SkipperVoyage

LONDON

Against my better judgment (I’ll explain later what that means), I’ve decided to take a Trip to London.  The basic rationale is that I have a week of vacation left over, and need to use it by the end of Feb.   So I started thinking… what could I do in a week?   In Late January, I stumbled across a good Deal on British Air (thanks to Europeupclose.com), and Thought “Here is an Idea”.  I knew the Wife has been to London, and the chances of us actually planning a trip there was not too high, after all there are many other places that are higher up on my List.   Now, Normally I’d just take the week off, and spend the days reading about other folks on their RTW journey, Working on Honey-Do-Projects,  and then deliberating about how to move in that traveling direction.  So I started playing with the Idea… How could this work?  how can I convince the wife to let me go and how can I do it cheaply?  After all, this is not exactly like the boys trip to Vegas once in a while.

I decided that I had to do it on the cheap, and I’ve read so much about folks that are staying in hostels and guest houses and take the road less traveled and less exploited for Tourist, that I felt challenged.  So, with some rudimentary planning, I came up with round trip tickets for about $500, and staying in hostels probably another $200.  Sightseeing, and Eating another $300, coming to roughly $1000 for the whole trip, hmmm.  So that was my initial budget… as the CFO in our family, that seemed doable.  After all, I did just sell the boat, but London is one of the most expensive cities in the World and economic times are tough.  Some might question “frivolously” spending money right now instead of stashing it away.  It is something I grappled with also, but in the end, I felt that my daydreaming needed a does of reality…  and I decided it was worth the cost.

It didn’t take me long to get real excited about the Idea.  Now I had to figure out how to “ask” for permission, not that I need permission, but I’m very lucky that the Wife is very understanding and accommodating of my passions.  Maybe she is just ready to get rid of me, but really in the end is was, ME:”hey what do you think of this idea?”  Wife: “Sounds good, Go for it…”

Now back to the Judgment thing, What is a grown family man thinking, taking off for a week to venture around London on my own?  After all, I’ve two children at home to raise!  As I’ve hinted, there are lots of reasons to justify not going, but one main one is the Responsibility of a Parent.  I remember when I was a kid, my dad went to some conference in London, and I remember pouring over a city map laid out on the living room floor.   I had no idea the passion I would one day have, but I recalled how fascinated I was with that idea of my dad going to London.  I hope to inspire my children in the same way.

More on the Trip coming up.

you know how some cars have a bumbersticker that says “my other car is a (insert favorite car)”, well if my life had a bumbersticker on it, this would be it:

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

To learn More about Matt Harding www.wherethehellismatt.com

That is what this post is all about… I’ve discovered I’m like a lot of other folks, who one day woke up from their 9-5 coma and realized there is a whole world out there.  You could say I have taken the ‘Red Pill’, and now I am hooked by that obsessive Travel Bug.  how will I free myself from the daily doldrums that bind so many of us? My journey has become a personal voyage of discovery.

This is very complicated, you see I have a family (two young children, wife, dog, etc…), There are lots of issues to work out, and I’m not sure how I will get there.  Oh sure lots of folks will tell you - “it’s easy”, “there is nothing to stop you but you“, “Lots of family’s travel together, if they can do it, anyone can“.  And for the most part, they are correct and I believe it to be a matter of priority and choice… hold on there what are you saying?  Well, as we move forward on this journey, we have to figure out these priorities without compromising other responsibilities.

Perhaps it would have been more ideal had I been bitten earlier in life?  there was a period of time in my history that I could have spent several years on the road and “gotten it out of my system”.  Even though I think it never really gets out of your system.  But that is neither here nor there, it is time to move forward and figure this out.

So Welcome to this quest, a pursuit to free a man from the cubicle, teach two children to explore the world, and somehow satisfy those travel demons that haunt him…