Celebrating Christmas away from home

When I set off to travel I knew I was going to be away for at least a year, which inevitably meant spending Christmas in another country, more specifically Australia (about as far away from home as I could be!) I accepted this a long time ago and I thought I would dread it but when it came around it really wasn't as bad as I thought. A lot of people have asked me what it's been like to be away from home so here's a short and sweet blog post (after almost a 2 month long blogging break :/) about my Christmas down under. 

The Christmas build - up was really surreal. The 1st of December marked the first day of summer for Australia and the weather really warmed up (albeit slowly and erratically, thanks Melbourne) over the weeks. Christmas decorations below blue skies and pictures of families enjoying a Christmas barbecue is just not something I'm used to, but when you speak to Australians they can't imagine it being cold and dark during Christmas time, so there you go!

Another thing I noticed was that Australia, or Melbourne at least, really doesn't seem to do Christmas as big as we do back in the UK. There's so much more hype back home and Christmas is everywhere, in people's homes, on the radio, on the TV, every brand has their own special Christmas advert and all the shops play Christmas music from at least November. I barley saw anybody adorn their house with lights in Melbourne and I could count on one hand the amount of Christmas songs I heard. I also didn't have an endless list of parties/christmas dos/family gatherings to attend being so far away from home, so I could see it all happening on social media but I wasn't involved, so it really didn't feel like it was happening.

Luckily I live in a big house share where every housemate is British or Irish, so we made big plans for the day. It's a backpacking tradition to go to the beach so after we made a Christmas day feast (barbecue meat and salad) we headed 5 minutes down the road to St Kilda beach.

The atmosphere was phenomenal, the beach was packed and it was a whopping 38 degrees. It was like a huge festival with everybody playing music from speakers, dancing, drinking and chilling in the ocean. The majority of people are young backpackers from all over the world so it was really diverse and an amazing way to celebrate Christmas day.

Christmas is a time of tradition, family and more significatly, home, so homesickness during the build - up was inevitable and I did crave familiarity, but when it came to the day I had such an amazing experience I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to see what Christmas is like on the other side of the world. Definitely one I will always remember.

Travelling space

Ever since we arrived in Australia I've been craving my own space. Three and a half months of hostel hopping had worn me out and although we will travel Australia later on in the year, our first port of call is to find work, settle and save as much as we can. As soon as the idea of work embedded my thoughts my mind shifted. Hostels didn't seem so appealing. I couldn't wait to find work, find a house share and create my own space to live a new life in. Unfortunately it didn't dawn on me that building a completely new life pretty much from scratch takes time. Searching for all of these things at once alongside the personal admin that comes with them (phone number, bank account, generally becoming a person again) is a lengthy process. In the meantime I had to live in a hostel.

Unlike hostels in South East Asia, the majority of people are here on a working holiday visa and this brings a mix of people who are working and living long-term at the hostel or looking for work and getting settled alongside those who are travelling. This made living at the hostel great fun and a huge pain in equal measures. There were a lot of pros; you make a huge amount of friends, are welcomed into a community of like minded people which gives you a good base network in a new city, you pick up a lot of tips and helpful information from your new friends and also have a lot of fun, cheap nights out. Then there are the cons; sharing a small kitchen and cooking a meal with around 15 other people simultaneously, all of whom are cooking a completely different meal (and there's never any forks), sharing a bedroom with 6 other people all with different routines, when you have to get up at 6am for work the next day (especially on a weekend), not having any room to empty out your bag and just generally not having any space.

When I was backpacking South East Asia, none of these things bothered me. Travelling is about a sense of freedom, being wild and spontaneous, not living by routine but on whim, choosing to do whatever you want whenever you want to. Hostels cultivate the perfect environment for this. However, as soon as you have to work, you want to create a routine that sits alongside it. I wanted stability and comfort. I wanted to empty my bag and hang all of my clothes up. I wanted a space to write and blog with nobody else around. When your time is more limited, you seize it, direct it and make the most of it.

After three weeks we found a short-term lease in an apartment in the C.B.D. As soon as I moved in it was a huge breath of fresh air. I felt so much more relaxed. One of the greatest things about travelling (and about anything really) is that everything is always temporary. You can change anything that you want to, and if something isn't working out I need to remember that in time and with a little work and in time it will change. In another three weeks we need to move again! House-hunting is next on the list!

Grace xo