What, why and where?

Discussions Afoot

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The idea was conceived in the chilly months of November and December, being unsatisfied with the shape our lives were taking, a big change was needed. Naturally, we went through the usual emotions and thoughts, searching for sensible, typical ways forward. There seemed little out there to inspire and nothing we thought about seemed to quite fit. We had jokingly mentioned our grand idea several times, my quips that we’d end up like Reggie Perrin or, on better days the idea of jumping on a plane to Mexico and swimming with turtles seemed exotic and carefree. It was time, a shake up was necessary, a splash in the water of our lives, something that would really mix things up.

So where to go from here? How do you create something big enough to really change your lives, to make a worthwhile impact? Something different and refreshing, a break from the daily grind to take time to consider where we’d like to be headed in the future? A change of scenery is what we decided was what we both needed to revive ourselves and our respective personal interests? We’d discussed the idea of a 2 week holiday (having worked for a small company the maximum we could take at the same time was about a week). This just did not seem enough and after all, we’d still have to return to the daily routine after the fun was over.  We felt that we were left with one option:

Quitting our jobs to go travelling! 

Saying those words alone felt quite exciting and freeing although I won’t deny a slight pang of terror. What happens now? There had been an influx of excited discussions between us, should we travel Europe by train? Should we finally go and visit wonders such as the pyramids? Should we do a jungle trip of some kind and find somewhere exotic and far from home? Then it struck us, there it was…  our plan, our freedom. Where are we going you ask, what is the grand plan? Well…

A 3-4 month, 15,000 mile+ road trip to visit all 50 states of the USA, no small feat, talk about jumping in at the deep end, talk about an experience!

Realities…

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We could hardly believe it ourselves, a fabulous and outrageous idea all rolled into one, sensible or not but the reality would mean leaving our jobs where we have both worked hard to take in all possible knowledge and experience in our field. A company that Ben has spent eight years working hard for, a place where I learnt a lot quite a lot in my three and a half years of service. Had we taken leave of our senses? Had we gone mad? What would our parents say? Is our plan realistic? A barrage of questions swimming around our heads, alongside the fierce and comforting belief that we were, unquestionably, doing the right thing.

After the initial excitement, logic started to creep in. Can we really do this? If we are going to do this what challenges would we face? What kind of costs are we looking at? As we chatted back and forth on the issue, it became apparent that there would be a few factors that would have to be taken into consideration. The main one being my partner is the only one of us that can drive! My partner has done a fair amount of travelling in his time, he once did a road trip through Texas with a friend for ten days, a ‘let’s hire a Mustang and have the time of our lives’ kind of thing, and indeed they did. Delightfully up for the challenge, but aware of how it might feel to drive for long periods in a different country, we crossed this worry off the list.

Another daunting factor was that we live in the UK and I have not widely travelled, in fact I’ve only been to Europe a few times since meeting my partner, almost three years ago, and yes to be difficult I am not particularly a fan of flying, (too much ear popping and sweets do not seem to help).  I had naively imagined some ghastly 10 hour flight, however being reassured that it’s possible to make it the the grand old USA in around 7.5 hours, I decided I will face this challenge with the appropriate drop of alcohol (for calming purposes of course) nearer the time.

Several important factors now needed to slot into place and it was time to broach the subject with our families, from whom we desperately hoped for support. I remember attempting to tell mine I debated how and what I was going to say how could I make it OK that I would effectively disappear for 4 months? After a couple of stuttery attempts the words came out. Fearful of our nearest and dearest telling us we were insane it was an apprehensive few chats and we of course could not be happier with the support and understanding we received from both sets of parents. With this approval it was now time to approach work and hand our notices in. 

I truly believe that as an adult handing in your notice with no immediate job to transfer to is like trying to jump over a massive gap and hoping you don’t fall in. Although we knew this was the best course of action it was daunting none the less. As circumstances happened my partner did the deed, our manager was understanding and wished us well. We walked away knowing the plan was now in action, again daunting and exciting.

Packed and ready to go!

After the final days at our jobs, and what has seemed the longest wait, here we are and there’s no going back! Three – four months of adventure and the unknown are upon us and there’s no going back!

Wish us luck!