THE WORLD IS YOUR CLASSROOM

If there’s one thing I will be imparting to my children above all else it will be the lesson of travel.

There is no better teacher for lessons of diversity, how to stay humble, how to be grateful and most of all… how to learn yourself.

Aged 19, my first international trip, which we were delightfully unprepared for, was a seven-week backpacking jaunt through South-east Asia with my big sister.

May I emphasise that we had no idea what we were doing.

Next minute we’d touched down in Bangkok and bundled into a million-mile-an-hour taxi ride.

We noted (with adrenalin) that red lights were more suggestive than authoritative, and a beep to let people know you’d be running straight through them was completely fine.

We walked and caught the local bus everywhere, kept money in our bras so we wouldn’t be pick-pocketed, ate in roadside cafes and talked to everyone.

We met people from all over the world in our hostels and at waterfalls.

I made my first Russian friend, learnt that Israelis have compulsory military service and that monkeys will walk right up and steal your bag.

We saw extreme poverty and social problems that brought tears to our eyes.

And alongside we saw family love and gentle joy.

We watched boys catching snakes from the river and piling them into canoes. We dined with a Lao family on chilli fish so hot my eyes streamed, while their toddlers were unfazed.

We partied in a club called The Heart of Darkness and saw the joy the locals got when we used their language.

I learnt some of my faults and some of my strengths.

Above all I learnt how incredibly lucky we are to be Australian, and how the whole world is your classroom and your playground if you have the courage to step out.