This Is Us: Our Life, Our Journey, Our Story

Sharing a little bit about us, and our story — We don’t often take the time to look back, but as we set off on our one-year honeymoon, it feels like the right moment to reflect on how far we’ve come. From meeting in France back in 2011 to building a life on the other side of the world, this journey has been anything but ordinary. What started as a short adventure turned into a new home, a new nationality, and a love story shaped by bold choices, unexpected turns, and a lot of trust in the unknown.

It all began in France, in 2011, when we first met — two students in Strasbourg with big dreams and little idea of where life would take us. We spent the next few years building a life together between Strasbourg and Paris, sharing tiny apartments, busy schedules, and that thrilling feeling of early adulthood when everything still feels possible.

By 2014, a question kept coming up: What’s next?We had finished our studies and were standing on the edge of “real life,” asking ourselves what kind of future we wanted. What would come after degrees, cities we knew by heart, and familiar routines? The answer, for both of us, was simple: adventure.

Blue Mountains Australia

Flo wanted to learn English. Ben wanted a change of scenery. We both craved new experiences, something bold and different from the life we knew.

We started brainstorming — Australia, Canada, the U.S., Thailand. All were on the table. We had connections, ideas, little projects forming in each. But Australia kept coming back: warm, far, full of possibility. The plan? Spend a few months in Australia, then head to New Zealand. Just a temporary adventure...

Spoiler alert: we never made it to New Zealand. Not yet, anyway.

Instead, in June 2016, we packed up our life in France — left our apartment, our jobs, our friends, and the comfort of home. Before we left, we soaked up a final French summer with our loved ones, then spent two dreamy weeks in Saint Martin.

And then, on October 16th, 2016, we stepped off a plane in Sydney.

Ben had lived in Sydney for a year, before we met. But for Flo, it was love at first sight. The sunshine, the ocean, the mix of cultures — it all felt alive and exciting. We began with a Working Holiday Visa, planning to explore, work a bit, and see where life would take us.

Where it took us… was far beyond anything we imagined.

Over time, one step led to the next: Working Holiday → Sponsorship → Permanent Residency → Citizenship.

Exactly five years to the day after we arrived, we became Australian citizens.

What. A. Journey.

What a day.

What an achievement.

We had built something beautiful. Careers we were proud of, friends who felt like family, a life that was vibrant and full. We spent three more years living that life, still in awe of what we had created. But somewhere in the back of our minds, the same question started to whisper again: What’s next?

And so, in 2023, after getting married, we decided it was time to follow a new dream — something purely for us: a one-year honeymoon. A year to explore, reconnect, create memories, and reflect on this wild ride we’ve been on.

Wedding Day

From Strasbourg to Sydney, from a “few months” abroad to full-blown immigration, this journey has shaped who we are in ways we never could have planned. And as we write this, somewhere on the road, we’re still chasing what’s next — just with a little more sun on our skin and a lot more love in our hearts.

Summer in France