10th October 2016 - RV shopping day

With help from David we'd identified some local trailer/RV retailers. The plan was to start at the largest one, Flagg, and walk around as many different models, sizes and styles as possible.  This worked perfectly. We weren't bothered by a salesperson and the RVs on the lot were all unlocked so we just let ourselves in and spent at least an hour getting a feel for the differences.  We quickly noted issues with storage space in some, living space in others and started looking at larger and larger mobile homes! RV may stand for Recreational Vehicle but we were looking for something to be comfortable in as our full-time home for the next 9 months, not something just to use on the odd weekend away. When we finally spoke to a salesman he gave us a tour of one of the RVs and gave us an insight into the basics that we should expect from any we might want to seriously consider – useful for a couple of novices like us!  For example, you need a separate generator to provide electricity when you don’t have the option of plugging in, the size of water tanks that would meet our demands and of course, the slide-out! We had noticed the popularity of these on the internet at home and I don't think we saw an RV without one – the basic and genius idea of being able to expand your living space at the touch of a button without having to drive the largest bus on the road, awesome!  You don’t need to have just the one slide-out…. You can have several!  Your bedroom can expand, your living room area, your kitchen space…. Many options.  Though our concern was - the more electrically operating slide-outs you have, the more potential for things to go wrong with the mechanisms etc.  We had a budget in mind and a limit to the funds from our house sale.  Thankfully it became clear that we would be able to afford an RV, however, the more space and gizmos we wanted on it would decide whether we took it to the maximum that we could afford.  Our Political timing was also poor, the value of the British pound being rock bottom post-Brexit was going to make the transaction more expensive.  Here's an example of one we liked at Flagg:

We had agreed we would never agree any purchase on the first day but we started to get an idea of how much we would need to spend and what age of vehicle we wanted for our trip.  After leaving Flagg we looked at an RV at an independent, smaller business. We loved the model, a Sunseeker, but were concerned about buying from a small business - without the back-up of a warranty or the chance of being able to re-sell the RV back to them on our return.  Here's the Sunseeker (spot the difference!):

We then headed into the neighbouring State, New Hampshire, towards another larger, RV business, ‘Campers Inn’.  It was en-route that we experienced our first contact with American law enforcement! In keeping up with the flow of traffic, Simon was pulled over for speeding, along with the female driver he was following behind! Thankfully, by being apologetic and explaining that we were new to US roads the Officer issued Simon with a warning notice rather than any ticket or fine.  There is video footage…. Me being incredulous that Simon had managed to upset the law within barely 24 hours of setting foot in the Country – quite an achievement! Luckily, we still managed to make it to Campers Inn with just enough time to meet salesman Joe, an ex NYPD cop who still can't believe that Police in the U.K don't all carry guns.  Campers Inn had a very large range of brand new trailers for sale, basically oversized caravans, that are extremely popular here.  It appears that the first choice for life on the road is to use your powerful American truck to tow a trailer to your chosen campsite and then you can use your truck for local travel whilst the trailer stays put. We briefly considered this option but it was beyond our price bracket along with the fact we would have to find, register and buy TWO vehicles instead of one.  These trailers must be seen to be believed, if money was no object you could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Slide-outs galore, satellite TV dish, jacuzzi… they looked like mobile 5-star hotel rooms.  But for us, a single RV unit would make more sense if we were moving on every day or so.  We explained our intentions to Joe and he showed us three self-contained campers on or near our price range.  Our earlier research paid off and between us we seemed to realise which one would suit our needs best.  The main problem was that it was out of our price range, and I was also a little nervous about it being 30 feet in length causing us difficulty driving and parking.  But the Countrymen Freelander 29KS we’d found was immaculate inside and only had 3800 miles on the clock despite being two years old. 

We sat down with Joe and had an honest discussion.  In our research before leaving the UK I’d read that you really need to haggle when buying from one of these dealers and you never accept the list price.  We levelled with Joe, we were interested in the Freelander but what money could he get off it to make it affordable for us? He disappeared to talk to his Finance Manager…. he may have just walked round the block, I don’t know.  But when he returned he had sliced $15,000 off the list price!  Still over budget, but it was amazing how much room there was.  We pushed it a bit further, could he round it down to the nearest 10000 dollars?  Two minutes later, yes, they could do that.  Joe wanted to help us out and cut a deal and we had also agreed that on our return from our travels Campers Inn would gladly re-sell the Freelander for us.  As per our agreement at the start of the day Simon and I thanked him, took the paperwork and left, explaining that we needed to go away and do some sums.

