The Journey so far - An Overview

So, Hello! I guess?

This is my first blog ever, therefore this is a kind of learning by doing experience for me. I could have started with this earlier but as you can imagine, all the preparations were really time-consuming and cost us a lot of effort and nerves too. Instead of rolling up the past too much before I get to what is actually happening now to Kadri and me. I am gonna start with a brief overview and post other "pre-Australia" things one by one. Otherwise, it is taking an eternity to catch up with everything.

Let's summarize really quick how we got here.

8th of July 2018

"Before it is too late and we would never forgive ourselves!"

Kadri and I applied for the Work & Travel visa (217) in July 2018. As Kadri would have turned 31 in the same month, we had to apply for the visa to be still applicable because you must apply until you are still 30. We were super surprised that we got permission to go after less than 10 minutes already! Since that day, we were holding the visa in our hands. Which means, we had one year to come to Australia and to start our adventure.

December 2018 / January 2019

"We will do it!" 

That is what we have said to us. And so the final decision was made to do it and to make this whole idea and dream happen. Until that point, it was an idea, a dream but we did not really take further action until that moment. "Der Groschen war gefallen" - the coin has dropped and from that day on, we had to figure out how the next weeks/months would look like and what we have to do.

March 2019

"Let us press the button together!"

Booked! Our flight route to Australia was set. We would start from Tallinn and make a stop in Prague, then off to Germany and finally, we would fly from Dusseldorf Airport with Eurowings and to Bangkok with a stop-over of a couple of days. Last but not least, we would fly with Jetstar to Melbourne.

"How to tell our bosses?"

This was really a question that kept us struggling for quite some time. We have already decided that we want to go and the tickets were booked, but, how do you tell your boss that you want to go away for a year to the other side of the globe? It was quite a struggle for us and especially for me since I got along with my boss really well. I think that I should write about this in another post because this was an emotional rollercoaster ride for me and I think that others might have faced or will face a similar situation when making that step.

May 2019

"We are unemployed, woohoo!"

Apparently, we are still in possessions of our heads and were not chopped off by our bosses but I think we were about to lose our heads anyway a bit in that month. We had only a few weeks left before departure and there was so much to organise! Farewells with friends, colleagues and most importantly, with our families.

Our lovely Tallinn, seen from the Sky Wheel on top of T1 - Mall of Tallinn

24th of May 2019

"Now there is no turning back anymore!"

The day of departure... tears and emotions. All upside down. I can be an emotional person and especially when others start to cry when I can't hold some tears back either. We knew we would see Kadri's family once more in Germany but it was not certain yet if all of them would come over.

May / June 2019

"What a beautiful place!"

I think I have said that a couple of times on our little European tour via Czechia and Germany and later on in Bangkok as well. We spent a few days in Prague, which was for me the very first time. Here we met friends of Kadri, made a day trip to Kutna Hora and discovered the beauties of The Golden City.

Later on, we went to Germany to see my family in Gahma & Halle and then to Heidelberg to meet my friends again for another farewell. (First was is April 2018 before I moved to Estonia) So, once again, I had to hear from them what a terrible friend I am and how I leave them all alone etc. :D

Since Kadri's family was coming over to stay a few days in Oberhausen and Essen and was also flying to and From Dusseldorf, we could meet once more and say goodbye but this time it was final. After that, they would sit on their plane back to Tallinn and we on ours to Vienna and then to Bangkok...

Bangkok was an amazing place. A "Kingdom of Contrasts" as Kadri described it, I can only underline it. All the smells, the food, the temples, the places we have seen were just amazing. Amazing in good, but also in bad ways. I will definitely write a whole chapter about that city and experience.

14th of June 2019

"We made it!"

After watching "Border Patrol" in Estonian TV, we thought it would take an eternity before we would let into the country but within an hour and 15 min after landing, we were here! We made it, we arrived safe and sound but freaking tired. From here on, this post ends and the adventure begins...

The view from the peak of Granite Hills Park in the north of South Morang/Melbourne.

_

P.S. 

Since I am a bit of a map nerdy, I have created this map to show our journey to Australia. Probably, I will keep on going with that idea because it shows pretty well where we have been and how far these places are actually apart from each other.