Strangers 'baffled' after photographer swaps 'sunny' Australia for 'rainy' Edinburgh on a whim

Edinburgh Evening News

A woman moved from "sunny" Australia to "rainy" Edinburgh "on a whim" - to escape the bugs.

Transcript

00:00I relocated from Australia to Scotland four years ago and people often ask me why I would leave beautiful Australia for miserable old Scotland

00:06I'll tell you why

00:10I relocated from Australia to Scotland four years ago

00:13And what a lot of people won't tell you about is all the bad parts that come with taking a massive

00:17Life-changing leap in your life not to say it wasn't the best thing I ever did because it absolutely was

00:20But I just want to give you three things that you maybe need to consider before you decide to move to another country or take

00:25A really really big leap. The first thing is is actually really anticlimactic when you get to the other side

00:28Do you think oh my god, I'm making this huge life decision

00:30I'm gonna get there bells will chant people will start to dance in the street

00:33It's gonna be amazing and it won't that won't happen. It's very anticlimactic. You kind of get there

00:37You're like, huh?

00:37What do I do with myself now?

00:39The second not so great thing about moving across the other side of the world is that while people will miss you and they will

00:45It's just like life continues to go on without you and I know that sounds really selfish

00:48But you kind of think well, I'm making this huge like massive life-changing thing

00:51Surely other people will like be interested in that

00:54I want to hear from you all this kind of stuff and what I do and they will love you

00:56Well, they do love you. You will find that people just like will just crack on with their lives

01:01They don't really care and that's like it is what it is

01:02And the third not so great thing about taking the leap is that you really are starting from the start making new friends

01:08We'll be starting a job getting a new place to live

01:10there are a lot of like

01:11difficulties and a lot of decisions that you have to make over and over and over again and that can get really really tiring and

01:17Sometimes can be a bit depressing stuff, but just to end this on a high note because of all these things

01:21I feel like you step into the truest version of yourself

01:23You make decisions that the best version of yourself would make and you get to live a life that you actually want to live

01:28You don't have to worry about the opinions of others

01:30You don't have to worry about anyone back home or any of that kind of stuff because you are truly

01:34Who you actually be and that's pretty amazing

01:36I moved to Scotland four years ago from Australia and the number one question I get asked almost every day is why would you leave?

01:42Australia beautiful sunny Australia for miserable rainy old Scotland

01:45So I decided to tell you three not so great things about living in Australia and why it is much better to live in

01:50I feel like I don't need to say this but bugs cockroaches spiders lizards and snakes. I know they're not bugs

01:56Mosquitoes literally crickets bugs just moths everything

01:59They're just everywhere all the time and they're absolutely fucking annoying and disgusting and I just can't stand them

02:02There are like no bugs in Scotland except for midges and they're only out drinks

02:05The second reason why Australia is not so great is yeah, it is sunny

02:08But we're talking like 49 degrees in the summer. Look how pale I am. I'm so pasty

02:13I literally am rocking a moon tan and I get burnt standing next to a microwave

02:16It's all good to be in summer sunny beautiful weather when you're on holidays

02:19But imagine trying to go to work or school or literally anywhere in 49 degree weather people don't leave their house

02:24They stay inside an air-conditioned house

02:27An air-conditioned house. They keep the blinds down

02:29I don't even go to the beach because the water is too hot in the sand is absolutely incinerating

02:33And the third not so great thing about Australia is we're literally just on an island down there in the ocean

02:39So far away from anything if you want to fly anywhere in Australia, even internally in Australia, it is so freaking expensive

02:46And it takes ages anytime I fly anywhere from here people are like, oh god, it's a three-hour flight quite a long whole flight

02:52I'm like bitch three-hour flight. You've got like eight hour minimums to get anywhere from Australia

02:56Okay, not exactly that but you know what I'm saying?

02:58So yes many cons to living in Australia many pros living in Australia many cons to living in Scotland many pros living in Scotland

03:04But there are three things and three very core reasons why I was more than happy to leave

03:07I relocated from Australia to Scotland four years ago and often get asked why I leave beautiful sunny Australia for miserable old

03:15Depressing rainy Scotland we start by just saying

03:19We get sunshine

03:20the second thing I want to say is that this is all my personal experience and you may not resonate with this people living in

03:26Scotland may not resonate with this and that's totally fine. This is just my personal experience

03:30So one of the first reasons I moved to Scotland is because I actually really prefer a cold rainy climate and that is something that

03:34You do experience very often here in Scotland

03:36But what I like the most about it is that you actually see all four seasons

03:40Whereas in Australia you kind of get the same

03:42Season all year round same level of light all year round and I just really feel like the seasons here give me permission to live

03:48In each of them that being said the not-so-great side of that is during winter when you have like six hours of daylight

03:53It is pretty hard to get used to and you do get a sad seasonal affective disorder

03:57Excuse the noise

03:58But honestly you do get used to it and we just adjust and I just rest during that time rather than push so hard

04:04downside to Scotland

04:06Fucking hills man. Oh my god hills everywhere. One last thing I'll share is that I do live in Edinburgh

04:11I chose to live in Edinburgh. What I love about it so much is it's like a big village

04:15It's not a city like London or Sydney or New York. It is like a big village

04:19I just think that having the proximity to a city

04:21But it not feel like as intense as a normal city would feel is a huge win for me

04:25I've never had that my life ever so I really really enjoy living in Edinburgh and you get to walk everywhere

04:30Die because I'm so unfit at the moment, but you can walk almost everywhere in Edinburgh in Australia

04:34You really need a car to be honestly to go anywhere. Okay, that's some thoughts and pros and cons while I suffer up this hill

04:40You have any questions?

Category

Transcript

Recommended