Notebook of a Nomad

1/1/25

The morning after our New Years celebration, my cousin Paul took on the responsibility of being our chauffeur and picked us up from Sydney and brought us to the Australian Bergans’ home outside of Richmond. They have a very nice property with a beautiful view of the Blue Mountains (pictured below). We had a fun time catching up over a few beers before settling down for a family dinner. After dinner, we were pretty tired so Paul took us back to the hotel and we got some much needed rest. 

1/2/25

Paul picked us up first thing in the morning and took us to the Three Sisters rock formation in the Blue Mountains. Me and Paul did not properly prepare so we had to buy the only two large hoodies in the gift shop. Unfortunately when we walked to the overlook of the Three Sisters, all we found was fog. Scrambling for a plan B we found ourselves in a brewery where we could regroup. 

A couple beers later and Paul said he had a lookout in mind we could check out. We grabbed a few road beers (legal in Australia for passengers) and headed that direction. After a short walk to the lookout we enjoyed our view and took a few pictures right before the fog rolled in.   

After the lookout it was time to grab a snack before another big family dinner later in the night. Paul took us to the Grumpy Baker so we could try one of his favorite meat pies, an Australian staple. The day dealt us another disappointment as they were all sold out of pies by the time we got there. The sausage rolls were an adequate alternative though. 

Family dinner was a success. Not only did we get to catch up and tell a few more stories, the food was delicious. Kangaroo was on the menu and it did not disappoint. I saw my cousin Sean for the first time in a decade or so. He was excited about my upcoming journey and had plenty of good recommendations. After a fun night, it was time for Paul to drive us back to the hotel. We spotted an echidna, similar to a porcupine, on our way home which provided some excitement.

1/3/26

The morning started off with a nice hike up the Old Great North Road which was built by convict labor. It was a pretty easy hike up, especially w everyone stopping to read the historical plaques along the way. After hiking Paul wanted to take us to the candy store which offers a lot of US goods that you can’t get anywhere else in Australia. Each of us chose at least one candy and then we went to church. Well, kind of. We went to the bar located inside an old church and enjoyed another round of brews. 

After church it was time for dinner again. Paul recommended taking us to the oldest pub in Australia (if you believe their sign). Paul told us that we should in fact, not believe their sign because there is at least one older bar in Tasmania. Paul and I competed in a bar punching machine and he beat me. I’m crediting his win to his experience as it was my first time attempting a machine like that. But he won and I lost so everything else is just an excuse. He won the battle but I won the war as his arm was sore the rest of the night. Lol (and a couple days later). 

1/4/25

Just me and Paul today. The rest of the crew was driving to Sydney to see Hamilton. Paul wasn’t interested in the show and I’ve already seen it 4 times so he set up the day as a redemption for our failures a couple days earlier. We started the morning with a coffee and I finally got a proper meat pie. We ordered one beef and one lamb and split them (pictured below). They were delicious. After the pies, he took me to the three sisters again. This time the fog stayed away and we were able to get some great views of the blue mountains. After the lookouts we went on a couple of hikes and I put Paul to work taking pictures of me with the beautiful mountains in the background. He was a good sport about it as always. I offered to take pictures of him but he wasn’t interested since he lives an hour away.

After hiking was over we were hungry and decided to grab a bite to eat. We went to a cool spot called Hillbilly Cider. Obviously they make cider but also served up a delicious pizza.

During the day me and Paul had plenty of downtime to chat about a wide variety of topics. We started with light conversations about some of our favorite tv shows (The Good Place, Brooklyn 99, Last Man on Earth, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and movies (Gattaca).

I was happy to hear that Paul is a big fan of Gattaca. It’s my favorite movie. We’re the same age and we both remember watching it as 10 year old kids and feeling inspired by the story. Gattaca led the conversation to the importance of overcoming adversity and having fortitude during challenging times.

We talked about my influx of wealth and how it’s changed my life and how much it has, or hasn’t, changed my perspective. Having more wealth than I ever imagined has largely reinforced my pre-existing beliefs about the system being rigged for wealthy people and how obscene the existence of billionaires really is. I’d be remiss to not mention that these inequities will worsen under Trump.

I felt guilty about my wealth for the first couple of years and have tried to address that in a few different ways. I have chosen to donate and give away one percent of my wealth annually. I started A Just Better Foundation (AJB, my initials) to provide college scholarships to kids from my high school and a burn camp where I have volunteered for the past 4 years.

In high school I was runner-up to a $20,000 college scholarship and know how much that would’ve helped me as a first generation college student. I think there are two types of people; those who experience struggle and think others should face that same struggle and those who experience struggle and want those struggles to be lightened for others. These scholarships are my way of lightening the burden of others who are in a similar position that I was 20 years ago.

I don’t like telling people about my foundation or the scholarships it provides. I haven’t even told my parents about them. (Sorry, mom!) I prefer to give anonymously because I don’t want to taint the gesture by receiving praise or admiration that I don’t think I deserve. I only bring it up now because I want to be as open as possible during this project.

During one of our conversations, I told Paul that I think wealth exposes a person’s character. Wealth comes with a lot of privilege and a degree of power. How you utilize that privilege and power is a matter of your character. I don’t think I’d be able to claim any character if I wasn’t trying to give back and help others. I don’t think I could claim any character if I forgot the people who helped me along the way.

During another conversation, I told Paul about the story of the Chinese farmer. Throughout the story, others tell the Chinese farmer that an event is amazing good luck or dreadful bad luck. The farmer always responds “We’ll see.” The story illustrates that we don’t know how things are going to turn out and some events that we think are good luck actually turn out negatively and some events we think are bad luck actually turn out positively.

Early on, it was clear to me that my goal should be getting to a place where I wouldn’t change my accident even if I could. The story of the Chinese farmer resonates with me because I have spent a lot of time in the “We’ll see” phase. I think I’ve made a lot of progress in turning my episode of bad luck into a twist of good fate. For a long time I didn’t have much hope that my life would be better for me personally but I thought I could justify my pain and suffering by making the lives of others better. But now, as I write this in a hotel room in New Zealand, I have tremendous gratitude for the life that I’m living. My “bad luck” has opened up a lot of opportunities that were never accessible in my old life. It often takes a lot of work to turn bad luck into good, but that is the assignment and I’ve never been afraid to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

Of course, there’s a flip side to the parable. My settlement which is perceived as “good luck” could easily turn into bad with a lack of prudence. But to this point, I think I’ve handled myself well and I think I have earned some confidence in my ability to avoid pitfalls in the future. But as the farmer says, “We’ll see.”

1/5/24

In the morning Paul drove us the hour and 17 minutes to the Sydney airport. We had a couple of hours before we started our journey to Brisbane so the crew found a pub and I headed to the coffee shop to try and update this notebook. Obviously I wasn’t very productive since I’m posting this on January 20th but I valued my conversations with Paul and wanted to take some time to express the ideas well. Since I’m struggling to find the time and words to express myself well, a part of me wants to just focus on the experiences of the journey instead of the meaning behind my journey. But the meaning is the most important part. Which of course makes it the hardest part to write.