The way to give up your job & journey (yep, for actual)


Ever dreamed about quitting your job and travelling full-time? Ever joked to your companion about not returning to work and working away? Should you’ve ever needed to know what it feels wish to act on that loopy impulse, as a substitute of simply dreaming about it, right here’s our story.


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How it began

Once we purchased a motorhome and we crossed the English Channel in it for the primary time in 2017, I by no means dreamed that inside a yr I’d be homeless and unemployed. By alternative. 

I vividly bear in mind standing on high of a mountain in Switzerland subsequent to the motorhome on that first journey, at the hours of darkness, staring up on the Milky Manner in awe. I bear in mind turning to my husband and joking about working away from the ‘actual world’ and by no means going again to work.

Even then, it appeared unimaginable. I imply, come on, how many individuals of their 30s truly depart a safe and well-paying job… to journey.

Our motorhome in Switzerland on that first journey to Europe

Why we liked journey a lot

In 2017, we had been in a multitude. My pretty mom in regulation had simply handed away completely unexpectedly, we had been homeschooling our daughter via her GCSE exams and we labored completely incompatible hours. My ex husband, having been deployed for a few years, was now at residence working usually Monday to Friday hours, whereas I labored shifts as an air visitors controller. I’d both begin actually early, end actually late or, the worst one, arrive residence after an evening shift, too drained and grumpy to wish to discuss or spend time collectively.

We’d go days in a row sharing little greater than a fast handover on our daughter earlier than heading our separate methods. Having spent years paying off debt and baby upkeep, we lastly had cash, however little or no time. So it’s no surprise that the simplicity of travelling with a van and motorbikes and the enjoyable of exploring, spending time collectively each as a pair and a household, appealed to us a lot.

Nonetheless, standing on that mountain in Switzerland, the thought of creating this a everlasting lifestyle was so out of our realm of risk that we laughed it off- a kind of jokes folks make after they’re on vacation. 

Till the subsequent morning.


Considering exterior the field

Beginning the lengthy drive again from Switzerland to England, we began speaking about HOW we might get extra time to have adventures in our lives. What wanted to vary and what might we do in a different way? What was holding us again?

We had been simply passing the time on the drive, throwing concepts round and considering exterior the field. My ex husband and I had all the time been good at that. 

That’s how we ended up residing on boats for 15 years- initially as a means to save cash, however afterwards simply because we loved the simplicity of the life-style and the sensation of being a bit of bit ‘bizarre’. We appreciated making decisions few different folks might perceive. 


The issues we confronted

There have been some issues that appeared straightforward to repair, after which some which had been greater. The largest was my job. Folks choose air visitors controllers to be within the ops room, not tenting up a mountain whereas they’re working! 

And though we had days off constructed into our working cycle, it was robust to get a very good chunk of time the place we might actually go exploring. So the plain reply was to ask for a sabbatical from my work for a short while so we might journey.

Mr WB and I on the bikes.

What about cash?

One other huge downside was cash. We had a home ( to take care of my mom in regulation), with all of the payments that got here with that, plus we nonetheless had our boat and several other different commitments. We’d been speaking about shopping for a home as a substitute of renting and had been saving to construct up a deposit for that.

If I made a decision to depart my job, what did we do for cash?

About 3 hours into our enjoyable recreation of ‘how can we modify our life’, I began a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet I nonetheless replace to today. A sheet exhibiting our earnings and our expenditure. 

This sheet modified every little thing.


One easy factor modified our view

Abruptly, we noticed how a lot cash we had been losing every month, even on seemingly little issues like Costa or takeaways. We might see how a lot the home was costing us to run, plus different bills we’d began paying for with out actually excited about it.

We had been each enthusiastic about being debt-free, and we’d labored exhausting to repay all money owed and bank cards which we naively run up in our 20s. We’d spent 10 years residing thoughtfully and frugally however, now that we had higher jobs and extra disposable earnings, it was clear to see we had began spending some huge cash mindlessly once more. 


May I take unpaid depart?

This led to the subsequent step within the recreation. If we had been spending a lot cash needlessly, we should always be capable to save sufficient to permit me to take a sabbatical. Would we be capable to save up sufficient for 3 months unpaid depart? 6? Heck, what about an entire yr?

By the point we’d completed our drive again from Switzerland, we’d spent 3 days speaking virtually continuous about this plan. It had gone from being a distant dream, to being one thing virtually doable, if we stopped spending. 

Was a yr free from work value not having the luxuries we loved daily? May we cease spending sufficient to make it work?


How we stopped spending

So we did. Instantly. We had been militant and obsessive. We stopped consuming out, we stopped shopping for garments and we lower our daughter’s allowance (she was much less happy about this transformation!)

