Making Our "One Days" Day One
By: Shelley Roes
Making a decision to sell everything we owned and to set off on a travel adventure was an easy one for us, but our friends said we were brave – and crazy! During our travels, so many people we’ve met have said that our life is their dream, or that they plan to do what we are doing …one day.
What we did wasn’t anything special but taking that leap into a life of travel and leaving your comfort zone behind you, can be difficult for some.
There is also a notion that travel is expensive, which is why many people put off their travel dreams until they are either retired or they enjoy a few weeks a year somewhere which has taken them the whole year to save for.
So, what made us decide to take the leap? One afternoon we sat down with a blank piece of paper to brainstorm all the things we wanted to do in life. As it turned out, we wanted to see the world. We’re not sure who said it first, but we saw the same realisation in each other’s eyes. Why not now?
We, at neither the retiring nor the backpacking age, decided that afternoon, to buck the trend and fulfill our travel dreams by selling up everything we owned. We were excited and felt neither brave nor crazy.
Our plan was to travel around Europe in a motorhome for a year, and then return to Australia to again find jobs and rent a home. A middle-aged gap year … of sorts.
Six months into our travel adventure, we were looking at ways to extend our travels by volunteer work/stay programs when we happened upon the Trusted Housesitters site.
We’d never heard of this service and were amazed at how many worldwide opportunities there were to stay in someone’s home for free, in return for looking after their pets. As animal lovers, this seemed to be a perfect arrangement. Free accommodation combined with plenty of time in the company of animals – we missed the licks, tail wagging, purrs and snuggles that come with owning a pet.
With this newfound knowledge, our one year of travel could now become much longer. And it did. Much , much longer. We’ve been on the road now for almost four years.
They say another door always opens when one closes. Having the courage to jump out into the world and close the door behind us worked for us. After our year travelling Europe in a motorhome, we bought a car and travelled through the UK, Scandinavia and France, house sitting along the way.
We had a glorious nine month house sit in the Dordogne area of France which gave us time to settle into French village life. We looked after three cats, eight chickens and seven sheep while living rent and bill free – our only expense being food. Travel doesn’t have to be expensive.
Even in Covid times, we were blessed with good luck.
We had arrived in South Africa in January 2020, deciding to buy a 4×4 with tent on top with the intention of overlanding the vast African continent. In early March, to break up the camping, we had agreed to a 6-week house sit in a small country town, Prince Albert, about four hours north-east of Cape Town.
It was at this time that South Africa entered strict lockdown. Those six weeks morphed into five months. So, while many suffered during the lockdown, we were fortunate to be riding out the storm in a remote town in the Central Karoo desert with two gorgeous pooches.
If we thought our housesitting situation was already ideal, then what happened next was stupendous. The South African lockdown relaxed a little, allowing the family that we were house-sitting for to return. They had been holidaying at their remote bush camp and suggested we now swap.
And so it was; we found ourselves in paradise in a South African bush camp, adjacent to Kruger National Park surrounded by African wildlife. Just the two of us, 5000 hectares, no fences and all the iconic African wild animals we had heard of.
Giraffes wandered by as we ate dinner, zebras, kudu and impala grazed on the bushes around us. Elephants played in the nearby river and baboons were cheeky enough to run through camp – one even stole a lemon from the kitchen table. We kept an eye out for leopards and lions, but they mainly kept their distance in daylight hours. Hyenas invaded camp at night, so we had to make sure anything they could chew was out of reach. The bite marks on the corner of the freezer was a reminder to make sure all external doors were closed before retiring for the evening.
Life in the African bush is hard to put into words – it seeps into your soul. You can smell the rain before it arrives, and the sounds of the bush have you on alert forcing you to be in the moment. The rawness of mother nature wraps her cloak around you making you feel a part of her plan.
Our life is now a long way from the day-to-day routines, once the mainstay of our lives. Travel is our new norm and we have found a way to live our ‘Day Ones’, rather than waiting for the One Day’s… those that come with no guarantee.
Travel is all we thought it would be, and more. We are thriving on this part of our life’s journey.
Be what it takes – be brave, and you may even be called crazy, but hey, life is to be lived. Are you ready for your Day One?
Shelley and Lars are founders of Lifejourney4two, (https://lifejourney4two.com ) a travel blog, with lots of useful travel information, beautiful travel photography and inspirational travel stories. They sold everything they owned in 2017 to begin their travels and are slowly road tripping their way around the world.
You can also find them on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
