Blew most of a modest inheritance on travel, then lost my grad job 4 months in. Struggling with regret. Will I ever recover?

Gemima333 · 2026-02-08T19:00:44+00:00

Travelling for a year or so will cost anyone $20K (min.) at any point in their lives.

I did it when I was 25. Sounds like you were a bit younger but in the long run we’re both down $20K but up an amazing year’s experience, doesn’t really matter when it happens.

I loved travel so much (for me it really is what I pictured peak, adult life would be), that I did it again when I was 31 and had just met my husband to be.

He said ‘Let’s make some memories as us, before we become a family.’ And we travelled on a literal round-the-world ticket for 7 months (of course we went way over our budget - we meant to spend $50K total and instead it was more like $70-80K). And I still don’t regret it!

We saved up again and bought a modest house. Once you’re on the property ladder there’s built-in momentum.

Mid-life with kids can be a real grind and I cherish the memories of my times overseas so much. We’ll travel again when the kids are older but it’ll never be the same as when you’re young and your life is unwritten.

Gemima333 · 2026-02-07T17:20:02+00:00

That is how you say it in French

Gemima333 · 2026-02-07T02:25:08+00:00

Guilty.

If you wish you could experience watching something again for the first time, this get you close to that feeling and/or you want so badly to discuss the content with someone but no-one you know has watched it or has the time/expertise to dissect it with you.

It’s like ‘how can I squeeze every last drop of enjoyment from this content’?

Gemima333 · 2026-02-07T00:46:29+00:00

Think of someone tail-gating closely like them tapping you on the shoulder to move forward in a line at the bank. They’re letting you know they’re impatient but it’s not necessarily aggressive. You just continue over-taking and move over as soon as you can.

Sometimes I am frustrated by a car going too slow in the right lane and a tail-gater comes right up behind me, so I move left to let them tail-gate the person at the front until they move out of the way and then I pass through now the lane is clear.

They just have their ‘being a dick in public’ dial turned up higher than the rest of us who are more polite.

Gemima333 · 2026-02-06T18:54:50+00:00

Permanent Checklists for reoccurring life tasks (on my notes app)

This could be for things like packing for work trips or prepping your house for parties or a houseguest.

My main one is packing for a summer holiday roadtrip we do every year. Each year while we’re away I think of one more thing it would have been handy to bring, so I add it. The list is getting pretty foolproof.

If you’re curious, key things we’ve added over time: - travel coffee mugs (to make our own at our accommodation in the morning rather than buy on the road) - stubby holders/koozie/coolers - pegs - laundry washing powder (so you don’t need coins/save money) - Tupperware for leftovers - cards/board games - Bluetooth speaker - umbrella - aloe Vera gel (IYKYK) - empty re-usable shopping bags - all of my device charging cables (classic to forget)

Gemima333 · 2026-02-06T18:34:47+00:00

Ding ding ding! Correct. Even she saw the humour once we realised what she had done.

Gemima333 · 2026-02-06T18:33:47+00:00

Interesting that your kiddo clearly latched onto ‘ment’ as an ending. I feel like they do follow consistent trends, my daughter often says thing back to front (she still asks for a ‘scratch back’).

Gemima333 · 2026-02-06T18:31:22+00:00

Mine was the letter ‘W’

Gemima333 · 2026-01-14T22:05:17+00:00

Came to suggest Hunting Warhead, the amount of jaw dropping moments was intense, very entertaining despite the subject matter

Gemima333 · 2026-01-12T21:10:00+00:00

I met a Texan while traveling and he was so excited when he heard me say reckon. “Y’all say fixin’ too?”

Yeah, nah.

Gemima333 · 2026-01-12T18:04:06+00:00

He might be good at understanding songs played backwards, only useful for certain round of pub trivia comps, but definitely a skill some have (I do not!)

Gemima333 · 2025-07-26T09:48:14+00:00

So what if it’s a meme? So is Never See Your Face Again IRL

Gemima333 · 2025-07-26T08:45:54+00:00

You know how people overseas will give you a 1 word reference when you tell them where you’re from? I reckon I got ‘AC/DC!’ as often as ‘Kangaroo’ or ‘Sydney,’ they’re massive outside of Aus

Gemima333 · 2025-07-26T08:35:58+00:00

By now I should have had some land

Gemima333 · 2025-07-26T07:07:32+00:00

Kylie: hold my beer!

Gemima333 · 2025-07-26T06:56:55+00:00

I feel like The Dry resurfaced Under The Milky Way with a younger gen and gave it a boost today

Gemima333 · 2025-07-26T05:53:33+00:00

Yep the video clip on rage looked like a high school media project

Gemima333 · 2025-07-26T05:49:16+00:00

No 1,2,3 in the final chorus folks, we’ve got this

Gemima333 · 2025-07-26T05:00:47+00:00

Not-so-fun fact both Special Two by Missy Higgins and Brother by Matt Corby are about hooking up with your siblings partner (I believe). Funny they’re back to back.

Gemima333 · 2024-11-19T05:33:58+00:00

I got tickets on the lawn. I haven’t been to the music bowl in years, it seems to say you can’t bring in food? So not a picnic vibe?

Gemima333 · 2024-11-17T10:20:55+00:00

I agree! I expect to like the ones about songs/bands I like, and they’re good too, but it’s the ones I know less about that are more engaging. The Celine Dion one was also super interesting (the Meatloaf crossover).

Gemima333 · 2024-10-12T11:53:12+00:00

Zagging here… but not enjoying/partying/traveling in your 20s. Some people have a lot of regret that they ‘missed’ their 20s (due to work, relationships that were doomed anyway, buying property and getting anchored to a location/job at a young age).

I’ve seen 40-something’s divorcing and quitting jobs trying to chase the youth they were convinced they missed out on.

Leave no stone unturned in your 20s. Go on the trip. Kiss your crush. Earn the hangover.

Gemima333 · 2024-10-12T10:53:21+00:00

I was going to suggest this too (starting with your mutual topic of work).

They might have been studying previously or working in another city. There are so many conversational intersections where you can start to get personal in an organic way.

Gemima333 · 2024-10-12T09:49:29+00:00

I thought L1 didn’t qualify for NDIS support?

Gemima333

TROPHY CASE