6 months in

27th October 2022 marked 6 months since we, Ingrid Lotze and Gavin Moffat, handed over the keys of our home in Greenside, Johannesburg to the new owners and left to begin our 7 t-shirts each (7tsea) nomad/work/lifestyle adventure. What has it been like?

• It has been 6 months since we’ve had a permanent home and address.

• 6 months of not having our own pillows, bed, and kitchenware.

• 184 days (and counting) of having only 7 t-shirts and three pairs of shorts each (which convert to cargo pants, so careful laundry planning is required).

• 184 days of finding food, medicine, toiletries, and groceries that are not our known and loved brands.

• One hundred and eighty-four days of adventure, the unknown and mainly being out of comfort zones.

• 6 months of consistent change.

• The challenge of finding a new cycle, a rhythm, and then doing that all over again.

• Spending time investigating the next stop, what neighborhood to stay in, whether it is safe, whether there are stores within walking distance, what’s the public transport system like etc.

• We’ve worked when we’d rather be exploring.

• Being worn out from late-night meetings because of different time zones.

Where have we been? Day one started with staying with our son and his partner in JHB, then a road trip with a stop at Gariep Dam on our way to spend time with ith our daughters in CT. The international part has included a month in Malindi & time in Mombasa in Kenya, Mauritius via Dubai, and Bangkok & Phuket in Thailand. 6 months has confirmed our belief that a longer stay in a country offers greater learning and personal and business insights into different cultures. More time is needed to observe ways of doing things, the perfect example is witnessing a festival, a flood, and a traffic roadblock in

Phuket. All of these have offered great insights to us, some of which have been shared on the 7tsea website and social media platforms. You would imagine that the novelty of being away from “home” would wear off in the first 30 days, but it is not so. We still feel amazed when waking up to the start of a ‘normal’ work day in a different part of the world. Every 'normal' weekend is filled with exploring a brand new place in the world or a brand new brand of something we need. One word to describe the past 6 months Ingrid Lotze - Revealing From day one the journey has revealed learnings on resilience, mindset, collaboration, communication without a common language, the impact of the prevailing culture, and how much ‘stuff’ we can live without. These insights have not only been about and for me but also apply to business success and our world’s sustainability. It’s been 6 months of testing assumptions, unlearning, relearning with curiosity, and noticing, noticing, noticing. Noticing and noting things daily. Noticing would be word #2. Gavin Moffat - Curiosity So much comes out of curiosity and curiosity can make just about any situation a learning and growing experience and there have been many learnings and personal growth! Giving away or giving up many of the things that you take for granted in life is a great equaliser for an adventure. I begin with a slate that says I can only get out of this what I put in.

And I chose to put in curiosity. I am curious about the people, their cultures and traditions, why there are so many street food vendors, and why people all ride scooters. What is it about certain nationalities that you can pick them out from a distance? I can do without all the things I was used to, and feel better for it. Simplifying has turned out to be one of the best paths to follow in my adult life and I can’t imagine going back and buying all the stuff I neither want nor need.

How privileged I feel to be able to have these daily experiences and wake up in a part of the world I did not grow up in, to be faced with newness that is worth engaging with. How fortunate am I.

Where are you going next?

Our plan is still to spend the next 6 months in Asia and we’re planning on traveling to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India. We are sure to face challenges and be unsure as to whether our choices are both correct and appropriate and that’s ok. We’ve made a choice to explore and journey and what a pleasure that is.