A ship in a harbour is safe…

Saturday 30 December 2023

“A ship in a harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for”

I write this as Normandie, our Brittany Ferries ship, sets sail from Portsmouth to Caen. The forecast isn’t great, wet and windy, but it’s Day 1 of our trip so nothing is going to put a damper on that!

When we set off on our last big road trip in 2013 it all felt a bit scarier. We’d both left good jobs, downsized to clear the mortgage, and sold the car and motorbike. Oh and leaving our uni aged sons to fend for themselves for 8 months - what could possibly go wrong?!

We had an amazing time driving 14,000 miles through Europe as far as Greece and Turkey, and the lads survived fine without us! So if anyone is contemplating doing something similar at any time we’d say …. just do it! Push yourself slightly out of your comfort zone.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover”

One life, live it…

 Sunday 19 November 2023

Barely the day started and it's already six in the evening

Barely arrived on Monday and it's already Friday

and the month is already over

and the year is almost over

and already 40, 50, 60 years of our lives have passed

and we realise that we have lost family and friends

and we realise it's too late to go back

So let's try, despite everything, to enjoy the remaining time

Let's keep looking for activities that we like

Let's put some colour in our grey

Let's smile at the little things in life that put hope in our hearts

And continue to enjoy the time we have left

Let's try to eliminate the ‘afters’

I'm doing it after...

I'll think about it after...

We leave everything for later like ‘after’ is ours

But what we forget is that

priorities change...

health passes...

the kids grow up...

parents grow old...

promises are broken…

life ends...

And then it's often too late

So let's leave nothing for later

Because waiting we can lose the best moments

the best experiences

the best friends

the best family

the day is today... the moment is now!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

These aren’t my words and I tweaked the original a bit but it’s definitely our outlook on living life to the full.

Here we go again….

Monday 18/09/2023

The ferries are booked, a road map and travel guide purchased and the countdown has begun. Route planning is well underway!

10 years on from our last big road trip in 2013 we’re excited to be about to set off our next adventure. I’m trying to remember how to do blog posts on here ….. bear with me!