See the World: It's an Incredible Place

Next week I get to indulge in one of my great passions in life: foreign travel.  My family and I are off to the Philippines for a week on the beach and I always get excited when visiting a foreign land. Yes, I have been to the Philippines before but it doesn’t matter. I am still looking forward to all that travel in a foreign country brings.

Compared to the students I teach (who are incredibly worldly 12 year olds) I was a late starter in the foreign travel department. In 1995, when I was 24, I spent the year travelling the world with a spot of working in London mixed in as well.  I had only ever been on a plane once in my life (when I was 17 I flew from my hometown of Cootamundra to Sydney 1 hour away on a small 12 seat plane). Before I left for my year away I wasn’t a very nice person in a few ways. I suppose I was a stereotypical person from a rural town in Australia; inward looking; redneck basically.

1995 changed my life. I came back a wiser, smarter person, thankful for what the world had given me. I embraced all that I came across loving each and every day. My feelings were summed up in a significant journal entry I wrote at Johannesburg Airport before boarding a flight back to Australia. Basically I surmised that the world was an amazing place, people need to see it if possible, we needed to protect and look after it and finally as Australians we don’t know how lucky we have it compared to other places.

1995 was spent in the US and Canada for 2 months, 6 months in Europe and 2 months in Africa. I had no desire to go to Asia. Since then the only travel that I have done (besides a 10 day trip to New Zealand in 1999 and a trip to England and Ireland in 2009) has been in Asia. Sure I have spent 8 years living in Hong Kong, right in the heart of Asia, but this continent is truly incredible.
I have been to 41 countries and as far as I am concerned that is not enough. My favourites in no particular order are: Ireland, Canada, India, China, South Africa, Jordan and Laos.

I have seen incredible sights and landmarks that I have read and dreamt about: climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower, kissed the Blarney Stone, marveled at the beauty of the Taj Mahal, trekked sections of the Great Wall of China, summited Table Mountain in Cape Town on foot, explored the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Petra in Jordan, floated in the Dead Sea and chased lions through the Okavango Delta in Botswana. I know I am incredibly lucky.

It is fantastic to see my 9 year old daughter developing a passion for the world. It has been great taking my children to some unique places in the world and I hope when they grow the passion I have rubs off on them and they want to venture further out in the world on their own.
I love the excitement of travel. I get excited about going to airports, exchanging money finding hotels and great places to eat. The internet makes so many of these things easy. I already know where my family will be eating next Thursday night in Angeles City in the Philippines and what we need to avoid being scammed on the streets, then again this is all part of travel.

Fortunately I married someone who shares my love of travelling. There was no relaxing on a tropical island or by a beach for our honeymoon. Jen and I went to India for 5 weeks. It was the first time we had been overseas together. I thought it was going to be a breeze; I had been to China twice and also Africa. India would be fine. Yes it was and the country holds an incredibly special place in my heart, but nothing could prepare me for the mass of humanity that faces you when you arrive at Mumbai airport or walk the streets. On our first venture outside our hotel I was shaking with what we encountered. Once we went and sat down inside the Taj Mahal hotel (of course we weren’t staying there, our hotel had bed bugs) and calmed ourselves we were fine and loved every minute of it. I would seriously advise nobody to make India their first overseas venture. Try New Zealand or Canada first. India is an amazing attack on your senses, where 1 billion people want to be your friend. In 2010 it was great being able to take our children to India (although many said we were insane).

 

Travel enriches the mind, body and spirit. The world is an amazing place. See it if you can.

Going Home

After 8 fantastic years in Hong Kong the Spain family is going home. It was a difficult decision to make but we are pleased with the choice we have made. In December we relocate from Hong Kong, Asia’s world city, to Wagga Wagga, the capital of the Riverina.

A number of people have said that we are crazy, why would you want to leave Hong Kong they have asked. We have asked ourselves this question and we are happy with our answers.

The time is right, we are going for family reasons, we want our children to grow up in an Aussie environment, I want to be able to have chicken schnitzel and sausages from Woolworths for lunch. (Well maybe the last reasons aren’t that important but I am still looking forward to them anyhow).

Hong Kong has never been ‘home’. It has been an incredibly fun, rewarding, exciting and enriching place, but never home. I was warned by my principal at my previous school to ‘not get stuck in Hong Kong’. By this he meant he meant to not get enchanted by what can be a relatively comfortable lifestyle. My family has been incredibly lucky to have an amazing helper (maid) who lives with us, is amazing with our children and looks after the cooking and cleaning in our household in a superb manner. This is easy to get used to. The 16% tax rate is very nice thank you and a relatively safe city to boot. The travel we have done since we have been in Hong Kong has been a highlight. I fully expect to ‘rack’ my passport when I return to Wagga Wagga but I am OK with this. In a future blog entry I will elaborate more about what a special place Hong Kong has been).

When we moved to Hong Kong we were always going to move back to Melbourne which is where we lived before moving here. After a few years here I started to think about moving to Wagga Wagga to be closer to family. My wife was hesitant at first. She wanted the bright lights of a big city again. The passing of her father changed her mind. She wants to be near her mother. My parents are an hour away by car. I have missed too many family events since I have been in Hong Kong. I want to go to more family celebrations. A population change of 7,000,000 to 70,000. I am more than happy with that.

I want to spend weekends transporting my children between sporting venues and friend’s places. I want to wake up and look at clear skies (the pollution level in Hong Kong seems to be getting worse. As is my hay fever. I want my children to go to Catholic schools. I want to read a daily paper with a large sports section and spend hours on the weekends dissecting newspapers. I want to explore Australia. I have been to 41 countries but never to South Australia, the Northern Territory or seen the Great Barrier Reef. I want to be able to take my children to sporting events. I want to encourage the Aussies kids that I will teach to go out and explore the world; and then realise how lucky we have it in Australia. I want to challenge myself in a new educational environment. I believe I have a great to offer a prospective school and I would relish that opportunity.  

There is a lot more that I could write about why I am going home. I am happy with the decision and excited about what lies ahead. Sure there are elements that scare me (I haven’t found a job yet) but I want to tackle these things head on and embrace what lies ahead for my family in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.