Why go?

Preparations
South America
North America
Asia
Africa
Europe
Returning home

Why go?
Where do you start?
Weather
What are we taking?
The send-off
Quirky places

Why go? Why not?

Heer Langoor

Heer langoor wou op reis gaan,
op reis gaan voor plezier.
Hij wou toen naar Parijs gaan,
en dat is ver van hier.
Hij droeg een vuurrood jasje,
zijn vest was blauw geruit.
En achter uit zijn broe-hoekje,
daar stak zijn staartje uit.

(Translation: this is a song about a hare who wants to travel, for fun. He wants to go to Paris, which is farm from here. He's wearing a red jacket and a blue checked shirt, and his tail sticks out out of his trousers)

It's great fun travelling around to see different places and experience new cultures and environments. We have been on a number of city breaks in Europe over the last couple of years but with just a few days to explore, you really only have time to scratch the surface and follow the typical tourist trail.

Our trips to Argentina, Chile and India opened up a new travel horizon. We travelled as independently as we could in each and it forces you to get to know more about the local cultures and customs and the difficulties of everyday life. It makes you realise just how much we have come to take for granted living in the UK. From the basics of clean water available from a tap and as much electricity as you want at any time during the day through to the availability of complex transport and healthcare services - we've really lost sight of how easy life has become!

So why go now? Simply put, we have the opportunity. Stefan was made redundant in September 2003 and this prompted us to re-evaluate our options. Initial high expectations of life as an independent consultant quickly showed that not much differed to the "Big 5" consultancy experience. The inevitable work based treadmill kicked in again for Stefan quite quickly.

For Ness it was a harder call as her Mum went through a spell of ill health (but her strong character has, as ever, pulled her through). At work, a new Government backed product opened up new challenges and opportunities that were too good to miss but brought with them high levels of stress and pressure.

In the end we agreed on a leaving date (with a fair amount of marital strife and stress along the way!) of May 2005. There's already a number of books running (mostly in Ness's family) about whether a) we'll come back - certainly the plan at this stage and b) we'll still be talking to each other when we do - 24/7/365 is going to be a challenge!!

The hardest part of the planning was deciding where to go. We both drew up our wish lists and then combined and consolidated. To go to all the places we want to we reckon we'd probably need about 4 years - unachievable unless we work our way around and a break from work is part of the plan. Our plans may change if we can suddenly improve our writing and photography skills and find a new niche in a crowded market for travel stories that enables us to keep going. Our main focus was to go to those places that would be harder to visit at a later date when time was tight so obvious places like Oz and New Zealand were low priority on our list.

Leaving behind family and friends will also be tough but the fact that you're reading this now shows how easy it is to keep in touch. We'll be wired as we go and plan to update our site with news and pictures and hopefully get an email or two along the way.

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