The difference between the right cruise line and the wrong one is not incremental. It is the difference between one of the best trips of your life and a week you are quietly relieved to have finished.

There is a version of my life where I stayed at Qantas. Seventeen years in, senior executive roles, a career most people in aviation would consider the destination rather than the journey. I walked away anyway. Here is why.

I left Sydney in mid-2023 with one carry-on bag and one backpack. No storage unit, no forwarding address, no plan to come back to a fixed life anytime soon. Here is what that has actually taught me.