It Ain't Half Easy
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- Half-Term Daytripping (14/05/2008)
We did it. We scraped our weary bones off Finsbury Pavement, jutted a rigid finger at the Gherkin and hitched a ride to Havana.
The seeds of sedition had been germinating for a while. After more than 10 years in the City the tedium of routine - framed by characterless open-plan offices, suits, conformity and unawareness of seasons in a climate-controlled semi-monde - spawned a niggling suspicion that there was something better out there than, well, work.
Eighteen months in the world were beckoning - time out to travel. The deep personal pleasure derived from pouring over an atlas in an effort to map out the short-term future outstrips by a few trillion basis points the combined excitement of bonus, flexi-benefits and news of what the MD did to the client-relationship manager under his desk.
Once the decision was made to renege on our responsibilities, bugger our careers and expose ourselves to a panoply of nameless diseases, giant mutating insects and other creepy men, the rest was easy. Resignation letters were left on superior desks with a certain smugness, agreements drawn up to let and manage the combined property empire, and worldly possessions divided between car boot sale, charity and Yellow Storage.
Cuba, a large chunk of South America, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nepal, Tibet, South Africa and Namibia became a moveable feast as well as a transient home, opened new horizons as never before and also, most profoundly, afforded the luxury of time to think and plot a different life.
With conviction we envisaged living in London without bagfuls of money, car and television, of smiling serenely at taxi drivers in their drive to eliminate cyclists. Of a home-work balance in favour of quality time and worthwhile pursuits.
A few months into the return to the Big Smoke, the jury is still out on these lofty ambitions. (Wasn't Katie Hopkins on The Apprentice horribly magnificent?)
But the fact remains: it was the best darn time of our lives and we would do it all over again.
In fact, anyone can do it - but do remember that you may forfeit your home if you don't keep up your mortgage payments. Poppycock.
* In the meanwhile, if you're looking for some inspiration for an adventurous two-week holiday, you will shortly be able to download some exciting route plans for independent travellers when mytravelyard launches soon.
Eighteen months in the world were beckoning - time out to travel. The deep personal pleasure derived from pouring over an atlas in an effort to map out the short-term future outstrips by a few trillion basis points the combined excitement of bonus, flexi-benefits and news of what the MD did to the client-relationship manager under his desk.
Once the decision was made to renege on our responsibilities, bugger our careers and expose ourselves to a panoply of nameless diseases, giant mutating insects and other creepy men, the rest was easy. Resignation letters were left on superior desks with a certain smugness, agreements drawn up to let and manage the combined property empire, and worldly possessions divided between car boot sale, charity and Yellow Storage.
Cuba, a large chunk of South America, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nepal, Tibet, South Africa and Namibia became a moveable feast as well as a transient home, opened new horizons as never before and also, most profoundly, afforded the luxury of time to think and plot a different life.
With conviction we envisaged living in London without bagfuls of money, car and television, of smiling serenely at taxi drivers in their drive to eliminate cyclists. Of a home-work balance in favour of quality time and worthwhile pursuits.
A few months into the return to the Big Smoke, the jury is still out on these lofty ambitions. (Wasn't Katie Hopkins on The Apprentice horribly magnificent?)
But the fact remains: it was the best darn time of our lives and we would do it all over again.
In fact, anyone can do it - but do remember that you may forfeit your home if you don't keep up your mortgage payments. Poppycock.
* In the meanwhile, if you're looking for some inspiration for an adventurous two-week holiday, you will shortly be able to download some exciting route plans for independent travellers when mytravelyard launches soon.
Here Is The Writer : Travelyarder
For two years Esther Spaarwater (ex-Financial News Journalist, ex-JPMorgan Asset Management marketer) and Amanda Couper (former Clifford Chance lawyer) gave up their respectable jobs to travel the world. Back in London they have given up on any attempt to exorcise the travel bug and have instead launched www.travelyard.co.uk, an itineraries website aimed at busy workers who want to spend their two-week annual leave in interesting destinations but don't have the time to figure out the where, what and how. Anyone interested in joining them on a two-week, 4WD camping holiday in Namibia in September can contact them at info@travelyard.co.uk or find out more by clicking their Namibia page.
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