The moment we've been waiting for

I drafted this post when we were on our way to Australia and didn't get around to posting it due to jet lag / enjoying the sun / finding our way around...

I'm writing this post from the air, somewhere between Kuala Lumpur and Perth. It's the second flight of the day and the last leg of our journey to Australia. I'm in a state of extreme tiredness (for the life of me, I cannot sleep on planes), feeling emotionally drained, but above all - more excited for words.

I can't believe it's happening. It's actually happening. The Bearded One and I are going to live and work in Australia. It's been a long time coming - years of talking about it, deciding what time is "right", planning and budgeting - and here we are. It's been a weird 8 weeks or so - selling our house, exploring some of Europe, not working and getting as much friends and family time in as possible. It's crazy to think after years of discussing it with a handful of people, it's here. It still doesn't really feel real.

The last few weeks especially have been tough. Having to see as many people as possible, actually pack up the belongings we have left after selling up and plan a leaving party. For those people that couldn't make the party and wanted to say goodbye in person - we planned dinners, drinks and earl grey dates to make sure we saw them before we left. I always knew I would find saying goodbye hard, even though I'm going to speak to my loved ones everyday (no exaggeration - especially the besties (they know who they are), we message each other constantly and I wouldn't have it any other way).

I've had a close group of friends and my family around me everyday for as long as I can remember. It's not a case of "oh, its lovely that I speak to such and such", it's a case of "I NEED to speak to such and such". These people are my everything - my advisers, my shoulder to cry on, an ear when I need to rant and they make me full on belly laugh. Obviously they will continue to be all of these things, but it's quite hard getting around the fact that you can't just pick up the phone, hear back from them straight away or pop around for a cuddle. The time difference will put a stop to that for the time being. They will get back to me when they wake up or finish work and the hugs will be virtual - over Skype. It will be fine and we will cope.

There has been a lot of tears from me. A LOT. Gradually saying goodbye to various people left me crying every few days or so. Receiving messages of love and luck from near or far also had me weeping (my problem is that I re-read everything, a few times. So the tears for a single message usually happen more than once). Our leaving party had me in tears most of the evening - my make up ended up being non existent and I bet a few people thought "oh dear, pull yourself together girl". But I didn't care. Each tear was real - for each person, and each of their lovely send off speeches.

Our leaving party was so much fun. We booked Cafe Tarifa in Oxford, it's one of our favourite places. The atmosphere is great, good music, fantastic cocktails and the decor is so unique - gold walls, guitars, sunken bar, lanterns, candles and incense. We've never had a bad time there and knew it was the perfect place to get all of our loved ones together for a send off. We've heard that everybody had such a great time that night and most fell in love with the place, just like we did.

The tears in the airport were quite ridiculous. I was receiving lovely messages all morning and with each one I cried (remember I said I re-read everything? Yep, I torchered myself doing that too). But when The Bearded One and I sat down for breakfast and a pint, we knew this was what we've been working so hard for and were happy to have finally made it happen.

I couldn't think of anybody better to do this with. If you don't personally know The Bearded One, let me tell you, he's the most amazing person I have ever met. He's literally my favourite thing and I, still to this day, can't believe he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. I am, without doubt, the luckiest girl in the world to have him by my side. And I can't think of anybody better to explore the world with.

You guessed it, I'm crying while I type this.