Ski Season tailored CV writing...

Who enjoys writing a CV?

Not me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've read way too many 'CV writing tips and tricks' websites and trawled through umpteen 'CV samples/templates' documents for my liking.

And yet I still find it hard! I had made a concerted effort to sit down and start (hopefully finish!) the CV which I intend on sending off to Ski Season employers. And as of last week, 4 hours work had left me with personal details strewn over a .doc file.

The trouble with writing a CV for such a narrow market as the ski season market, is that it can't be your generic 'Here-I-am-and-this-is-what-I've-done' type CV. When we went to Natives recruitment fair last October the one thing I took from the day was a) that I really wanted to work a ski season and b) that our CVs needed to be properly tailored to have ANY chance of being called back for an interview.

If I remember correctly 50,000 people apply for a couple of thousand European ski jobs. That's slim pickings for getting in! Which is why I feel there's so much pressure to write this CV to its best but also to tailor it to, not only the ski industry, but to specific employers themselves.

We finished our CVs today and have applied for 3 jobs each. It's difficult to appeal to many jobs. There is a whole industry right from chalet area managers and hotel managers (which we aren't really interested in) down to kitchen porters and chamber maids.

I personally have more of a luxury than Kerry in that I can apply to more job categories. Being an electrical engineer and having experience in building maintenance means I am well suited to a maintenance job within a chalet. That coupled with a clean (Or soon to be!) driving license and a C1 (Large Goods Vehicles) test looming within the next couple of months gives me good grounding for Driver/maintenance jobs.

I've mentioned before that we have a 5 day Chalet Cookery Course booked with Natives in August. This, we hope, will stand us in good stead for applying for chalet hosts and even chalet cooks. We've recently been cooking some meals from the brilliant 'Chalet Cookery Book' again by Natives. (I've just noticed they're giving away free downloadable copies! 06/06/2012)

I find it pretty hard writing appealing yet brief covering letter, tailored for each companies specific values and tastes. I'm conscious that recruiters may glance at a covering letter and CV over a cup of coffee and want to make them as concise as possible without dragging on and on.

I really hope we have have got it right. I'm sure our evenings will be absorbed with more applications and hopefully follow up phone calls with the potential for an interview.

So we are back on the hard work trail, but it will feel so awesome if/when we achieve gainful employment!

My First Venture in to Bicycle Touring/Camping

Bicycles have always been a great interest. They can give anyone freedom of travel at a more respectable pace than walking, and with some simple knowledge, can be kept on the road for very little money.

Aesthetically I think the bicycle, in all its many varieties, is a work of art.

My only regret is that I don't ride my bike enough! So in a conscious effort to reverse the tide of lets-jump-in-the-car mentality I've got so used to, I decided to head off out for a couple of days cycling and would have to carry everything I needed.

Blue line outward journey, Red line back

 I wanted a route that was somewhat familiar but with a sense of entering the unknown. So I decided to head out of Horsham towards Crawley but to keep going East towards Turners Hill and East Grinstead. I've never explored this part of the world except for fleeting visits when I was much younger.

I announced my plans, quite triumphantly, on a Wednesday. I wasn't to leave for a few days but felt I needed to tell someone! (And also to gain their opinions!) I always find it funny when I propose a 'ridiculous' idea to people and enjoy their 'can't do' attitudes. It makes it all the more important to do it!

With surprise Kerry's dad showed great interest. "When are you going? Who you going with? How long for?" all flew from his mouth, half-Geordie-half-Mackem accents clashing to make, sometimes, no sense to a Southern Fairy like me. The questions made sense though, not only aurally but semantically too. He was weighing up whether he was able to come! Mike isn't one to turn down a good adventure!

I knew then that I had a companion! And one I was grateful for. I should think the hardest part of a lone cycle camp would be just that, being alone. So I welcomed Mike's company and we frantically readied the bikes for departure the following Saturday.

