Before

Before this site,

I was a Facilities Manager for a company in England.

Like most people, we’ve had tough times, and we have had to work harder to stay afloat. Every year, I organised an annual work night out where I treated all the staff to a meal and drinks. This was my way of saying thank you for all their hard work throughout the year.

Every year I would organise an annual work night out, where I would take all the staff and treat them to a meal and drinks. It was my way of saying thank you for all the hard work they did throughout the year.

We used to call it the Ozzies as I would give out awards and presents to the staff who did well.  There were also a few fun prizes, just to make it entertaining.  Like who “Pissed the Boss off the most” and “Best email,” it was part of my life. In fact, the staff who worked for me became like family.

However, back in 2016, a few major things happened.

(as well as a few minor ones)

Which got me to thinking how precious life is and how little time we have on this planet.

I took steps to explore other interests that I wanted to pursue. One of these interests was traveling; throughout my life, I have always dreamed of visiting faraway places that I read about in books or see on movie screens. Like many others, I thought I would wait until retirement to fulfill these dreams.

One of these was travelling; throughout my life, I have always wanted to visit faraway places that you read in a book or see on a movie screen.

But like most, I figured one day I would retire and do it all then.

However, as I got older, so did my dreams; I watched people older than me fail to fulfil what they said was their lifelong ambition.

I began to wonder what if this happens to me?

So towards the end of Dec 2016, I booked a 4-week holiday to South East Asia thanks to a friend who has travelled around there and knew the best places to visit.

He spent over a week helping me find the best deals, including the right flights, transfers, discounts, and extras to make it a trip to remember. Thank you, Emmett, for giving me such a wonderful introduction to travel!

Looking back at photos, I was going through a lot, as I am clearly not looking healthy. Carrying too much weight, red-faced, and grey hair all adding to a look that possibly would have made my life a bit shorter had I carried on down that path.

The following year, 2017, I did it again; this time I booked everything, found some cheaper places, and some different accommodations. Three different trips, approximately 5-6 weeks each time, one in Europe and the other two in Asia.

I tried a Hostel for the first time at 46 and loved it; it is a cheap but good, clean way of experiencing places if you are on a budget.

However, I still spent the usual amount of money as you would on a holiday, so I started thinking, what if I could still experience this travel adventure but on a smaller budget, which is more cost-effective and planned better?

Hence this blog: I have read lots of travel tips from the blogging community, the guys and gals who have been doing this for years, and they all say it can be done, give you a few tips here and there, so I decided to try it and blog as I go.
It may work and be a success or an epic failure, but as with all things in life, you have to actually do it to find out.”

Graham, August 2018