Sam wrinkled her nose for the umpteenth time since she had sat down on her flight from Bali to Sydney. Relieved that it was nowhere near as long as that from England to Bali, as the person sitting next to her was not the most pleasant smelling specimen she’d ever come across. Unfortunately, the flight was full or she would have moved the moment she sat down. It was always a bit of a crap shoot traveling by plane. You never knew who you would end up sitting next to. She prayed her nostrils would not be traumatized for all eternity and tried immersing herself in a good book to distract from the stink, but it was not having the desired effect. The occasional thought about Daniel crept into her mind. Okay, so that last comment could have been a slight understatement. She re-read a paragraph six times before she gave up, slammed the book closed and huffed out a breath. The passenger sitting next to her shot her an uneasy glance.
Sam scolded herself as thoughts of the past two days together kept seeping back into her mind. She tried telling herself how unlikely it was she would ever see him again. She even tried telling herself that she didn’t care if she ever saw him again. That didn’t work either.
She pulled a piece of paper from her purse and ran her finger over the numbers scribbled there. He had given her his phone number, but as he was on a sheep station in the middle of nowhere and her plans didn’t run to sightseeing on a sheep station, she resignedly folded it up and put it back. She pushed him to the back of her mind, but he kept pushing forward, like clockwork, every few minutes.
The flight landed not a moment too soon for her distressed nasal cavity and she thanked her lucky stars she had not sat next to that person on the much longer flight from England.
It was then that something started to sink in, she had made it! She stepped foot on the tarmac and excitement spilled from every pore, giving her the urge to kiss the ground, which, thankfully, she was able to resist. After working every hour God gave her for the past year, she was finally there, Sydney Australia. She could hardly believe that she’d made it!
As she was making her way to the arrivals lounge, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in a window and gave herself a wry smile. Staring back at her was the epitome of a touristy backpacker. Shrugging her shoulders, her smile widened to an all-out grin.
Her hair had been braided in Bali. It had taken two ladies two hours to plait row upon row of tiny braids while she sat under a shade tree on the edge of the beach. Well, she had to find something to do for the other four days she was there. Admittedly, this had been one of her less thought out notions. To be honest, she looked pretty ridiculous, Bo Derek she was not, but until now she couldn’t be bothered to take them out. It was going to take ages when she finally got around to it. It did have its advantages, though. Braided hair, it turned out, was very easy to care for.
Her clothing consisted of a Bali souvenir t-shirt and the loudest most colorful board shorts she was able to find. Her image left a lot to be desired, but for the first time in a long time, she didn’t care.
Sam now realized the greatest thing about traveling on your own was that nobody knew you or knew anything about you. You were never likely to see any of them again, so there was the freedom of just being you because no one seemed to be judging. Something that seemed to happen to her all the time back home, the feeling of constantly being judged was never far away. Most of the time she felt like she just wasn’t good enough somehow. It was as if no one pushed her to do anything because no one had any faith that she would be able to, so why would they bother. Now, whether that was just her imagination or not, it didn’t matter anymore because here she was twelve thousand miles from home, on her own. She admitted to feeling a little smug at the thought that no one she knew had ever done anything like this before.
Talking to complete strangers was something that started to come with ease now; if she should make a fool of herself, something she had a habit of doing, who cared. She’d never see them again anyway.
Finally, arriving at the luggage carousel she waited, subconsciously holding her breath until her bright green and black backpack slid down the chute and made its way towards her. She hefted it up and over her shoulder. The image was complete. She couldn’t look more of a touristy backpacker if she tried. Now, she had to focus on the next task at hand, and that was finding somewhere to sleep that night. It surprised her that this did not terrify her as much as she thought it would.
Sam looked around thoughtfully, then spotted what she was looking for. She strode towards the illuminated “Information” sign, plopped her backpack on the floor, and smiled down at the lady behind the desk.
The information clerk looked up at her and didn’t even blink at her appearance.
“G’day,” the lady said with a bright smile. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, please,” Sam replied. “I’d like somewhere to sleep tonight. Do you have any ideas?”
“No worries,” the lady said while reaching across the desk for a heavy binder. “Would you like to stay in the city or at the beach?” The lady paused for a moment and took in Sam’s appearance more seriously this time, then added. “I’m guessing you would like to stay in a backpackers?”
“What’s a backpackers?”
“They’re like youth hostels. They’re just not part of a big organization. You can usually find one in nearly every town in Australia.”
“Oh, okay, a backpackers at the beach then, please.”
The lady thumbed through the binder and tapped a page with her finger. “I’ve got just the place,” she said. “Coogee Beach Backpackers. They will even come and pick you up.”
“Great. Thanks.”
