Vital Whim

Stories Found Everywhere. | Read More at VitalWhim.com

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Solo Female Traveler: Brave and Fearless? | Pink Pangea

Remembering when this was written... Solo Female Traveler: Brave and Fearless? #Australia #WorkingHoliday @PinkPangea

I see them walking down the aisle of the plane: the pregnant lady and her husband. Fingers crossed, I watch as they wiggle their way past the old man struggling to place his carry-on in the overhead compartment. The woman waddles closer. It isn’t looking good. A few more steps and they have settled themselves into the seats next to me and I have lost my escape route.

Traveling alone and now…

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On Working Holiday: Flipping Burgers in Australia | Pink Pangea

Oh, yes. My first experience working in Australia. #ThrowbackThursday #Food @PinkPangea

Spicy lamb patties sizzle and crackle to my left, the popping oil a gluttonous accent to the bustle of food construction that fills the tent. On the table in front of me, I have eight buns splayed open and covered with tomato chutney waiting for the sheep to make their way home. Outside of our culinary bubble, where the burger is king, loud speakers blare music that sounds vaguely familiar while…

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An Aussie Slang Dictionary - Phrases

The latest addition to Vital Whim's Aussie Slang Dictionary! Try not to go off like a frog in a sock. #Australia #language

We are sitting around the dinner table discussing the different Australian words and phrases that, as an American, I don’t know. There seems to be a generational gap between the different phrases each Aussie suggests. And I get the feeling that the phrases get cruder among younger Australians. Still, I am reminded of Bill Bryson’s1take on Aussies, that these “people are immensely likable—…

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The Wet Season

It is that time of year for rain in the Northern Territory. #MondayBlogs #Australia

The thunder rumbles like an unbalanced washing machine banging sporadically against the laundry room wall. I am in the middle of Woolworths1 and it has taken me a second to realize that this noise, at first covered by the mid-day rush of people, isn’t some employee carelessly rattling around pallets of food. That in fact, this rolling bass is thunder loud enough to be heard through concrete walls.

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Solo Travel: Pushing Past Loneliness and Trying to Change | Pink Pangea

Remember that time I wrote for @PinkPangea? No? Well then take another look. #ThrowbackThursday #Australia #FairDinkum

Wandering into the hostel travel-weary to the bone, I feel like a dirty shell of a person in need of a shower and some good sleep. Being on the road for over two months is starting to make me cantankerous in a way I hadn’t expected. Some days when I need a break from the constant moving, I feel pulled between the desire to be utterly alone or cuddle up on a couch with a friend watching a movie.

T…

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An Aussie Slang Dictionary - Part 2

The second part to my "Aussie Slang Dictionary." Crickey! #Australia #FairDinkum #language

The connection between my ears and my brain has stopped working. I can hear the noise coming from his mouth, but the sounds are a slurred composition of a thing pretending to be a word. This blind spot makes me feel like my grey matter is increasingly growing to resemble swiss cheese. Still this feeling is familiar, because it isn’t the first time I have experienced1this disconnect between my…

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Aussies and Their Meat Pies

Does anyone else think its odd how much Aussies love meat pies? #foodie #australia #MondayBlogs

Chicken curry wafts from the giant electric wok filling the room with a spicy air that tickles my nose. I want to bury my whole face into the creamy concoction and lick the hot metal clean because it smells so good. Afterwards, I would sit with a burned tongue and full belly unashamed of my glutinous behavior.

Mainly partaking from the bland kitchens of Australia up until this point, this curry…

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Stephen | The Brown Snake Incident

Vital Whim's first interview! Snakes any one? #Australia #Backpackers

This interview was inspired by a previous story called Australia: So This is How I Die.

I met Stephen on a three-day sailing trip in the Whitsunday Islands1 off the east coast of Australia. Twenty-seven and from England, he came to Australia looking for an adventure, as most working holiday visa holders do, as well as an employer who would sponsor him for a longer stay.

While I can’t say I…

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Vital Whim

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Australia: So This is How I Die

Buried under a mountain of pillows and covers I can't stop myself from having this terrifying thought that something poisonous and/or deadly is crawling around in my room. It is four in the morning...

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An Aussie Slang Dictionary

The sign outside of the pub in Katherine had a long list of things that were not allowed on the premises. Like the standard "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" signs in the United States, this one als...

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Aussie Words: Taking a Quick Stickybeak

The swig of beer chokes down my throat, catching in the space between my lungs and my guts where it aches like I have swallowed a hot stone. Still the giggle manages to find its way up and I let it...

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Pieces of Life: Collecting Stories

Clutching her journal to her chest, she is ready for the plane to take off. Like the first scene in a Broadway musical, this is the start of something new. But instead of the naive Minnesotan headi...

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Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while.

Groucho Marx