Unfortunately, one of the pesky side-effects of all that wonderful outdoors is the weather.  By being outside you’re, well, outside.  And therefore you’re exposed to whatever the English weather Gods (a temperamental bunch) feel like throwing at you.  They were, it would seem, entirely on board with our plan to test out our walking gear and duly helped us to test our equipment in a multitude of weather.  Thrashing rain? Check.  Lacerating hail? Check.  Glorious sunset? Check.

Walking into the storm

To be fair to the Gods, their efforts were not in vain as we certainly have a much better idea of what our gear can put up with.  But that’s the next story.  Right now I’m going to look at the gear I didn’t take.  What prompted me to kick my soggy self for not bringing it as someone (mentioning no names – Dad) looked smugly on in contented dryness?  Here we go:

1.  Sea to Summit E-vac Dry Sacs

Sea to Summit e-vac Dry Sack

So you’re three hours walk from the nearest pub and the heavens open.  As you stumble along, soggy and chilly, you begin to fantasise about arriving at a warm and welcoming local pub serving excellent food and boasting a great selection of local ales.  You imagine finally getting to peel off your freezing and soaked through trousers (more on that in a moment), scrape your squelching socks off of your feet and put on something altogether warmer and dryer. But wait, your clothes weren’t packed in a Sea to Summit e-vac dry sack?  They were carelessly left unguarded in your backpack to take up more room than necessary AND help soak up some of that lovely rainwater that found it’s way into your pack?  Ok, point well made Dad.  I gotta get me some of those next time.  (I’m also eyeing up the compression sacks for transporting my snuggly yet bulky down jacket to Patagonia, stay tuned for a more in-depth gear list.)

2. Berghaus Paclite Pants

Berghaus Paclite Pants

Oh how I wish I’d had these with me!  Bless them, my current Berghaus hiking trousers did their best, but we had some serious rain to contend with.  The kind of rain which left my cream trousers absolutely drenched through.  If the fact that they then decided to efficiently direct the rain directly into my socks and shoes wasn’t bad enough, they were rendered see-through in minutes.  Yes, really.

Mr Smug on the other hand whipped out his Berghaus Paclite Pants popped them on over his walking trousers and proceeded to stride along the path, unhampered by squelching shoes or underwear on display. Did I mention they only weight 185g and pack down into a bag little bigger than my girly-sized hands? And they’re on the ‘to buy’ list.

3. Aquapac Compact Camera Cases

Do I have any pictures of this rain storm?  Can I show you how ridiculously limited the visibility was or how silly Alan and I looked when we got all soggy?  Is there any documented proof of Mr. Smug’s purposeful non-damp stride?

Aquapac Waterproof Camera Case

No, there isn’t because I was too worried about damaging my camera.  A fair concern, given the buckets of water which were coming our way.  But I would have loved to get some photos of the experience and so I wish I’d bought the Aquapac Waterproof Compact Camera Cases which I’d been eyeing up at the Outdoor Show.  We’re off hiking in the Lake District in a couple of weeks and I fully intend to snap our happy faces mid-deluge.  Camera case here I come.

What gear do you wish you’d taken on your adventures? Have you used any of the above items?  Any advice for dealing with Mr Smug?

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Paris

Travelling with your partner can be absolutely amazing. (Here are 10 reasons why) You have someone to share every experience with, to support you when times are tough and to commiserate with you when the trip is over.  It could also be a nightmare.  You’re stuck 24/7 with each other and thrown into some of the most stressful situations you’re likely to have ever come across.  At some point you are likely to be hot, tired, hungry, suffering from jet-lag and/or food poisoning, unable to find anywhere to sleep, strapped to a heavy backpack and battling through throngs of locals trying to sell you yet another woven bracelet.  It is tough and there will inevitably be snappy arguments and intense sulking at some point during your trip.  But how to get your relationship to compliment your travels not ruin it? Of course, every relationship is going to be different, but these are the (sometimes unspoken) rules we use to keep our travel partnership a happy one:

1. Be friends first, a couple second

All good relationships are built on a basis of friendship.  Trust, respect and mutual enjoyment of each other’s company are vital components to any relationship but particularly to a romantic one.  The leap to something more can add extra layer of emotional depth, but also extra opportunities for hurt and arguments.  Sometimes travel is stressful enough without needing to bring in the extra complications.  Maybe the above scenario is not the best time for a “Were you checking him/her out?” or a “Where is this relationship going?” conversation.

