This is me

I am a 63 year old retired female, living in Sydney, originally from London.

I have rented out my house, given away or sold all of my furniture, and everything I own is in about 45 boxes in storage and 2 suitcases in my car, which I left with a friend.

I love to travel, have travelled all my life. Since Covid, and cutting back on work, I've been on 8 long overseas trips.

I have always wanted to live overseas in different countries for a more extended time. I wanted to do it with a partner, but I have no partner so does that mean I can’t do it at all? No. I thought about it for a while and it was suggested I just rent my house out while I travel so I can live on the rent and my retirement income, without making any irrevocable decisions.

I thought it was a good idea, but wasn’t quite ready to ‘launch’ myself. But then 2 things happened. One friend developed a neurodegenerative disease, and a second friend went from health to dead in 10 weeks with pancreatic cancer. What was I waiting for?

I had a friend living in my house and gave him notice to move out. It happened quicker than I expected, and I ended up with 6 weeks to sell my things, pack the house and plan a ‘senior gap year’.

I am not new to travelling the world, I hitchhiked round Europe when I was 18 and went backpacking to Australia and South East Asia in my 20’s. I’ve not travelled solo extensively since then, and this will be new to me.

In-between planning this trip and setting out on 4 December 2024 to Bali, I have developed some concerning neurological symptoms. See Health page for more detail. I may have a degenerative neurological disease. 

I decided to carry on anyway. This is the best time to go away, while I am still able to as I don’t know what the future holds.