CHOOSING TRAVEL

If there was ever a time in my life which could represent feelings of happiness, satisfaction, and fulfilment it would be the time I have spent in Australia.
 

Over the past 2 plus years I have been living and working in Mudgee, NSW for Lowe Wines. Most of my allocated vacation time was spent going back to Canada to visit friends and family, and of course a short vacation to Nepal. As my 15 month anniversary in Mudgee crept up I began to wonder, what’s next? Travelling has always been on the post Australia agenda and it was now time to think about making a strategic exit. I decided after my 2 year work contract was up I would spread my wings and fly. Of course, not alone. My partner, Jean had also confided in me about his feelings of ‘readiness’ to move on from Mudgee. There was a sense of guilt lingering in the air as we chatted around our dining room table when we decided we would leave before the new year in 2016, which also meant leaving just before vintage. I didn’t want to let anyone down at work and I was feeling slightly reluctant to leave the comforts that had shaped my professional development during my time at Lowe’s. Eventually I came around to the white paper and talk with David about my departure. It was nerve racking but a sense of relief overcame me when he gave me his ‘blessing’ and knew I was destined for great accomplishments ahead. I will always consider my time at Lowe Wines a huge stepping stone in my career path as a female winemaker.

As Jean and I started exchanging inner desires for the path we would take over the next year, I was beginning to feel homesick for the places I had never been, which made me confident we were making the right decision. Eventually we decided on a time frame and a vague itinerary. Seeing more of Australia was at the top of the list and because of visa reasons we had 3 months to work with which would kick off 2016 from January to March. We would then spend 4 months travelling our way through Asia to countries neither Jean nor myself have been, from April to July. August would be spent in Canada for a friend’s wedding and visiting family, but the final destination…France, the wine mecca of the world.

It was all so exciting during the planning period and I ordered a couple books online to celebrate our decision. Vegabonding by Rolf Potts would be my first read and it turned out to be an inspiring book about the art of long term travel including planning, adaptation, and advice (although it seemed very dated as it was written in a time where we didn’t necessarily rely on the internet for information). One thing I quickly sorted out was that financial planning was a key factor in my vagabonding confidence. We would be travelling for 9 months and we needed to be totally aware of how much money we would need for each country and how long we planned to stay, as the cost per living varies from country to country. As always The Lonely Planet took the gold medal for most useful resource for this type of planning. We carefully drafted up an ideal country to country itinerary with a time frame, cost of living per day, transportation costs, and extras. As expected Australia came up big with a huge daily budget (as compared to most of Asia) but as we worked our way through we realised that based on our weekly savings we would be on track in reaching our overall financial goal for our big travel: $20’000.

As our time in Mudgee came to a close, filled with laughter and tears, the reality of our newly adapted lifestyle started to kick in. We planned a last minute trip to Canada over Christmas where friends and family began feeling excited and wishing us well on our new journey. I started to think, wow this is actually happening.

 

When it came to documenting our experience the obvious was take loads of pictures, make albums for each destination, and Instagram/facebook when I could. But I wanted a way to remember the details of our feelings, smells of place, and more importantly the local culture that we would get to know in every destination. That is when I remembered about my old friend…my blog, which I am sure has been feeling lonely in cyber space. Thus, I have decided to document our journey on The Gowers Basket. I plan to focus on specific regions and cities in the various counties we will visit, and as my eternal path seems to regularly be guided on food, wine and agriculture you will find it heavily focused on this. It is my hope that the posts will allow a way for readers to walk the streets with me and smell the scents lingering through the air, understand the food culture of the people, and laugh at all the silly things that are sure to happen along the way. On that note, I look forward for ya’ll to join Jean and I on this great adventure ahead.

Cheers friends!