Our minds were buzzing on the journey back to Westford. As with all major life decisions, it’s always best to sleep on it, so that’s what we agreed to do.  And to discuss it with Tash and David for second opinions.  Sadly, they’d had a shocker of a day.  Their eldest daughter, Eleri, had been feeling under the weather when we arrived and had been uncharacteristically quiet.  A trip to the doctors that day had confirmed that she had pneumonia and so her parents were understandably concerned.  Our deliberation over which RV we might buy was trivial in comparison, but bless them they still happily listened to our dilemma before we all succumbed to tiredness and called it a night.

Completion to departure.... the chaos continues.

Just a tip - it is far easier to move all your accounts, utilities and mail with you to another house than it is to try and persuade people that you no longer have a home and want to close your account with them! I was trying to achieve this whilst also wishing to avoid a mountain of extra mail going to my in-laws' house. I nearly drowned under a sea of admin this week, eight days between completing on the house and having to sort... everything prior to leaving the country.  My lists went off the scale!
This coincided with all our closest friends and family wanting one last chance to see us before the off. We were social butterflies with at least one, but many days two, commitments every day.  We ate very well! It was lovely to spend time with people in smaller groups and many were very generous and even made financial contributions towards the unemployed bums we had recently become! 

I had started feeling more confident in the healing process of my right foot. I put a shoe on for the first time in 6 weeks (slow news day…) and started putting weight equally on both feet, giving me confidence as my hospital appointment approached.
Returning to my failure to sell anything at all, this was sadly the case with the Audi. No interest at all on Autotrader, gum tree, Facebook, what on earth were we going to do with our beautiful machine?! A couple of friends offered to take over the selling process on our behalf, a very generous suggestion that I hoped to avoid if at all possible, but time was running out.
I managed to download the latest maps for the whole of North America (including Canada) to my SatNav, after managing on the second occasion to buy the correct extra SD storage card!
We had to sort out our mobile phone accounts and get our handsets unlocked to have the potential to use them abroad with new SIM cards. Every day was a logistical nightmare, I was extremely stressed and hoped that this was just temporary and not a panicked reaction to having turned our lives upside down! Despite very cosy accommodation at Simon’s parents’ house, sleep was not my friend again, there was just too much to do!!

Friday 7th October, two days to departure, was critical 'foot' day, the return to hospital. Thankfully everything went to plan, the consultant couldn't get rid of me quickly enough so that they could concentrate on 'proper' patients. The boot went in the bin right there and then, and good riddance! On my return from Southend it was time to make a decision on the Audi. Thankfully, Simon used his contacts to agree a 'sale or return' with a local garage for them to sell the car on our behalf, enabling us to get a decent amount for the car as long as we were not in a mad rush. We took the car straight there and completed the paperwork. It was such a last-minute relief, having had to consider selling it for far below its value to one of those 'we'll buy anything' websites, you know the ones!
Another relief that day was the fact that we had no evening plans... at all. Just to get ahead with some packing and relax, it was heavenly.

Saturday 8th October was Christmas. Seriously. We sorted the packing, actually Simon sorted the vast majority of the packing if I'm honest! We had to reached the conclusion that paying for an extra suitcase in the hold was a necessary evil at an extra financial splurge of 65 quid. This part of the trip was definitely not travelling light, we were taking as much as we could to be able to set up our new mobile home when we arrived. Later some of the Newman clan arrived at the house for Christmas dinner and games.  I even wore my Christmas jumper; these things must be taken seriously. 

Last minute set back of the day was down to our friends at Apple again! Simon had only just got the text confirming his phone was ready to be unlocked. In my role again as slightly less clueless with technology, it fell to me to sort this out via the wonder of iTunes. Starting with the fact that I had to install iTunes onto the computer at Simon's parents' house. Simple enough you'd think. With basic instructions to hand I had to back up the phone to iTunes before deleting it all and re-installing the relevant backup.  You'll recall how we'd managed, with assistance, to get half of our entire music library loaded onto Simon's phone with the other half on his iPad.  Well, how was I supposed to know that a back up to iTunes wouldn't include the music library as standard?! Apple, what the hell?! Why wouldn't I want to keep my music library from my phone?! Half of the iTunes alphabet disappeared before my eyes, importantly the half from M to Z. They'd deleted Pearl Jam, Oasis, Stone Roses.... unbearable to think of a road trip without these.  Thankfully we were heading out for more games and drinks at the Dawson’s, home of Chris who is technologically far more able than Simon and I put together. We wouldn't be able to get back everything, but Chris helped us rescue as much as possible to minimise the damage, phew, we didn’t have to cancel the whole trip!

Sunday 9th October, departure day! Everything went smoothly - from leaving the house having somewhat tearfully said farewell to Ralph to meeting with Simon's Sister and family for an 'all you can eat' breakfast and getting to Heathrow for 1030am. Having said an emotional goodbye to Simon's parents the realisation sank in that it was just the two of us and we were really doing this. The below image basically shows the majority of our Worldly goods, ready to go:

We reacted by going for a large coffee and a social media frenzy whilst we still had the chance, and reliable wi-fi!  

