My new life as a checkout chick – by a former international travel editor

If you’d have asked me in 2015 where I saw myself in five years time the answer wouldn’t have been working as a customer service assistant at a supermarket, manning the tills through the worst global pandemic since the Spanish flu of 1918. Nor would it have involved returning home to live with my parents at the age of 41, but that is my current reality.

For the past year, instead of frequenting luxury hotels and writing about the experience and the destinations they belong to, I’ve slept in the bedroom I grew up in, seeing out each day staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars I stuck on the ceiling 30 years ago, wondering what the future might look like a year from now.

The current reality is in stark contrast to where I was 18 months ago when I thought nothing of spending most of my earnings (excluding my expenses) on regular travels to places like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Switzerland, the Maldives, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Jordan, to name a few.

I’ve been a journalist for more than two decades, with experience in regional and metropolitan newspapers, lifestyle magazines and television programs, public relations and marketing. And although I don’t own my own home or have a great nest egg, I am pretty proud of my achievements. Those who know me know that I’ve never put much emphasis on material things – travel has always been my biggest investment, at least it has been until now.

Life is all about taking risks, and I took my biggest one last year. After four years spent living and working in the Middle East and with a decent amount of savings and some unavoidable expatriate-induced debt, I opted to leave my full-time job as section editor of a 20-page weekly lifestyle supplement in Abu Dhabi and hit the freelance trail. It was something I’d been working toward for more than 20 years – I wanted to have a crack at making it as a fully-fledged travel writer. A pipedream it was not, I’d spent years fine-tuning my craft, working with some of the best in the business, and had been fortunate enough to combine my love of writing with my passion for adventure and get paid for it. During my time in the UAE capital I stood in as my news publication’s acting travel editor for a summer while our regular expert took a lengthy sabbatical, and continued to supply travel content to the London Telegraph’s travel department and file features to publications the calibre of The Independent, The Times, and Etihad Airways’ Atlas online portal.

Sadly, a couple of months after officially launching my business The Write Way to Travel, and with much to look forward to, like familiarisation trips to Japan and Fiji, a summer sojourn to a friend’s resort in Ibiza, and an invitation to one of the most luxurious resorts in the Maldives, just like that, the planned reviews and long-form destination features became but a dream, my wings clipped indefinitely by this world-crippling pandemic.

Along with the swift onslaught of COVID-19 came a need for a more viable money stream, because at 41 I couldn’t expect to be a burden to my retired parents back here in Australia. The responsible course of action was a guaranteed income, so instead of venturing to out of the way destinations and interviewing locals with a story to tell, I focussed on packing bags of a different kind and dealing with the turbulence associated with being an ‘essential worker’. Fortunately, my first paying job as a teenager was supermarket checkout operator/office assistant, so it was with my head held high that I tapped back into skills gained decades ago and I’ll continue to do so until such time as the travel market rebounds and it’s safe to venture back into the world.

From a financial point of view, I have managed to stay on a reasonably even keel. Aside from the rostered hours I’ve been getting – between 15 and 40 a week – I’ve been getting ad hoc writing work and have been able to add to my savings.

Living at home has certainly afforded me some hip-pocket relief, and while I do pay board, own my own car, have a decent amount in my superannuation fund, and continue to pay private health insurance, which I have done for many years now, I’m grateful that I don’t have to find rent each week, pay bills, or pay a mortgage, and I haven’t had to line up for government handouts.

Since returning home and spending my days serving the locals at our ‘resort’ store on the NSW Barrington Coast I’ve often been asked what someone who has written for the likes of Conde Nast Traveler and Ultratravel Middle East is doing behind a cash register – to which my reply is it’s a necessity at the moment. And with so many newspapers and media outlets closing their doors across the country and the world, I believe the retail space, for essential goods like groceries at least, has become one of the most relied upon, and although I put myself in the firing line of this devastating virus every day, I’m glad to have a job and to have built a rapport with the customers I serve and the colleagues I stand alongside every day.

Mel’s money tips

• Try not to live beyond your means – credit card spending can be a big trap
• Always have a back-up plan – things can change in an instant and you need to be able to pivot as required
• Don’t underestimate your life skills and experience you’ve had in the past
• Don’t be too proud to ask for help if you need it
• Remember that a job is a job no matter what it is
• Don’t compare your situation with others, keep an eye on your own finances and seek advice if you are confused
• Accept that the only constant is change and ensure you are keeping a track of your debt, loans, and expenses