A Familiar Feeling....

There is no cure for that flutter in the pit of your stomach that comes with packing up your life and moving to another country. It is a familiar feeling. I have been here before. A little stronger, a little wiser and perhaps a little wealthier, but nothing can get rid of those thoughts in the back of your head. It does not matter now that i have a little more savings to rely on should it all "not work out". Sure, i have been away from home for twelve months before. Of course I know how to make friends in a country where i know next to no one. However, there is still that feeling of "am i really doing the right thing here?"

And then i think about the meaning of the "right thing". What would it look like? Staying in Sydney Australia with my loved ones yet yearning for adventure in a far away land? Or moving to a far away land to experience adventure yet yearning for my loved ones? It has always been a very hard trade off for me and one that my loved ones know only too well. Travelling is in my blood, in my bones and deep within my soul. Sitting in an office is like sitting on the sidelines. It has not been fair.

Now, i have been blessed with the opportunity to travel as well as work. I am also blessed that I am going to be able to make the journey back to my homeland on a fairly regular basis so that I can see my loved ones. It was never that simple when i was in the United Kingdom.

I am faced with an enormous amount of work to ensure that I am across in Singapore by the 20th April 2009. Apartments to pack up, storage space to be filled, bike races to be ridden, trips to Singapore and Melbourne to be undertaken in the meantime, bank accounts to open, salaries to negotiate, contracts to draw up, visas to be applied for, taxes to be lodged, accommodation to be found.....

Sleep has been hard to come by lately. I lay awake and wonder where i will be sleeping - whether i will be sleeping. Singapore is notoriously hot. Its humid. Its hard. Its overwhelming. Its Asia.

Training is still being maintained but good eating is hard. My fridge is empty. I am living in an empty apartment. I don't know where my knives and forks have gone. I eat when i am nervous and stressed.

So this begins the story of a girl who is about to see things she only ever dreamed. She is also about to see places that will break her heart, charm her, challenge her, tear her apart. She is going to Asia.