Our flight departed on time with plenty of spare seating available. It was a bumpy flight but we arrived in good time at Boston Logan international airport.  

The last hurdle that could prevent our plans lay ahead - US immigration. Despite having obtained our visitors visas it had been stressed that the final decision on whether we could gain access to the US was down to the immigration officer at point of entry, I felt butterflies in my stomach. But our immigration officer couldn't have been nicer. Apart from expressing his surprise that we planned to live in such close quarters together in an RV for the next 6 months, another person to add to the list who thinks we're a little nuts!
We found our way to the hire car emporium and successfully acquired our hire car. We picked a bright white SUV, a Hyundai Sante Fe, as we felt we needed to practise with a LARGE car before moving on to our potentially LARGER mobile home! We then tested the directions on the freshly loaded SatNav to make the roughly 45-minute journey to Tasha and David’s' house in Westford in torrential rain. In the interest of fairness, I let Simon test the American roads out first. The road conditions were appalling, not a great start to escaping the British weather!  Arriving at Tash's house was impressive - they have invested in a huge character home and though it does need a quantity of work doing, the scope is amazing. The rooms are huge with high ceilings and the building goes on in all directions, even before you take the grounds into consideration. Tasha and David have two little girls and a third baby on the way in the New Year. They are very busy people so we were so grateful for them to make time and space for us in their home. Due to the time difference, we'd had a very long day so elected for an early night in the knowledge that we should then wake up in good time on Monday 10th in order to start RV shopping.


I feel bad for you, reader, that to this point has taken so long and been so 'wordy'. If I've had enough of it, I find it hard to imagine you're still with me so let's move on. The American adventure... much fewer words and with more pictures, guaranteed!

Action stations! From exchange to completion.

After all that waiting and will it/ won't it dilemma.... my lists and planning could finally come into effect en masse! All systems were go, everything that I'd been holding off on 'just in case' could be put into action. By the way, I am not after sympathy, this madness was all created entirely of my own volition. I could try and suggest that Simon didn't pull his weight and take on enough of the organisation, but the truth is that I probably wouldn't have trusted him with half of it anyway! I like to be busy and to be in control of what's happening so the chaos I found myself in was entirely self generated.

First things first, we booked our flights getting very reasonable rates for the date we wanted, 9th October, out of Heathrow Airport arriving in Boston at a reasonable time to rock up at a friend's house. This was happening. What we would do when we got to the US? We didn't actually have much time to consider this, too much going on in the UK.

We continued to gradually rid our house of furniture to not leave it all to the last minute. Family assisted and got some goods for their trouble. The house began to empty and feel transitional instead of the settled home it had been.  The cars went on the market (Audi is still for sale as I write!). I made appointments for every possible check-up you can think of - opticians, dentist, doctors, hairdressers.... I had a full MOT and even went ahead and paid for the advisory items!

I would just like to have a temporary rant about Apple if that's okay? Somewhat ironically, as I am typing this on an iPad, but this is part of my point. I am now tied in to being an Apple product owner. Between Simon and I we have 2 iPhones and the iPad. We have our entire music library on iTunes and our valuable memories backed up to the iCloud. To change all of this is a monstrous administration nightmare. We are suckered in to this thing.  But I put it to you that Apple products are not user-friendly and simple for the likes of me who are stuck somewhere between not being techno-savvy but also not a complete technophobe. I'd put myself in the category of 'a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing'. Hence it fell to me to back up everything from our PC so that it could be reset for my sister to use.  By everything I really only mean our iTunes library and all of our photos with some documents that it may seem a good idea to hang onto. I purchased a stand alone hard drive with plenty of data storage in order to do this and started making sure that all of the pictures from our phones, cameras, discs etc were all in one place for the back up.  The other part was that we would want to take our entire iTunes library with us on the road to be the soundtrack to the whole thing. We're not going on a road trip of the US without copious amounts of Pearl Jam to listen to, c'mon now. But Apple is greedy and selfish so doesn't want to make it easy for you to have copies of your own music that you've paid for and be able to access it on different systems. We drafted in James, Indie-go lead guitarist with superior technological skills, to the rescue! Eventually we ended up with everything backed up and ready for our travels before I nervously deleted everything ready for the new owners.

If it sounds like the summer of 2016 was consumed solely with preparing for our big adventure then I have made a misrepresentation. Let me be clear, if anything we excelled ourselves in the number of events, activities and socials we managed to squeeze in! And each time we saw different friends it was another opportunity to bang on about our plans and seek advice or suggestions of places to add to our ever-expanding itinerary. We had a great summer. Gigs galore including Glastonbury & Southsea festivals, a trip to Portugal (planned pre life-change idea), Silverstone Grand Prix, the list goes on.  

