So here I am, sitting at my desk... It's 12 minutes past midnight and in six hours, I'll be strapping myself up to depart... My packed bag leans up against the wall behind to me...
I can't believe it... Most people achieve their dreams during the latter part of their lives, but mine has been arranged to begin it.
Ever since I was a kid, I remember sitting cross-legged on a carpet floor watching a video on Japan.... Something about it's culture and history struck me as being something out of this world and, although at a young age, I had already recognized my calling...
Most kids dream of being an astronaut or a fireman during adolescence, but not me... I always knew I wanted to do something that would take me away from what I regarded as normal...
Don't get me wrong, Australia is a great country... We have the freedom to study, the freedom
to work for good money and the freedom to live fulfilling lives but what we don't have is the freedom to appreciate foreign values and experiences, without travel... This is where I intend to capitalize...
90% of the people I talk to about my trip make it clear to me that my initiative will do me well in the future, but there is still that 10% that asks questions like: "Shouldn't you be going to uni?" and "Are you sure you're old enough to travel the world?". To those people I say: "When else will I get the opportunity to fulfill this goal of mine?"
Realistically, once you enroll for university, you're pretty much in it for the long haul (especially in practical work-experience type uni's like QUT in QLD and RMIT in VIC) considering that, in most cases, the last year or two of a course consists of work-place experience, which will inevitably lead to a full-time job, hence inability to take extended time off.
Now, I know I may be blabbering on a bit, since I have realized the impossibility of sleep tonight, but in all seriousness, I've made the decision to perform a trip of this magnitude purely on the instinct that I may never have the chance to do it again. This coincides nicely with my life motto (used in my retrospective speech of year 12), "Carpe Diem" - Latin for Seize the Day.
OK, now, 5 hours from now, I'll be setting off for the airport... The plan is to catch my 8:55am JAL plane to Narita Airport in Tokyo. After arrival, I will pass through customs (hopefully) before boarding the Narita Express train to Shinjuku station, where I will meet a mate of mine, Neil Duckett, who lives and works in Tokyo. He has been kind enough to offer me a place to stay for 2 weeks before I head over to Osaka, where I will meet my old host family, from the exchange I conducted with my school in '05/'06.
As a closing remark to this post, I will agree that my trip is a tad on the risky side (about 70% of the trip being planned and 30% left to chance) but what great feat was ever achieved without risk?
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