After years of travel dreaming, whilst at home with two small children, and endless days and nights of mulling over whether or not taking the year off to wander the world was a good decision for our family, we finally decided late in 2019, that we’d take the plunge. Our eldest turning five gave us a push to pack up our house and hit the road. The thought of being tied to a school schedule was just the motivation we needed to make one of our travel goals come true. That and the fact that at the age of two, our youngest was at a much more manageable age for coping with long flights and excursions to foreign places.

My husband is an online running coach and I run the marketing and design side of the business so the plan was for him to keep working and I would spend most of my time looking after the children. This in itself made me very nervous, but we decided that we’d take the plunge, give it a go and see what happened. If everything goes terribly wrong, we told ourselves, we can always turn around and come home again. Only we didn’t really expect to need to come home, especially not six weeks into our trip, and especially not due to a worldwide pandemic.

So after a week in Singapore, two weeks in India (one at a yoga retreat!), two weeks in Penang and Kuala Lumpar and a week and a half in Japan we found ourselves in an Air BnB in Adelaide where our families live, but far away from our current ‘home’ of Byron Bay. Trying very hard to not feel too disappointed by our ruined plans. To focus on the present day and remind ourselves that our current situation is temporary (‘don’t confuse a season for a lifetime’ in the words of one of my very wise yoga teachers).

Singapore

Goa, India

Kochi, India

Kerala backwaters, India

Munnar, India

Penang, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We were in Kyoto, Japan when the news of the pandemic grew worse by the day. I was feeling very anxious after arriving in a place that was so foreign and where I knew there had been some serious history with the coronavirus. But our day to day life in Kyoto was so joyous. We wandered the character-filled backstreets, visited the temples, both big and small, saw the beautiful cherry blossoms start to bloom, walked with the Japanese people, so excited to be amidst the blooming sakura, ate delicious Japanese food and drank tea and coffee in the cutest of cafes. Layla and Etienne were treated like royalty, given little gifts everywhere we went and asked to pose amidst the cherry blossoms for photos (which Layla loved!). We wandered the Path of Philosophy, one of my favourite places in the world, and I was full of gratitude that our dream of returning to Japan had come true.

Kyoto, Japan

But of course our time was also tinged with worry and sadness as the world spun into more and more chaos with every day that passed. As airlines cancelled flights and countries closed borders. Whilst I tried to remember that there were people in much worse positions than us I couldn’t help but feel robbed … that we had actually made it to Japan during the sakura season where we planned to stay for eight whole weeks but that the experience of a lifetime was about to be pulled out from under our feet.

When the word from our Prime Minister came that all Australians should return home as soon possible we tried to rationalise how we could remain in Japan where we felt safe and oh-so-happy. The supermarkets were stocked, life seemed to continue as usual and there was no panic on the streets. But in the end our need for safety and security amidst the chaos and the fact that our travel insurance would not continue to cover us if we remained made the decision for us. A few days later we were on the last scheduled Qantas flight leaving from Tokyo for the foreseeable future.

For now I take one day at a time. Today is the last day of our quarantine period and this afternoon we will go for a family walk, breathe in the fresh air and soak up the sight of the horizon. And I take great comfort in looking at the photos I took during our six weeks of adventure and happily remembering the wonderful memories made. I hope you’ll join me as I publish photos and stories of our ‘little big adventure’.

Of course I am also sending love to everyone whose worlds have been shaken apart in whatever way they have. There are so many stories of heartache and loss from this time that are so hard to comprehend. I think of all the people we met along the way, the drivers, the hotel staff, the people at the yoga retreat, the boat drivers and I wonder what has happened to them. I wish I could reach out and help in some way. I think of those who have lost their lives, alone and afraid, of the medical staff who have seen more death and destruction than anyone dreams of ever seeing. No-one knows what the future holds but I hope this experience will make me more grateful for the experiences I have had, more determined to be kind and thoughtful and willing to reach out to my fellow humans in need and more courageous to follow my heart and dreams.