But as our U.K. Tour had to be ditched due to time constraints we also decided to arrange a leaving/ late engagement/ Simon's belated 40th Birthday (still?! He was forty in February!!) party to enable us to invite all our friends, family and colleagues in an attempt to see as many people as possible before our trip. As per usual we were extravagant in what we wanted and it made a dent in our funds but it was well worth it as we both had a great night and even banged out a couple of tracks with the next reincarnation of 'Indie-go!'  The party went back to our house and carried on into the early hours, me still sporting the boot!

The whole process had seemed to drag what with the issues around the sale of the house. But then we had a lovely weekend in Oslo visiting my brother and his wife towards the end of September (which Simon had arranged as a Birthday surprise for me earlier in the year) and suddenly our final week at work and in the house all came at once.  

 

The 27th September was both of our final working days and also my Birthday. I was not sure how I would feel that day, concerned that I may become emotional in front of colleagues. Everyone was lovely as expected but thanks to an incredibly tedious office meeting I was reminded why I would not be missing many of the aspects of my working life! Yes, I may miss the majority of the people but we can all live without boring meetings! As soon as possible it was off to the pub for post work Birthday/leaving drinks whilst not forgetting that the next day was Moving Day number one!

Moving day 28th September appeared and we were still in the position of having some of our largest and most expensive furniture items, the darn dining table, chairs, sideboard and bench, without a buyer and needing to be moved! Last knockings - Simon's boss and his lovely wife came over and we agreed a deal - phew, that was close! And they were happy with their purchase, at one point even nearly getting my beloved Audi TT thrown in for good measure, but sadly it wasn't to be! I keep banging on about my car but as you'll see below it really was a beauty....

Tuesday 29th September came, moving day number two. More clearing, we worked so hard as you have to on moving day, but with additional help from Simon's Dad who was not only great with lugging stuff about but also acted as my chauffeur due to 'the boot' still being around! We had to be out of the house by 130pm as I'd arranged for cleaners to come in and make the house nice for the buyers whilst we turned our attention to finishing emptying the garage and garden. But not satisfied with the list of things to accomplish we also had a meeting that afternoon with the Chief Constable! This was due to Simon's heroics a few weeks previously when he had dragged three people out of a burning car during one of his last shifts at work. We were late of course, for the Chief.... Well, if he's going to demand our company on such a busy day then what should he expect?! We had tea in the Chief's office along with Simon's proud parents and the afternoon became extremely interesting when our esteemed leader took a different view to that of his Human Resources department about our impending departure from his Police Force.... a phone call was made and we were invited to withdraw our resignations in order to re-apply for those career breaks we had been refused .... the saga continues! As long as we withdrew our resignations prior to our last day "which is when?" He asked. Erm.... tomorrow!! As long as we sorted it all out the next day, along with completing on our house sale before 4pm, all would be fine.  Just like any other day really!

That night was our first sleeping at Simon's parents and away from home until..... well, until we had another place to call 'home' I guess. I didn't sleep well, too much worrying about the magnitude of what was to be achieved the next day.

Friday 30th September - completion day.  Not much to say other than it was as hectic as expected. Slogged our way through the morning to have cleared out of the house entirely by 1pm having done the obligatory meter readings as well as two tip runs.  We got desperate... having donated a lot to charity shops I was trying to distract myself from some of the nice things that we just dumped at the tip to get it all gone.  After the second tip run, covered in dust, dirt and probably not smelling too sweet we stopped into the nearest Police station to make the 4pm deadline to withdraw our resignations and seek the 12 month career break that the Chief had offered us.  All in time to get on with the serious matter of... celebrating! 
Here we are leaving our lovely house for the last time. I think we look suitably tired!

The cash was in the bank, the house was sold and we set off to London village to meet my sister and her husband to celebrate the fact that we were finally there.  No jobs, no house and no reason not to go for the trip of a lifetime, everything had changed and all within the last 4 months.

House selling progress

In an ideal world, I had wanted to hand my notice in and clear my desk by the end of August 2016.  I was itching to do it, a couple of times I nearly did and had to be restrained by Simon and told not to be too hasty - for those of you who know Si this will come as a shock. I am always the sensible one, he's always the risk taker.  By the time the end of August was approaching and I'd done my foot in, I guess it did make sense to make another months' wage for doing minimal hours but I was getting increasingly frustrated with the buyers and their Solicitors. We were being told, no, promised that everything was being chased and would be through by a certain date.  That day would come and go and I would be ringing our Solicitors or the Estate agents to chase them up only to be told, again, the damn searches weren't back. We'd told all parties that we needed 30 clear days between exchange and completion to work our notice and we would not be pressured into handing our notice in early, pre-exchange.  Imagine quitting your job only to have the house sale fall through and not have any wage coming in to cover your mortgage. It wasn't worth the risk.  And so the situation continued and I became more arsey with kindly people asking me about when I was actually going to leave! And worried that our buyers were not actually serious about the house after all.  On reflection, just the normal house-selling dramas really.

