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It is 11 months since my husband and I left the UK to travel the world permanently with no planned end to our wanderings and no idea about where we’ll eventually settle down. We run our businesses as we travel and carry less than 30kg of luggage between us (including our carry-on bags). We have some family back in the UK but nowhere we would really consider a ‘home’.
People always ask “Doesn’t it feel strange? Don’t you miss your stuff?” and my reponse is always the same “Not really”; and it’s the truth.
When it comes down to it, living as we do has shown us that you really do need very little to survive and enjoy life.
Staying, as we currently are in Dubai, is a shock to the system. Being surrounded by extravagance, opulence and a city obssessed with outdoing itself on all fronts, is totally at odds with our new-found attitudes of frugality and a “we have enough” mentality. Going out every day to the mall with my brother to buy some item or another for his apartment feels spoiled and vulgar.
We’re trying not to be “frugal snobs” but living without a home, without any frivolous possessions and with only the basics we choose to carry around with us is an extremely liberating feeling.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:00 am
I think it’s amazing what you guys are doing, Lea.
I suppose I could get used to living without my “stuff” too (maybe!), but the one thing I’d really have a hard time with is being so far from friends and family for so long… I’ve gone a year without seeing my parents a couple of times, and it was like physical pain by the end. I can’t recall if you’ve posted about this before? How do you guys do it?
January 11th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I second that, Eva. You’re an inspiration, Lea!
Personally I can’t wait to start my own RTW trip and get rid of my own “stuff”. I’ve begun slowly ridding myself of unnecessary things and already and it’s quite a liberating feeling.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Thanks guys!
Eva – it’s probably a little easier for me than my husband on the “missing family” front since my Mum died 4 years ago (which I always think is the catalyst for the lifestyle I lead now) and the rest of my family live scattered throughout the world (including my Dad) in Kenya, Dubai, HK, Italy etc. The main person I do miss is my Grandma (my Mum’s mum) who is 84 and can’t ever travel to see us; but I speak to her almost every week and email and SMS so it’s not so bad.
Many of my closer friends also live overseas so in reality there weren’t so many relationship ties holding us back to the UK.
What with skype etc. it’s so much easier to keep in touch and the world really does seem a smaller place.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I just love what you’re doing!
A few years ago, I took off and did the same thing. I had no idea how long I would be gone, but I did cut many ties behind me – possessions, job, home…
I didn’t know where I was going and bought a one-way ticket to Cape Town. I worked my way up Africa and across Asia from there.
I was on the road for three years, and I loved every minute of it. The one and only thing I regretted was not having some kind of home to come back to, so in that sense my experience was a bit different from yours.
If I ever travel in this way again, and I hope I will, a home to come back to is the one thing I’ll hang on to, even if it’s a tiny studio somewhere.
As for possessions, I went through much the same process. First, I shed most of my own. I was surprised at how little I needed not only to get by, but to be happy. It’s amazing how hard you think about buying something when you’ll have to carry it on your back for the next six months!
Have a wonderful journey.
January 19th, 2008 at 7:36 am
@ScribeTrotter – thank you! Funny – we’re actually in Cape Town right now (well, just south in fact, in Muizenberg). Loving it!
We do actually have a rental property back in the UK – a cute little cottage – which we live in for a while, so that’s probably the closest thing to home we’ve got but we don’t intend to ever live in it again. I can see us one day wanting to find a ‘home’…just not sure which country that will be in yet!
May 9th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I know I am coming very late to this, but I HAD to comment because I can so relate.
We have been traveling the world as a family in a similar way since 2006 and none of us miss our things or home.
Today it is so different with skype webcams where it feels like one brings what is important with you.
We sold our dream home to do this journey and don’t mind at all not having a place to come home to.
Our home is where ever we are! Some day we might settle down, but who knows when or where. As long as it feels as good as it does thus far, we will keep roaming the world slowly.
It is a wonderful life and way to raise a child!