The information clerk dialed their number, asked for Sam’s name and gave it to the person on the other end of the phone. She replaced the receiver and told Sam that they would be along in about half an hour and pointed her in the direction of the shuttle bus pick up area. Sam breathed a sigh of relief. The first hurdle didn’t turn out to be a hurdle at all.
Half an hour later, as promised, she was hopping onto a minibus, run by the backpackers, and scooting through the streets towards what would be her home for the next few weeks. It was her intention to do a lot of exploring in Sydney; it was such a big city.
Upon arriving at the backpackers, a young hippy looking guy showed her to her dorm. He told her to take any bed that was empty. She thanked him and he scooted off, leaving her standing in the doorway. Sam looked around the room. It was cozy, in a disheveled kind of way. There were two sets of bunk beds; three of them were quite obviously occupied. They were covered in people’s belongings and had not yet been made. The whole room actually looked quite homey in an odd sort of way.
She threw her stuff on top of the only bunk that looked vacant. The room was empty, but the sound of voices drifted down the hallway. At that moment, the strangest sensation of unease washed over the young traveler. She didn’t like it one bit. She’d not felt anything quite like it before and tried to figure out what it was. Fear wouldn’t describe it, she was not in danger. Nor did she feel anxious or sad. What she did feel, however, was alone. Out of nowhere, the fact that she was on her own in a strange house, in a strange country, and as far away from her home as possible sprang to the forefront of her mind. She suddenly missed her family. Sam guessed she was feeling homesick. She’d never been away from home before, and twelve thousand miles suddenly seemed like a very long way. Swallowing a lump that forced its way to her throat she took a deep, calming breath. Homesickness was not a nice feeling; in fact, it was all consuming, threatening to swallow her whole.
She tried to tell herself that she’d be fine and that she’d find friends in no time. It didn’t seem to make a difference. She stared into space for a moment wondering what to do next when a voice distracted her thoughts.
“Hi,” said a bright soprano voice behind her.
Sam jumped a little at the interruption to her thoughts and turned around to see a petite girl with long flowing black hair, her face lighting up with her smile.
“You must be new. My name’s Becca.”
“Hi, I’m Sam. Yes, I just arrived. Flew in from Bali this afternoon. Have you been here long?”
“Ooh, Bali,” the petite brunette cooed. “I loved Bali. I arrived a couple of weeks ago. This is a great backpackers, you’ll love it here. Everyone is really friendly.”
The young girl spoke quickly without taking a breath, almost singing her words. Sam felt her shoulders relax. As Becca continued her friendly chatter, the homesickness monster slunk back into the darkness.
“Have you seen this view?” Becca asked, strolling over to the window to hold the curtain aside. Sam followed and stared, again.
“Wow, I didn’t realize we were this close to the beach.”
The view from the window was such that you could see the whole of Coogee Beach’s half moon bay directly below them. The waves were much wilder than those in Bali. They crashed up against the shore. Sam spotted some people surfing. They flitted in and out of the waves. Some of them fell, but most looked like they were glued to their boards.
“They’re crazy!” Sam exclaimed. “They’ll kill themselves doing that.”
“C’mon” Becca said with a smile, grabbing Sam’s arm “Let’s get a milk shake and go down to the beach and watch; they’re really very good.” Becca could see the newcomer looking over at her belongings and added. “Don’t worry, there’s a code of honor in these places. No one touches anyone else’s stuff, but keep your money and passport with you to be on the safe side.”
Sam felt relieved as she grabbed the small bag that held her valuables and followed her new friend out of the door.
A few minutes later they were sitting on the edge of the beach, milk shakes in hand. The sound of the surf was almost too loud to talk over, but Becca attempted conversation anyway.
“So, what brought you all the way out here?” she asked.
“Oh, I just wanted to see some of the world.” Sam replied. She wasn’t being completely honest, but then others didn’t need to know the sordid details of why she came to be sitting on that beach so far from home.
“You?”
“Same,” Becca replied. “Had to see the world before I settled down and ended up with a family. Then it would be too late, hey?”
The two girls sat and watched the surfers for a while. Becca was right, they really were very good. Sam was astounded at the way they held the waves. It was as if they were on some kind of mechanical device keeping them above the water. She cringed at the thought of trying it herself, though. With the grace she possessed, she’d be lucky to stay upright on a surfboard if it was planted firmly on the sand.
“What are you up to tomorrow?” Becca trilled over the sound of crashing waves, obvious excitement in her voice.
“Umm…”
“Well, that settles it,” she said, looking pleased with herself. “You’re coming with me. I am going to show you around Sydney. There are some really cool places to visit. I’ve been here for two weeks now so I’ve managed to see quite a bit. It will be fun showing someone around.”
“Great,” Sam accepted with a smile.