2018— the last time I had the guts to blog about my travels. I was in New York for the first time. My siblings and I surprised my parents for their silver wedding anniversary. Dined in our first 3-Michelin star restaurant. Collaborated with a local photographer. Caught up with a few of our family friends from back home. I had all these highlights to talk about yet all I was able to post was series of photos captured from the streets of NY. They weren’t even my best shots!
To be honest, I have a lot of experience that I loved writing about but I never grew the courage to publish. Maybe because I just constantly feared that my words will never justify how exhilarating (or dangerous for that matter) some of my days had been. That, and because my 2018 self never believed in my work… whatever field it may be.
Recently, I had a glance on my scribbles and drafts during my travels and OH-MY-DAYS do time change you! Some of them were well thought of. I remember spending hours and days trying to ‘perfect’ my articles because I genuinely wanted this blog to be a useful reference for aspiring travelers. Most of them ended up sounding as if it was written in a senior highschool point of view—adulting, but not really ready. I had several life-changing encounters that could’ve inspired other people to travel yet I’ve only written about how strong cocktail drinks and coffee can be in Central America. In retrospect, I actually had a reason to doubt myself after all.
So, to my imaginary readers, let me take this opportunity to (re)introduce myself to you:
I used to be a solo backpacker. Few jobs and work visas later, I turned into an all-type of tourist (if it really must be labelled). I’ve travelled with friends, spent luxuriously, but oftentimes, still wandered on a budget just like my humble beginnings. If I may add, I haven’t travelled alone since I met my new partner in crime, Ben.
When I started this blog, I used to live in Sydney, AU (2015). However, for the past 2 years, I’ve been residing in London, UK. Unfortunately, 5 years down the road and I’m still not a digital nomad like what I thought I would be (amongst many other things, really) but I’ve had jobs that I could only dream of had I stayed in Vancouver.
FUN FACT: I used to be a Fashion Buyer and Merchandiser Intern for a company that supplies for Miss Guided, Pretty Little Thing, Etc.
My life used to revolve around travelling only. If you ask the 25-year old Berylle for her opinion about your life decisions— if school was a good choice, if you were on the right track of your career, if you should take those weekly overtime shifts, the answers will always followed by “will this allow you to travel or get you the life that you want after?”. I know, I know. I wasn’t much of a help and I apologise to those people whose years were wasted because of my Live-Laugh-Love phase. But you’d be glad to know that moving to the UK has turned me into a career-oriented underachiever. Being in a big city such as London just gets you. Feel free to ask me about your quarter life crisis to put my development to test! (I’m kidding, please don’t.)
For the longest time, my excuse to my excessive travelling is that I’m trying to figure out what I actually want— career-wise, where I’d love to settle, and if I really need a degree. Pretty much escaping from being a functional adult. Nowadays, I travel because I’m scared that I won’t be able to keep doing this when I hit my 30’s.
Last year, for my birthday, I renamed my savings pot from Travel Budget to Investments, can you believe that? All these years of running away from responsibilities, and finally, adulting caught up on me.
One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is my love for photography. Back then, I would carry this huge Brixton bag to fit in my SLR, Go pro, disposable camera, and my Fujifilm N90 because “I wanted to capture every moment”. (I genuinely wish someone called me out on the days I was being impractical)
But few of my misadventures in the UK include:
-Getting my backpack stolen (had my Macbook that I’ve been using since day 1 of my travels and ALL of my external hard drives).
– A Belgian/British courier losing my cameras in the shipment (more details on my future post).
-Having my iPad stolen right from my bag on my way to work.
-Conveniently, my phone stopped working because of the motherboard.
**If this is your first time reading my blog, let me assure you that I’m okay and this is already part of my life being Badluck Berylle.**
As cheesy as it sounds, it made me realise how much things I can actually live without. (Although I must admit, it took me awhile to recover when I lost all my travel photos but that’s another story.) Ultimately, my passion for photography is still there but I learned that an iPod touch captures the same sunset as my DSLR. The former being horrendously pixelated and lacking some colours but you get the point.
It’s been two years since the last time I had the guts to blog about my travels. Since then, my travelling lifestyle has changed. My career has changed. Moved to another country. Accepted adulthood and my fate being Badluck Berylle. I have all these highlights (and changes) to talk about but I hope that I finally grow the courage to be able to post the rest of my experience without resorting to publishing a series of my shitty iPod touch photos. They’re also not my best shots!
PROJECT WANDERLUST 