A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

What drives two relatively sane 50-something-year-olds to quit their lives and travel the world for two years?

It all began six years ago when we were watching a TV programme set in a snow-covered, windswept Chicago – a winter unlike anything we have ever experienced.

Barack Obama described it best in his memoir Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance: “Winter came and the city [Chicago] turned monochrome -- black trees against gray sky above white earth. Night now fell in mid-afternoon, especially when the snowstorms rolled in, boundless prairie storms that set the sky close to the ground, the city lights reflected against the clouds.”

It sounded so exciting for two South Africans. We wondered what it would be like to spend a month in that brutal winter, and it turned into a great idea. Over time that idea developed into a dream to live in countries around the world for a certain period and familiarise ourselves with other cultures, getting to know a bit about the language, celebrating a local holiday, sampling the cuisine, visiting museums, listening to local music and, most importantly, keeping an open mind and embracing differences.

To the American Midwest we added a number of cities in Europe, South America and the Indian subcontinent. It was all about creating different experiences. Living in Paris above a corner shop where you can pop downstairs for coffee, croissants, fruit and vegetables would be a very different experience from living in a tiny flat in London opposite the local pub. Making our way around the huge seaside city of Rio de Janeiro would require a completely different set of skills. We were fascinated by what we could learn from living in a different city every month.

When we first told people what we had in mind and when it was going to happen, so many said, “You’re so lucky you can just pack up and go!” But that’s not how it happened at all. It was a concept we mulled over for a very long time. We made small incremental changes to our lives in pursuit of that dream. Over the years, we made conscious choices about homes, cars, assets, children and pets to get us to the point where we are now – where we are ready to do this.

And then COVID-19 happened. On 23 March, a national lockdown was announced, starting on 27 March 2020. As co-owners of join.the.dots, a reputation management, strategic marketing and PR consultancy, and Hers&His, a coaching and training agency, we advised all our clients that we would be moving to Zoom sessions and business carried on as usual. In fact, not only did the consultancies perform well, but lockdown created a break in our routines that enabled us to look at our long-term goals.

Along with the rest of the world, we proved that knowledge workers can work from anywhere as effectively as they could if working from an office. Moving coaching and facilitation online also far exceeded expectations of impact and efficacy. To make sure, we tested the hypothesis, decamping to the seaside four times in the first year of lockdown. The process was seamless – we were able to meet virtually with clients and perform all our duties and normal activities for them without anyone noticing that we were in a different town – except that we were in T-shirts while they shivered through a Joburg winter.

And that’s when the real work started.