Jetsetting To A New Life

This week, my PR colleague Kim, digital media maven and fashionista (http://www.kimhongunplugged.com/), will be leaving Quinn & Co. for an exciting new gig -- life as a London resident.

Kim is moving to England’s capital for both career and love (her beau is British). Her imminent departure got me to thinking about my own experience of picking up and moving to another continent.

Living Abroad: I fell so in love with Sydney that I moved there for five months in 2002

Five years ago, my first trip to Australia left me so smitten that I decided to spend five months as a Sydney resident. At the time, my beloved late father expressed concern that the move would interrupt my professional progress.

I wasn’t surprised he was opposed to it -- the idea of inhabiting far-off destinations for an extended period isn’t as common here in the U.S. as it is in other countries (so common, in fact, that it’s called a gap year because that’s usually how long people spend traveling).

While I settled into life as a happily employed Sydneysider, it didn’t take long for me to re-discover what I did during my junior year in London, and again when I moved to Southern Illinois -- that trying on a new hometown for size is always an adventure worth having. Even if the ultimate result is simply to bring you right back to where you started, you’re so much richer for having had the excursion.

I’m going to miss picking Kim’s brain about how to navigate the information superhighway and, of course, seeing her fabulous wardrobe every day. The upside of her departure -- it gives me another reason to visit my (other) favorite city.