* (noun) Swedish: The restless race of a traveller’s heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together; a ‘travel fever’ that can manifest as an illness.

In hindsight, making the decision and setting our departure date was the easy bit. No one ever talks about the bit after the decision is made – And now I see why! 

Hours and hours of sorting, researching, clearing and organising, with the occasional moment of absolute pure elation that we are actually doing this thing. Little did I know that for the six months between making the decision and setting off, every conversation with Ted would revolve around exciting topics such as bike tyre sizes, mapping apps and whether the tent we’ve bought really is just too heavy. The reality is that it’s hours of work, a lot of it tedious.

Scrutinising frame geometry and building bikes; testing kit; selling everything we no longer use on Vinted; poring over maps to decide on routes; a mighty spreadsheet of distances to be cycled linked to an all powerful oracle spreadsheet of finances; sorting career breaks; renting out the house; acting as a live pincushion during vaccinations; rehoming the infamous Crumpet cat; delving into the joyful world of visas – The list goes on….and on…. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had so many lists (and for a lover of lists like me, that’s saying something!)

As a couple of over-thinkers, decision fatigue set in pretty early on for both of us. Making hundreds of decisions, about things we didn’t even know we had to think about, is a real drain on energy.  Not to mention, all those decisions we got wrong and had to revisit. There have been tears at least once a week, compromises made everyday and nights of restless sleep.

There have been times when it’s all felt a bit too much – The moment Ted fell through the yoga room ceiling (from the attic) whilst I was on an important work call below and we had tenant viewings for the house the following day – A prime example. We laugh about it now, but at the time there were tears!

It’s been hard not to be distracted by everyday life – When it’s a choice between hoovering and more travel insurance research, believe me, the hoovering has never been more appealing! We have sacrificed a lot of our downtime over the last few months, time otherwise spent with friends & family, or riding our bikes, or off adventuring at weekends has understandably all been consumed by the trip – so apologies if we have been a little unaccounted for already this year!

And yet despite all of this – I’ve never once questioned our decision to do this. There is no doubt that underlying it all has been a simmering pot of nervous excitement – Resfeber is a perfect way to describe it – but somehow, bizarrely, doing this feels so right.

The reality is, I don’t think we’ll ever actually be truly prepared enough or mentally ready to go. It’s just about being brave enough (or foolish enough!!) to set off anyway.