As some of you may know, I was recently in Australia for a wedding. I had high hopes for this particular ceremony, not just for the couple tying the knot (they excelled my expectations in so many ways) but also for myself. Yes, after all the post-J trauma, I figured travelling to the other side of the world in search of a man would be a great anecdote to my broken heart. And excellent for blogging purposes!
I'm not going to lie, in the run up to my trip down under, I'd had visions of meeting a cool, bronzed, Aussie hunk who'd sweep me off my feet and teach me how to surf. But alas, it was clearly not meant to be. Instead, all of the Aussie guys I met seemed to have little direction in life... They were all in jobs that were practically handed to them, rather than having carved out career paths for themselves that they worked their toned tushies off for. Call me a snob, but I found it a little disappointing.
It's not that I wouldn't date a guy who wasn't a doctor, teacher or lawyer; I would. For example, I'd date a bartender, if he had bigger dreams and was working towards managing or owning a bar one day. I just can't date a guy with no passion for his career. I know that makes me susceptible to dating a workaholic, but I'm willing to take that chance.
The other thing I noticed about several Aussie men is that they hadn't ventured past Australian shores. Or if they had, it'd been to New Zealand when they were 10. If I met a guy in London who'd never left the UK, bar a French exchange trip in 1990, it's more than likely I put a strike through his name in my little black book.
Perhaps I'm spoilt in Dubai, where every eligible bachelor here has a career path and an ambition. And they're not afraid to travel to unknown terrioties to acheive their goals. Or is it that I'm just looking for someone on my wavelength? Someone who'll take the bull by the horns, a leap of faith or a risk?
The good thing about most Aussie men is their love for the outdoors; be it surfing, offroading or hunting. Whilst all these activities are great (no, I'm not ant anti-hunting activist so sue me) they all show brawn but not brains. And I need a balance between the two.
After all, they're just basic primal instincts, right? The intelligence to hold down a decent job to provide for our family, and the brute strength to be able to protect us, conduct basic DIY around the house etc.
I hate to think I'm fussy, and this is probably one of the reasons I've been single most of my adult life, but I want someone to inspire me. Someone to come home from work to where I think 'Fuck, you're amazing', after they've told me a story about how they dealt with something difficult at work or acheived something new in their personal life.
Guys who just plod along in life don't cut it for me. A relationship is about compromise, and having get-up-and-go is not something I'm willing to negotiate, which is why I need someone like-minded. I want to tell my kids I met their father in some random place, doing some crazy activity. And I want to tell them we were married on a Himalayan mountain with goats as guests. Or something along those lines...
I think of some of the stories my parents told me over the years about their travels, and I wonder if this is one of the elements that attracted them to one another, along with the fact they were both at university trying to acheive something when they met.
I don't want a repetition of my parents' love story, but I do want to find a similar synergy that they once shared, and perhaps still do. I guess I just need a little more patience and a plane ticket to somewhere more exotic than Oz.
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