The first month in review

So our first month of travelling has passed (5th March - 5th April 2014) and it's all been spent in Vietnam. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the month from the lows of our disappointing experience teaching in the Mekong Delta, to the highs of the incredible sights and atmospheres of the old town of Hoi An and Ha Long bay's majestic scenery.

I've learnt and experienced so much during this time already so I thought I'd give you a quick roundup:

• Taught our first lessons as English teachers 
• Quit our jobs as English teachers
• Ate dinner with a district chief
• Jumped off a boat
• Saw an elephant
• Climed a mountain
• Trekked through the jungle
• Cruised through the Mekong delta backwater
• Rode an all night train
• Drank beer for 15p
• Drank cocktails at a floating bar in the sea
• Walked on stairs that went over a roof and had no railings
• Slept on a boat in amongst a thousand islands
• Explored caves
• Kayaked in near silence while eagles stalked their prey

The bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Enjoying the pool in Mui Ne

Just one of the crazy walks at the crazy house in Da Lat

At one of the beautiful assembly halls in Hoi An

And here's a snippet of the fun we had kayaking in Ha Long bay:

There's much more, but that's just to give you an idea of the journey so far. We've both found inner strength to even set out on this adventure, let alone face and deal with what we've been through so far - the language barriers, the logistics, the exhaustion, the heat and particularly in our decision to leave our jobs and decide to spend a shorter time on this adventure just travelling, but making sure that we have a good time, rather than a long time.

At the time of writing, the next month is already in full swing and takes in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia - so there's plenty more in store in the short term, let alone the rest of summer!

Tan An and a change of plans

In this blog update I'm going to give a small update to add to what Claire has already said on her blog - which best describes the details and feelings of what we've been through this week so rather than repeat, I'll just add a few touches of my own.

Monday 17th March 2014

We were supposed to be picked up to go to Tan An at 8am, was only told at 7:55am that it would then be the afternoon (could've done with a lie in!). Eventually arrived at 4pm. New 'permanent' digs were seemingly nicer than the last but were lacking anything to cook with as well as many other basic amenities.... Wasn't happy! 

Went to the town (it's officially a city but I refuse to call it that) and saw there were plenty of cafés but nowhere to eat (here a cafe rarely does food, they just do coffee and juices - which are awesome, but you kinda want both). We thought then river view might cheer us up, but the stench of urine put us off.

Our favourite cafe in Tan An - the only highlight to speak of!

Tuesday 18th

Headed to the main district to see if this place we were meant to live in for the next few months had anything else to offer.... We found a post office and that was it. Later on we taught our first lessons on the payroll and were hoping that things would be better than the training last week.

The guy who came to pick us up to go to Ben Luc to teach was over 30 minutes late so by the time we arrived the class had been sat there waiting for half an hour. Just to make it worse the only lesson preparation we were given once again was shoved into our hands as we were quickly ushered into the classroom and then forgotten about.

Although already short on time, my first class went well with a few bright students making up for those that were shy. I started to feel really I'll during the class feeling dizzy - which was ironic given the topic was "health and wellbeing"!

The next class was completely different and possibly the worst 90 minutes of my life (and being a Southampton fan, I've experienced some painful 90 minute sequences in my time). The topic was " introducing yourself " which at first glance I thought might be quite good seeing as every class so far I've spent the first 5-15 minutes introducing myself, so I was well drilled and knew exactly what I would take them through topic wise. The big problem I had was the language we were supposed to be 'revising' had clearly not been taught - and this was stuff that for a class of their supposed level they should really know - and then when I tried to explain using even simpler terms they still didn't know. As well as all of this I had felt worse and worse so by the time I tediously dragged the class out I was a physical and emotional wreck.

As I walked out of the building I felt I'll, I felt like I'd failed and I felt furious with the school. As Claire saw me approach she took one look at me and said "there's a face of thunder!" And I threw the lesson folder on the desk and stormed out. With all of the stress that we'd faced recently, the poor preparation and lack of professionalism from the school, being constantly messed about with locations and timings, I was ready to not only quit the job, I wanted to jump on the first plane home.

