If you ever needed encouragement to move to another country, look no further. TikToker Rhiannon Cunningham exchanged the land of Down Under for the rainy UK, and she’s not planning on ever moving back.
Having lived for 4 years in London, she confidently claims that life and opportunities to travel in Europe are superior to Australia, where she felt “literally just trapped.”
In a short video, she explains her love for little weekend getaways and how they became the number one reason why she left her homeland.
There are many reasons that might influence a person to move out of their home country
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
For this TikToker, it was the country's geographical position, which made her feel trapped
Image credits: rhiannoncunningham
"So I'm an Australian who's been living in England for about four years now and every single time I mentioned to someone British that I'm originally from Australia, they're always like, 'Oh my God, why would you leave Australia? Australia's historical and I've always wanted to move there.' I get it, you kind of always want what you can't have. It's kind of like the grass is greener type of thing."
Image credits: rhiannoncunningham
"But you want to know the number one reason why I could never move back there? It's because I'm way too attached to my silly little holidays and my little weekend getaways, and you just literally cannot do that in Australia. People just don't understand. In England, I can literally get to Spain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, so many close countries in one to two hours on a plane. Whereas in Australia when I used to visit my grandparents, they used to live in Queensland, I lived in Sydney, that was a one hour flight and I was still in Australia."
Image credits: rhiannoncunningham
"I feel like people just don't get how big it is. I once did the drive from Sydney to the Gold Coast, it took me 10 hours. Or if you want to go from Sydney to Perth, it's about a five hour flight. A five hour flight to be in more Australia? No, thank you."
Image credits: rhiannoncunningham
"I'm fairly certain that from Sydney it takes three to four hours to get to New Zealand, and that's the closest country. Or Bali maybe, which is like six or seven hours. Six to seven hours just for a holiday? You can't do it for a weekend getaway, you have to actually commit to go for a week if you want to do a holiday from Australia."
Image credits: rhiannoncunningham
"Whereas here you literally have Europe on your doorstep. You can do Sweden, Finland, and all that I think in like three hours, you can do Iceland in a couple hours, Croatia, Greece if you want something hotter in like three or four hours. Whereas in Australia you're literally just trapped. Yeah, it's cool. You're in Australia. But you have so many different cultures and countries on your doorstep. I think even America is five or six hours away. You have everything here."
Image credits: rhiannoncunningham
"So why would I want to go back to Australia and be in an isolated little desert away from everything?
It's just not for me right now. I love living in England. I love living in Europe and you guys just do not understand how good you have it here."
It's just not for me right now. I love living in England. I love living in Europe and you guys just do not understand how good you have it here."
It all comes down to preference when thinking about which country to relocate to
There’s really no telling which country is “better” to relocate to, as many factors depend on personal preferences. Both of them are in the top 15 countries to live in terms of quality of life; they just seem to offer different things and experiences for their inhabitants and visiting tourists.
One of the highlights of living in Europe, just like Rhiannon mentioned, is how easy it is to travel to different countries across the continent, especially from the UK. It’s surprisingly quick and convenient to go by train from London to almost any destination, like Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, or Prague.
Thanks to the Channel Tunnel being opened in 1994 (one of the greatest infrastructure projects of the 20th century), England and its people are connected with Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands by undersea railway. The trains reach a top speed of 186mph, which allows anyone to travel directly to Paris in 2 hours and 16 minutes, less than two hours to Brussels, and about 3 hours and 50 minutes to Amsterdam. The shortest trip is to the city of Lille in France, at just 1 hour and 20 minutes, making it a perfect day trip option.
Choosing to travel by train saves people the hassle of taking a long journey through the congested streets of London just to get to the airport. Plus, you avoid a time-consuming check-in procedure and security screening. By the time you get comfortable (debatable) in a plane seat, you could have already arrived, eating your first pain au chocolat at a Parisian café.
Just imagine how many cultures, cuisines, and sights you can visit by taking a train ride or a quick flight over the weekend. This can be especially enticing for students thinking about studying abroad because such trips from England don’t require a lot of funds, time, or planning.
Australia offers a completely different experience to England
That said, Australia offers tourists and its inhabitants a completely different experience, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be great. It’s known for its outdoor and adrenaline-pumping activities like scuba diving, hiking through forests, and coming face to face with dangerous animals.
Since the country is roughly the same size as the continent of the USA, it can be tricky to visit it in one trip. Some might imagine that they can just hop in a car and see it in about a week. But in reality, driving around it or taking “The Big Lap” can take anywhere from three to four months, and if you wish to take in the sights and enjoy yourself, it can take even a year. The lap is around 9320 miles, and the world record for completing it was eight hours and 52 minutes. However, it was done on a motorcycle, and most likely, the person didn’t see any other sites besides the highway.
Something that helps cover long distances quickly and efficiently is domestic flights. Australia has well-developed air travel infrastructure, and the big cities are well-connected. Its bus network is also a great budget option, but it takes much longer, so you might want to be prepared for lengthy travel days or nights.
Additionally, there’s a way to explore the country on an epic train journey called “The Ghan.” It goes from the hills of the south to the tropically green north. The trip takes three to four days (or two to three nights) and is 1,851 miles long.
As for neighboring countries, New Zealand is the closest and offers stunning landscapes and a unique Māori culture. The flight from Sydney to Auckland is about 5 hours and 32 minutes. Papua New Guinea is another option that is nearby. Even though you won’t see medieval castles or ancient acropolises there, they have their own vibrant culture, traditions, and natural treasures.
Tiktoker received varying opinions under her video
