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Michaela on tour – week one
Well it’s finally arrived, I (Michaela) have retired! As of Friday 29 November I am now a lady of leisure and doing final preparations before starting out on our travels to South East Asia. Phil doesn’t retire until 20th December so in the meantime I am on tour spending quality time with family in various parts of England. So while Phil is busy finishing up at work I am on the first part of my tour, in Lowestoft with my Mum and will be out and about in Suffolk and Norfolk for a few days. Today we visit Beccles, a small market town just 7 miles inland from Lowestoft nestled in the…
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Recurring Themes. No 1: Depopulation
Some themes seem to resonate no matter where we travel, not all of them by any means are edifying. So ahead of commencing our trip of a lifetime, ahead of living our dream, we examine some of those recurring themes. Depopulation of rural areas is already one of those recurring themes, bringing with it the loss of tradition and culture. As the world becomes more and more accessible, so the destination hubs grow. The attractive cities expand, resorts grow, hotels and apartments spring to life. With all this comes a series of largely false micro economies, as tourism brings in the foreign dollar and jobs, and incomes, become readily available. …
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A-Z of Travel Preparation- Last Bit
And so as we enter the final weeks of work before retirement and with more than one eye on the start of our travels, we conclude our alphabet of all of those things to remember and to put into place before we go. U is for the Unknown. We are pretty organised people and consider ourselves to be pretty thorough, but there’s bound to be something we’ve forgotten. Something will crop up: either something we haven’t covered at home, something we haven’t organised for the trip, some little, or maybe big, detail we’ve omitted. It’s almost interesting to see what that something turns out to be. V is for Visas,…
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A-Z of Travel Preparation: Part 5
Continuing our summary of all the things to remember, and put in place, before we set off on our epic journeys in January. Q is for Quitting The Job. In our circumstances this has not been straightforward and far from just a matter of handing in a resignation, especially for me, Phil. Having launched a business back in 1995, I then partially sold the company into a larger Group in 2007 but stayed on as Managing Director right through to current times. So, such issues as a notice period in excess of 12 months, co-Directors, investors, shareholding etc all had to be sorted. It’s been a long road but we’re…
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A-Z of Travel Preparation – Part 4
While we are working through all of the planning, time is racing on now as we near the first leg of our adventure of a lifetime. Retirement, and travel around the world, beckons. And moving on through our plans, and our guide to planning… M is for music. Phil’s obsession with rock music will need a regular fix whilst we are on our travels. Remember those days when a 2-week holiday meant time away from your music? Thankfully those days are long gone, and we now take our entire music collection everywhere we go. Beats headphones for long journeys, Sony mini speaker for in the rooms, iPods, iPads, and the…
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A-Z of Travel Preparation – Part 3
Time is moving on and the anticipation and excitement is growing; we’ve moved into the last 100 days before our lifetime adventures of long term travel begin with a flight to Bangkok. And so we’re trying to get everything place now and trying to forget nothing. Continuing our check list A-Z: I is for insurance. Finding travel insurance has proved a lot more difficult, and expensive, than we thought. The main obstacles have been our ages (62 and 54)and the length of time we’ll be travelling. Most policies have restrictions on these things, and many companies supposedly offering tailor made policies actually turned out to be a waste of time…
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A-Z of Travel Preparation (continued)
Continuing our summary of all that there is to do when planning a major trip and a long spell away from home. Our retirement is imminent and our lifetime adventure starts at the end of January. Amid the growing excitement, there is much to do, so many things to think of. Like. E is for entry conditions. In some parts of the world, it’s not possible to just travel with an open ended stay and with complete freedom. We’re heading to South East Asia first, where 30-day visas are compulsory (although some can be extended), so it’s necessary to plan your departure as well as your arrival. In some instances,…
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A-Z OF TRAVEL PREPARATION
We are now right in the throes of preparation for our major adventure – retiring later this year then embarking on pretty much full time travel from early 2020. As we work through these preparations, it strikes us just how much there is to organise and to get into place before you can go. It’s not just a matter of upping sticks and catching a plane – there’s so much to think of, and put into place. So over the next few days, here’s our A-Z of how to be organised enough to take this on. A is for accommodation, and Airbnb; it’s also for apartments. We’re going to leave a…
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Kew Gardens, Glass Sculptures…And The Rain
A timely visit to Kew Gardens to see the Chihuly glass sculpture exhibition
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Padstow & The Camel Estuary
A visit to Padstow, one of our favourite places and probably the last time before our epic journey around the world
