What They Don’t Tell You About Falling in Love Overseas
For starters, you’ll have to spend $10k on a visa
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I have a bone to pick with Elizabeth Gilbert. When I saw the movie Eat Pray Love, I was like, “Yes, that’s the answer to all my problems. I need to go travelling for nine months so I can meet the love of my life.” I was 34. I had been single for nine years. I was lonely. In fact, I was so lonely that I was jealous of Ally and Jack in A Star Is Born. When Bradley Cooper pissed himself next to Lady Gaga on stage, I was like, “I want what they have.”
So, overseas I went. I’m from Australia and our international borders were closed until November 2021. I was on one of the first flights outta there. Was I desperate? Maybe. But aren’t we all a little desperate for connection? I recently watched one of those heinous red pill videos on YouTube where the guy was saying, “Men don’t want women of 35, blah, blah, blah,” and I clicked on the comments and someone had written, “Men and women just want connection.” The comment had more likes than the video BECAUSE IT’S TRUE. We want connection. But for me, that fun-lovin’, city-livin’ life just wasn’t cutting it. I needed some eat, pray and lovin’.
I want to say I went travelling and fell in love with myself, blah, blah, blah, but I didn’t. I met a guy. A really, really nice one. We started as friends and then, poof, we were living together. This is how travel romances go. It accelerates the relationship. We travelled together for months, and it was the most magical time of my life. (Ew, I can’t believe I just said that out loud.)
After many months overseas together, we were stuck with a dilemma: where the hell do we go now? After much debate, we settled on coming back to Australia.
The real test of love isn’t doing long distance or meeting their parents or deciding what to watch on Netflix.
The real test of love is dealing with immigration.
The Australian Partner Visa process costs a minimum of $10k once you factor in the visa cost, medicals and police checks. If you want to use a migration agent or immigration lawyer, it will cost thousands more.
But the cost is just the beginning. Once you’ve paid for the visa upfront (which is…