Disaster struck in the early hours of Saturday morning. I woke to a massive pain in my face. Its difficult to describe but that's the best I can do. A pain IN my FACE. I couldn't get rid of it, I couldn't allieveiate it at all. Just a dull, numbing pain behind my cheek bone but enough to keep me awake for hours on end. I text Mike to tell him I couldn't cycle. I had slept all of 4 hours during the night. I was gutted. I drifted off to sleep at about 7am, disappointed.

But I was determined to get out cycling. I knew Mike would be feeling as gutted as I was and didn't want to let him down. I was up again at 10am and rang Mike to ask if he could still make it. He could! and we arranged to meet at half past 10. Thirty minutes to get ready. Easy, the bike was already packed, all I needed was to get dressed!

Mike out on the road

All set I hurriedly cycled to meet Mike, we arrived at the rendezvous at the same time, handy! We already knew our biggest issue. Rusper hill. Whilst not in any way big, the hill is quite steep at one section. The bikes felt good. It was the first time I had ridden with it fully laden and I couldn't tell there was any weight on the back. Until I hit the hill that is! I had to get off straight away. I struggle without any panniers but with this weight any incline felt like a tug of war match with a stern bull.

Once we had made it up everything seemed plain sailing. The first 5 miles were all very familiar territory. I ride this route to work sometimes so know exactly where I will need to push harder or where I can afford to relax a bit. It was a pleasant ride, the sun shone gloriously through the trees and we were soon in Ifield where we had decided to stop and grab some lunch from a shop.

Two 'meal-in-a-can's' and a few bread rolls strapped to the back and we were off again. We would traverse Crawley and stop just outside town in some woods to cook up the cans and generally chill. We found a nice green just off the road and I could try out my new stove.

The 'White Box Stove' is a nice little aluminium meths burning stove that ... comes in a white box! It is awesome. It's amazing how such a little amount of meths in such a tiny stove can produce good, sustained heat for 10 minutes, easily heating our food which we ate dipping bread rolls.

Stomachs full and the pace slowed. I was certainly feeling pretty tired at this point so the sight of a pub a few miles down the road was welcomed! Pint in hand and sun on face I thought about how I could easily get used to this! Then when I stood up my legs reminded me its not all rosy! The last miles were difficult. We hit Turners Hill which is not to be estimated. The 16 cans of lager we bought then hampered our ascents even more. We needed to find somewhere to camp.

I'd set my heart on camping next to Weirwood Reservoir, a view across the water and a decent camp fire. A few dead ends later and we found that it was impossible to get to the water edge. Tired and weary we settled for a nice bluebell wood. A small copse of mainly birch trees just next to the road. Just what we needed after cycling 24 miles.

The tent was set up with ease and we settles down to building the camp fire. It turns out Mike has some sort of compulsion to find any piece of wood and put it in the fire. So I was left to sit back and enjoy the countryside.

The cycle had really tired me out. It was very hard, alot harder than I had thought it would be, but sitting back against a tree watching the fire made it all better. And it was keeping the midges away! I cooked up a nice 'Curry-in-a-can' meal with one piece of chicken in no bigger than my little finger nail. I'd regard that meal as more a curry flavoured soup!

The beers went down very easily, and soon the light was fading (as was I) to the point where we had to retire to our sleeping bags. It was fairly cold through the night and we both had to get up for the toilet, cursing at how cold it was outside!
I woke up at about 06:00 and successfully managed to get the fire re-lit from the embers. The orange flames were perfect for warming my socks. Mike slept slightly longer, however I think this was to make up for what sleep he hadn't got through the night.

We were both knackered, even putting the tent away was a struggle and packing everything back on to the bikes took real time and energy. We were in no rush to get back on the saddle. I had a suspicion that the first few miles would all be up hill which made it even worse. I kept these dark thoughts to myself!

Lo and behold! we hit hills as soon as we left the reservoir. Big ones that seemed to go on and on. Cycling up them with a very tired and aching bottom wasn't fun. Each corner just gave way to another long incline. We'd only eaten a bread roll each. toasted on the fire that morning, and it was very hard to muster any energy. This is why I've never been so pleased to see a Costcutter shop in my life. I grabbed meat pasties and bottles of water which we wolfed down quickly and we soon felt a bit better and ready for the journey home.