We'd re-thought our plans, now with a desired 'flying to America' date of Sunday 9th October.  This was cutting it fine with my appointment at the hospital on the 7th but I was going to be very careful with my foot and not risk setting my recovery back at all to hamper our plans any further. We also had to get to Boston on or soon after that date due to plans that my friend, Tasha, and her partner, David, have for October. Tash is a good mate of mine who also attended the best University in the UK, Exeter, and also did the best course you can do at that University, Biological Sciences.  Though I may be biased?! She actually used the skills she acquired at said educational establishment and went and got a job doing science stuff with oncology medicines.  This later led to her moving to the States where she now lives with David and their children.  They kindly offered to put us up in their house in Massachusetts and assist us with the search for our mobile home when we arrive. However, Tash has to go to California for work on Sunday 16th and I feel I do not want us to be a burden on David who I do not know particularly well and who will have his hands full with two young daughters to look after. I hoped that 7 days would be about right for us to find our new 'home' and hit the road.

I know it wouldn't have been the end of the world but we had our hearts set on this date and the longer the house delays went on the more agitated I was becoming. I was stressed.  The sleeping pills were still a necessity for me to get a decent night's sleep but the situation was out of my control so there was no point in being so het up.  I know that now, but at the time it didn't help.

Simon and I both wrote out our resignation forms. I had even drafted the email to attach it to so that when the exchange happened I could quit within a few clicks of a mouse. Finally, last knockings on a Friday afternoon, the 2nd September it happened. We exchanged on the house. There was no going back and the resignations went it that very afternoon meaning that our last effective days with the job would be 30th September giving just over a week between finishing work and leaving the country. It was going to be hectic.

THE BOOK (and important areas from said masterpiece)

Here it is, before it's done too many miles and become too ragged, but I must stress this is still in daily use and a work in progress as I write (currently in Buena Vista, Virginia if that's not too much of a spoiler?!):

You'll note the tabs, also the clear plastic protective cover for longevity... this book was not purchased on a whim, there was careful consideration and a significant investment in this little beauty. The coloured tabs became a necessity as, despite the careful consideration, I had failed to get a book with segments to enable me to quickly find the area I needed to edit! No, I did not consider making a second, superior purchase, we are on a BUDGET (later to become a catchphrase echoing the Ross and Rachel era of 'we were on a BREAK!' And also said through gritted teeth.)

With the sale of the house dragging I had so much whirring round my tiny mind that we HAD to do, but with so much of it being dependent on selling the house it was just too far down the road to contemplate, and so I made a note. You will be relieved to hear that I will not divulge the entire contents of my master plan book. However, there is A LOT to consider when you decide to get rid of your 'life-clutter' and escape your usual comfort zone.  The sections include 'stuff for storage', 'stuff to sell/give away', 'stuff to take on the road'. Yes, there was a lot of 'stuff' spinning around my head! Add to that sorting property, beloved pets, 2 vehicles, finances and the never ending change of addresses to be done and I become slightly agitated just thinking about it again. And that's before doing any planning for the trip itself. Ah yes, the book was divided almost straight after purchase into the 'preparation' half and the 'journey' half, to be worried about another day, one step at a time.

Please be kind to me - list writing and organisation is an affliction I have suffered from an early age but actually no, I will not apologise for it, it has been a friend to me and is inherited from my lovely Mum. If I am half the list-writer that lady was I would be proud, so go on, do your worst but this is the truth of how we have made it here. I am grateful to 'the book' for my sanity, or whatever remnants remain in any case.

So how do you get rid of everything? And what are the valuable items that you need to keep, whether for financial or sentimental reasons? It's not easy. It reminded me of clearing our family home with my siblings, picking up each single item to carefully consider 'what does this spoon mean to me?' Who did it actually belong to? And is it worth anything if none of us want it?! In the end we probably kept things worth nothing and ditched a load of valuable antiques.  But ignorance is bliss and in the end it's too much hassle to worry about.

