I’ve been telling a bit of a lie, well kind of… when I tell people we’re leaving London the first question people want to know is “Where are you going?”.

To tell you the truth, we only have a rough idea… To explain that we’re not sure and we’ll see how it goes, see where we enjoy living and that we’ll be slow traveling, doesn’t seem like the precise or definitive answer people want to hear. To tell people that there is no base and that we’ll be back in the UK at times as well as further a field doesn’t really fit into the elevator pitch.

So we’ve resorted to explaining that we’re heading to “Portugal, Lisbon, maybe Porto… we’ll go up the coast…” or to make it even easier, “er Portugal.”.

It’s not a total lie but we could end up in Spain or anywhere else that works. This jumbled explanation isn’t that confusing when you’re talking to travel bloggers or people who already live this lifestyle, but it can be quite baffling to others that are removed from those circles.

“You must have a base?”. People ask. Well maybe we will, I’m sure we’ll work that out as we go. I managed to travel for two years without a base so I’m not sure you do need one…  it would certainly be easier to find a place to return to ever so often to recharge.

I guess all these questions from well meaning friends and acquaintances make you question what you’re doing yourself… There’s always a degree of fear from taking a new step, a fear of change.

How much planning do you really need?

The thing is, I managed to travel from place to place with minimal planning way back in 2006, many places in Asia and South America you could just turn up and ask for a room for the night. Simple. This was a time before a massive explosion in technology, fuelled by smartphones and tourists with giant iPads… sure you could book via Hostel World and a few other websites but there was no Airbnb at your figure tips. You’d have to hunt down a stable internet connection, back then that meant finding the nearest internet cafe. I remember trawling all over Kowloon, Hong Kong looking for a cyber cafe that was in the Lonely Planet only to find out it was boarded up and had shut down some months before.

“trawling all over Kowloon, Hong Kong looking for a cyber cafe that was in the Lonely Planet only to find out it was boarded up and had shut down some months before.”

I also remember sitting on a grubby plastic chair in a internet cafe in Cambodia for over an hour waiting for hotmail to load. I gave up after only half the page rendered, walking out handing the cafe owner a fist full of notes.

There was a time where I’d take a flight, land and then worry about where I was staying for the night. With no smartphone, no internet. When I landed in Kuala Lumpur in 2007 I figured they’d be a book shop at the airport where I could hunt down a copy of the Lonely Planet to see where all the hostels were based. As I reached the baggage carousel I realised there were no shops at all but after scanning the airport I spotted a couple of backpackers with guide book in hand. I asked they if I could take a quick look… and took note of the main area for hostels and jumped in a cab straight there.

Nowadays you can just get on your hostel or hotel’s WiFi (or use your data) to book your next stay. Technology has moved on. Of course that’s not saying there aren’t those destinations that still don’t have reliable internet speeds etc, but much of the world has made pretty big strides.

Thankfully for someone who doesn’t like planning like myself, we should (fingers crossed) be able to “wing it” to some extent.

A Healthy Dose of Fear

I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t have that much fear with our next move. Or maybe I’m trying to convince myself of the arguments. For me, traveling requires far less in the way of planning these days (unless you’re trying to snag a bargain flight of course) so why even bother… I guess for a lot people it’s to allay those lingering fears.

“we may just end up with a whole bunch of regrets once you hit your death bed. You can always make more money, but you can’t get your time back.”

Sure, I’ve got a little bit of fear. The odd occasion when you think “what the hell are we doing?”, but then I remind myself that we have to do the things we want in life and make the most of our time… as time is extremely short and if we don’t use it wisely we may just end up with a whole bunch of regrets once you hit your death bed. You can always make more money, but you can’t get your time back.

But then fear really does stop many people in their tracks… I think what I’ve learnt from taking a few calculated risks here and there in my life is that on the other side of risk is where the real rewards are.

If you never embrace the fear and take a risk, you may succeed in avoiding mistakes but you’ll certainly have regrets for a life less lived.