Why should we fear what travel brings?

By the time I was 8, I was already used to spending a majority of my time in airports, travelling long distances to visit relatives, and having to leave behind close friends as my family packed up and embarked on new adventures across new borders. My childhood was not one that may be considered "normal", however my young, naive self took for granted all the perks of being an expat kid in Asia. Never once did I question the strangeness of it that many of my cousins, friends or family may have thought of my life as they grew up across the globe in their birth country. I have had the fortune of visiting new places before I could even walk, hoping on planes seemed as easy as taking the bus and trying new things, and adapting to new cultures, never felt scary, only exciting and, in a way, normal. My sisters and I would laugh when our Dad told tales of his childhood, how is first trip on an aeroplane, let alone out of England, was when he was 18 years old... or that he only learnt to swim when he was 12(!). Our habits of life were not even imaginable in my parents' youth.

When sharing my stories it is hard not to come across as spoilt or arrogant, but being part of a racially diverse international school has made me anything but. My sisters and I were born into this culture of travel, it was not something that we chose. Plus, being able to witness first hand all parts of the world and how different people live has made us more openminded and aware of our own privileges. At times our exotic lifestyle is not all perfect, having to shuttle back and forth three or four times a year between boarding school and home is never easy, keeping up with my closest friends who live on the opposite side of the world is almost impossible and saying goodbye to people, places and homes never gets easier. However the willingness to explore is now a core part of who I am and I would never want that to change.
I am part of a new generation of people, a transcontinental group, forever passing through foreign lands that to us are no-longer foreign as we have either lived, have family roots, or have wandered through there before. We live in the transit lounge, perpetual foreigners even in our own "so called" home countries. When people ask the dreaded question 'where are you from?' we have to pause and think about our answer. At times its easier to be simple and say 'I'm english', yet there are numerous times when I still feel like a visitor in England! We are what David Pollock calls "hidden immigrants", we look the same as our fellow citizens in our passport country yet we feel so different inside. We are accustomed to not knowing what is 'cool' or 'in trend' in the new countries we move to, often providing humour for new friends -such as not knowing what a radiator is, as we have never seen them before!! I am forever calling Singapore my home, however there I do not look the same, i appear to be the foreigner, yet I think and love and do as the locals would. Perhaps my home will continue to change as I embark on new adventures, or perhaps at times, the journey itself has become my home. However, wherever these adventures take me, my home is with those whom I love and care about, even if it is spread far and wide.

So to "rapp" it up...this attempt to start a blog stemmed from the fact that I am starting a year abroad in Madrid, however instead of a pre-trip, nervous blog entry on how im struggling to pack, getting butterflies blah blah blah I thought I would share my thoughts on why this new adventure of mine doesn't seem so enormous due to my upbringing. Growing up as a Third Culture Kid, where travel and change now feels like a normal step forward rather than a scary leap into the unknown, this new chapter doesn't seem so daunting. Thus to quote a favourite band of mine - Villagers "why should we fear what travel brings?"...

Little me exploring the Great Wall of China 

My sisters and I enjoying Singapore's tropical climate

Singapore home for 12 years