A change is a coming...

i guess that's the cusp i'm on at the moment. i know i *need* to do something and there's lots of possibilities... and maybe i do need to start small and build up? the lone travelling thing will always come up against me though but this feeling has been all my life and often i've acted upon it... so i know i need to do something about it. when, who knows? how, i'm working on that. The fact that it's here is the main thing... now the thinking, planning and sacrifices need to be done.

I know it won't be easy and they'll be tough decisions to make, but i've made them before and not regretted any of them - i would regret not following my heart (even when it's taken me down all sorts of silly paths) and as i only have one life.

maybe my adventure will not be as adventurous as yours, i don't know yet, i just know that as @scrooge95 said, i'm at the beginning of it, and that alone is exciting... but i've got some work to do before then and some big decisions to make

so now i want to know your story!

 

To make it short, at the ripe old age of 18 I thought to myself, when I'm 80 and look back what will I want to have done, initially it was sail around the world, this changed to drive some time later, I finished college and was offered a job as an Engineer with Apple, I turned this down to take over the family business (Pub) only to get money enough top go, everything I did was heading for one goal, I got bogged down with work and ended up buying an old house (sound familiar) but eventually I knew I just had to go, luckily I met a great girl who was well up for the adventure, We gave three years travelling in a landrover (50 countries, 6 continents), we got back and started working again, got married have 3 great kids and the camper is how we all escape for as long as we can now, I know I was very lucky but its also what you do with the luck, its 25 years since I was offered the job in Apple I could have been running it by now
Simples

 

I think this is a good point ... Much more important than the market forces I was on about ... Don't listen to me!!!

 

While this year I have done some thinking about the way brexit will impact on things, I decided that there was no point as it’s too much of a variable to consider. It will be what it will be

 

How about teaching English abroad? You'll need a TEFL qualification but that doesn't seem too hard (you may even get an internship). It's an option that'll provide an adventure in a far away place, give plenty of free time and generate an income from the off.

A travelling theatre is a possibility, interesting people and a close community not so much money but a fascinating lifestyle.

Your camper could be left with a TLB'er to look after if you can't take it, but in reality, (and it hurts me to say this), it could well be a liability - high fuel bills, maintenance etc?

 

Teaching English has always been a consideration and has featured a lot this year in my thinking, i was going to do a TEFL in the nineties but got offered a lecturing post :/ A friend does it in Sicily and have been tempted for the last few years to make more enquiries... think this may be a good time to start*

While i still love the theatre, i think that it has been marketised and anaesthetised beyond all recognition. There are some grassroots opening up but so few and far between and a much younger persons movement... don't get me wrong, it's great to see and about time but rightly so, it's the young 'uns turn

I love the camper, I really do and while i'd rather the house went before the camper, i'm not so daft that i'd let it become an albatross. Depending on what i decide the next step/s are, may determine Trevor's fate .... i know there'll be tough decisions but the toughest decision for me would be to tread water for fear of making them.

I've had a few 'sell everything and live off the proceeds'moments, and while exciting, i'd really have to evaluate it properly first. I risk asses EVERYTHING - and sometimes just do it anyway!

*i'm making a list right now of folk to contact thank you

 

Whatever you do Lisa, please don't do that

 

i know... the risk assessor in me grounds the devil-may-care side. But it's nice to know that i could...

 

Ive done it , having your house can be the noose that stops you doing things in so many ways , yes rent it out but it’s still yours to worry about and maintain pay bills etc . Selling up doesn’t have to mean spend it all ,you can keep it topped up in alsorts of ways and do things that can improve and do things that you couldn’t otherwise do. Equity release controlled by you and used to do things that you may never do , is , not always a bad or wrong thing . Young free and single is everyone’s erm most people’s dream

 

Heres a bit of inspiration for you, Lois is a friend of ours and never ceases to amaze me. I only ever see her at gigs or when she nicked cd's from the beeb for me.Have a read of her books, she is a diamond.
http://www.loisontheloose.com/

 

Yes look out @Terrordales @Ermintrude is...........

 

Hello @Ermintrude
Sounds like you’re at the crossroads I’ve been at many times! I’m pinned to the uk though as I have a lovely but elderly mother: trotting round the world isn’t an option. I also wonder whether, when you travel, you take any problems you have with you. I also guess it’d be less fun than you think doing it on your own - though you sound fabulously outgoing.
Here are two things I’ve seriously considered in the past though. One is house sitting round the world. Usually looking after pets for rich dudes who travel a lot. We ran a magazine feature on a few people who’ve almost made it their lives and they have a blast. You don’t get a salary but your living costs are paid and you can rent your house out to accrue dosh while you do it.
Here’s one company.
https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/house-and-pet-sitting-assignments/
Here’s the article.
https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/mon.../how-to-make-money-by-becoming-a-house-sitter

The other thing I thought I cd still do is convert my van to a booze outlet (cost about £3k?) and spend all summer doing the rounds of the festivals. International ones too. I’d do a bar, but is there something like a sewing masterclass that you cd run? Port Eliot festival, for instance, is always looking for hands-on experiences to add to its festival offerings.
Someone remind me of Poptop Kitchen’s user name! He’d give you some insights if that was of interest at all.

Lastly, my god daughter spends 3 months of the year singing with her guitar-playing partner on a cruise ship!
Cruise companies are always looking for people to run workshops. You get paid (between them they make £15k a cruise) and of course no food/living costs at all. They managed to buy a house on the proceeds and now rent it out while they travel. Bloody swimming in dosh the pair of them.
A sewing or makery style workshop would go really well. And you get to see the world on days when you’re not at sea. Carnival, Disney, P&O, Saga... they’re are usually hungry for new ideas.

 

I LOVE Dervla Murphy! Interviewed her once and she is exactly as you’d expect. Laugh out loud funny episode in one of her books where she gets sucked into a marsh and only gets out by climbing up the actual face of the highly grumpy donkey that led her there.

 

That’s ‘im! I was trying ‘peek’ and it wasn’t working! Thanks.

 

working on a cruise ship, that's the answer. keep your house, travel the world and get paid a bit doing it and think of the social life. make enquiries. my neighbours go on cruises twice a year and they love them. cruises can be short trips or long haul. a Mediterranean one may be just right for you.