Travelling Fool Down Under - Week One: Feels Like Home To Me

Back in the early Spring of 2018 I approached my boss and asked if it would be okay if I worked remote for a month. He said yes immediately and then paused, narrowing his eyes as he asked me, "Where?" Why Australia of course! My first visit for New Year's 2018 was intoxicating. Melbourne was immediately a city that I could see myself in and Bren was company that I didn't want to be without. So I came back in June and spent a week living with Bren and doing the local thing. It cemented for me a feeling that this city was as close to a second home as I have gotten in all my travels.

I always knew that I was going to ask for a few weeks of remote work but before coming to Australia last year I thought I'd go to Estonia, where my friend and mentor lives. Again it was a place that I found immediately engaging but Melbourne won out as the most ambitious attempt.

When I left for this trip a few things happened. First Bren had a mild freak out at the idea that I'd be staying at his apartment with his other two housemates for so long, unsure if they would be okay with what is effectively a fourth roommate. All our talks and my planning and I'd never actually laid it out in black and white for him. It turned out of course to be fine in the end but it made for a stressful few days. Second, my parents told me to not bother blogging while I was here. They said that it would be boring to read and repetitive so I've decided to limit it to my side trips, of which there will be quite a few because I am out to conquer this country, and a weekly summary of the highlights. Third, and most importantly, I had to prepare my team back at work for what the new status quo would be for a while. The good part is that since I had done a three week trip the year before during the same time frame that they more or less knew what to expect - early mornings and late afternoons of hearing from me. I am extremely fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful and competent people on my team.

 Life here in Collingwood, after about a week, feels very similar to life back at home with a few exceptions. I drink more while I'm here, even spending one night with Bren and Alana up until 5am listening to the two of them discuss 90s music and drinking scotch. I also eat out more but there have been a few nights where Bren has cooked dinner (which was amazingly delicious and very impressive meals). There's a lot more long walks and sun, more time getting work done that normally wouldn't be getting done if I was in the office. Tons more naps. Since my room is the living room slash couch I typically only nap while Bren is at work and then I have full reign of his room, otherwise I spend his nap times catching up on work and video games.

That's where life feels very much the same and different at the same time. Video games. It was how I met Bren four years ago, playing our favorite game Destiny on PlayStation 4. We had been matched up in a random group creator along with Tommy, who I've visited in Texas, and Sake, who I've visited in Hawaii, and a few others. We take turns now playing Destiny 2 and at night we sit side by side playing the Switch. Bren is a fan of Smash Bros so it's been hours of our time playing that together.

Even our New Year's was tame. Bren used the saber I bought him to open a bottle of champagne for us, which is the top 3 coolest ways I've had champagne served to me. Afterwards we went to a local bar and had a few fancy cocktails. One of which tasted like liquid garlic bread. Found the "club" area of the bar to be laughably empty, in fact I was laughing hysterical as soon as I saw all 7 people wandering around in the dark like zombies. Off to another bar to sit outside in the moonlight drinking more cocktails and talking about nothing, then having Bren discover the slightly darker side of Reddit. A short walk home, a nightcap of whisky and then that was it, the new year had begun.

Without blogging everyday the days are all melting into another. It feels like no time has passed at all and at the same time I look at my calendar and see the stark reminder that there are a finite number of days remaining. I've been planning my side trips in piecemeal, not sure if I'll miss something good here or have to be on call for work, which is making it feel like time is slipping through my fingers. It's hard to be mad at that though since I'm so content just to be here. At the same time sometimes I start to think that this could be the last trip I ever make to Melbourne, the last time I ever see Bren's face contort as he rubs his beard in indecision. So I've been trying my best to do well with work and at the same time enjoy every moment that I have here.