Cyprus

2. I can flirt as long as it’s to get extra food

I think this is my favourite of our rules.  We’re both foodies and a sizeable chunk of our relationship has been built up over our shared love of a good meal.  And sometimes, when you’re ordering a burrito it doesn’t hurt to give the guy behind the counter a big smile as you ask if you ask if you can have extra sour cream.  And if batting your eyelids at the guy selling the Italian food gets me extra mozzarella then I’m all for it.  The point is to work out where the boundaries lie within your relationship.  Where do you stop being comfortable about the other’s behaviour?  Get those thoughts out in the open and find out about each other’s comfort zone.  Travel puts you in some new and unexpected situation so it’s worth having an idea of where you stand before it leads to an argument.

3. Learn to be able to ask for space

This rule was one we decided on after moving in together but it’s particularly helpful for the close contact living that comes with travel.  We each have to be able to ask for space from the other without explanation or the risk of upset. Sometimes it’s to cool off mid argument, but mostly it comes from a feeling of just needing to be alone for a little time to feel solitary (in a good way).  I can’t recommend this one enough as way to prevent unnecessary arguments.

4. Check you have shared expectations from the trip

Great Ocean Road

This can apply to any choice of travel partner.  Are you working on the same budget?  Are you interested in the same destinations/sites?  Will you expect to do everything together or will you occasionally go different ways?  Will you stick to private rooms or are you comfortable in dorm rooms?  Get these thoughts out in the open early enough to talk through how you’re going to approach the trip.  You’ll both have a better time as a result.

5. Make time for your relationship

In direct contrast to my first point, sometimes you need to make time to be a couple.  With all of the adventures and meeting new people it’s easy to get neglectful of your relationship.  It’s worth making the effort to spend time together.  Maybe even go on a date!

6. Don’t judge your relationship against others

You’ll meet hundreds of other couples as you travel.  Everyone does it differently; some bicker continuously, others never appear to argue.  Some choose to sleep in private rooms the whole time, others prefer the PDA opportunities of a dorm room.  Some couples are incredibly independent, often doing completely different activities while you’ll find some are joined at the hip.  Don’t let it worry you how others are doing it.  You only have each other’s expectations to live up to.  As long as you’re both happy, don’t feel the need to change a thing.

7. Don’t let money come between you

Money has got to be up there in the top 3 of argument starting topics.   Once again, talk through your budget and get those ideas out in the open (are you sensing a theme here). Decide between you what your budget is and how you’re going to keep track of it.  Will it be set daily, weekly or monthly?  Will you write everything down or type it into a trip budgeting site (the lovely chaps over at Married with Luggage use this fancy system)?  What are you allowed to splurge on?  Anticipate this issue before you become bitter about the way he keeps spending money on, say, bungee jumping.

Rottnest Island, Australia

8. Celebrate your differences and work to your strengths

This is the one that’s taken me the longest to get to grips with.  I’ve been planning for this upcoming trip for nearly two years now.  I’ve been saving my money and working towards what was, for a lot of the time, an undetermined goal.  But Alan doesn’t work like that.  He needs time pressure to get anything done.  He works best when a deadline is breathing down his neck.  His goals need to be shorter term than mine.  On the other hand he has the interest and the patience to search through thousands of websites, comparing and contrasting their deals on titanium cooking pots.  He gets excited at the opportunity to weigh up the different specs of various camping stoves.  He can be relied upon to research the ins and outs of all possible backpacking gadgets and whether or not we actually need them.  Put him in front of a flight deal comparison site though and his attention will wander quicker than you can say “angry birds”.