I am by no means a dab hand at e-bay or gum tree etc, but I gave it a try, my best try. One item sold far too quickly so I guessed I'd undervalued it and rejected the sale. It then failed to get any interest again.  Apart from that, to date I have actually sold ZERO items on any of these sites! Nothing else appeared to be of any interest to anyone- unless I was willing to take a pittance for my dining table set or unless I was able to deliver items to potential purchasers within a ridiculously small time window.  Do people not realise how very busy my life is since I have lists to write?!  So in the end we gave the majority of our worldly goods to friends for a little cash, our buyers (again for a little cash) or donated them to charity, which makes you feel a little warm inside but also impressed that they seemed so grateful for the 'tut' we basically dumped on them after all other avenues failed!  

We did also dip our toes into the sea of the boot sale. We both loaded the car with our unwanted goods and toiled for half a day in a field. Our earnings paid for the Sunday roast on the way home with about fifty quid to spare... but we had a nice day out and bumped into some chums along the way so it wasn't a complete waste of time!

Then we have left our sacred items, mostly guitars interspersed with some jewellery and other valuables, in the care of close friends and relatives until..... whenever.  And thanks must go to my sister, Sarah, her husband Clive and also to Simon's parents who have 'won' the honour of storing some boxes of property consisting of essential spare clothing and memories that are irreplaceable (but would also be very inconvenient to carry around the world).

In the midst of all this 'sorting', other things going on included both of us being refused a career break from work and me managing to break a bone in my foot.  I'm not sure looking back which one was more painful?! I guess I'd become convinced by my well-wishing friends that the career break was in the bag so when it was rejected and the subsequent appeal that I spent a large amount of time on also failed it did somewhat take the wind out of my sails. I felt  disappointed, undervalued and left wondering why I had put so much commitment, hard work and effort into a company that couldn't tell a good employee from those who just do enough to get by.  However, on a positive note, once I had got over the initial rejection it actually reinforced the fact that I was doing the right thing to turn my back on the job. Why should I waste any more of my life putting myself out for an organisation that didn't value me? And it meant that instead of 3 months notice, they would be getting my 28 days notice as late as possible when we knew that the sale was a done deal. Ha! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

Another thing we were leaving behind was our rock careers. Our cover group 'Indie-go!' (Don't forget the exclamation mark!) had never got off the ground entirely despite a couple of years practise and numerous different line-ups. It wasn't to be. But we still felt bad letting the other guys down, especially Simon's brother, Andrew. We set up a couple of final gigs and it was after the very last practise for the very last one that I managed somehow to twist my foot doing nothing more than stepping down onto uneven ground. This was on Tuesday 16th August. Of course it was just sprained wasn't it? But no, after three days rest I still couldn't weight-bare and it was off to A&E to be x-rayed and given the news that I'd fractured the fifth metatarsal in my right foot. Thankfully, the required treatment was nothing more complex than my having to wear the mother of all hefty, not very sexy knee-length black boots for around 6 weeks. Oh, and not being able to drive. Or walk far. Or do any exercise that put pressure on that foot. Thankfully, this gave me valuable time to work on my lists! But when I saw the consultant and was given the date of 7th October for my follow-up appointment that changed our plans to a degree. OCTOBER? We wanted to have left the country by then! Thank goodness we had not got around to booking our flights by then.  Thank goodness I was convinced that something may go wrong with the house sale! Pessimism does pay.... on the odd occasion.

Here we are on stage after our blinding last gig (even if I do say so myself) at Oaklees, Rochford: note the boot has been shunned from the line-up.

The boot was a hassle, however it did have its advantages....
Firstly, despite many people wondering why I would even go in to work with a broken foot after the 'career break saga' as it shall be known from here on, I had to be ferried to and from work to enable me to do my hours. 'Cordey cabs' was set up with colleagues sharing the weight of picking me up from home and dropping me off, all of which had to be done within working hours so as not to incur overtime. The benefit of this was that I ended up working 9-3 pm most days thereby getting lovely long evenings at home for planning. I was also on restricted duties meaning that I was office-bound with no contact with the lovely public. It turned out to be quite a nice way of winding down.

Secondly, you get special treatment even though you're not even properly special!  We had to go to the US embassy in London for an interview on Monday 22nd August in order to apply for six month visas to visit the States.  I could write another whole, tedious section on the online application form and how frustratingly shite it is before you can even get an appointment - but I'll save you.  In addition, you pay a hefty £123 per person for the experience. Here I am queuing patiently in queue number 1 under the watchful eye of Sam the American Eagle:

It was no easy task getting the train into London and it was thanks to an anonymous Metopolitan Policing friend that we managed to blag a 'blue taxi' from Liverpool Street to the embassy rather than battling the tube and the mean streets in my condition.  At the front of queue number 1 we were directed to the end of a much longer queue, number 2, for security. I promise I wasn't even milking it, but as soon as we set off the staff member we had seen chased after us and apologised that she hadn't seen 'the leg' and not to worry about the queue- skip right to the front. It felt like getting a cheeky upgrade at the airport, I was smug and really pleased that the boot could actually be a force for good! The end result was that we both passed the test to get visas that would subsequently be sent to us in the post within a couple of weeks. And I didn't even have to get my leg out for that bit!

