For the love of travel, I am willing to step away from the safety of what I know.
For the love of travel, I am willing to take a chance at something great.
For the love of travel, I am willing to leave my life behind.
For the love of travel, I am willing to live.

Travel is not something I have always been passionate about, it’s not even something I’ve ever even thought about up until a short few years ago. I’m not certain why but I never really considered that travel was part of who I was or even wanted to be, it was only something that other people did, like retirees or the reasonably wealthy. That’s not to say that I never travelled when I was a child, it’s just that travel for me was going to the Gold Coast for the day or the time we moved away from our little beachside home town of Woolgoolga to suburban Brisbane. When I became a mother, and found myself raising her on my own, my priorities shifted away from me and became focused on how to raise a well-adjusted and healthy daughter. For me that looked like working to support her and studying so I could show her that no matter the circumstances you can always chase your dreams. I was never unhappy in my life as a single mum, but I guess I also got a little stuck in the safety of what I knew and building a predictable life for us was paramount.

“People tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend like fine weather if you’re fortunate. But happiness is the result of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly”

– Eat, Pray, Love.

Fast forward more than a few years to 2015 our family looked quite different, with me marrying the man of my dreams, and having a daughter together our little unit of 4 took on the dream of a 7-week overseas adventure. Of course, it was illness that spurred it on, with my husband having some worrying symptoms and results we decided to do a 7-week European adventure for all of us, taking us to England, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. That’s when we truly realized how enormous and diverse the world really was, and it’s what fed our desire to travel more and has led to our decision to move abroad with our children to experience life on the other side of the world.

“If you’re brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you”

– Eat, Pray, Love.

Over the past 2 years we have experienced so much more than we ever would have had we stayed living our safe life, and we are excited for our new adventure into the unknown. It does scare us just a little – moving to a place we don’t know well and leaving everything and everyone we know and love behind for something that is uncertain is a prospect that makes my palms sweat and my pulse race, but we have done it before. I am reminded of 2011 when we quit our jobs to move from Brisbane to Queenslands Sunshine Coast, that decision was tough but we did it and we don’t regret it for a second. We must look at this new adventure in the same light.

“I wanna go someplace where I can marvel at something”

– Eat, Pray, Love.

I want to live a life that is full, and diverse, and challenging. I want to live a life that pushes the boundaries of comfort and knowing so I can experience the things that are hidden behind fear and uncertainty. Because that is where I know it resides. The total amazement, joy, and astonishment we have all experienced in our last 3 overseas trips has taught us so much – who wouldn’t want that for their family.

So here I am, about to begin the process of becoming a registered nurse in England (one that takes up to a year), and open to sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly with you all along the way. Come along with me as I share every step I take, and all the things I learn throughout the process. I will be providing the mentorship and coaching services throughout this voyage so check them out. If you enjoy videos, I will be sharing those on Facebook (and later, on YouTube), along with live feeds so please connect with Intrepid Nurse over there and on Instagram. If you have tips that helped you, share away also. Keep an eye on “Nursing Notes” for resources I am creating to share free, and sign up to get updates on how we are going. I look forward to getting to know you all.

Cheers From Queeensland, Tams