We have learned to appreciate and value each other for our differences.  In practice it means dividing up the jobs in a way that works for us.  Dalene over at Hecktic travels has written about how they divvy up the labour when they travel.

Every couple is going to be completely different, but we’ve found that working this way is what works for us.  How do you keep the peace when you travel?  Do you have any particular rules to keep your relationship rosy on the road?

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5. 14/50 Getting your savings under control

Lunch at my desk

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Advent Clear out: the results

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NeoAir

We’ve spent a sizeable chunk of the last few weeks scooting from one outdoor store to the next.  We’ve managed to tick a few things off the list, but we’ve still got plenty left to buy.  This is my new NeoAir the most compact thermarest ever released.  I am so amazed by how tiny it will pack up and yet how comfortable it is when inflated.  Perfect for all of our trekking adventures!

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Ready to settle down (credit: theolivepress.es)

Our dreams are taking shape before our eyes.  We build on them, slowly but steadily, every day.  We have taken the foundations of inspiration and passion and begun to construct ourselves a more solid vision of the future.  Bricks of excitement are lain over a mortar of certainty.  Each step we take and each item ticked off the ‘to-do’ list creates windows of possibility and doors to the unknown.  Rooms are ready and waiting to be decorated with memories.  Shelves stand empty, waiting to be adorned with the joys of meeting new people and discovering new places.

After weeks of searching endlessly on airline websites and flight comparison engines, we have finally booked all of our flights for this year.  We will be spending two months in South East Asia, six weeks back in the UK, 3 months in South America, 10 days in the UK and then a one-way flight takes us to New Zealand.  An unexpected addition to the plans includes a nine day sailing course which will get us up to the level required to charter our own boats.  We have the most exciting year ahead of us and it’s just about all I can manage to stay seated at my desk when all I really want to do is run up and down the office whooping in anticipation.  In the coming year we will:

• Travel to at least ten countries, possibly 11
• Visit the beautiful Angkor Wat
• Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Piccu
• Learn to sail
• Volunteer at a school in Peru
• Take Spanish lessons
• Gain our advanced open water in Scuba Diving
• Visit Tokyo on our way to New Zealand
• Spend Christmas and New Years in the Southern Hemisphere
• Hike in Patagonia
• Visit the end of the world (Tierra del Fuego)
• Celebrate my 25^th Birthday somewhere in the middle of South East Asia

And, I’m sure there will be many more unexpected and surprising adventures.  Almost as much as I am looking forward to the big ‘bucket list’ type experiences I am also excited about the more subtle differences we will encounter this year:

• More treasured time with families
• More time to spend together as a couple – opposite working patterns are pretty limiting at the moment
• More time outside as we’re not cooped up in the workplace – bring on some much needed sunshine!
• Time to read
• More exercise
• Slowing ourselves down and not living at the hectic pace which London demands
• A better diet as we’re not snacking through boredom
• The opportunity to clear out almost all of our belongings – minimising is already having a hugely cathartic effect.
• I hope to gain an appreciation of the time we do spend in London
• I hope to gain more belief in our ability to find a way to live a permanently unconventional life – who knows where our sailing skills may lead us
• A tan!

Although I’m counting down the days until our adventure starts I don’t want to wish away the days.  We’ve got so much we need to do to get ourselves ready and we want to make the most of the time we have to spend here.  We have the wonderful opportunity to thoroughly clear out our belongings and I fully intend to make the most of it.  Leaving family and friends behind is the part I don’t even want to consider at this point, but I want to make sure I take the time to enjoy their company as much as possible while we are here.

In the meantime, I love this feeling of anticipation; to feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I consider all of the ways my life is going to turn upside down this year.  I love the pressure of deadlines in which everything has to be done due to an impending departure date.

Light at the end

I am enjoying having a light at the end of the tunnel; a tangible feeling of change is in the air.

