I recently came across an old blog post, added in 2011 when we were deep in long term travelling mode. We had long since adopted a ‘seize the day’ philosophy and while that’s a tad more difficult lately the principle remains undiminished. 

The Long Goodbye.

What’s important? I mean really important. Happiness? It may be trite, not to say obvious, but I’d say being happy was pretty important. Knowing what you want from life and setting about achieving it. That’s important.

Money? Nah. Not remotely.

Decisions have been made and we’ll soon be off doing what we want to do. What makes us happy. Just the two of us, but that’s a benefit, not a limitation. The new van is up and running and we’re putting the finishing touches to this tortuous final downsize. Eighteen months ago, we owned a couple of houses and a plot of land in Spain, a very flash car and a camper van. Now we’re down to one van and that’s our new home. We still have one property left, but I’ve been busy in the past few days and have just agreed a sale price for that, conditional on completion being in three weeks.

There are different ways of going about the wretched business of selling houses, the most common being to engage an estate agent. I asked three agents to give a valuation. They differed widely. Flattery, in the hope of getting the business. Realism to downplay expectation. Who knows? I wasn’t impressed. Could any of these people make a better job than me of selling my house? Probably not. I looked elsewhere for a solution.

Recessions come and go, but the housing market is still buoyant at present. It’s a desirable area: a sellers’ market, win/win. Buyers are out there. I went and found them. Without going into detail, I found a prospective buyer and did a deal. No agents’ commission to pay, no middlemen, just a buyer and a seller. Mano a mano. Easy.

The buyer’s motivation is price. Mine, as seller, is more complicated. I want to get on with my life. That’s the bottom line. We’ve made money on this property, as we have with every house we’ve ever owned. We know all about adding value to a house. For twenty years our only income was the profit we made from buying, renovating and selling houses, so we know what we’re doing.

We’ve agreed to sell at a certain price on condition we’re out of here in three weeks. That’s probably cost us money, even without paying an estate agent. Their expectations of what price ‘might’ be achieved are higher. So what? We value our freedom to go and do what we want to do far higher than any expectation of what ‘might’ be obtained. Freedom of choice, happiness, are far more important than money.

Most of our possessions are either gone already or soon will be. Clothes, books, the ‘stuff’ with which we’ve surrounded ourselves for years; all drastically reduced. We’re taking only what will fit in a not very large van and cutting everything else adrift. Scary? No, exciting. We’re invigorated in a way we haven’t been for ages.

Soon now, it will all be gone. Given away or sold. When we sold our last two houses in Spain we took away only what would fit in a single suitcase, so we have form in this rash endeavour. Will we regret any of this? Who knows? We won’t regret taking the chance to go travelling again. Without a timescale. Without a planned route. We’ve done this before and it suits us very well. Our only regrets in life are for things we haven’t done yet. So, we’ll go and do them. Sitting in an armchair in my dotage I don’t want my head to be full of what I didn’t do in life. Being able to take a risk, seize an opportunity, but not doing it; that’s unforgivable.

This venture won’t suit everyone. We’ve led interesting lives and fully intend to keep on doing it for as long as we can. For most of that time, there’s just been the two of us. We function best as a couple, on our own. Always have. I’m a fortunate man and I know it. I also try to ensure I mention that knowledge on a daily basis.

I’m pretty certain our friends suspect I’m the one leading the way here. That’s not strictly true. My soul-mate has always expressed a fondness for ‘adventure’ that is at least the equal of mine.

This next trip will be another adventure. No safety net. No fall-back plan. Nowhere left to come whimpering back to. An adventure. Where we’re going and for how long, we don’t yet know. That’s what attracts us most about ‘adventures.’ Hanging on for months on end, trying to prise a little more money out of a potential house buyer; that’s not in the same league, is it?

Tomorrow is Another Day. We intend to seize that one as well.