After walking the bikes up Turners Hill for the second time in two days we decided to take a more direct route home. And we were so pleased we did! We seemed to roll on and on through the countryside, not a hill in sight except for the gradual descent we were on. Mike shouted in delight "Now THIS is more like it!"
The journey seemed to take less time and we stopped just short of Horsham to have a quick pint in The Dragon at Colgate. It wasn't even midday yet and we were only a few miles from home!

I could tell the mix of cycling and a restless night had taken its toll on Mike. I too was tired but had atleast done some cycling the weeks before hand. That and I'm half Mikes age!

Whilst supping our beers and admiring a large group of old MG cars growl past I spotted this little hitchhiker! He must be from Weirwood reservoir and had made it all the way to Colgate with me! A quick 10 minute blast and we were in Horsham. I bid Mike farewell and headed to the local shop to load my panniers up with wine. I needed it after all that cycling! 20 miles back, a shorter distance home which was appreciated.

A Tale from a Novice Hitchhiker

The story of my first hitchhiking experience;

Early one Saturday morning during the tale end of an Indian summer I decided to set off. I had 4 days off work and with it came a great sense of freedom. The only thing I had to commit to was the need to be back home and ready for work in 96 hours time. And it felt gooood!

I never have trouble getting up early. In fact to any of my mates who've had the pleasure of waking up with me after a night out, its somewhat of an inconvenience! But I'd managed to sleep until 9am this morning. An achievement in lieing in! I made a plan from my pillow. Pack up, walk out of my apartment and aim for Canterbury. I had a good friend who lived there who I hadn't seen in a while.

My pack consisted of very little. One change of clothes, a travel towel, sleeping bag and a brand new bivvi bag in case I had to sleep rough anywhere. A few chocolate bars and a litre of water were thrown in for good measure and I was off.

My first 'pick-up' wasn't your typical hitchhiking procedure. I didn't even have the chance to hold out my sign! I'd walked the 2 miles to the edge of town and had drank nearly half of my water! I blame the late summers heat but I think if I'm honest it was a reflection on how unfit I was. I sat down and lent against a garden fence, triumphantly withdrawing my sharpie marker like a brave warrior preparing for battle. I'd only managed to outline 'Peas' in my best bubble graffiti (intending on completing 'Pease Pottage' but realising it wouldn't all fit on the page!) when the lady who owned the garden fence popped her head round the corner;

"Need a lift?" She asked, obviously catching sight of the letters I'd scribbled on the page.

"Please!" I replied eagerly. Surprised and kind of disappointed I didn't have to finish my masterpiece.

It was all very pleasant. I helped load her kids' bag in to the boot of the car and broke one of the rules of hitchhiking, 'Always travel alongside your bag', by chucking mine in with it. I clambered in to the passenger seat and waited patiently while the lady strapped her kid in to the car seat.

We agreed that she'd drop me off at the services a mere 4 miles away, but I was happy! The services was the 'hitchhiking hub' in my eyes and a sure thing for the next pickup. We exchanged chit-chat until we pulled in to the car park, I grabbed my bag out of the boot, and she wished me good luck. How easy was that? My first experience of hitchhiking had gone without a hitch (excuse the pun).

The rest of the journey seemed to flow with the same amount of ease as my first pickup. I'd write the road I wanted to travel on and the direction (M23 N or M25 E) on a piece of paper, hold it out for all to see whilst worrying someone I knew would come along. It was quite scary holding it out at first. It was new.

I made it as far as Dettling Hill, 40 miles in an hour. I'd struggle to do that journey in that time if I was driving! I've probably got Neil to thank for that who picked me up and drove at 110 mph up the motorway while telling me about his very interesting Yurt rental company. He lived in a converted horse box but had the VW Golf we were in for business meetings etc.