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A leap in to the unknown (credit: miare, sxc.hu)

I am, by nature, a planner.  I like to think things through thoroughly; I like to be prepared.  Yet I am, at the same time, jealous of those who achieve spontaneity; who manage to live their lives on a whim and enjoy the adventures which are thrown at them.  I plan because it abates the worries and thoughts of what could go wrong.  I am fearful of making mistakes:  A bad judgement call, the wrong choice, screwing it up.  These fears can keep my adventurous nature subdued as I ponder what failure would look like.  But, at what price?  What stories, potential memories and life-changing experiences could I be missing out on?

This morning, as I was enduring the tube ride to work, I read the following passage in my book:

If…

I had to live my life over, I’d try to make more mistakes next time.

I would relax

I would be sillier than I have been on this trip.

I know of very few things I would take seriously.

I would take more chances.

I would take more trips.

I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers and watch more sunsets.

I would eat more ice-creams and eat less beans.

I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I am one of those people who live prophylactically and sanely and sensibly, hour and hour, day after day.

Oh, I have had my moments and, if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them.

In fact, I’d try to have nothing else.

Just moments, one after another.

If I had my life to live over, I would start bare-footed earlier in the spring.  And stay that way later in the fall.

I would play hooky more.

I would ride on more merry-go-rounds.

I’d pick more daisies.

(For Better or Wose, Damien and Siobhain Horner)

This embodies my resolution for this year and beyond.  To take a pre-emptive strike on regrets.  To not worry about the little things.  To dive in head first, not worrying about the possibilities of sharks, but wondering at the beautiful new world I will discover.  To see a rain shower and relish the opportunity for dancing.  To consider every day how very lucky I am and to make the most of it.  Why wait until I am old to wear purple?

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Biggest spending temptations

Saving the pennies

• Eating in restaurants – We share a passion for good food and although it’s possible to dine out quite cheaply in London (stay tuned for upcoming post) it’s still a luxury
• Buying lunches – For the first time in my working life, I am in a location surrounded by amazing food opportunities.  I could eat food from a different country for two weeks and still have some to spare.
• Going out with friends – Our friends now also have more spending power than they did at 18.  This means that the options if always there to go out to the theatre, cinema or for drinks.
• Clothes – Living in London can be demanding on your wardrobe.
• Gadgets – Alan is a gadget fiend and I appear to be the mobile phone killer (seriously, they just stop working!)

Finding a Solution

It’s not the idea of saving that’s been a difficulty, but making it a reality.  With no fixed date or destination in mind we’ve been meandering through our lives here with the nagging voice at the back of our minds reminding us that we’re trying to put our money away for this, as yet, unidentified goal.  But that hasn’t been working well enough.  Without a picture of success in mind, we’ve nothing to work towards and no reason to sacrifice another meal at a restaurant.  Last weekend, on our way back from Spain, we decided that that needed to change.  We wanted to put some firm decisions in place and start counting down towards a departure date.  So we did.  We look at the various costs of our ideas and compared the two options.  As you know by now, Asia became the cheapest option by far.  So, we set our sights on that two month trip with a strict budget.

Calculating how much we could save

Before we could work out how much we could save, we needed to look at how much we earn.  Our salaries are fixed, so that’s an easy figure to work out.  Other possible income could be:

• Gifts from friends and family
• Income from selling our belongings
• Extra pocket money for odd jobs we could help out with at home (re-decorating etc.)
• Potential website earnings (hmmm… that one could be a way off)

So, with all of these numbers we get the total we can earn.  That’s a fun number… imagine if we could live without spending any money at all…  Oh well, unfortunately there are bills to be taken into account. So, we took our earnings based on each month, then started the painful process of deducting the unavoidable expenses:

• Utility bills
• Phone bills
• Travel (no small figure living in London.  I spend £116 a month just to get me to and from work)
• Food and other essentials (toiletries etc.)
• Fuel

With those taken away we have the amount we could save if we were to do absolutely nothing apart from work.  It was budgeting based on trying to do just this which has caused us to fail so many times.  We’re just not able to do nothing else with our time.  So, this time, we’ve devised a weekly maximum spend for luxuries.  For us, £30 is a good figure; others may need less, some more.  But that’s the figure that works for us.

