Pieces of Elyse

Wanderlust is a sneaky minx. She seduces you with the promise of faraway lands and unreachable horizons, and wafts the spine-tingling scents of exotic cuisines and mysterious cocktails under your nose. My fellow Gen Yers and I were born with the innate desire to travel, and we also have more capability to do so than any other cohort before us. This is a blessing and a curse, because for most of us we don’t just catch the travel bug, we catch this all-consuming travel plague that refuses to grant us full control of our limbs unless they promise to carry us in the direction of the next international flight.

Jumping on a plane and only pausing to yell ‘Cya later!’ to friends and family is a scenario that has been on repeat in my mind for years. But as a uni student who is God-damned determined to finish her Masters degree if its the last thing she does, and also has chronic empty wallet syndrome, beginning a grand voyage into the unknown is just a little unrealistic right now.

Don’t get me wrong, despite my wallet comment I’m not trying to cry poor. I’ve been lucky enough to embark on two European escapades in the last two years and both trips opened my eyes to the world in ways that I could never have imagined. But as soon as you start thinking about the world in such an open-minded way it’s not something you can unsee, and before you know it your feet are doing a weird twitchy dance to subtly inch you closer to your suitcase.

A large part of why I started this blog was to combat my constant yearning for foreign adventures because they just can’t happen right now and I need to recognise that I’m ridiculously lucky to be where I am. Heaps of people move to Melbourne every year for a fresh start, because duh, Melbourne is one of the best cities in the world! So it was time for me to pull my head out of the clouds for a bit, and appreciate the ground that my feet stand on. Amazing food, incredible fashion, gorgeous landscapes and ridiculously intelligent writers surround me, and whilst I dream for somewhere else I am not appreciating what I’ve got.

So writing this blog will hopefully help me look around and see, really see, the wonders that surround me and expose wanderlust for the temptress that she is. I will travel, one day, but for now I will only write about today because I don’t want to look back and realise that have wasted my life on wishing.