Luxury Real Estate

By: Michael Marquette of Marquette Turner Luxury Homes

“It’s Time to Travel the World”

The last 2 weeks of traveling in the US reminded me of the first time I stepped onto a plane to head overseas. It was 2002 and I’d never left Australia before that and I can recall the nervousness and excitement that I felt. Finally I was actually going to see some of the cities that I’d seen on television and had read about and it was a life changing 8 ½ months.

One of the things about growing up in Australia is the distance of pretty much everywhere from our shores. Los Angeles is a 13-14 hour flight and London is around 22 hours at best. Auckland is about a 3 hour flight from Sydney and New Zealand is right beside us. Flying anywhere is a big event and you quickly realize that our wonderful country is very isolated.

I guess it was that realization of distance that helped me decide to spend more than 8 months in Europe, Asia and the United States on my very first overseas trip. I visited the UK, Dubai, Spain, Sweden, France, Hong Kong and the United States to name a few and I learned so much about myself and others.

It’s hard to choose a favourite place because there are simply so many great places around the World. Paris is an amazing city and the south of France is very beautiful. The French culture is wonderful to experience and I have returned to France many times and enjoy each and every moment I have there. Stockholm and Barcelona are truly beautiful cities and it’s hard not to be in awe of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in London.

The more I travel the more I learn and the more wonderful people I meet. I have established some of the most amazing friendships on my journeys around the world and I actually met a wonderful friend in New York City in 2002 who just happened to be a real estate agent/broker. It was that chance meeting that resulted in me choosing real estate as my career, which has hugely influenced my life and for that I am truly thankful.