travelled around the world

I was a mad career woman, climbing the ladder and proving to everyone that I could achieve high and earn lots...but one day I started to question whether there was more to life...did I always want to be on the treadmill working from 7am til midnight most days of the week, and that's really what I did.  For years all I had done was work, granted I refused to work weekends but every Sunday I packed my suitcase, got that awful feeling of another week away, and then in the very early hours of Monday morning I would travel to wherever in the world my next project took me to.

Was it glamourous?  I can honestly say no not really.  Did I ever get to see any of the places usually cities where I worked? Again no not really.  I spent my time either in the client's office block or in my hotel room, and on an evening I'd usually dine alone.  I always remember the time I went to a restaurant, and the waiter seated me in the middle of the restaurant...it was Valentines Day, and I could see all the eyes on me, probably thinking 'oh poor thing...she's been stood up'!!  I hadn't been, my husband well boyfriend at the time was hundreds of miles away probably eating alone at our home.

I lost lots of friends in my early years of work...I didn't have any spare time to see my friends, and I usually worked so far away from them going out in the week was not possible.  Then weekends, were there for family and my boyfriend.

It's quite sad when you think you've lost out on a lot from a social side of things, but then sometimes you have to make sacrifices to achieve more in your life.  My sacrifices meant that I could pursue my career and be rewarded for doing this.

But then that day came when I did think there has to be more....and so my husband and I decided to give it all up and go and explore the world.  My husband had to leave his job, but luckily for me the company where I worked said I could come back after 9 months and resume my career...at least we had a lifeline knowing one of us could start earning as soon as we got back...after all we had a mortgage to pay.

So..after saving lots of money to cover our travels and mortgage payments, we contacted all the energy and water companies to tell them our property was going to be empty, we covered the furniture in dust sheets, and left the keys with our families...and then we set off on our mammoth trip around the world.  I'll never forget the look on my parent's faces when we were leaving them at the airport.  Although I was all grown up and had lived away from home for years, this time they wouldn't see me for a number of months, and it was heartbreaking...but you only live once and for us there is so much of the world to see...so we said our goodbyes and entered the unknown...promising to keep in touch via email and text.  We hadn't learnt the wonders of Skype at that time.

In my next few blogs I will tell you about our experiences both good and bad, and how two people who have stable lives suddenly find themselves a long way from home, struggling for money and wondering whether they really have done the right thing.