Learning to be a travelbug.

I was never into travel when I was younger. 

I tend to blame my parents - Family holidays could be a little stressful for a number of reasons. 

That's just an excuse though.  The reason I never went anywhere was I was always very shy, introverted and socially inept.  Until quite recently I simply couldn't talk to people I don't know.  I was pretty nervous around strangers and extremely uncomfortable in social situations where I didn't know the rules.  I was way too much of an introvert to be able to tolerate the company of one other person for several weeks, and tend to be far too aware of the other personand what they want to do to be myself

A few things changed my mind.  amadou  went off on holiday to Australia.  She went on her own.  It really didn't occur to me that you might jut go on your own. 

Shortly after that a friend of mine got married.  In New York.  It seemed like a good idea to go there.  NY is a fairly safe place to visit.  They speak English, and it's in the media so much that it's pretty familiar.  Realising that it's possible to go somewhere on your own, I did so.  This was the first holiday I'd ever decided to go on.  I had a decent enough time there but wasn't really sure what to do.  Also, I was still very shy, so didn't meet anyone or do anything that might be regarded as social.  Basically, I didn't know how to do a holiday.  I might go back somewhere and do it properly.   

It was a good year or so later that I went to Worldcon and met tinkerbell1980 , and my worldview was changed.    She just visited places.  If she wanted to be sociable she'd grab a random person and start talking to them.  If something looked like fun she'd go and do it.  The idea of impulsiveness was completely alien to me.  I'm a control freak.  It amazed me just doing stuff and assuming it was going to be okay seemed to work and was actually fun. 

So I went to Japan.  I didn't overplan.  I just took each day as it came.  I occasionally dived in and did something with no idea of what I was doing.  As a result I tried some interesting and unusual food, visited Ito, which while it does have a tourist map isn't actually a place many people visit.  This seemed like a mistake at the time and I felt I should do what the other tourists do but I learned that it's actually pretty cool to do something else.  I did other things as well.  Hadn't planned enough time there though.  I wanted to visit so many places and didn't.  It was a cool holiday, just far too short.

I used what I learned with my recent trip to Australia.  If something looks interesting, have a look.  Don't worry about what you should be doing, work out what you want to do.  I loved my time in Australia.  I miss the place already.  

Right now I'm thinking I'd like to a few months living and working in Melbourne.  If I was the current me a few years ago - when I lost my job I probably would have actively looked for overseas work.  I wasn't.  Really I had to go to Worldcon in 2005 to find myself.   Do I really want to though, or am I just missing being on holiday?  Am I in a position to?  I feel I may be at the wrong stage in my life. I've made friends and got quite comfortable in Brighton.  I want to settle down properly, buy a house, be an adult.  And I'm over 30 now.  Makes it that little bit harder.

I shall ponder the question.  I have paid employment up to the end of the year, and I'm not stupid enough to drop that.  Not going to do anything any time soon.