Where it all began
In July 2010, I boarded the first long distance flight of my entire life. I was 24, and I had never left the country of my birth, Malaysia, except for a couple of trips to neighboring Singapore. I had just spent several months working in a job that I fervently loathed, and had graduated from a degree that I had no interest in.
I was at a loss as to where to go from here, and I felt a burning desire to finally take control of my life for the first time.
I was by no means alone in my feelings, by the way. It’s the Asian expectation, the well-trodden tracks of middle-class Malaysian life: you get a degree in a stable field, then you get a stable job, buy a house, get married, have kids, and live there until you die.
It wasn’t uncommon for people to want to do things differently… but the expectation was that you would suck it up and do the things that you were supposed to do anyway. As an old college-mate of mine said: “I buried my dreams a long time ago.”
I didn’t want to do that.
So I applied for a working holiday visa in New Zealand. When it was approved, I bought a one way ticket.
My decision to leave wasn’t exactly well-received. My protective parents were wringing their hands in fear and worry, and quite understandably so. Gap years, working holidays and young women traveling alone were virtually unheard of in Malaysian society, especially in their generation.
Despite their fears, they were eventually supportive, and so I found myself waving goodbye with a suitcase containing the next 6 months of my life.
Christchurch, and my first time living abroad
It was my first time going abroad, so naturally I made a bunch of rookie mistakes. I left my bag containing my passport in the airport toilets, and someone came chasing after me with it. When I arrived in my little flat-share room in New Zealand, it didn’t have any heating, and I had no idea that portable heaters existed.
And so that was how I spent my first night outside of the tropics: in the South Island of New Zealand, in the heart of winter, with no heating.
I was hooked!
For the first two decades of my life, I had been an extremely bookish person. I loved reading, and devoured anything that I could get my hands on: Dickens, Tolkien, Bronte, Enid Blyton, Sweet Valley, Nancy Drew, the backs of cereal boxes, a hilarious book that I found in my school library titled “Etiquette for young women”… Suffice to say, I wasn’t exactly picky.
Like many other kids in Kuala Lumpur, school holidays for me were mostly spent indoors, and a weekend family outing meant going to the mall. I could count the number of times that I’d been out in nature on one hand – and each time I had been dragged kicking and screaming, loathing the heat and humidity and the insects.
But New Zealand… New Zealand WAS the place that I had escaped to in my mind with my books. It was the enchanted forest, the mossy glade, the bubbling stream, the misty mountains of lore. The air was crisp and cool, and so clean that I could see hills that were miles away as clearly as if they were next to me.
All of a sudden, I was living in a place where I liked being outdoors, and I wanted more of it.
My first day in New Zealand marked several firsts in my life: I took a public bus for the first time, spent several hours outdoors for the first time (voluntarily), and walked more than a couple of kilometers for the first time.
I also found out about oil heaters from my flatmates, and bought one to use in my room at night. I like the cold… but not that much.
A month later, I did my first real hike, a short climb up Conical Hill in Hanmer Springs. Then another in the Kaikoura peninsula, where I discovered that the Kiwi definition of “family-friendly easy walk” was way different from what I had in mind.
Six months later, I was hiking up a glacier.
The career change
After completing my working holiday, I applied for a Graduate Diploma program at a New Zealand university to study Computer Science, one of the few areas where my passion intersected with the ability to get paid.
Even though anyone with a prior degree is technically eligible, the Graduate Diploma program is generally intended for people transitioning from a related field, i.e. from Information Technology or Data Science, etc. This is because you take the same classes that a third-year Computer Science undergraduate student does.
Essentially, you are jumping into third year material from day one. This saves you a lot of money (it costs one third of a standard degree), but it can be rough if you don’t have prior knowledge of the topic.
Did I mention that my prior degree was in pharmacy?
It was difficult, I won’t lie. I felt like I was in way over my head, and I had to spend a lot of time outside classes learning foundational material that I should have known already. It was a precarious juggling act, and if I dropped any balls it would be game over, because I couldn’t afford to retake a semester.
Oddly, at the same time, I felt really, really happy. For the first time in my life, I was learning and doing something that I was interested in. For the first time in my life, I was enjoying an active lifestyle and exploring nature. For the first time of my life, I was at the helm of my own ship.
For the first time in my life, I felt… free.
Where am I now?
Many years have passed since then.
I survived the devastating Christchurch earthquake in 2010, and the even more devastating aftershock in 2011. My heart broke for the people of that beautiful city, who had endured so much… and then I watched them rebuild stronger than ever, with a resilience that showed me what kind of person I wanted to be.
This is the last photo that I took of the original Christchurch Cathedral, during the Festival of Flowers in February 2011. It was destroyed days later.
I graduated from my computer science program (with distinction!), and went on to complete postgraduate studies in the same field. I started working as a software developer.
I found love. I moved with my partner to a few other cities in New Zealand, eventually crossing the ditch to live in Australia. We got married in Queenstown, joining our hands in front of friends and family in a quaint winery estate overlooking Lake Hayes.
And I traveled the world.
Working with a global organization, there were hackathons and conferences held each year in various countries, and I was fortunate to be able to attend many of them. Sometimes I extended my stay to do a bit of solo travel. I fell in love with Europe and spent a month there twice.
My husband and I also spend a lot of our leisure time traveling together – mostly domestic trips around Australia and New Zealand, with occasional trips abroad.
Looking back, it all started with that one flight. If I hadn’t taken that flight, the trajectory of my life would have been so different.
Why did I start this website?
Well, a few different things.
I discovered a few years ago that I like helping people with their travel plans. As in, really, really like it, to the extent that I was spending a few hours a week posting anonymously on various travel forums and platforms.
I also enjoy amateur photography and taking photos of the places that I visit. I don’t much fancy being in front of a camera, but I’m a big fan of being behind one.
And, like many little girls before me, I once had dreams of becoming a writer.
For the past few years, I thought about starting a travel blog a lot, but didn’t actually take the next step. The main issue holding me back was the question: how was I going to compete with the bloggers who travel full-time, when I don’t?
The honest answer is, I can’t. But… maybe I don’t have to.
In general, I travel very differently (and thus have different content) from the people who do travel full-time.
I travel on a mid-range budget, and I bring a suitcase with me (blasphemy, I know). I’m totally up for paying a bit of money to save time or to get a good night’s sleep. I’m also forced to condense everything I want to do and see in a country into “only” 2-4 weeks, trying to find the sweet spot between experiencing a place deeply and bowing to logistical realities.
I feel like my travel style is closer to that of the average person in their 30s and beyond than a full-time traveler’s would be.
I wanted to write about a style of travel that is likely to fit someone with a day job, a few weeks of leave a year, and maybe a partner. I wanted to write the things that would have helped me while I was planning my own trips.
I hope this helps you too.