Why We Travelled from Australia to Switzerland Without Flying

I come from a small outback community in Southwest Queensland.
Around 600 people, give or take.

It’s the kind of place where the horizon stretches wide, where the dust settles into everything, and where the flies are just part of everyday life.

It’s home — and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

But growing up there, my world was shaped just as much by imagination as it was by reality.

And one image stayed with me.

As a child, I read a book with kittens playing in the snow at Christmas. There were Christmas trees, soft lights, and a quiet kind of magic that felt so far removed from the heat and dirt I knew.

And I remember thinking…
I want to see that one day.

Not just snow — but a white Christmas.

It became one of those quiet dreams you carry with you. Not urgent. Not planned. Just… always there in the background.

‘Why wouldn’t you just fly?

Years later, that dream came up again in conversation with my husband.

His response was simple:
“If you can get me there on a boat, I’ll come.”

He doesn’t fly. He chooses not to. He dislikes airports.

And just like that, what had always been a distant dream suddenly became something else entirely — a challenge.

Because how do you get from Australia to Switzerland… without stepping on a plane?

At first, it sounded almost impossible — or at least far too difficult.

Friends and family were curious. Most were supportive. Others thought we were slightly mad.

And to be honest, there were moments I wondered the same thing. My husband never did — for him, this was simply the only option.

For me, flying would have been easier, faster, and probably cheaper too. But in his view, we’d miss everything along the way.

And that’s when it shifted.

This journey was never just about getting from A to B.

It was about something more.

Choosing the long way around

We realised that if we were going to do this… we had to do it properly.

No shortcuts.
No “just this one flight.”

And the two things we would need most were time… and money.

If we were going to commit to travelling without flying, then the journey itself had to matter just as much as the destination.

Cars, trains and ships instead of planes.
Time instead of speed.

And slowly, piece by piece, the impossible started to feel… possible.

What happens when you don’t fly

What happens when you don’t fly is something you can’t fully understand… until you experience it.

Because when you don’t fly, you don’t skip over the world.

You move through it.

You feel the distance.
You see the transitions.
You experience the in-between moments that most people never even notice.

And while that brings incredible beauty and joy… it also brings challenges — sometimes starting with something as simple as what to pack.

There weren’t really moments of doubt, but there were moments — only a few — where things didn’t go to plan.

But there were also moments that simply wouldn’t exist any other way.

From outback Queensland to a white Christmas in Switzerland

What started as a childhood dream — inspired by a simple image in a book — turned into a journey across oceans and continents.

From a small outback town in Southwest Queensland…
to the snowy landscapes of Switzerland at Christmas.

Without stepping on a plane.

And that is just the beginning!