So I say it all began with a proposal. Apart from the nice romantic bit that this is when Gerard and I decided we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together (ahhh), this was also the point where I realised I'm a proper grown up. I have a hunch this revelation triggered an (initially subconscious) thought process that the time to do wildly irresponsible and spontaneous things was fast running out.

The next big step was one evening in October 2012 when we went to a speaker seminar organised by Escape the City. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the name, the seminar was aimed at City workers who had started feeling a bit like there might be more to life. The speakers were incredibly inspiring - so much so that we actually left with the bones of a plan for the two of us to sail across the Atlantic within the year (at this stage I had a total of 2 weeks sailing experience, much of which had centred around the preparation and consumption of gin & tonic). Over time we were forced to accept that this was perhaps a touch ambitious and eventually settled on the current plan to stick to the Med.

One thing that really stayed with me from the Escape the City evening was how many of the speakers had embarked on their big adventures as a response to negative events in their lives - losing a family member, illness, unemployment... things that force you to realise that life is short and people rarely regret the things they do but rather the things they didn't do. Since university I've had a burning desire to see the world but I didn't want to do it on a shoestring - I'm not exactly a big spender but it seemed a shame to go all that way and have to potentially miss out on things because the budget wouldn't stretch far enough. I had thought I'd work for a few years, save some cash and then go but what I hadn't factored in was that I would fall into a career rather than a job and that leaving wasn't necessarily as easy as just drafting a resignation letter. The Escape the City night was a big turning point for me because I realised I didn't want to wait for something bad to happen and I didn't want to continue procrastinating then look back in 5 or 10 years and wish I'd taken more risks; I wanted to do something now. This has seen me through the occasional "are we doing the right thing" doubts and the hectic schedule that comes with a decision to leave your job, buy a boat, move house, get married and go backpacking all within the space of a few months. Thankfully the stressful bit is almost over and we'll soon be reaping the rewards of our hard work - I can't wait to get started on our very own big adventure!

{Photo: part of our prep - crossing the English channel. Hopefully it's going to be a bit toastier in the Med}