What’s each superb and terrifying is that inside 3 months we hadn’t simply met our objectives, we’d blown them out of the water. Inside 3 months, we’d given up the home, moved again onto our boat, offered all our furnishings and lower our bills down in order that we had been residing solely on simply my ex husband’s wage. 

That means every little thing I earned went into financial savings. 

Abruptly, the year-long sabbatical appeared not solely doable, however straightforward. So I utilized to my work for a yr off.

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My terrifying choice

Besides that my work mentioned no. They weren’t going to offer me day without work.

Truly, they didn’t say no, they simply mentioned “we’ll let you already know on the finish of the yr and it was unlikely to be allowed for a full 12 months.”

Which left me with a terrifying choice.

By now I used to be so excited in regards to the considered travelling for some time, that the thought of not doing it was soul destroying. 

Nonetheless, the one choice we had left was for me to give up my job. As in, completely. 

It’s not a profession you possibly can choose up once more in just a few years, or go elsewhere to do with one other firm. I used to be both in, or I used to be out. 

Not solely that, however my social life and my id was tied up in my profession. I appreciated having a ‘cool’ job. I appreciated chatting to folks at events or occasions about what I did. And I appreciated incomes my very own cash.

Did I REALLY wish to give all that up?

What if…?

What if issues went flawed? What if we’d miscalculated? What if we acquired sick? What about my pension? What if….  The record went on. There have been so many unknowns sooner or later and I used to be scared to return to a time the place we had no cash and an excessive amount of debt. 

On the flip aspect,

For some time, I’d been sad in my job. I appreciated the general public I labored with, however issues had been altering in administration and likewise in the best way we dealt with the plane in our airspace. 

At any time when folks hear I’m an air visitors controller, the very first thing many say is ‘that should be disturbing’ and truthfully, more often than not it wasn’t. But it surely was starting to be. 

My sleep was affected and my well being turned affected. This choice was weighing on me. After 13 years and actually exhausting coaching, was I actually going to stroll away from a secure, safe and well-paid job with an incredible pension? 


The quote which modified my life

At round this time, I learn a street journey journey quote from Robin Sharma which modified my life: “Don’t stay the identical yr 75 occasions and name it a life”

It’s EASY to remain within the identified. It’s EASY to remain protected and do the identical issues many times every year. However we had a singular alternative the place our daughter was virtually sufficiently old to go to school and we hopefully had just a few years earlier than my mother and father wanted us round extra to assist help them. 

We needed to journey while we had been younger sufficient to take pleasure in it. We needed to tour our bikes and stay a bit of. Tomorrow, as they are saying, is promised to nobody.

So, in November 2017, I handed in my 3 months discover. I used to be terrified and elated suddenly. I had no clue if this was the precise choice. So many individuals I labored with advised me I used to be loopy. That this was an enormous mistake. That I’d remorse it.

Don’t stay the identical yr 75 occasions and name it a life

Probably the most terrifying half

And probably the most terrifying half was, I had no thought in the event that they had been proper or not. All we might do was plan as finest we might and hope it was sufficient. Apart from, I knew that staying there, though acquainted and protected, wouldn’t be the journey we craved. We needed to stay a special yr. 

I labored my final day in February 2018, and every week later we set off for a motorhome tour of Europe. Since then, we’ve visited over 15 nations, travelled over 60,000 miles and we’ve not starved but.


I missed this…

Positive, I’ve missed the cash and positive, for just a few months I struggled every time strangers requested ‘what do you do’. However the experiences and recollections we’ve been in a position to make, each as a household whereas our daughter travelled with us, and as a pair who’ve reconnected once more, had been, to cite Mastercard, priceless. 

We’ve since stood on high of a whole lot of mountains and stared up on the Milky Manner numerous occasions, and by no means as soon as have I regretted my choice- not even when the world turned the other way up in methods we might by no means have predicted. 

Should you’re dreaming and debating a call like this for your self, I can’t promise you a contented ending. It’s not straightforward altering your life and it’s REALLY not straightforward giving up monetary safety. We don’t know what may occur sooner or later or how the world may change.

However I assume that’s the identical even for those who keep in a job. I do know many individuals who’ve been made redundant unexpectedly, or the corporate they work for has closed down. NOTHING is assured on this life. 

What I do know is that our years are positively not the identical as all of the others anymore and we had extra journey within the first few years than the 15 earlier than them. So, wherever you might be, no matter your dream, I hope you discover the braveness to disregard the doubters and go for it and I want you all of the luck on the planet.

Be happy to search out me on Instagram or Fb and let me know the way it’s going 🙂


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