For the first time in my life I can say that I was genuinely, 100% unthinkingly impulsive. “What is this madness?!” you say? Let me dive right in.
I’d been preparing to leave Australia and continue my adventure in North America. I had hostels booked in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. My train and flights were locked in, as was an Alcatraz tour. I was ready to rock.
I’d closed my bank accounts, lodged my tax return and made the necessary enquiries with regard to claiming back superannuation in Australia.
When it came to packing, everything got a bit real. It hit home that I would be on the move again as I decanted my washing powder into a zip lock bag. That’s when I started to think about sharing a room with up to 7 other people, about queueing for washing machines. About standing in a flooded shower tray because I refused to pick out someone else’s hair from the plug hole and finally about having to wash up before being able to cook anything and then washing up again afterwards because I couldn’t, in good conscience, leave it. That’s when it all started to get real.
The day came and I dragged my sorry self to the airport. With every stop the bus made, I had felt less and less excited and more apprehensive. Not the excited kind of apprehension you expect but instead a kind of creeping doom. I genuinely felt like getting onto a plane anywhere that wasn’t London just wasn’t going to cut it. This feeling intensified as my check in time got closer.
It was check in minus 10 minutes and I was fantasising about reasons not to go to the USA and to go home instead. That’s when it hit me. Surely, just wanting to go home was a good enough reason to do it? I decided immediately that it was and marched myself to the Virgin Australia ticket desk.
During the march I decided to pay no more than $1200AUD to get home. I waited in a most un-British and impatient manner whilst the lady tapped away checking flight availability. In my head, all I could hear, was my plaintiff request to the universe ‘Please be less than 1200 bucks’ repeating over and over and over. Finally she finished on the computer and said “Oh, well with airport taxes it comes to $1150. Is that alright? It’s a fair cost for that flight”. By the time she’d finished her spiel I was in tears and thrusting my cash and credit card at her. Bless her. She was ever so worried and kept asking if I was alright but all I could do was nod, smile through my bawling and say “I’m bloody brilliant. I’m going home!”.
And that is the most spontaneous thing I’ve ever done. Fact.
Lincs to London 