On our way home in the car we were able to speak honestly as the driver spoke no English and I said "I just can't do this, I hate where we live, I hate the school and none of this is going to get any better no matter how long we stay".  Claire felt the same. We'd been fighting the urge to quit the job for a few days, each time holding on in the hope that it would get better when we start for real, but although we only taught one night we knew that there was just no way we could carry on here with so many factors out of whack.

We had no other native speakers to socialise with, our promised contract hours had been reduced by the school (not because of us, just because the school could no longer guarantee the same amount of hours) and the reduced hours meant we weren't earning enough to save towards our travels (which is the whole reason we are teaching). If any one of those factors was drastically different, we might've been able to stick it out but we finally took the decision that we can't carry on here.

I hate the feeling that I'm "giving up" as I've long prided myself on seeing things through, all of which made the decision to quit even harder. But we made up our minds and decided that enough was enough - it isn't the career, it's just THIS job.

Wednesday 19th & Thursday 20th

We've decided that in quitting we are going to travel the whole of Vietnam (as we are in the south), so we're heading all the way north to Hanoi. In doing so we're hopeful we can find more places we like and would be more willing to take a job, and if we don't find anything we're gonna carry on travelling anyway. Travelling was the whole part of this journey and all that's happened now is that the time to go has arrived earlier than expected!

We spoke to family about our decision on skype and they reinforced that if we weren't happy then leaving to travel was the right thing to do, after all we didn't give up our lives I'm England to travel half way around the world and be unhappy.

These two days have been spent sorting out our resignation and beginning the process of planning where to go next - so a lot of time researching! We hate that things haven't worked out here but these first two weeks of our "adventure" have so far sapped away at our enthusiasm and energy so for the first time since we arrived we are taking back control of our lives (much the way I prefer it) and we're going to do things our way.

Next up: back to Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days before we head to the beach resort of Mui Ne for some much needed R&R.

So I'll catch you all after I've hit the road and soaked up some rays!

Our first classes teaching in My Tho

Thursday 13th March 2014

We were picked up at 5:30am to get onto a bus to Tan An and finally meet with our school. We arrived at 9am in the outskirts of Tan An, which was much quieter than what we'd seen so far. We were introduced to the school's director and straight away we were given a lesson topic and just 15 minutes to prepare an example 45 minute lesson to perform to other staff members - no pressure!

I feel it went well, and afterwards the feedback I was given was that I'll fit in well but I just need to talk slower so the students could understand (I'll put my fast speech down to nerves!). Claire had pretty much the same feedback.

After the class we were told that we would have a few days of teaching classes assisted to ease us in (thank god!), but we would have to go stay in My Tho to do it because a teacher there is sick. So our plans changed once again and we headed half an hours drive away to My Tho...

We got there and were shown to our accommodation: the teachers house directly behind the school (but down a nice quiet lane - quiet hasn't been part of the vocabulary so far!). The inside was a bit basic and lacking charm but had all the things you'd need - shower, bed, WiFi etc. Later on we were given our schedule  for whilst we were here: 1 class each on Friday evening and a full schedule on Saturday and Sunday of 4 classes each day with 1.5 hour lessons.

The teacher's house in My Tho 

After all that we just wanted to relax at home but the owner of our house insisted on inviting us out for dinner and wouldn't take no for an answer. We really wanted to say no but our sense of adventure told us to go with it so we agreed.

So our landlord and another man arrived at 8 to pick us up on their motorbikes, we both jumped on the back and were whisked away to a street food seller a few roads over (streetfood sellers also have little chairs and tables outside so they double as little restaurants). We sat down and soon after 6 others joined our table. Everyone was friendly but one person in particular was the best English speaker - his name was Hai.

After getting to know each other and tucking into some vegetarian pho, Hai explained why we were here. He had told these people there were 2 native English teachers in My Tho and no one believed him - it turns out that everyone here was actually learning English themselves and Hai was their leader, they were the seniors community! (They looked a bit older, but apart from one with grey hair I'd never had guessed they were all over 65!). They wanted to get to know us and practice speaking English with them, to which we were glad to.

In the group, many of them were actually war veterans - Claire and I instantly looked to change the subject as whatever side they were on, we would've been uncomfortable talking about the war - and one of them was even a high state chief of the area we were staying in (kind of like a mayor).

