November 2025
As I turned away, the tears still rolling down my cheeks, from the heart wrenching goodbye, I took my first few steps onto a path I would never look back from. A journey that would have such a huge impact on my life.
Whilst every decision in our life has some form of cause and effect, there are sometimes a handful that truly define our lives.
Mine came at Heathrow airport back in the year 2000, as I took those few steps to leave my sobbing parents behind, to walk to the Departure lounge at Heathrow Airport, to board a flight to New York City, my first stop on a solo 10-month round the world adventure.
Fast forward 25 years, with a wife whom I had met through travelling, and two kids born in a country I had fallen in love with on that trip in 2000, I am about to set off on a fourth round the world trip, this time as a family, to continue that journey that started back at Heathrow, part of a life dedicated to travel.
It’s been an intense few months since we made the decision to go. A decision that was quite easy to make as life has thrown us this opportunity, and we’ve grabbed it.
But the preparation has had its challenges. Bruised shins, ankles and scraped arms from playing basketball with furniture and heavy boxes in our storage unit, hard negotiating skills selling our cars, panicking about getting the house ready to rent, and then finding tenants, saying goodbyes to close friends, all while trying to keep two kids sheltered from mum and dad running around with their hair on fire.
So, I sit here typing this first blog entry on our flight to Bali, where we will recharge for several days before moving onto Thailand. From there, we have a loose plan, but largely we will make it up as we go along.
The past few days leading up to the flight, we have seriously questioned our sanity. Not just the effort involved getting to this point, but parenting is challenging enough in the comfort of our own home, let alone whilst roaming the globe.
So far, 6 hours into a one year trip, we’ve had a mini meltdown over a split glass of water, countless “dad, how do I change the channel”, “dad, what’s my pin code for my iPad again”, “dad, I’m hungry”, several raised voices and I think the “are we there yet” count is already at 179….
But taking a glass half full approach, what an incredible experience we have ahead of us: we are getting off the hamster wheel, no more commute, no house maintenance, more time with kids (yeah, I can see your raised eyebrows at that one), and a much more flexible lifestyle. All whilst learning about other cultures, meeting new people and a chance to take the time to learn new skills……like being a calm parent.
We know it won’t be plain sailing.
The transition from plain pasta with tomato sauce to Thai Green curry will be a challenge.
Travelling with just a small handful of toys compared to the boxes and boxes of toys now sat in storage will be a challenge.
Living out of backpacks with limited clothing for two mucky pups will be a challenge.
The intense heat and humidity of Southeast Asia will be a challenge.
But we are up for the challenge. The hurdles have been bashed down in the past few months, and we are ready to create memories of a lifetime for all of us.
The adventure of us roaming wild is just beginning.
Stay tuned…
