The World Might Not Change in Just One Day, But Your World Can.

As a young teenager, I began to dream about running away and back-packing across the country, any country, but always in the back of mind was this little worm that whispered "this will never come true..." and he was right for so many reasons, the huge amount of money, going to university, convincing my parents, the danger... So. Many. Reasons.

And then one day (this is how all the best stories start) my SO turned to me and said, "would you like to travel the world with me?" and without even blinking an eye, I replied, "yes". We talked about it for hours, gleaming at all the possibilities of 'van-life'.

Him: "We could go anywhere! Start the road-trip in like Germany, or even Costa-Rica and just go from there!"

Me: "We'd have to get jobs on the road... but I could finally learn how to be a chef! We could start in France and you could look for acting jobs whilst I'm on my course... oh it could be so magical..."

Him: "We could fix up the van ourselves over the summer, go home after uni and get full-time jobs to save up."

Me: "We would have to, but... We could get a puppy, Baby!"

We looked into eachother eyes for a moment, as if unsure of the seriousness of the tone at this point, so therefore unsure wether to get too excited yet, but under the prospect of all these oppetunities, we said 'fuck it.' and went full on travel planning.

Within the hour we had invited our best friend to join us, created a huge google docs file with all the relevant information - even a page on how to invest, because, you know, every little helps? - told some of our siblings, and started looking at vans, destinations, and puppies all at the same time. We were bouncing with barely contained joy.

So, ideas had, we couldn't stop ourselves from delving further into the research, and we ended up staying up all night so invested in different YouTube videos and blogs trying to understand what it was we were going to need to know.

It started off with just the basic things;

What van model?

What items might you find yourself needing?

Best destinations on a budget

But the more research we did, the more we realised this was going to be the definition of an uphill battle, and boy did it feel like we were staring at a big mountain. I remember in those moments feelings fourteen/ fifteen years old again, depressed at the idea my dreams were somwhere further down the road, or maybe not even on my path, but this time, it wasn't the case. Not because fate chose this oppertunity, but because we stole it.

Three months away from graduation, and hoping to be no more than four-five months away from travelling freedom, the journey began. Even if it was only with just a few grey boxes on a stark screen back then, it has come so far since, and all because we took the plunge, put both feet in and said 'fuck it, let's just do it.', and we can all agree, it was the best decision we ever made.

After hours of clicking through site after site, finding out about mutual funds, motorhome insurance, travel and work visas, we got to work on our new, strict budgeting regime, like I mean dry cereal for a week if needs be- strict regime, but even that was fun... in part. Of course the endless burger cravings and wants of literally everything weren't easy, but it was undescribingly rewarding to watch our pots of money and banks slowly accumilate the means to start, what we were sure was going to be a journey of a lifetime, and it's only just begun.