Then it struck ... I think every hitchhiker must go through this process at some point in their hitching career, and I'll bet on more than one occasion. I called it The Wait. 3 hours of standing on the same road, holding your sign out, with no success. It is soul destroying. I lost all faith in humanity. Convinced myself that the world we live in was occupied by selfish, arrogant people. I don't know why I felt this way. I was asking people to sacrifice their time and petrol to give me a lift. For nothing in return! At the time it felt like there was no good in the world.

This thought was bolstered when a van pulled over about 50 metres up the road. I grabbed my bag and ran hurriedly along the road towards my new lift. The sense of relief, belief, I don't know what it was? Elation? I felt like I could cry and was preparing my thank you speech as I ran up to the back of the van. Just as I got alongside the passenger door and reached for the handle the van sped away. Cackles of laughter trailing in the wind behind it. A prank. One that hurt.

"Let's walk!" I proclaimed. Somehow it was as if I was getting one over on all of the cars that passed. I didn't need them. I still held my sign out though. Sheepishly, but it was there. I hadn't gone far when I stopped to pick some blackberries at the side of the road. I worried for a second how much exhaust fumes had coated the berries but they tasted too good not to eat. I felt like Ray Mears! Still disheartened though.

A big artic truck pulled in to the lay by roughly 200 meters up the road and I thought nothing of it. I didn't have my hand or sign out and was quite enjoying choosing the biggest, juiciest berries to eat. A shout came from up the road, towards the truck. The driver had got out and was waving and hollering. I walked normally up to the cab, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of watching me run, only to speed off like the van driver.

"Tibor! You need lift?" said the driver holding his hand out. He had a thick eastern european accent. Lithuanian if I was to go by the 'LT' on the numberplate.

Tibor's truck cab smelt horrible! I don't know where the guy went to the toilet but I bet he didn't stop to pull over! There were dirty clothes hung all over the place as if they were drying after a wash. The smell ruled that out! But I was thankful. Tibor was making his way to Dover to head home. He'd been in the truck for 9 days and it would take another 5 before he was back. We tried making conversation but the language barrier was too tough. I knew no lithuanian and Tibors English was patchy to say the least. I simply told him what number junction to drop me at and we drove.

I caught 2 more lifts and was dropped off at my friends doorstep! The 70 mile trip took only 5 hours. My belief in human kind had been restored and I'd arrived to brilliant sunshine and the cobbled streets of Canterbury. I knew it worked. Hitchhiking had been an adventure, different. But I now knew it was possible for someone to thumb a lift in this day and age. I arrived in Canterbury with several sheets of road names places and directions as well as wanting more.

The next day my friend gave me a lift out to a suitable service station. I cradled a hangover as I wrote out my first sign, immediately hitting The Wait and sat for 2 hours. I'd set my sights on going to Brands Hatch race track to meet 4 of my friends for the second day of superbike racing. With no lift and a banging headache I'd settle for a lift home! The 30 miles to Brands took all day. Long waits and spots of rain made the hangover worse. I walked for 10 miles texting my friends updates on how long I thought I'd be until an old man with his car filled with furniture picked me up. We drove with my seat too far forward and I had to hold a chair steady but the discomfort was all made up for driving 15 miles up a hill.

My friends had miraculously managed to hold back a ticket stub from the Marshall's on their way in so I didn't have to pay. I used the entrance money I'd saved to buy a round of drinks that night and I slept under the stars in my bivvi bag much to the neighbours surprise. (It looks as if your sleeping on the grass with just a sleeping bag. In fact its like a mini tent and very warm!)


The racing at brands the next day was top class. I chilled, drank beer, took pictures and was generally pleased with life. I'd travelled over 100 miles on others peoples good will. I was amazed at how it could be so easy one minute and so hard the next. Next time I know I'll have to get in to the hitchhiking mindset before setting out. Because there will be a next time. It was awesome!

Money milestones...

We've hit a major financial milestone. £10,000 sits in our high interest savings account after 7 months of saving. Quite an achievement for a compulsive gadget buyer and a clothes fiend.

I've always found it hard to save money. Ever since I was a child I can remember dropping coins in to a savings tin only to break it open the next day so I could buy some pokemon cards instead of the really cool bike I wanted. Saving always seemed somehow impossible to me.

