Finding Home Everywhere: How Travel Taught Me to Heal
The Beginning
I remember dearly — my first international trip was to Sydney back in 2016. Time flies; it’s almost a decade ago now. I still remember how scary it felt to travel alone — being on the flight, figuring out directions, navigating everything for the first time. Luckily, I wasn’t entirely alone. I was visiting a friend who was studying in Sydney, and having her there to help me find my way calmed my nerves more than I realized.
I remember clearly how beautiful the ocean was — oh, Bondi Beach! The coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi took my breath away. I carried my heavy DSLR camera, snapping pictures endlessly, trying to capture everything I saw — the light, the waves, the rhythm of people passing by.
Still, there were moments when fear crept in — that uncertainty of being somewhere new, wondering what if I get lost or can’t find my way back? Google Maps existed back then, but my confidence in myself didn’t quite keep up with the technology.
One memory that still makes me smile was during our visit to the Blue Mountains in Katoomba. I told my friend, half-jokingly, “If you ever can’t find me, you’ll probably find me here. This will be my hideout.” We both laughed, but a part of me meant it. That trip was filled with excitement, adrenaline, and a sense of discovery I had never felt before.
Running to Heal
I remember my trip to New Zealand — I was running. I thought that going to another country would help me heal my broken heart. My first heartbreak had left me feeling empty, and I believed that distance was the answer. But that trip made me realize something deeper: no matter how far I ran, I carried those memories with me. Healing wasn’t about escaping; it was about learning how to grieve.
That girl back then didn’t know that a decade later, she’d become a counsellor — holding space for others as they grieve lost loves, endings, and versions of themselves. She didn’t know it would take her three years to find closure — not from the person who left, but from within herself. The kind of healing that comes quietly, patiently, and powerfully.
Falling in Love with a Place
Somewhere along that journey, a place changed how I saw the world — Akaroa, New Zealand. No words could fully describe its beauty. It left me completely breathless. I didn’t know it then, but looking back, I realize what that feeling was: I had fallen in love — not with a person, but with a place.
Akaroa felt like home. It was peaceful, safe, and still. I remember sitting there without rushing, simply breathing, watching the wind ripple across the water. It was one of those rare places you never want to leave — where you feel a part of you will always stay, and another part comes back a little more whole.
Finding Home Within
I hope that by sharing my travels and experiences — both as a person and as a counsellor — these stories can offer comfort to someone out there who’s also learning how to heal.
I’m not an expert who can tell you, “If you follow these steps, you will heal.” What I can offer instead is my lens — my journey — of how a not-so-confident girl, ten years ago, slowly found her way back to herself.
Through travelling, and through moments of both running and returning, I’ve learned that healing doesn’t always require a gap year or a plane ticket to somewhere far. Sometimes, it’s about finding that quiet space within — the one we often forget to nurture.
I still have days when I find myself at my lowest. But the difference now is that I know how to gently pick myself up, piece by piece. Because I remember that girl — the one from a decade ago — crumpled on the floor, crying, unable to move after realizing that the person she thought was “the one” had left, disappeared without a word.
She spent years wondering what she had done wrong, why she wasn’t enough, and what she could have done differently. She didn’t know how to love herself, accept her flaws, or hold space for her own pain. She kept searching for someone to fill that emptiness inside her — until one day, she realized that no one else could.
That realization changed everything. It shifted how she saw herself, how she loved herself, and how she showed up in the world.
“I call myself a wanderlust — someone who loves getting lost and finding her way again. The curious one who collects stories and perspectives, learning more about herself through every journey. Each trip becomes a little tool in my life’s toolbox — a new way to see, to feel, and to heal”
~ Findinghomeeverywhere with Ad
Becoming the Wanderlust
That’s why I started Finding Home Everywhere — to share these stories, reflections, and moments that remind me how beautifully human it is to search, to feel lost, and to find ourselves again in the most unexpected corners of the world.
If you’ve ever felt that pull — that longing to belong not just somewhere, but everywhere — I hope you’ll find a little piece of yourself here too.
“Sometimes, we don’t need to travel far to find ourselves — we just need to look within.”
Tell me — where’s the place that made you feel at home in the world?