Becoming a Freelance Adventurer and Explorer

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One morning I woke up from an unusual dream. I'd been fantasizing as I slept about what I could do if I took voluntary redundancy. I was excited by the possibilities it offered... and I hadn't even got to "travel around the world". A few weeks later my employer did offer to make me redundant. I didn't hesitate to accept. I had no doubts at all that leaving was the right option. I was lucky, I got to leave a job which made me unhappy and pocket most of a year's salary.

Prior to this I had been giving my future some serious thought. I had come to realise that there had to be more to life than sitting behind a desk all day and discussing "governance", "dashboards" and "commercial contract management". There had to be a possible future where I could deal with real world concepts and even physical objects. There had to be some way of releasing my creativity rather than daily watching it wither a little more. So many options were opening up in front of me and none involved sitting in an adjustable office chair which couldn't quite fit to my dimensions.

Then over Christmas I realised what I wanted to do. I suddenly knew clearly it was right. I just had to make it happen. The first step was to convince Lindsey that travelling around the world was a good idea. As we had just moved house (again) and her career was taking off I thought this might prove problematic... Why would she want to pack everything up again? Fortunately she surprised me and didn't take much persuading at all. We had just taken the first step towards becoming freelance adventurers and exploring the world.

Given the large investment this adventure requires I set some goals that I would like to accomplish:


• Seeing the sights and delighting in the beauty and diversity of the world.
• Experiencing new cultures, new ways of thinking and a less materialistic way of life.
• Developing my photography - learning technical skills, being more creative and crafting an amazing set of photos.
• Living in freedom - Doing what we want, going where our desires lead us and not conforming to a fixed pattern of life.
• Reconnecting with myself and understanding how I see the world.
• Reconnecting with God.
• Having an adventure and knowing that we squeezed every last drop out of life.



Fast-forwarding a few months, I had finished work and had my leaving-do after making all of my colleagues very jealous for weeks. All we had to do was get the whole house packed up and moved to my parents... and get through the large backlog of cultural activities we had neglected in our time in London. The effort was intense but we finally got it all done. We returned from my parents where we had created a new wonder of the world - a multiplicity of leaning cardboard box towers. For three nights we slept rough in our own flat; I literally slept in cardboard boxes for a couple of nights. Then our departure day came and Lindsey and I set off for our separate flights to Strasbourg. She had to arrive before me so left in the morning whilst I tied off some loose ends and then went to Stansted where I finally checked into the lounge before my flight. The adventure had begun!

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