A Belated Adventure

I landed at Perth Airport on a cool July morning. The fresh air and the feeling of starting a new life brought back a familiar sense of freedom. This is my third time setting off again—by that, I mean leaving Taiwan to live somewhere else. I first began to realize that my life didn’t have to follow a script about eight years ago, when I went to the United States on a Work and Travel program, partly because I wanted to escape. Travel and everyday life are very different things. Even though I had visited different parts of Australia before, arriving this time felt surprisingly calm. I won’t get into the digital nomad lifestyle here; it only became much more visible after COVID-19. What I want to write about is a period of growth and the feelings that came with it. A working holiday was something I had dreamed about throughout university. I imagine many people have wondered the same thing: Should I leave as soon as I graduate, or should I get some work experience first? Over time, though, I’ve realized that you can only find the answers by setting out and experiencing things for yourself. In the end, I chose the Work and Travel program in the United States. It was my first time living abroad on my own, for six months. I’ll save the story of my time in the U.S. for another day. After that came COVID, when the whole world was thrown into chaos. So many things happen that we never plan for. Once the pandemic was over, I found myself heading to Ireland in Europe. Life keeps surprising me, and each time, I find myself reflecting and then moving forward again. This arrival feels like I’m finally fulfilling a dream I had back in university.

One thing that was different this time was that I was lucky enough to set off with someone who also wanted to see the world—a possibility I had never planned for. We chose Perth, Western Australia, as our first stop. It’s not the most common landing place for Taiwanese travelers. We booked an Airbnb for ten days while we took care of the things we needed to do after arriving. I often feel that moving around in different places is like playing a game and clearing one level at a time: unfamiliar streets, a different language, a new phone number and bank account. Every new beginning feels exciting. Freedom is what makes it all so exhilarating, but freedom takes practice. With every upheaval, you have to learn to find an anchor for your heart. That anchor gives you somewhere to belong while you drift, and finding it is always up to you.

This is my first post about Australia, so besides how I'm feeling, here are a few relaxed observations from arriving here! Last year I lived in Europe, where recycling plastic bottles and cans is clear and well organised. Each size has its own deposit (already added to the price when you buy it), so the next time you go to the supermarket you bring your empties, feed them into the machine, collect the refund and put it straight towards your shopping. It's easy and intuitive, no hassle, and it works even if you only have one bottle. In Australia the machines are harder to find, the refund is always a flat 10 cents, and you have to open an account on a particular website and link your bank account, with the money paid out to that account. That way of doing it killed any idea of saving up our empties. One day the cleaner even cleared our empty bottles away while tidying the room, and we burst out laughing when we got back! I hope Taiwan will offer machines like these widely one day; it could be another way of dealing with rubbish. Public transport works completely differently from Taiwan, too. Australia and Ireland both have a lovely way of changing shifts at the roadside: at a certain stop (sometimes a big transport hub, sometimes a small, safe stop) the driver hands over to a new driver and simply goes home. The first time I saw it, I thought it could never happen in Taiwan, because people there are too impatient to wait.

This post is about how I felt landing here this year and a few small observations, and I'll keep adding more stories, doing my best to win back memories from a head that forgets things far too easily! I'm not sure whether Instagram will disappear one day, and I don't want my life to vanish with it or to be held hostage by short videos, so I'm writing slowly here, hoping someone will read slowly. Honestly, a working holiday means something different in each person's mind and life, and I love this privilege of being under 30! The more different worlds you walk into, the humbler and the wider you become, and the closer you get to yourself, the better you understand respect. Always having the courage and the chance to start again is life's most precious gift.