This year of our lives. One year, two people. For who we are and why we are here, read on…

2015

John and I have been married for just over a year now, and together since 2009. We live in Cambridge, UK, and about 4 years ago were trying to decide what and where to buy our home, in an increasingly competitive and expensive property market. To get what we thought we wanted, we went to a view a run down house in a lovely village – good pubs, local shops, a cycle into the city. On return from the viewing, we had a sit down. It was clear that buying this house would give us a solid investment in a great location, the stuff property shows are made of. But it would take all our money and all our time to get there. We weren’t enjoying our jobs and we knew this would be a serious tie. We drew up lists of pros and cons, and then in a moment of frustration, I said to John “What would you do if I dumped you today?”. He responded immediately, “Take my half of the deposit money (ever the gentleman, my husband) and go travelling”. “Me too”, I said. And the stage was set. We both wanted to travel before really settling down, and fortunately we had the perfect partners to do it with. From that moment on, everything we did, from buying a house in a less perfect village, with no character but great rental potential, to sticking at our jobs and saving hard, was with a view to this. And here we are, starting this year of our lives together.

2018

Our year travelling the US (2015-16) taught us some things that were essential to us, and things that were not. In summary, ‘things’ are not essential, but experiencing new places together certainly is. Living for a year in a 26 foot metal box on wheels was all we needed to agree that, for us, the big house is not the dream. We are still in the little 2 bed that funded our trip, and while there are elements we would like to change, and will in time, we never want our home to be a millstone; we want it to work for us and the lives we want to lead. We want to have enough money to travel, near and far, and to spend our free time enjoying each other’s company, as well as time with friends and family, so forgoing the latest telly and brand new sofas doesn’t really feel like a sacrifice.

I created this blog to share our RV adventures with friends and family at home, but it became a real source of pleasure for me as we made our way across the US. Distilling our adventures in each place to a blog post made me really focus on the joys and challenges of life on the road, and I enjoyed the writing process itself. When I returned home, so many people said to me they had been reading along, many of whom I had no idea were even interested, that I decided I would try to continue a journal of our travels outside the US. Until such time as we can return for Round 2….