Even as I got older I couldn't save. The trouble with being older is that people are willing to help you not save. 2 weeks in to starting my 4 year engineering apprenticeship and I was £3,500 in debt. BUT I did have a shiny new 50" TV and a super fast laptop. Both were slapped on 4 year Hire Purchase terms of god-knows how many % APR.

As impressive it is for 2 people to save ten thousand pounds, it somehow seems even more impressive for Kerry and I. And I have no doubt as to the reason. Desire.

There is a real wanting for vagabonding. It isn't a hair brained scheme, merely a dream that stays in a dream world. Vagabonding is now very tangible. We talk about it every day and there is always something to organise, sort out or worry about.

Its possible that I didn't want that bike enough, or didn't deserve that TV enough. In both these instances I circumnavigated saving, resulting in me either not getting it, or paying through the nose for 4 years for it!

However I feel we really do want and deserve to go travelling. We've made saving work for us. And its been quite easy!

Yes we've sacrificed things, yes we've said no to things, and yes we've both worked very hard to earn more money. But on the flip side we've also rewarded ourselves. Our lives haven't had the depressing, boring, insular image I always had of frugality as a child.

Things are only looking up from now on as well! Kerry has just taken a new shift pattern at work. One that compensates limited notice period and extremely unsociable hours for an extra £900 a month! That coupled with a £1200 a month saving when our flat starts paying for itself next month will mean we can bolster our saving efforts quite considerably.

Our goal is to have £25,000 when the ski season starts and our adventure begins in November. Anything more is a bonus, but we always keep that target in our heads. Especially when looking at new gadgets and clothes!

Handing over the keys...

Whilst not completely smooth, my experience of letting a property was not the stressful affair I had been led to believe.

When looked at it, the whole process was nothing more than a number of tasks that needed chronological organisation.

And my answer was lists! Reams of them. One for changes of address, one for documents the letting agent required, one for jobs to tackle in the flat. ...

It was quite comical as I ticked off each job. Each tick one step closer to completion and counting down to today. The first day of my first 6 month let.

All I know about my tenant is that his name is Kevin and he is a sports masseur. I think the letting agents try to distance landlord from tenant to try and avoid them bypassing their services and organising a private let agreement. To be fair that suits me fine. I'm looking for purely a business relationship which I have found with Pinnacle Lettings.

As I type I can envisage him getting his fresh set of keys, planning where to put his furniture and when to get his mates round for the house warming!

Fingers crossed that's one of the biggest tasks done. Moving back with mum and dad has been interesting. There are a few things to iron out. Namely whose food is whose and whose do we eat! But overall its quite nice seeing the family a bit more. Even if we've all had some illness over the last month.

Full steam ahead!...

This is it! Get excited cos it's happening!
Following the My world is in your hands... post I made a couple of weeks ago I finally have a response. The mortgage company were very easy to work with. Their response was swift and concise. (I think the 1.5% they load on my mortgage is their motivating factor!)

Housing associations on the other hand are another story all together. Don't get me wrong. They were quick to cash the cheque I sent them to pay the administrative charges but after that communication seemed to cease.

Phone call after phone call drew up nothing but dead ends. The lady I had addressed the permission to sublet form to was on maternity leave, yet her mail was not being read!

Then the forms had to be scanned and submitted to a different lady in the same office, electronically. Unfortunately she was struck down with illness for a week and her colleagues were unable to log in to her section of the computer system.

Well I rang the number for the umpteenth time this morning and she was better! But out of the office. I pleaded that someone please phone her and ask that she contacts me today. 16:45 arrived and I made a last ditch attempt and rang again.

She was back! And had been all afternoon. However, she was now on the phone and couldn't take a call. You can sense my frustration. I waited for 24 minutes with Shania Twain trying desperately to sooth my temper on the hold music.

We now have permission to sublet! The mortgage company are on board, the housing association are on board. I rang Jill at Pinnacle Letting Company and must have sounded like a small child. I was so relieved and excited all at the same time.