Meanwhile, those searches to do with something to do with selling the house were still in the pipeline.... I was not impressed.  Everything was still hanging in the balance.

Doing the math (already under the US influence....) and the sale of the house

The reality of whether or not we could do this came down to the usual issue - money.  The sums had to add up to make it worthwhile. I'm not going to go into the finer details but when the house was valued at more than either of us expected it finally became a reality that we might actually be able to do this.... but it all came down to selling the house.  We weren't in the position where we could keep the house and rent it out - we needed to release the equity from our home to finance the trip, whilst being sensible to not bankrupt ourselves completely for our return by keeping a nest egg in reserve.

We both loved our home but we had to look at it as just bricks and mortar and the contents as just 'stuff'; only material things that keep you tied to a location, not things you actually need the majority of the time.

By the way, I wanted to add in here that I am fully aware that these actions are not necessarily 'the norm'. I am by no means suggesting that this crazy idea would be up everyone's boulevard! In fact since we arrived in the US many people have told us they think we are mad which is somewhat unnerving. However, when the idea was first mooted in front of friends and family at home not a single person seemed to think it was a bad plan. There were some with reservations, those who liked the idea of us having secure jobs and a home, so why would we want to throw that all away etc? But when we explained we could have all that again and we were seizing the opportunity to do this now whilst we still have reasonable good health and age on our side - everyone could see this was something we were adamant on doing.  That became a topic of conversation in our relationship - What if one of us changed our minds?  It would be really hard for the other person to come to terms with letting the idea go, but it had to be both of us in head-long or we must cancel the whole thing.  It has not passed me by how lucky I am to be with someone who is willing to take a chance on us - breaking away from normality, saying goodbye to all our friends, family and colleagues for an indefinite amount of time to spend the vast majority of that time just with each other.  Surely a major test of any solid relationship?! We have had fantastic times together on mini excursions but this would be taking it to an entirely new level.  But I guess we'll see how that goes later in this very blog, reader, read on!

So, the house went on the market on 9th May 2016.  Very few people knew about this but within 2 weeks we had a bidding war and a buyer at £5k over the asking price- result! The fact that we were both so excited by this was a reliable sign to me that we were both into this idea and it was starting to become a reality.

It was time to consider telling work and how much notice we would have to give.  I had no idea that there was a career break scheme within our Police force up to this point. I expected we were just going to quit and worry about whether we wanted to try and get back into our old jobs on our return.  How long did we expect to be able to afford to go off and travel? Would we have to work our way around the world to make the finances work? Everything was a leap into the unknown. But I had always wanted to do some hands on volunteer work with some kind of marine/ environmental project. Ever since a friend at uni told me about doing a project measuring diversity on a reef in Belize I've always wanted a wildlife conservation adventure somewhere and, yes it sounds cheesy, but to make a difference in some way. We started researching on the internet- there's a plethora of things you can do, but most cost a fortune and are probably aimed at gap-yearers who are being funded by the bank of Mum & Dad (which, in a strange way I suppose is what I'm doing really?!). But there also seemed opportunities for taking a more managerial-type role which would also pay in experience and a natty-looking CV on our return.

I think it was Simon's Dad who suggested looking into the career break scheme - maybe not wanting his son to be a dependant again when we came back, hey Ray?! Turned out you have to give 3 months notice for a career break. We had plans all over the summer and a break to Oslo planned at the end of September but then we were thinking it would be a good time of year to disappear, with the English winter looming.
We fancied some time out after finishing work so planned to leave work at the end of August. That would mean applying for a career break by the end of May..... or 5 days after securing a buyer to the house to be precise! No use messing about if we were going to do this - it was time to come clean with our colleagues and management. I found this quite daunting but was pleasantly surprised by how supportive everyone was in my immediate team. In fact, everyone was really happy for us, apart from the fact that we would be missed by our respective colleagues, which is always nice to hear. I had no expectation on being granted a career break, in fact having read the regulations I was cautious about some of the conditions, like being called back from the other side of the world for court! However, everyone close to me expressed how it would obviously be a benefit to the organisation to keep hold of Simon and I - so why wouldn't it happen? I let it go to the back of mind whilst we planned the rest of our summer.

There was a 'blip' when our initial buyers fell through due to one of them being made redundant, but thankfully for us, the other couple who had been involved in the bidding war were still trying to find a place and were overjoyed to have another chance at buying our house. When someone else wants your house that much it really makes you question your actions yet again - why am I trying to get rid of something that someone else wants so badly?! They tried to go in under the asking price which we thought was a bit cheeky. We were defiant after how quickly the house sold initially- if they couldn't meet the asking price we would put it back on the market. Luckily, they really wanted the house as they agreed to stretch themselves to meet the cost and the sale was on again as of 14th June.

