{"id":44671,"date":"2018-08-24T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T14:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/?p=44671"},"modified":"2018-08-23T02:30:45","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T16:30:45","slug":"travel-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/travel-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How travel cost me my job but gave me a life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you don\u2019t do it now, you might regret it for the rest of your life,\u201d my friend said. <\/span><\/p>\n

We were sitting in a cafe after work. As I looked across the water of Sydney’s Botany Bay, I knew she was\u00a0right.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was bored, single, and stuck in a rut. Fearful of stepping out of my comfort zone, I had stayed too long in a job that made me miserable. My hopes for marriage also seemed dismal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spurred on by my friend\u2019s advice, I quit my job. With dreams of becoming Australia’s answer to Jacques Cousteau, I loaded up my hatchback with some clothes, scuba gear, and my CV.<\/span><\/p>\n

All packed up, with everywhere to go.<\/p><\/div>\n

Coastal dreaming<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n

I planned to travel the entire coast of Australia, doing locum jobs to support my aquatic addiction. As I turned north onto the M1 at Hornsby, I daydreamed about how I would chronicle my scuba adventures, learn underwater photography, and become like Valerie Taylor (preferably minus the shark bite). <\/span><\/p>\n

An early locum was in Casino, a small town in Northern NSW. I spent weekends in Byron Bay,\u00a0diving with the turtles and teeming schools of fish at Julian Rocks Marine Reserve. Another job took me to the Sunshine Coast, where I explored the colourful corals of Flinders Reef to the sound of whale songs.<\/span><\/p>\n

At one point, with no job to go to, I hopped on a flight to Lady Elliot Island and spent five incredible days in the waters of the southern Great Barrier Reef. I even swam with manta rays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Me at Hamilton Island.<\/p><\/div>\n

Getting my scuba instructor training<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n

A few months in, I did a locum at Mackay. From there, I went to Airlie Beach and fulfilled my dream of becoming a scuba instructor. Long days in the classroom, pool, and ocean were exhausting, but passing my exam was one of the best moments of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Showing off my scuba skills.<\/p><\/div>\n

Three months later and back on the Sunshine Coast, serendipity stepped in. I met my soulmate while doing another locum.<\/span><\/p>\n

How I lost my job<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n

Because I\u2019d met him at work, my boss accused me of inappropriate conduct. I was told to pack my stuff and not come back. Our relationship cost me my job, but has been worth every cent. We were married the next year, in a beautiful chapel at a Coffs Harbour resort.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the happiest days of my life.<\/p><\/div>\n

That was almost 20 years ago. Now, we travel as a family. We have taken our daughters on a six-month trip through Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, NSW, and Queensland. We love travelling together, and hope to take off on another long adventure soon.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so glad I took my friend\u2019s advice. Mostly, I think, you regret the things you haven’t done way more than the things you have. Even if the things you have<\/em> done cost you the occasional job.<\/p>\n

Plan your lastminute getaway<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you don\u2019t do it now, you might regret it for the rest of your life,\u201d my friend said. We..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":44673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,9],"tags":[4336],"acf":{"credits":[{"name":"","label":"","full_url":""}],"enable_review_score":false},"posts_api_cpm_point":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44671"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44683,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44671\/revisions\/44683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}