Once upon a time, a thirty and forty something couple dreamed that they could throw caution to the wind and travel the world. The dream planted a small seed which is very slowly, but very steadily, growing. Maybe not this year, and maybe not the next, but the goal is there and we are making our way towards it. What do you do while you are waiting for financial commitments to finish and the right timing in long term worthwhile careers (him) and the guts to chuck it all in (me)? Well, you travel when you can… you think about travelling when you can’t… and you make the most of the time you have right where you are now.

Sarah

In my mid twenties, I started to have regrets about not going to university straight after school; so I went to uni part time and gained two Masters degrees whilst holding down a full time job.  In my mid thirties, I started to have regrets about not having a gap year; so I decided to take every opportunity to travel by treating every period of holiday as if it were a mini gap year and a chance to have an adventure.

I’ve always believed that regret is a wasted emotion; it’s how you turn regret around and what you do with those feelings that has the power to turn something that is usually considered a negative to a positive outcome.  For us, my little pangs of regret about not seeing the world when I was 20 years younger has started us on a fabulous journey of adventures that will stay with us forever.  We still plan to have a real gap year (six months, or whatever!) when the time is right.  That time is not now for us, but we are lucky enough to be able to live and work overseas and that satisfies a small element of our wanderlust and gives us a springboard to immerse ourselves in other countries and cultures for a whole lot longer than a quick holiday.  I never take our luck for granted.