18 Adventures in 2018!

2017 was a bit of a stagnant year for us. We had heaps of opportunities to take jobs overseas, have adventures and live life differently, but fear just seemed to keep getting in the way.

When we had our son Sam in 2016, we promised ourselves that we would be able to be great parents whilst still having adventures and bringing him along for the ride. We swore that we’d still be exciting, have fun and live life differently. Before we had Sam, we lived in Uganda, climbed the ‘Three Peaks’ (the three highest points in England, Wales and Scotland) to make a music video, cycled on a tandem from London to Berlin to run a marathon, and backpacked around the world – and we were absolutely sure that this would continue. But, as Sam turned 1 and started nursery, things started to change. We got bogged down in a world of baby classes, play dates and trips to Ikea on a Sunday. Sam loved nursery and we suddenly started feeling like routine was more important than it actually is. Compared to many of our friends, we were still seen as a bit ‘crazy’ and ‘hard to keep up with’ but, measuring against our own values, things had become DULL and life had become small.

Luckily, in December, we managed to break out of this a bit, firstly with a 4 day trip to Morocco. Just 4 days but it felt like we were back ‘in the world’ having adventures, meeting new people, exploring hidden alleyways, visiting local souks and living fully in the moment. Then, a few days after we got back, my friend and I randomly walked from my home near St. Albans all the way to South London in time for our work Christmas party in the snow! It was only an overnight walk but, as we walked the route of my commute in the dark through deserted towns and villages and imagined everyone fast asleep in their beds, the feeling of ‘living life differently to most people right now’ was something I was already becoming a bit addicted to.

So, when I returned from the walk, despite one of my toe nails falling off, I announced to Rob that 2018 had to be a year when we become us again. A year of adventure and of living life differently. So I came up with the idea of doing 18 adventures in 2018! They don’t all have to be big adventures – one of them might be just a night wild camping, one might be a cycle from London to Brighton, one might be a day of kayaking, but some might be bigger! And, when you read our next post about the Yes Grant, you’ll get an idea of what we have up our sleeve.

January has already passed us by and we haven’t yet done of these 18 adventures, so we have a lot of work to do but I figure it’s bound to get easier as the days get a big longer and the nights get a bit warmer.

Wish us luck!