestly the best choice I could have made.

Reflections : 12 Months

I was completely in two minds about whether I continued to write my reflections or not but thinking on it for a while I believe that, at the moment, they still serve a purpose even if it is just for me. The last time I wrote was sat in sydney airport waiting to catch my flight back to England after 11 months away from my family. I was a bit of a mess. A ball of nerves and expectations.

Reflections From Sydney Airport.

So here I am, sat in Sydney international airport, a bundle of nerves and possibly underlying excitement for my long journey ahead. A journey I expect will take 2 weeks from start to finish. My first trip home in 11 months. It seems like forever ago I sat in Heathrow Airport writing my thoughts on heading away and I guess it was. I’m not entirely sure why the butterflies have take over but they have. Maybe its because I am expecting to go home and find everything changed when I know somewhere deep inside, it won’t have. The only thing that will have changed - me.

The Reluctant Wanderlust turns 1!

I can hardly believe its been a over year since I started my blog, knowing I was going to heading to Australia and seeing more of this beautiful blue marble we call home. It seems crazy reading back on all the things I have done since I sat in Heathrow airport waiting to catch my flight to a new life and everything else that came with that first ticket to adventure.

Since then I have rushed up the Great Ocean Road, spent a night underground at Coober Pedy, seen sunrise , sunset and the Milky Way at Uluru, walked Kings Canyon, chased crocodiles at Kakadu, wandered on the purest sand in the world at Whitehaven Beach, skydived in Byron Bay, bounced around Sydney and so much more.

I am truly grateful to have had every experience that has come to me both good and bad I don't even recognise the girl I was a year ago, though sometimes she comes back into my life, I am more confident, open to new possibilities and relaxed than I ever was in the UK. I am also so grateful to everyone of you who has taken this journey with me, sent words of encouragement and inspiration you really are a blessing to me and hearing your stories and meeting some of you has been fantastic.

So here is to many more hopeful, adventurous and crazy years. Where ever the wanderlust takes me I hope you are still there by my side.

Love and thanks,

Emily Louise x

Reflections :: 8 Months

The last 8 months have gone so quickly I'm not even sure where they went but I have enjoyed the journey. The last month has been more difficult than some recently with working lots of hours, out of choice being the work-a-holic I am, and my best friend leaving Melbourne. I have been, to put it nicely, a bit of a mess.

Take The First Step...

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase"

- Martin Luther King Jr.

It's great to see people take the first step towards a new life, whether it is moving in with their partner, marriage or your first house its a big step. Another big step is making the decision to leave everything and everyone behind and go travelling. A decision many people, myself included, refer to as their 'Dream'. Taking a step towards your future is always going to be a terrifying choice and a lot of its relies on trusting yourself. Having faith.

Things I have learned from travelling (solo)

When I first started travelling I had no idea where it was going to take me. All I had was this great and overwhelming desire to move my feet and see the world, if I am honest I didn't really have a plan or do an incredible amount of research. The words of those around me back home were either tinged with negativity and doubt or overwhelming excitement and my own nervousness was clawing at the back of my mind but on the road, I have never felt more contented and happy than I have in the last several years of my life.

Travelling has a way of showing you what really matters in life and travelling solo teaches you lessons you would never have learnt if you hadn't had booked that ticket. It has changed me in this short period of time already and this is what is has taught me;

I'm Glad You Exist

So today I received word of bad news. A friend of mine whom I went to senior school with but lost contact with unfortunately passed away. It is a sad day when someone so young passes away but it is even sadder to think that with a little effort I could still have been speaking to her. 

I shared my thoughts on this to my Facebook, not to receive sympathy, likes or comments but to give my friends on Facebook a reminder, one I now share with you the beautiful soul reading this, that life is short. It can be made shorter due to illness or circumstance and that social media is making us all lazy as we can just "like each other's lives like it is contact. It is not. It is a cheap replica that makes us all lonely and feel our self worth is based around how many "friends" or "followers" we can gather.

So all I ask of you, whoever you may be reading this, is to do me a favour. Just one small favour. One you may thank yourself for in years to come. Pick up the phone and call that person you haven't spoken to for a while, pick up a pen and hand write some beautiful words of love and care to that family member you haven't seen or spoken to in months, or maybe years. Make an effort to really connect and reconnect with every person you have met, and will meet, from this day on because before you know it you could be too late. So take the time to tell somebody "I'm Glad You Exist".