Closing Up Shop

I'm at the Kansas City Airport and have an hour before my plane heads to Belize with a connecting flight in Houston. The plan was to meet Sharon and Jon for their connecting flight in Houston en route to South America, but I just found out that our flight time has been bumped to an hour earlier. We were really hoping to see each other since I missed her wedding in London two days earlier. I was 100 per cent committed to going, especially since I'd never been to London. However, nine months ago, one of my best friend's from Lufkin, Emily, asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. Of course I had to say yes. But her wedding was in Missouri on the 1st September, whereas Sharon's was in London on the 31st of August. One of my best friend's from college, Marco, was also getting married two weeks later in September in LA. The timing couldn't be better for a trip back to the States.

Committed to going to these two weddings, Dave and I booked our flights in February earlier this year. Since we had already been to our homes in Texas and Canada in December 2012, we decided to forego visiting our families and go on an adventure elsewhere – Belize and Guatemala. These locations sound random, but they have been on my central america bucket list. Belize has the second largest reef in the world and Guatemala has the most excavated Mayan ruin at Tikal. Scuba diving in the Caribbean Sea and cultural history is a winning formula for my kind of holiday.

To make things even more interesting, Dave and I moved from Elizabeth Bay to the beach at Coogee (15 minute drive SE from Elizabeth Bay) two weeks prior to our trip. It was an easy decision to make since we had lived in the Elizabeth Bay/Potts Point/Darlinghurst area for the last three years. Dave had also taken up beach volleyball and the prospect of moving to the beach was irresistible for us both. Since the end of July, Dave and I spent 3 weeks going to unit inspections, submitting 30 page applications, getting turned down and finally finding the perfect place on 4/11 Hill Street on the north side of Coogee, overlooking the town and the ocean. There were bleak moments when we would have to compete with other applicants by outbidding their weekly offer, but it was worth the wait. The only issue we had was filling the larger unit with furniture. So two weeks before we took off on our trip, we dropped two grand on furniture at IKEA. Sounds like a lot, but we haven't bought furniture since we moved to Australia, so it all evens out in the end.

To top it all off, I resigned from my job three weeks prior to the trip. I had already taken annual leave for the trip, but after much self-reflection, I knew this would be the best time to cut ties and move on. So on top of trip planning and the big apartment move, I was closing up shop with my company whilst looking for new jobs. I didn't end up securing a job. A lot of people advised me to not quit until I found something else, but in my heart and in my gut, I knew this was a good decision for me.

The week prior to the trip, was hectic. I was having last minute catch ups with friends (especially Sarah – my close soccer friend who is going travelling for nearly 6 months), building IKEA furniture, letting recruiters know I'd be away and cleaning out my desk. It was a surreal feeling cleaning out my work desk. I had sat there for two years. I even found the very first notebook I used to take notes on how to use our email marketing automation system and recording Google Analytics stats. As the first marketing employee, I had built an entire marketing department from the ground up in those two years and here I was leaving it all for my successors. I feel good about leaving though. My legacy has been set and the company will do just fine without me. I will definitely miss all the colleagues who have become friends over that time.

This adventure is exactly what I need to start the next chapter in my life. I'm excited to see how it all unfolds!