Yarns Archives

A Letter to You Who Hears the Call of a Romantic Life on a Boat

Each day had a handful of half-an-hour drives. It was a halfa to swim in the sea. A halfa to work. A halfa to yoga. A halfa to the pub. A halfa to visit that mate who had a half an hour free. That collectively made for a lot of time in the car feeling…

ByStrath RabbidgeFebruary 3, 2023

Yarns

A Gay Atheist Goes To Church

I’m an atheist. It’s never normally hard for me to admit that. But last time I settled myself in a city overseas, while looking for community, I found myself in a circle of Christian men that made me their prey. Personally, I’ve always found church a bit hard to swallow. Perhaps it is the remnants…

ByLachie ParryJune 2, 2022

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High Way to Hell

There is a fine line between discomfort and danger in the context of travel. Discomfort is that sexy stretching of one’s personal parameters in pursuit of a broader lens on life. Danger is being reckless, indulgent and getting too stoned on a night train in India. I can’t remember the exact moment my brain ascended…

ByPaige LeaceyNovember 25, 2018

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Sin Palabras: Speechless in the Chilean Desert

Photo by Jens Johnsson Camping in the Atacama Desert with a group of Chilean hippies was always going to present something of a communication challenge. With my bare-bones Spanish, I had needed help just to translate the invitation. It offered a position volunteering at a weekend gathering of ceremony and traditional medicine called Vive Piuke Mapu, 150…

ByBen DonaldsonNovember 1, 2018

Yarns

I Hitchhiked Around Albania

I sit in the back seat of an old Mercedes-Benz that smells like cheap tobacco and think about what I should say to the mystery man behind the wheel. Squished next to me and buried under our backpacks are Noam and Ziv, two Israeli girls I met in a hostel in Sarandë. Our driver and…

ByCaroline MarcelaOctober 25, 2018

Yarns

Stoned and Paranoid in Vancouver: A Lesson From the Streets

I arrived in Canada to begin what was to become my fourth snow season, but my first long-term solo overseas trip. I had no job and vague intentions of making my way to Banff, but figured a few days in Vancouver would be a good time to start. As a veteran of three seasons in…

ByRyan BackhouseOctober 18, 2018

Yarns

What Happens Once You’ve “Found” Yourself?

We all go through a Mulan phase. Not so much the cross-dressing our way into the army, saving China and cosying up with mega dreamboat Captain Li Shang part. It’s more like looking in the mirror and offkey singing, “Who is that accumulation of cells and bad-choices I see / staring straight back at me?”…

ByStorm ZdanowiczOctober 16, 2018

Bali Yarns Yarns

A Balinese Jungle Ruined My Gig as the Villa Psychic

Using my tweed blazer, online degree from the University of Metaphysical Sciences, and superior height, I convinced three of the mugs I was living with to follow me into a Balinese forest and summon up spirits. They believe I can read minds. This is half because I keep saying I can, and half because I…

ByJosie AdamsOctober 3, 2018

Greece Yarns Yarns

So You Decided to Sit With the Gods?

You look at the biro-ink peaks of Mount Olympus on the back of your ouzo receipt. The receptionist at your previous Greek hostel made them look more innocent than what was to come. The triangular mountains are dotted with the incision lines of the E4 track; it will lead you to your refuge for the…

ByZoe RidgwayOctober 2, 2018

Yarns

Here Is Good

I stare out the plane window at the twinkling lights in the darkness below. That’s Japan down there. Hitting the ground feels like victory: a life’s dream of coming here fulfilled in the matter of seconds. With a big smile despite my tired eyes, I step out of the arrival gate and drink in the…

ByKate DubeSeptember 26, 2018

Yarns

“What Goes Around Comes Around”: On Accepting Kindness From Strangers

Right now, I should be in absolute shock and wonderment. I'm sitting comfortably in the rental home of three elderly Japanese people, who have just treated me to a magnificent meal of sashimi, okonomiyaki and the usual unusual assortment of Japanese vegetables exotic to the foreign tongue. Where I had presented nothing but the hitchhiker's…

ByEli SookerSeptember 21, 2018

Yarns

Drunk on Homesickness

Seven months into a student exchange in Europe, and I’d only seen two Australians. One was guy who had little interest in reminiscing about our favourite meat pie flavours. “Mine’s bacon and cheese!” I offered. He said he didn’t care. The other was a girl whom, upon hearing her Sydney accent, I became so overwhelmed…

ByAlana BerghoferSeptember 17, 2018