Innocents Abroad

I guess my advice to any young American contemplating doing what I did would be very specific, as the sheer distance to Australia makes it unique among most major orchestral jobs. There are only 2 ways to move out there:

1) do not give it any thought at all and just do it, letting things happen as they may. Reflecting on the sheer magnitude of a move to Australia may cause some to decide not to try it at all, which in many ways is a mistake. OR

2) Be prepared to live there the rest of your life there, and furthermore, to lose contact with much of what made up your life in America. The trip out there from most parts of the US is anywhere from 14 to 32 hours, including the brutal 14 hour flight over the Pacific (sitting up the whole time, unless you have $7000 for business class). This is not just a 7-8 hour flight like going to Europe. Extreme jet lag cuts into multiple days on both ends of the trip. With the price of oil nowadays, a coach ticket of $2900 is a very reasonable price.

This means trips home become less and less frequent, especially if you start a family out there. The off-season falls during their summer, which also happens to be Christmas time, which means tickets are even more expensive.

Be mentally and emotionally prepared to miss many important events in the lives of friends and families, including having to make excruciating decisions like being forced to decide which funerals you can make it back for, or whose wedding you will have to skip. Be prepared to be able to count on both hands the number of times in their life your children will see their grandparents. Also, the huge time difference (15-17 hours) makes it somewhat difficult to keep in touch by phone. Taking auditions from Australia takes a huge effort as well because of these factors. You are also hours away the nearest major orchestra.

Fortunately for those who live there, in many ways it is as close to paradise as can be found on earth. However, for all the talk on how the world is shrinking because of technology, on the practical level the other side of the world still feels like a very substantial distance.

Perhaps this is too negative a tone on which to end this discussion. I hope these thoughts are not interpreted as being negative toward life in Oz. In my experience they were just some of the practical realities I encountered. For many people, they were a much smaller concern than they were for me.

There are times I wish I was one of those people, because leaving behind a life over there with such permanence is almost as wrenching. There is no half way or jetsetting when the distance is that great, and feeling both empty and full is a common condition when your life exists on two different hemispheres.