Making the plan work

Having a budget is great but we need some way of keeping track of it; without some mark of progress it’s easy to forget those smaller spends and excuse them as not making a difference to our savings.  Well, no more.  I’ve put together a sheet for us to use.  Feel free to download a copy here Weekly Budget

Reassessing the budget

We put this plan into action three weeks ago now and it seems to be going well.  We haven’t succeeded in sticking to our budget yet, but at least this time we know that’s the case.  The overspend is carried on to the following week so it will be saved back eventually.  Most importantly, we’ve become very aware of where our money goes and how easily it can be flitted away on the smallest of things.  Fingers crossed we’re able to keep up recording our spending and saving the pennies.  And if we ever lose hope, I’ve stuck large pictures of South East Asia on our wall for inspiration.

How do you organise your budgeting?  Where do you slip up?

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Snowed in Train

For non-UK residents, it can be hard to believe how badly we deal with any amount of snow in this country. It doesn’t take much more than a light dusting to leave our road and rail links in disarray. In January, when my cousin from Colorado and my friend from Canada visited, we had quite a heavy snowfall for the UK. They spent the first day smirking as we ran around like headless chickens, layered up fit for the arctic, failed to make it into work and talked non-stop about the weather. But after a time, they came to notice our great disadvantages in dealing with the white stuff: Our roads are tiny. It only takes one accident or broken down car to snarl up the roads for hours. When this happens, there is no way to get a gritter or tow truck through to clear the problem. We are not used to driving in icy and snowy conditions. We don’t have the right equipment for dealing with the weather as it doesn’t often strike and so there’s not much cause to invest in any. Our electric trains rely on a live rail which provides them with power, but is vulnerable to freezing over.

Gatwick in the Snow (Source:BBC)

These weaknesses have never been more apparent than in the last week and a half where most of the UK has experienced heavy snowfall, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in decades. Our roads, rails and airports have ground to a halt leaving thousands of people stranded, in some occasions overnight in trains and cars which weren’t going anywhere. Schools have been closed, much to the kid’s delight. Hotels in London have been fully booked where commuters have been unable to get home. Offices have been conspicuously quieter as many couldn’t make it in to work.

Our flight to Morocco was due to leave at 7:10 last Saturday morning. By the evening of the previous Wednesday, we were starting to get concerned that the weather was going to put a spanner in the works. Gatwick airport was closed as the snow was falling faster than they could clear it. We decided to book into an airport hotel for the Friday night to save anyone the hassle of driving us to the airport early on Saturday through potentially treacherous conditions. Overnight on Wednesday 8 inches of snow fell over Gatwick leaving the 45 diggers, ploughs and gritters 150,000 tonnes of snow to clear before the runway could be declared safe to use. We watched nervously throughout Thursday, waiting for some sign that the weather situation would improve and we’d be able to travel on Saturday. But it looked bleak. Even though the snow had let up on Thursday, the below freezing conditions were still causing havoc with the roads and train lines. Even if the airport were to reopen, we weren’t sure we’d be able to get there.

Friday rolled around with the promise of (slightly) warmer weather and no snow forecast for the weekend. Gatwick airport was open and some flights had departed. Things were looking up a little, yet we were still trying to manage our expectations. We had planned to meet at the station after finishing work to get the train from London Bridge to Gatwick. However, at about 3pm I was checking the train line pages once more only to find that they intended to stop the trains running after 7pm due to the likelihood of temperatures falling drastically once again and freezing over the live rail. After a quick pleading with my boss I was allowed to leave work at 3:15pm instead of 5pm. I rushed home and threw all of my things into a bag and we walked back out the house to meet the others at the underground station.

We arrived at London Bridge station, found the platform we needed and rushed onto the train, breathing a sigh of relief. We later learnt that we’d caught the last train leaving from London at 18:33 all the rest were cancelled. Perhaps the fates were smiling down on us after all.

