Meet Kate

16,279. That’s how many kilometres from home I was when I first met Kate Jones over a cup of lavender tea. “I didn’t want to come home!” she says, reminiscing back to the balmy nights in Italy’s Lake Como where we initially crossed paths in August of 2016.

The image isn’t too far from the one in front of me now – Kate soaking in the early morning rays with a China cup close by.

Kate – a Melbourne-born nomad, was on her own solo journey at the time of our first encounter. As a passionate traveller and advocate for female solo travel, her and I struck a close friendship. “It makes me feel empowered,” she says of solo travel, “It’s all the little challenges you face and overcoming them. When you do that, and realise that you are completely alone – that, to me, feels empowering.”

I was only with Kate for 36 hours in Italy.

It’s now March of 2018. Kate and I, by some glimmer of luck, live together in Melbourne, where we spend most of our time together sitting on our own balcony with a cup of tea.

That is the magic of travel -

People like Kate.