When I was about 20 years old, I met the love of my life. We had a great time and a lot of fun, but somehow, we were in need of something new, something different, something with a little more…let’s call it “life”, in it.

So, we decided to move. It was the end of ‘59 and Austria was stuck between the past and the future, so moving to the other end of the world just felt right. We packed our things and planned the trip.

It was about 5 in the morning, my feet were freezing and my heart racing. I kept constantly asking myself if this was real, if we were actually doing this. My thoughts were running rampant, and so was my stomach but I still felt happy. Happy and somehow satisfied, just glad to be alive.

Lost in my thoughts I didn’t realize how close to the airport we already were. In about one and a half hours my whole life would be different.
We, me and Mary, a girl from my district who also decided to leave, got out of the bus and into the airport. As flying was a big deal in the 60s, we couldn’t easily pass the check-ins. My Husband Heinz, back then my boyfriend, had already left Austria half a year ago, so I had to do this all by myself. A lot of time and tears later we finally got in the plane. Next stop: Beirut.

And in Beirut, we danced our feet of. We stayed at a hotel named after the Dutch Queen, Beatrice, next to the airport for a night and met a lot of great, fantastic personalities there. Many people with the same destination, many who stayed there and many who never got out. We danced all night long in lots of different clubs and bars, the likes of which did not even exist in Europe. We were simply enjoying life and creating memories.

The next morning, our flight continued to Karachi, the capital of Pakistan. When I boarded the plane, I realized I had countless holes in my socks and immediately started to laugh – We really did dance our feet off!

Six hours later, we finally arrived. When the plane landed, hundreds of people were standing on a balcony and gazing at our plane. They were yelling, smiling and clapping.

“Why are the people so happy here?” I asked one of the crew-members. “They have never seen an airplane this big before.” he replied.
I found this incredible. I mean sure it was a big plane, but I had never expected so many excited people to stare and marvel at it. When we got to the hotel, I realized that there were many armed men guarding the whole area. Curious as I was, I wanted to know what was going on. It turned out that Pakistan and India were fighting over the region of Karachi, and so the ambassador had provided military surveillance for the hotel, no one was allowed to enter or leave the area without permission.

The third stop on our journey was Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. We were very excited about our stay there, but unfortunately, we were so tired we spent the whole night sitting on the balcony watching lizards climb up and down the walls.

Our next stop was Manila, where we met two businessmen. They were both very groomed and smelled a lot like aftershave. We talked for a while and they invited us to join them for a sightseeing tour. Suddenly, a black limousine drove up and a young Philippine in a tailor-made suit got out, opened the passenger door, and invited us to get in. We got into the limousine without hesitation, crazy, right?

We spent the whole evening driving through downtown Manila. I still remember the impressive lights and skyscrapers. It felt like a movie, only better. I was so taken by the view, I didn’t realize that one of the businessmen looked at me the whole time.
I gave a hint to Mary and she understood what was going on right away.

“I think we should go home now, I am very tired and our flight leaves pretty early tomorrow…” She said. About fifteen minutes later, we were back at the entrance of our hotel. As we were about to leave, I heard the man shouting for me to wait. He came over, took my hand and said something about love at first sight. I was so tired; I was barely listening. Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t even realize that he had got down on one knee:  “Grturd” he said in his Philippine accent, which made me giggle. I mean, the way he pronounced it was just really funny.
“Do you want to marry me?” he asked.

He proposed to me. He really did. A total stranger proposed to me, in Manila, in the middle of the night. It was so absurd. I was so shocked and amused at the same time.

“I’m sorry” I said, “but there is already someone waiting for me on the other side of the world.” I pulled him up, gave him a kiss on his cheek and left. That was certainly a night to remember!

We were exhausted when we got to the airport the next day. Our next stop was Biak, a small island in the East Indonesian Cenderawasih Bay. The island is so small, it wasn’t even charted on the map. I just remember the fresh fruit and eating a lot of new things I had never even heard of. It felt like I was experiencing the Jungle Book. As I was sitting and eating, I realized how close I was to my final destination. Only a few hours until I was reunited with the man I loved, a few hours away from our new life.

The next stop was Darwin, the northernmost City of Australia. Shortly after we arrived, we had to be registered. We were in a hurry, because our connecting flight to Sydney was about to take off soon after our arrival there. From Sydney we took the train back to the north.

And there we were. After a five day journey we had finally arrived. It was Christmas eve and the sun was shining.

I was so happy to have my boyfriend, Heinz, back by my side and most of all, have him welcome me in our new home, Canberra, Australia.

We lived in Kingston, a residential district of Canberra for a few years, we got married there and made a lot of friends. I was a stylist and Heinz was working as a locksmith.

We were really happy.