This was our first holiday together.
It’s a classic “look at us we’re somewhere exotic” cocktail shot of an era when Tom Cruise was nominated worst actor at the Golden Raspberry Awards for shaking his piña coladas across our screens and Yazz – along with her Plastic Population – told us “The Only Way is Up………… Baby”.
I’d just started wearing specs. I’d taken them off and out of the shot, I thought.
We were actually in an Irish themed pub somewhere in the costa del tacky; about as exotic as Danny-La-Rue and as Spanish as pie and chips.
“This is the life”, some would say as they settled into their sun loungers for another day of splash and burn. I started life in social housing, so far be it from me to be mounted on my hoity-toity high horse when I say “there’s a line” and I met it on that trip.
I like a few scoops as much as the next person but even a lush like me passed on a breakfast invitation to join the hardcore holiday revellers for double rum and cokes at the swim-up bar. Besides, we hadn’t invested in any national flag emblazoned swimwear which appeared to be the dress code for the occasion.
Snottiness and binge-drinking aside, there was nothing wrong with a bit of affordable frivolity in the sun. Northern hemisphere sun-seekers would slur in agreement in staggering numbers. For us, it was a cheap and cheerful welcome break from working 60-plus hour weeks and spending weekends scraping decades of paint and woodchip off our 100-year-old terraced home. (Cue Coronation Street theme tune).
As I remember it, we drank to grand travel plans on that holiday. We would build our careers, save up, and we promised each other in five-years time we would take a sabbatical and explore the world outside the package holiday soap opera bubble. As most people know, life doesn’t always play fair and our dream trip didn’t materialise. (Cue violins)
We spent most of our thirties searching out relief remedies for my newly diagnosed arthritic spine which had been giving me grief since my teens and was structurally on the road to degeneration. Just as I got on top of that, Paul found out he didn’t have a tip-top ticker. A couple of more years passed by while Paul got surgery and the all-clear.
I guess we should’ve been holding on to our corporate, gilt-edged health cover for dear life, but instead, we cashed in our worthless endowment policy, traded in our steady-eddy careers and kept a fifteen- year-old promise to each other.
What happened next is here How to turn your round-the-world trip into a reality
Do you dream about taking a sabbatical and traveling round-the-world? What’s stopping you?
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- Reaching the lost city of Machu Picchu
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- Buffeting winds: The Three Towers Chile
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- Trekking the Great Wall
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- The summit of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo
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- Picked up with some initial intrepidation
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- Marine Iguanas soaking up the midday heat
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- Giant Tortoise of the Galapagos
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- Trekking Northern Territory Australia
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- Baby Panda gets some shuteye, Chengdu, China
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- Blue footed booby: only found in the Galapagos Islands
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- Long boat journeys – Amazon
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- At Eco camp & Start of a four day trek to the Patagonian ice field
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- River journey in flat bottomed boat Central Malaysia
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- Fraser: Worlds largest sand Island
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- French Valley, Patagonia
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- Giant Tortoises of the Galapogas Isles
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- Ice Trekking, South Island, New Zealand
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- Gruelling trek through the Amazon
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- Trekking the jungle s of Northern Thailand
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- Kayaking Gorges of Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory Australia
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- Children in Yangshou China see themselves doing Kung Fu on video
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- Lake Taupo, New Zealand
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- Above cloud level Mount Kinabalu, Borneo
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- On top of the world
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- Mountain Biking, Wanaka, New Zealand
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- Playful young Orangutan Borneo
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- A castle like entrance sculpted by nature marks the beginning of the Patagonian Icefield in Chile, South America
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- Pinnacles, Nambung National Park, Western Australia
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- Reaching the highest point of the three day routeburn trek – one of New Zealand’s great hikes
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- Sailing Sydney Harbour
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- Sunset Mount Chiang Dao Northern Thailand
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- Trekking with the locals Northern Thailand
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- Cycling the walls in the old capital of Xian
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- The old China, ancient Xitang
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- Journeying through three gorges Yangtze River, China
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- Abseiling the red gorges of Western Australia
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- Galapagos crab having a nibble
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- Dry season river crossing, Kakadu, NP, Northern Territory
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- Rice fields Vietnam
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- Jungle trek Lunch Break
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- Reaching the Patagonian Ice field after a four day trek
Inspirational Tracey! What an incredible journey you’ve been on. And I love the way you write
So where to next?
Johanna at ZigaZag recently posted..3 Places you just have to try for Lunch in Busselton WA Australia.
Well done Tracy, what amazing places and moments that you both have shared together, love reading about and looking at the beautiful pictures you take on your travels around the world with Paul.
Looking forward to the next chapter of your travels.
Thanks Celine, that’s wonderful to hear. So kind. Hope you can make it over to Oz and we can make some more great travel memories together.
Tracey | Chronic Adventures recently posted..Making Round-the-World Travel Plans
Thanks Jo and Ditto. Hoping to do some cycling and trekking in the Himalayas. Really keen on Bhutan.
Tracey | Chronic Adventures recently posted..Making Round-the-World Travel Plans
I love this post! Amazing for you guys for keeping that promise to one another. I can’t wait to read more!
Katie recently posted..Oskar Schindler Factory (aka Schindler Museum): The A-holes of History
I’m continually pulled between doing stuff and writing about it. I’ve a lovely backlog building. How do you do it? You seem to have the balance cracked Katie.
Tracey | Chronic Adventures recently posted..Making Round-the-World Travel Plans
Love how you guys are living it! The photo collection is a great testament to your commitment. Cheers to the next 15 years!
Anita Mac recently posted..Dog Sledding – the exhilaration of a day with the dogs
Thanks Anita, Dog sledding is on the horizon, I’ll mush over and check out your post. Happy travellin’.
Tracey | Chronic Adventures recently posted..Making Round-the-World Travel Plans