Hello, It’s Me…

As I sit here enjoying a warm Spanish evening on the terrace of a beautiful home I’m paying nothing to live in, with Puerto Banus and the Mediterranean in the distance, I wonder how I can condense the changes that have taken place in my life over the past few years, leading me to this point in time, into a single blog post.

The honest answer is…I can’t!

So here are the Cliff notes:

July 2014: House Sold Along with Some Serious Downsizing

I finally finished all the renovations, decorating and redecorating (it took 10 years, after all) on my house and decided to sell it so I could live a different kind of life. As a result, in July 2014, my house sale went through and I returned to the life of a non-homeowner.

July 2014 – May 2016: Simplifying My Life Further

First as a lodger and then as a tenant, I attempted to get my life and work to a place where I could travel and work wherever I was in the world (as long as I had an internet connection). I say “attempted” as nothing ever quite works out the way you think it will. I also planned to stockpile some savings – again, didn’t quite stick to plan.

May 2016: Taking the Plunge Part 1 – Leaving Plymouth

I realised I needed to set a date to make the move or I would keep delaying. The date was set for April 2017 and there could be no deviation. Naturally, there was a deviation due to a close friend having an accident and surgery, resulting in him needing a bit of help until he could get fully mobile again but it was a matter of a few weeks between that date and my second definite date! I sold and gave away my remaining furniture and many of my remaining possessions, packed up the rest and left Plymouth.

May 2016 – May 2017: Hello UK

This was a year spent travelling around the UK, house and pet sitting, as well as catching up with family and friends and, unexpectedly but not unwelcome, a lot of time spent living at my Mum’s house between trips and acting as occasional chef, computer/phone technical support and Pointless quiz rival.

May 2017: Taking the Plunge Part 2 – Spain

It had been my plan to leave the UK sooner (note to self: stop making plans and go with the flow) and I particularly wanted to visit Spain – a country I hadn’t seen apart from on a couple of beach holidays. Through Trusted Housesitters, I secured an 11 week house and cat sit, taking care of 5 cats plus a couple of strays and flew to Malaga to meet the complete stranger who would be giving me free run of her home for almost 3 months.

10 weeks later, I’ve only lost one cat (not a joke but not as bad as it sounds) and made a bunch of new friends of the human and furry variety.

What Next?

That brings me to today with just 7 days left here and no new housesit to move on to. I thought about heading to Madrid next for some sightseeing, regardless of not having a housesit, but with temperatures in much of Spain hitting 40 degrees celsius at the moment the prospect isn’t overly appealing. So, I’m wavering, hoping something will crop up but also open to a trip back to the UK for a while (I need to be back for a house/dog sit in September anyway and there’s the possibility of some freelance consulting work that would require me to be onsite in the UK too).

Wow – 3 Years in 650 Words!

Of course, there’s so much more to this timeline than I’ve explained here – the whys, hows and wherefores. Do I have a dedicated travel blog? How am I making my money on the road? What on earth made me give up the comfort of my home to live this uncertain life?

All will be revealed…eventually.

Please share the love:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.