Flying to Europe from Australia in 2022: I just flew to Europe and realised I've forgotten how to travel

There's a long queue in the international terminal at Sydney Airport, though maybe not where you would expect it. This one is behind the check-in counters, way over at the back wall where passengers file through to customs and security.

Today, they're not filing through. Instead there's a crowd of people patiently waiting their turn to stand in front of the big, yellow "SYD" sign – as in, Sydney Airport – with their family members and friends, to strike a pose and have someone snap a photo, to celebrate the occasion, to mark the moment: travel is back.

No doubt this is the level of excitement at all of Australia's international terminals these days. I get it, too: last week I began my first overseas trip since the beginning of the pandemic, a little over two years with no international travel, and I felt that same exhilaration. I felt nervous too, and anxious, and a little confused – but mostly, I was excited. I still am.

Travel is back. We're moving again, seeing the world again, slowly getting back to normal.

It's amazing how much you forget about the experience in two years. I forgot how to pack. I used to be a brilliant packer, I used to be ready to walk out the door and go anywhere in the world in about 10 minutes. Last week though, my entire bedroom was covered in clothes while I tried to figure out what I actually need for seven days away from home. I remembered to grab my eye-mask – usually first thing in my bag, an essential for long-haul travel – just as I was calling a cab.

I forgot about the queues too, and how even when you're so excited and grateful to be travelling again, they can drive you crazy. An hour standing in line to drop my bags off for my flight. More time to have my passport checked. More time to have my bags scanned. More time to get on board.

I forgot the feeling of touching down in another country and getting off the plane, wandering through an airport half jet-lagged and groggy, wondering how to kill a few hours without spending too much money before I can queue up for another flight and keep going.

I forgot what it's like to arrive, finally, to hear the "clump" as your passport gets stamped, to walk through a door and be in a new world, where the language is different and the food is different, the houses are different, the people are different, and even the air has this quality to it that is so noticeably unlike home.

I'm in Europe, too, in Austria, and you forget that when you go to Austria you don't just meet Austrians. The whole world is here. The woman on the front desk at the hotel is from Bulgaria. The waiter at the restaurant is Serbian. The cook is Portuguese. It's a thrill just to hear that, just to know you're talking to someone from somewhere else.