Getting Lost.
It's been a while since I came back from Australia, the only country I've travelled alone. It'll take a few posts for me to cover everything that I did there and that there is to know, from whatever I could learn in four and a half months but let me start with some general philosophy.
The best thing that can probably happen to you when in a different country is get lost. You can have the worst experience of your life at that point or the best one; either way, you'll learn much more than you could walking around with your organized plan trying to fulfill your to do list. For once, you'll see the place with your eyes wide open, you'll see people for who they are and in all the adrenaline rush and your guards down, you'll see a whole new side of yourself. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't mean to mislead you into a trap where you get yourself harmed. ,I mean to tell you to be okay with letting go of that carefully mapped out plan of yours for once, to soak in the place as it is. That's when you take in the real beauty of it.
I was in my second month in Australia when I has the (mis) fortune of taking the wrong train while trying to get to the airport frugally using public transport. I was in Brisbane at the point, flying to Melbourne. The boards at the train station read "Inbound to City", "Outbound from City". Being in the city, I figured I should take the outbound train. Now, here I am, standing in the train, happy that I reached right on time to catch it, the last one which would take me on time, finally breathing in peace that I can relax when the stops mentioned on the speaker system make me suspicious about where I was headed. Was I on a Gold Coast train? Is the Gold Coast in the same direction as the airport? Are they just failing to mention that the airport is a stop? The questions reeled inside my head. And then I asked a family if I was in fact on the wrong train, only to have my worst fears confirmed. What I would have done to have the train stop then and there, to get off on the tracks if I could and run back to the station. As luck would have it, it was an express train, meaning that it didn't stop. The only saving grace was that there was one two minute stop somewhere before it finally headed to the Coast. The stop was somewhere called Altandi, a place which I had never heard of before. But it was all I could do to not be on the Coast for crying out loud. So I got off. Now, at the station, I was walking in what seemed like a maze to which nobody seemed to know the exit. My flight was in a little over an hour and all I wanted to do was catch a cab; I was done being frugal. All trains to the airport were much too late for my schedule. I finally got out to find myself in the middle of a deserted neighbourhood. I texted my best friend in India to send me any cab company's number while I figured this out and I called a cab only to give them vague directions about my location. Next thing I knew I was on the highway, on the sidewalk, standing alone on the sidewalk, stranded with my luggage, just walking. For all I knew, the cab could be on the other side of the highway and never locate me. I came to a petrol pump, shady as hell. Ten minutes later, a maxi cab, hitherto parked at the gas station stopped right in frontof me, asked me where I was headed and the driver asked me to "get in". Boy, growing up in India, this was as scary as it gets, You hear horror stories about getting into cars like this. But as desperate as I was, I didn't even care to check if it was in fact a real cab and said sure and got in. Then I called my best friend and told him what I'd gotten myself into and that I might just be in deep trouble but I kept mapping and using my GPS and flouting all speeding limits, 20 minutes and a hundred dollars later, the kind soul ensured I was at the airport a little before time. Before time. Would you believe that? I didn't. I reached just in time to receive my dad's call telling him I was at the airport getting some water. :P
It was one of the most memorable experiences I've had. My friends in Australia still make fun of Inbound-Outbound. And one of them didn't let me take the train. He ensured he dropped to the airport next time I needed to go. Another kind soul.
I met the best people in Australia, I saw the most beautiful places. And most importantly, I had the most wonderful experiences.
By the way, as I was told later, Altandi was not the middle of nowhere. I was very very to where my University actually is. I just didn't know. :P Haha! What a day it was.
Until next time, keep finding. :)
The best thing that can probably happen to you when in a different country is get lost. You can have the worst experience of your life at that point or the best one; either way, you'll learn much more than you could walking around with your organized plan trying to fulfill your to do list. For once, you'll see the place with your eyes wide open, you'll see people for who they are and in all the adrenaline rush and your guards down, you'll see a whole new side of yourself. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't mean to mislead you into a trap where you get yourself harmed. ,I mean to tell you to be okay with letting go of that carefully mapped out plan of yours for once, to soak in the place as it is. That's when you take in the real beauty of it.
I was in my second month in Australia when I has the (mis) fortune of taking the wrong train while trying to get to the airport frugally using public transport. I was in Brisbane at the point, flying to Melbourne. The boards at the train station read "Inbound to City", "Outbound from City". Being in the city, I figured I should take the outbound train. Now, here I am, standing in the train, happy that I reached right on time to catch it, the last one which would take me on time, finally breathing in peace that I can relax when the stops mentioned on the speaker system make me suspicious about where I was headed. Was I on a Gold Coast train? Is the Gold Coast in the same direction as the airport? Are they just failing to mention that the airport is a stop? The questions reeled inside my head. And then I asked a family if I was in fact on the wrong train, only to have my worst fears confirmed. What I would have done to have the train stop then and there, to get off on the tracks if I could and run back to the station. As luck would have it, it was an express train, meaning that it didn't stop. The only saving grace was that there was one two minute stop somewhere before it finally headed to the Coast. The stop was somewhere called Altandi, a place which I had never heard of before. But it was all I could do to not be on the Coast for crying out loud. So I got off. Now, at the station, I was walking in what seemed like a maze to which nobody seemed to know the exit. My flight was in a little over an hour and all I wanted to do was catch a cab; I was done being frugal. All trains to the airport were much too late for my schedule. I finally got out to find myself in the middle of a deserted neighbourhood. I texted my best friend in India to send me any cab company's number while I figured this out and I called a cab only to give them vague directions about my location. Next thing I knew I was on the highway, on the sidewalk, standing alone on the sidewalk, stranded with my luggage, just walking. For all I knew, the cab could be on the other side of the highway and never locate me. I came to a petrol pump, shady as hell. Ten minutes later, a maxi cab, hitherto parked at the gas station stopped right in frontof me, asked me where I was headed and the driver asked me to "get in". Boy, growing up in India, this was as scary as it gets, You hear horror stories about getting into cars like this. But as desperate as I was, I didn't even care to check if it was in fact a real cab and said sure and got in. Then I called my best friend and told him what I'd gotten myself into and that I might just be in deep trouble but I kept mapping and using my GPS and flouting all speeding limits, 20 minutes and a hundred dollars later, the kind soul ensured I was at the airport a little before time. Before time. Would you believe that? I didn't. I reached just in time to receive my dad's call telling him I was at the airport getting some water. :P
It was one of the most memorable experiences I've had. My friends in Australia still make fun of Inbound-Outbound. And one of them didn't let me take the train. He ensured he dropped to the airport next time I needed to go. Another kind soul.
I met the best people in Australia, I saw the most beautiful places. And most importantly, I had the most wonderful experiences.
By the way, as I was told later, Altandi was not the middle of nowhere. I was very very to where my University actually is. I just didn't know. :P Haha! What a day it was.
Until next time, keep finding. :)
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