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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Travel
Tyler Dane Wingco

Gen-Z Australians are trading gritty gap years for grand tours of Europe’s cultural charisma

Fromn left to right Shea Donohoe, Martin Tan, Mary McGillivray on their grand tours.
Fromn left to right Shea Donohoe, Martin Tan, Mary McGillivray on their grand tours of Europe. Composite: Shea Donohoe, Martin Tan, Mary McGillivray

Like several hundred-thousand Australians, last winter Mary McGillivray left her puffer jackets behind in Melbourne to spend a northern summer in Europe. But McGillivray had a special project in mind: she planned her Euro-summer like an 18th-century British aristocrat, and went on a grand tour.

McGillivray evaded wolves in the south of France, admired the Rococo menswear of the continent and pondered dalliances with the locals in each destination.

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