Some of our stuff has already gone through various means. Freecycle, as always, has come up trumps. I get most of my furniture from freecycle and now I've sent it back to the freecycle ether. Bonus being I don't have to hire a van to get rid of stuff!

One last push and I hope to be out by next week end. After throwing a feather duster around for a bit and drafting in a carpet cleaning friend, I should be ready for pictures to be taken and the property finally on the rental market by the end of the month.

Emotions are running high at the moment. Relief, anticipation, excitement, fear ... Everything. But it's all moving forward!

Train me up Scotty!...

The first 6 months of our Vagabonding adventure will (hopefully) be a slow introduction to travel and adventure.

Kerry and I have been skiing and snowboarding for the last two seasons, but we always feel that a week is never enough. We love nothing better than that feeling at the beginning of the week when you grab your gear and head off to the lift!

So we have decided to start vagabonding up in the snowy French Alps. And be gainfully employed! Applications for chalet hosts are taken all year round and in preparation we booked on the Natives Chalet Cookery Course last night.

The course helps to prepare hopeful chalet hosts with, not only general cooking skills, but more specific tasks and problems that occur on a Ski Season. From the differences in cooking at altitude (Water may not boil at some heights!) to laying a table or cooking a fabulous afternoon cake. All the while making sure the work is done efficiently and effectively to enable more time on the slopes without compromising service.

With no official service work (Waiting tables, bar work, hospitality etc) on our CV's we both felt that we would need to complete a chalet course to prepare us for the potential season ahead. Having stayed in a Ski Chalet before we kind of know what to expect but I'm sure when it comes down to the nitty gritty we will thank the course instructors after!

We are now £1000 lighter and will be taking a week out of work in July to spend the week at St Teresa's School in Dorking. The course is instructed by past Seasonnaires and if I know anything about seasonnaires its that the evenings will, undoubtedly, be ladled with mulled wine and Camel cigarettes.

Natives also offer a very good support system to help us gain the vital chalet host place we are looking for and will help with everything from CV structuring to introductions to recommended companies.

We've now got a mini Holiday booked which will hopefully be useful and fun as well as us gaining a new 'string to our bow' as such.

My world is in your hands...

Not all letting agents are bad guys after all! I had a few agents round earlier this week with mixed impressions. Some just didn't seem interested in what I had to say. As if they were going 'through the motions' with it all. This isn't a good way to start, considering how scared I was about letting her out. I think anybody would be pretty scared about letting complete strangers come and stay in your house ... or more aptly your home.

One evening I was minding my own, trawling the internet with the obligatory Facebook page open as the first tab. I was flitting back and forth reading travel blogs, twitter posts and generally surfing when a notification popped up on Facebook. An old friend had messaged me a whole ream of paragraph upon paragraph of text!

He went on to say that he didn't usually read blogs but mine took his fancy, he had travelled for 6 months in his late teens and 'loved the word Vagabonding' (I do too!) he really enjoyed my writing (which I think is terribly lumpy!) and it was a big compliment to hear that he was eager for more.

Then the surprise. He had worked in lettings and was willing to exchange some advise and information in exchange for me continuing my blog (more compliments). But then he noticed that his firm were already coming round to meet me. Not just his firm but his Mum!

Jill from The Pinnacle Letting Company was the last of the agents I'd scheduled in for that day and I was pretty on edge after the other firms performance, but Jill was brilliant. We spent a good 45 minutes chatting and discussing all of the questions I had. It felt like nothing was too silly or complex to ask and I knew there and then that, however hard the others had tried (or not!), I would definitely leave my flat in Jill's care. 

She was able to give a brilliant rate and a massive flood of relief washed over me. It was on! Any doubt I had about letting my flat out had gone. The race has started! I hope to have tenants in there by 1st May 2012. Only 2 months! And there is still mountains of things to do.

Jill emailed over the proposed Shorthold Tenancy Agreement (which the other agents still haven't done 2 days later!) and all of the other documents so I could compile a 'Permission to Let' proposal to both the Housing Association and Mortgage lender. And here I am, tired but every i has been crossed and every t dotted. All I need now is a couple of stamps (The one thing you miss most from your Mums purse when you leave home!) and I am done.

