10 Things You Need to Know in Order To Be as Happy as Pharrell Williams (or for my elders, Bobby McFerrin) When Moving to a New Country
As you prepare:
1. Be sure to pack your needs: water, food, and your hand held device. Personally I mainly played on my iPod and it was much more fun than when I was twiddling my thumbs or studying the back of the chair in front of me. Your airline also may have a selection of movies to choose from and that is always a very good way to entertain.
2. If you’re moving to a country with a different language then the one you speak, be sure to learn these phrases before you reach your final destination: “Yes,” “No,” “Please,” “Thank you,” “Hello,” “Good bye,” “Do you have cookies?” and “Where’s the bathroom?” When I moved to Australia there wasn’t a new language but a very different accent so I just had to constantly ask questions. Sometimes it’s very fun and sometimes it’s very frustrating to figure out what they’re saying; either way, try to get the gist of what they’re telling you because it might be something like, “It’s the end of the world!”
3. Everyone in your family will be a bit stressed getting prepared to go, so every hour or so make the biggest smile you can make. I have one little brother, a mom, a dad and a dog, and we all had to support each other at various times.
Here’s a photo of our pooch Roxanne lifting us up:
During the trip:
4. Some kids will not like to travel, so make sure you keep your kids entertained or else… My brother and I very much enjoy travelling, so it wasn’t that bad for my parents since we’ve been on plane trips since I was 2 months old. The trip to Australia from the U.S.A. is about thirty hours in total, so it’s good I got used to long trips at a young age!
Here are a few essentials you may want to consider to bring onboard:
5. Depending on what airline you go on you might want to pack your own meals because you’d need a PhD to figure out what you’re eating. We didn’t fly with the best of airlines and didn’t pack food so we just ordered as much as we could and picked out the stuff that seemed okay…ish.
6. Get some sleep! Jet lag can be painful, annoying, and tiresome, and I don’t know about you but I’d want to stay away from someone who has those symptoms. I only got three hours sleep in thirty hours of travelling and I was waking up at 4:00 a.m. for the next week!
Image: Buzzfeed
Once you arrive:
7. Have a pillow handy because it’s a very climactic moment. If you’re happy, you can hug the pillow; if you’re sad, you can cry in it. We actually didn’t do this but I was thinking about it and that it probably would have been very useful. Also, I don’t know what reaction you’ll get for hugging a pillow… so just kept that in mind. When I moved to Australia I was mainly happy, but there was definitely sadness in me from having to say goodbye to everyone and everything I had known.
8. Try a new food such as a French snail, Canadian bacon, or what I tried when I moved to Australia: a Sanga sandwich. I like a variety of food and I like trying new foods but I have to remember not to eat really crazy things like a raw jalapeño just because other people do it. This also applies with drinks because you never want to accidentally give your kid an apple cider that has alcohol inside.
The great Australian sanga!
9. Try a new sport such as American football, European football (soccer), or Australian footy (rugby). They are all really fun and it never hurts to try a new sport. My Dad, my brother and I all tried the sport of cricket which they play here in Australia.
Don’t try this at home!
10. Learn sayings from the new country. Example: In Australia you can say, “Crikey!” which means, “Holy guacamole!” in America… or “Duuuuude” if you’re a surfer. There are a lot of phrases that you can learn in different countries and it is always really pleasurable and makes you sound very intelligent too. You could also make up your own slang terms which can be quite amusing.
Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed. If you’d like to follow my travels around Australia, please click on this link and come along on a ride with me..