It's happening. We've started selling our stuff, our goodbye party is planned and the boat works have begun. After ten months of careful planning, we're finally ready to set sail.
My boyfriend Ryan and I are going to move onto our sailboat, Kittiwake, and sail it from Falmouth (UK) to the Mediterranean. We're going to rock climb, wild camp, hike, snorkel, and free dive on the way. Hopefully, we'll get to do some surfing, kayaking, and scuba diving too. We'll record our journey through our blog and videos.
At nearly 30, when most people buy a house, get married, and have children, we decided we wanted to fulfill our dreams instead. We intend to lead more sustainable and adventurous lives outdoors, by the sea.
Most people don't get to make their dreams come true. They either think they're impossible to achieve, and never take steps towards them, or they put them off until 'some point in the future'. We didn't want that to happen to us. We also couldn't face the thought of sitting behind a desk for the next 40 years, living for the weekend. So we got to work and started taking small steps towards our big dream.
Ryan and I aren't rich - we didn't suddenly win the lottery or inherit a big lump of money. Actually, we're probably much less well off than most people our age - we lived in London for years, spending most of our salaries on rent, the commute, and nights out. We simply made a lot of sacrifices and managed to save most of our salaries for the last ten months to buy a little old second-hand boat.
We aren't retiring young. We're becoming digital nomads - we'll work freelance from our laptops, but much less than people usually need to. Having no rent or bills to pay, we won't need a full salary - we only need enough money to pay for food, some petrol, some 3G, and boat bits that break. We plan to live on under £500 per month (yes, for the both of us!). This means we can work less, earn less and live more.
We'll be almost completely self-sufficient. We'll have solar panels to generate electricity, we'll fish and forage when we can, and travel with the wind. We'll only use eco-friendly toiletries and cleaning products and take our rubbish to shore. We also plan to do some beach cleans where we can, and maybe even encourage others to join us.
We don't have any fixed plans - we don't know what we'll do once we reach the Mediterranean or how long we'll sail for. That's what makes this adventure all the more exciting. We have a route sketched, but we don't know whether we'll stick to it or not. We'll be dictated to by the wind speed and its direction, the swell, the weather, and the sea conditions; so it's impossible to predict how far we'll get and how long it will take.
By recording and promoting our adventure, we don't mean to say that everyone should pack up and go travel the world. We simply want to show people who dream to sail away that it's possible to do so, even on a modest income. Anything is achievable, with some compromises and a lot of hard work. No dream is too big - it might take months or years to make it come true, but it's possible, one step at a time.
We also want to share a message of sustainability - we don't need to use as much energy, water, or plastic as we currently do. We plan not to destroy the Earth, but to live in harmony with the sea, the land, and the elements. We'd love to inspire others to live more sustainable and balanced lives, whether on the waves or on land.
If you'd like to find out more about our adventure, check out the Sailing Kittiwake blog, Twitter account, and Facebook page.