Then this whole thing is in someone else's hands. I have done my best. Put together comprehensive proposals, sourced the best letting agency in Horsham if not Sussex and paid (admin fees for Housing Association) for the privilege of them to make the decision.

Either the Mortgage company or the Housing Association could say no. The only option then is to sell her, which I'm really not keen on. But there we go ... C'est la vie.

A Sense of Adventure - Mileeta

Exploring the unknown. Christopher Columbus stylie! There is something very mystical about adventure. Adventure, to me, implies different. Be it a different scenery, different social context, different activity or simply a different day!

And people adventure in different ways. I know I've been on vastly different 'adventures'. From climbing down caves barely big enough for a child let alone me! Reaching the summit of my favourite mountain. Beginning the process of buying a house. Attending my first fencing (sword fighting not shiplap timber!) lesson.


In 2011 my Dad set out on a 3 week long adventure with his beloved BMW GS1200 motorcycle. His trip spanned the breadth of Europe starting from England and covering 5715 miles to Turkey.

I can only imagine what a trip like his is like. Whilst the first 3 days were spent riding alongside fellow Mid-Life Rebels MC members, Dad spent a long time riding solo for hundreds of miles a day.

As a fairly sociable person I think I would find this quite challenging. I look to share experiences with people and love nothing better than to recount those experiences over a beer or two in the pub!

Not all of this trip was spent alone though. He was able to meet Sergio, a good friend and work colleague, in Brindisi, Italy on his BMW R1100R motorbike after making quite an eventful journey up from Sicily.

Their most Easterly point was Istanbul and from there Dad made the two and  a half thousand mile journey back to work and the norm.

Setting out...

Setting out on an adventure. Probably the scariest thing I've done. The decision to drop everything I currently know, to fulfil this insatiable desire to travel.
I hope to leave during November 2012. So why have a 'Setting out' post 9 months before?!
Because there is so much to do! In preparation for any trip people must plan. Its liberating not having a plan, and I hope at some point I do have that unadulterated sense of 'I don't know where I am going to go tomorrow'. But for now, I need to plan.

I worked very hard to buy the 30% share I have in my apartment. I've nearly lost it on one occasion and I don't intend on letting it go lightly.

Initially I had two options. I knew I could sell up, stick the money in the bank and have that money for when I returned from our vagabonding trip. This, however, threw up a lot of problems. Having already used the scheme I would not be eligible for the Homebuy Shared Ownership Scheme again. This scheme was the key to me being able to afford a part of my home. Without it I would have needed a minimum of a 10% deposit for a property worth £180,000 which I could not have done.

With the property market now a lot different, banks have more stringent lending criteria and typically ask for 20% deposits. God knows what they'll ask for when I return from vagabonding! So I quickly ruled out selling my place. I need to rent it out. The potential rental income is very close to my expenditure with mortgage, rent, service charge and insurances. I didn't particularly want an agent taking their 10 - 15% fees so looked to rent privately.

Ideally I wanted to let her out to friends. Having worked in a house insurance company years ago, I had heard many a horror story of unscrupulous tenants growing tons of weed or simply trashing the place and leaving without paying. Both of these situations would be hard to deal with when living nearby, let alone thousands of miles away.

A few people expressed interest in renting her from me, but for valid and honest reasons were unable to commit, so it leaves me at the mercy of Letting Agents.

I have 2 companies coming next week to have a look at the apartment, evaluate its potential rental income, and hopefully answer some of my questions. There is a lot to think about when becoming a landlord. Not only worrying about who is going to be your tenant and their intention with your lovely home, but also administrative things such as dealing with the deposit agencies, holding money in trust, Energy Performance Certificates and Gas Safe Certificates.

So fingers crossed the letting agents can quell my fears and shed a little light on the matter. Then I can crack on with the usual travel preparation of booking flights, planning accommodation, finding work ..... etc ..... etc

One step at a time!