Inspired by Homer’s epic, this series explores the journeys that changed our editors’ lives. From conquering fears in Indonesia and postpartum resets in Greece via existential epiphanies in Paris, these are modern odysseys to inspire your next adventure. Here, commerce editor Sarah Bannerman reflects on a journey across the world.
When I booked my flights from London to Sydney, completely alone, at the chipper age of 21, I had a very straightforward plan. I’d stay in the city for a week before travelling up the East Coast for the following seven, and I’d be back in the UK in time for Christmas. Little did I know I’d fall so deeply in love with the place, the culture and the people – one specific person – that I’d return home no less than 365 days later, having met the man I would spend the rest of my life with. Or that it would change me in ways I’d be eternally grateful for.
At my core, I’m a very structured person. I like an itinerary, and I’d spent plenty of time making a very strict one for this trip. But just three stops into my journey, devastating floods hit New South Wales. I’d just arrived on the Gold Coast and I didn’t so much as glimpse those famous glimmering sands before boomeranging back to Sydney.
Arriving in the city for a second time was different. It was no longer unknown; instead, it felt like a comfort blanket. I’d only spent a short time there, but it felt familiar. It had become a place I could call home. This is when I met Lewis – my now husband, and the father of my two children. He was part of a wider group of expats I happily called my friends. We spent carefree days on Bondi Beach, wild nights in the bars in King’s Cross, and occasionally threw in some kind of cultural activity for good measure.
But I had no interest in romance. My end goal was unwavering – I rebooked my flight to the Whitsundays for a month later. I was sticking to the plan. The day I was due to leave, a cyclone hit that very destination. Highly emotional, overly irrational and catastrophising in only the way a 21-year-old with no real problems can, I did not handle it well. But these natural disasters were leaving devastation in their wake, and I was sitting pretty in a city I had come to adore, with the world quite literally at my feet.
