Why Am I So Excited By Washing Machines These Days? | Stories From The Road #1

Saturday mornings on the road are special. I can sleep a little extra, read a little longer, eat a little later. My favourite part of Saturday morning, though? Ridiculous or not, it has to be putting my five dirty Unserious Careers t-shirts from the week in the washing machine. Most of the time, they even get their own dedicated load—they deserve it. When you have students commenting on how cool your t-shirts are they fast become brand assets worth protecting!

I’ve been on the road for eight weeks straight now and sometimes, it’s nice to feel like I still have familiar habits and routines from home. Putting the washing on is one of them. But it’s more than that. When I wash the five t-shirts I am reminded of how epic it is that I needed five t-shirts that week. That there were schools I got to present to every day.

Six months ago, the Unserious Careers 2025 Roadshow didn’t have one school signed up. It was still in the how-the-heck-am-I-going-to-get-this-off-the-ground-phase. Yet here I am, on the 29th March 2025, having yesterday visited my 61st school of the year. Wild.

Speaking of yesterday, boy was she a doozy. Let me give you a breakdown of Friday’s schedule:

• 6am: Alarm goes off. Get up and pack the car, have breakfast, shower etc.
• 6:45am: Depart Airbnb in Leeton, NSW and drive 1h45min to the first school in Junee.
• 9am: Present at school #1 (Junee High School)
• 10:15am: Drive 45min to Temora. Take an 8min nap in the car then buy my lunch and put it in the esky for later.
• 11:50am: Present at school #2 (Temora High School)
• 1pm: Drive 50min to the next school. Eat lunch on the way and try to avoid spilling beetroot on my clothes.
• 2:10pm: Present at school #3 (West Wyalong High School)
• 3:30pm: Drive 3h15min to Bathurst. Stop for a snack in Grenfell along the way.
• 7pm: Stop in Bathurst to grab supplies from the supermarket.
• 7:30pm: Drive the final 20min to my Airbnb.
• 8pm: Eat. Silence. Sleep.

A Year 12 student came up to me after one of the talks and the first words out of her mouth were “I feel so much less stressed about my career now.” She had been feeling pressure from family about making a decision on what she’ll do next year. My presentation gave her room to breathe. It still means so much to me when a student shares something like this. At 11am yesterday, I honestly had no idea how I was going to make it through the rest of the day. But hearing this student’s feedback (and taking that nap) gave me the boost I needed to keep going. I arrived in Bathurst and felt like I could have driven all the way to Sydney!

I have another two weeks on the road before I head home to Melbourne for a two week break over Easter. I don’t know how many “proper” days off I’ll have but it will be nice to at least give the vocal chords a rest. There’s still much to do behind the scenes with running the business and organising the rest of the Roadshow.

I had anticipated that at some point this term I would feel lonely. I’ve had company for only two of the eight weeks (one week with my partner, one week with Mum). But for the most part, I’ve been content trucking along solo. It helps that I’m surrounded by hundreds of students every week and chatting with their career advisers and teachers. Another reason I haven’t felt lonely though, is that for the first time in many, many years I am doing the work that I was born to do. To have people respond so positively to that work is indescribable.

I am not sure what format these blogs will take. But for now, I’m thinking a story or two from the Roadshow about who I meet, what I’ve learnt etc is a good place to start. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

And to finish this first blog, here are some other random thoughts rattling around in my brain:

• Australia truly is a beautiful country. Dirt, emus and all.
• A 2 hour drive now feels like 20 minutes.
• Google maps is great in cities but leads you astray in the country.
• Why don’t we park in VIC like they do in NSW towns with “rear to kerb”? I’ll take a photo to explain as that might make no sense. But it’s amazing.
• I grossly overestimated how many non-work clothes I’d need.

Truck on,

Alana

P.S. There’s a student story behind “Truck on” which I might share in next week’s blog!