The change of buyer turned out to be a blessing in disguise when it came to discussing contents of the house.  Our buyers, David and Louisa, were first time buyers, in rented accommodation.  When they came round for a chat and another viewing it turned out they had hardly any furniture or white goods. A massive bonus for us trying to get rid of..... almost everything! We basically said 'if you see something you like or need, make us an offer'.  Within the evening we had agreed a basic price that both couples were happy with - for them to have a good deal on items that would otherwise have cost a fortune at a very expensive time and for us, a chance to make the move a whole lot easier whilst recouping some of the costs from the initial set up of our home.  You know, when we chose furniture that was sturdy and expensive to 'last a lifetime'....about 5 years previously!

Then came the house selling abyss.... everyone says it should only take 6-8 weeks with just two parties involved to sell/buy a house.  But then the searches came. Don't ask me what they're searching for all that time - a way to make more money? To give people the opportunity to change their minds? To see how long I can be bothered to chase Solicitors up asking them what in fact they are doing with their time and our money??! It got very frustrating, especially with everyone now knowing our plans being very kind and interested so constantly asking 'when are you going?' 'Have you booked the flights?' 'Where are you starting off?' All fair questions, from lovely people. But it almost got to the point I wanted to shout 'We can't do anything or book anything till this bloody house has sold!!!' I started feeling like a fraud, guessing people were probably starting to think, 'yeah, it was a brave idea but they don't actually have the guts to go through with it, such a shame'. For once in my life I started having trouble sleeping - partially through excitement of what the future may hold but mostly from the hundreds of ideas and things I had to do swimming around my head plus the daily fear that our buyers would pull out and we'd be back to square one.

I needed help, guidance.... I needed 'the book', my ultimate companion of 'to-do list' after 'to-do list' sorted in a sensible, preferably colour-coded fashion in a friendly lined tome with a funky frontage. My equivalent, in Hitch-hikers' Guide terms, to having a towel with 'Don't panic' written on it in large, friendly letters. At any time, day or night, as long as I had 'the book' with me, it would be okay because I could just right down my thoughts and they would never be forgotten again.  Needless to say, 'the book' deserves its very own section of this blog and that is what is happening right now, reader.

(I am disappointed with how 'wordy' this section of the blog is. I promise that, should you persevere, the next section will be adorned with much more to treat the eye than this. I will improve.)

.... and where to start?

So it began with the idea of starting off at home - how much of the British Isles have we actually visited properly?  That would surely be the easiest way to find our feet?  Buy a camper?  Just take the Ford mondearble (our way of making a Ford Mondeo estate sound more exotic, pronounced mon-day-arbler for the uninitiated).  Go and see our friends in deepest, darkest Wales, Cornwall, Scotland....

But the problem with that..... the British weather.  It just didn't seem tempting to spend what was realistically going to be winter in the UK as our first break-away!  We'd done a month travelling in the mondearble (spellchecker wants me to correct that to 'imponderable', funnily enough) around Europe in Summer 2014 very successfully:

 (Note: on this previous occasion the plan was even LAMINATED!)

We followed the mighty Pearl Jam (American rock band) around and also ended up doing a tour of Formula 1 racing circuits as we went - both past-times likely to be making an appearance in future blogs I suspect.  11 Countries in two and a half weeks. How about extending that?  We could take Ralph with us?  Get him a passport.... he'd love to come and explore with us, get unlimited attention daily.  Fair enough whilst out in the countryside, but what about when we wanted to go into the cities? We'd have to find someone to trust to look after him so he didn't get cooked whilst locked in the van, because you can't take a spaniel into the Vatican?! It was just going to be too tricky, sadly.

Whilst we'd discussed this Europe idea, secretly I felt like we'd already 'done' the majority of Europe, or at least a big chunk. It seemed too easy, predictable.  I voiced my opinion to Simon one evening, I can't remember the exact circumstances but my sales pitch was basically, if we are making this ground-breaking grand departure from everything why don't we do something on a much bigger scale? We love a road trip, it's true, so why not do the epitome of road trips...... the United States of America?! I had itchy feet, I remember saying 'I want to get on a PLANE' exuberantly. As always with Simon, his enthusiasm for doing something on a larger, more expensive and grander scale was never in question and the conversation spiralled to the point we were imagining driving south all the way through Mexico to South America and on and on.  The finer details would need to be put on ice, we were getting carried away with it clearly.

But there it was, the conception of the beginning of the birth of the vague idea of the non-plan............ as clearly as I can recall it.