Who is wild spirited Romy?
Who am I? I am no longer too sure! And I am intrigued to answer that by the end of my journey. Am I truly a wild spirited adventurer, always full of energy? Or am I the teacher struggling to make ends meet at the end of the month? Let me give you some context as to how I got here. In my 20s, whilst my friends were focusing on relationships and getting secure steady careers my target was to travel and experience the world! I live on a beautiful island (Malta) which is a superb travelling destination yet, being born in Australia, I always knew that I belonged to a world way bigger then my horizons.
However, probably just like you, I have been brought up in a society which makes you believe there is only one way to lead your life and no space for your passions. So I studied hard, completed my university teaching degree by the age of 24 and started a full time teaching job. The travel bug was always there, whilst a student I used to work several small jobs back to back to afford a quick runaway trip to a random country in Europe.
Then in summer 2010, I used my year of full time work savings to go further: Ethiopia! It was a volunteering program which required teaching skills. That experience made me realise that there is so much to learn about life and the world we live in and there are so many cultures to experience.
2011 was all about making money, I struggled between my full time and another 3 part time jobs to make my dream come true. I took 10 months off work to go to Australia, my birth country, just in time for New Years in Sydney, to start a new year with a backpacking experience. I was 26 and felt like the world and my life belonged to me! "Dream, believe and make it happen" what other more suited time in my life to have my motto tattooed? I truly believed that anything is possible, and had made it happen. Oh the joy of life! The adventures I have been through! The emotions I had lived! It was a couple of months of adventures nonstop, from skydiving to swimming with shark whales, from swimming in the ocean to climbing sand dunes, from road tripping to sleeping under the stars in the middle of the desert, from hiking to sailing, oh you name it I have done it.
In 2013 I went to India, with me was my friend Luke, little did I know that I would be his fiancée 3 years from then. I never thought I would settle down, but I did. Luke and I have been going out for over 2 years and a half now and he proposed in April 2016. We decided to get married in a year. "Now that we know we want to get married, why wait" is what my Luke said.
Wedding planning is itself considered a "test phase" for the couples. The stress and complications of the preparations, the financial investment! Will I keep travelling? Kept ringing in my mind. Friends have tagged me in posts saying, ‘My friends are getting married and having babies and I’m like where should I travel to next?’’ I hated it and I envied them but I felt settled now, I thought I have done all the things I wanted in life so I have settled into what society makes us think we should do.
So whilst I was overjoyed with the proposal, in my head I had started to go through the step by step wedding planning. You can imagine that I do not want a traditional wedding, which just makes it all more complicated.
But here is the twist! Just as my life seemed safe, secure and well planned, my dear boyfriend just resigned from his work! And wants to travel! Now? Perhaps a few years ago that would have been my dream, but now that I have a steady job, a house loan to cover and our wedding to plan, now that I am ready to have a family this is madness. As society would say: I was settled why would I shake it all up?! This felt like a nightmare!
"Dream believe and make it happen" Luke reminded me. He was right, I had turned into a product of society. I had become one of those people stuck in the rat race. Luke has helped me take the first step and for that I am so thankful. First of all he shares my motto, and now we are going to make our dreams come true together and he has saved from becoming a person society wants me to be.
For 9 months we will be travelling together 24/7, we will be starting fresh, starting a new page and building our lives together. We are planning to return only 2 months before our wedding date! This is a make it or break it deal. Do we have what it takes to come back stronger than ever, wedding plan in such a short time and go through with the wedding vows? There's only one way to find out, follow our story.