A friend of ours happened to be at Gatwick trying to catch a flight to Spain. It was while we were defrosting in the shuttle bus to the hotel that she called to say that all flights to Spain, Portugal, Egypt and Morocco were cancelled as the Spanish Air Traffic Control workers had just staged a walkout.  It was looking less and less likely that we were going to be going anywhere in the morning.  We decided to enjoy our trip to Gatwick just the same and indulge in a surprisingly good meal from our budget hotel. The stress and the uncertainty of the evening compared with a couple of bottles of red wine made us all ready for sleep soon afterwards.

We set our alarms for 4:30am, giving us enough time to get to the airport, but still expecting to find our flight cancelled and to be back in bed shortly.  Except, it wasn’t.  Despite all other flights to Spain, and through Spanish airspace reading as cancelled, ours was still on the board as scheduled.  It seemed so unlikely that we would be going anywhere that our temptation, at this point, was to go back to bed.  But, when by 5:30 our flight still looked good to go, we had no choice but to drag ourselves downstairs and jump on the shuttle back to the airport.

As we arrived, we found ourselves surrounded by the queues of those whose flights had been cancelled as they tried to rebook their flights.  We checked with the staff and they confirmed that our flight was still scheduled to leave.  We sheepishly made our way to security, feeling the eyes of those who had been disappointed following our movements. Apologetically, we glanced backwards once before handing over our boarding passes and going airside.

With only an hour until we were due to start boarding, we went through the usual routine: buying bottled water, stocking up on sweets and magazines and getting ourselves some breakfast.  Throughout this we did our best to remain sceptical and to not get our hopes up.  But this got more difficult when our gate number was posted and we were instructed to ‘go to gate’.  This certainly suggested that they had the intention of putting us on a plane and sure enough, as we arrived at the gate there was a plane there with a pilot in the cockpit and it was being refuelled.

Despite our best intentions, we were starting to get hopeful.  When we were called to the gate to begin boarding, it became nearly impossible to keep our expectations in check and we started to creep towards anticipation.  As we shuffled down the jetway to begin boarding, we skirted dangerously close to Our seats selected, our baggage stowed and our belts buckled, we started to let ourselves look forward to landing in Morocco.  We imagined the warmth of the sun on our skin, the sights and smells of the souks and the intense tastes of tagine and cous cous.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.  We apologise for the delay, there’s been some difficulty up here this morning.  Currently, the Spanish ATC have given us a take off slot of 09:30; about two hours from now.  This may move forward at any time, so I’m going to instruct the cabin crew to prepare us for departure and full away from the gate.  I’ll keep you update when I know anymore.”

We pulled away from the gate and taxied to a standing point.  Several minutes later:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, once again, this is your captain speaking.  Unfortunately, we’ve just received word that all flights through Spanish airspace have been averted as all air traffic controllers have walked out.  Currently, we’ve been given a new take-off slot of 16:42, but it appears that all flights have been given the same one.  The company is trying to work out an alternative flight path around Portugal, but it’s not clear how many other flights will be attempting the same thing.  I’ll let you know more as I do.”

Another several minutes later, the door to the flight deck opens and the captain takes the mic as he looks back towards us.

“This is your captain speaking.  Unfortunately, I have some bad news.  The company have not managed to find an alternative flight path and so they have made the decision to cancel this flight.  We’re now waiting for buses to arrive to take you back to the airport.  We apologise sincerely for this.”

So that was it.  Our holiday was over before it have even begun.  We’d actually made it through security, onto the plane and out onto the tarmac; further than we’d believed we’d get, but still not as far as we’d have liked.  And the real kicker is that it wasn’t even the snow that cut short our trip, but a wildcat strike over terms and conditions of work for the Spanish air traffic controllers.

Disappointing though it was, we were able to get all of our money back and easyjet’s customer service throughout the whole thing was excellent.  There were also many people who had it far worse than us, such as people whose wedding plans were in tatters.  We will rebook for next year and hopefully that trip will go ahead!

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