After eating (we knew they would insist on paying as it is custom here if someone invites you out) we headed for a drink (to be polite we just had lemonade rather than beer) and carried on conversation and practicing English. We continued the conversation and Hai said if we came back to My Tho he would love us to join the local tennis club and another invited us to come visit his large gardens for a free tour. Eventually Hai said to us "you must be tired" - at which point we took our cue to leave, our research before leaving home had told us when this phrase is used it's a polite way of requesting you to leave (and for everyone to do the same), our research on customs paying off!

The whole experience was so humbling, it was like I was watching some documentary with Michael Palin, except there were no cameras and this was real. This sort of thing can actually happen!

Friday 14th March 2014

We had all day off until our first lesson at 5:30pm, so we went for coffee at a cafe nearby which was really nice, with water features and fountains, and then before we headed to class we filled up on pho at a nearby street seller before heading to school. We hadn't been given any lesson plan and didn't know if we would be leading the class or not, so the lack of information only served to heighten our nerves.

We both sat in on a teacher's class - ages being roughly 10-13 - and he called us up at certain points to introduce ourselves, ask questions, drill pronunciation and correct pronunciation. The same teacher had two classes back to back so it was a 3 hour stint in one room.

We had both been incredibly nervous, but as we didn't have to do too much in this first class we came out happier to have gotten over the hurdle of the first class and we both had more confidence.

We headed across the road to a restaurant for celebratory beers and a large plate of Singapore noodles (only thing on the menu we knew to order here!).

Saturday 15th March 2014

Woke up early and ready for a long day, with our first lessons at 7:30am. At weekends the lessons here are mostly for much younger kids and we experienced that was the case throughout.
Most of my classes didn't go like they had the night before, in fact I lead nearly all of them. As before, I was given no preparation as to what to teach, so I just frantically whispered with the teachers when they arrived to ask what to cover before they all nonchalantly sat at the back and watched.

Most of my classes followed the same pattern: introduce myself, get them to ask me questions to learn about me, then use those topics to ask the same questions to them, practice the words I elicited, drill the words chorally and individually, correct students and then cover a small bit of a textbook before spending the last 20 minutes playing a game (my 'go to' being hangman, which they love).

We had a couple of hours off for lunch which whizzed by, before more classes until 5:15. Afterwards we headed back over the road and wanted to eat something other than Singapore noodles but due to lack of knowledge of Vietnamese we caved and had them again (they are lovely though!).

Sunday 16th March 2014

Up early again for classes at 7:30am, we break for 5 hours at 11am, and we eat pho at a street seller, get coffee and then doze at home before another shift until 7pm.

Classes were almost an exact replica of yesterday's with some of the same subjects being taught too, which isn't motivating but did allow us to start to hone our techniques. Once again we go for beer and Singapore noodles before returning home to Skype family.

Tomorrow we are finally supposed to head to Tan An and at the time of writing our 8am pick up is now delayed by over 6 hours... Lovely.

At this point we haven't been enamoured with our surroundings, and we are clearly the only Westerners here which does mean a lot of eyes on us when we walk around, but generally people are friendly and say hello.

The only real sight we've seen in My Tho - lovely Buddhist temple near our house.

We hope when we get to Tan An we can settle into life there and into life with our classes because so far the truth is we haven't fallen in love here with the locations. There are some good points such as the food and coffee and nice people, but other things are lacking. We came on this adventure perhaps too focused on the travelling and beaches, which does make being somewhere not of our specific choosing harder, so much so that Claire and I are already looking to when we next get a couple of days off and where we can go!

Goodbye England - hello adventure!

This last week has been one of mixed emotions: from the excitement of leaving work, the stress of getting the last items sold before we leave and then the constant stream of leaving parties where I said goodbye to colleagues, friends and family.

There have predictably been lots of beers, tears, cake and hugs. Above all else though, there's been nothing but goodwill to me and Claire as we prepare to head out on our adventure on Wednesday and that's really helped me make it through what I thought would be really hard goodbyes.

One of my best friends said that "you have nothing to worry about, because we'll all be here waiting for you when you get back, waiting to hear all your stories." and he is spot on. This is was one the best things I could've heard because for years I had been thinking about this adventure, but I was worried about leaving my family and career behind and I was worried about missing out on everyone's lives. However I had no idea back then that everyone would be so supportive about it and that nearly every comment I would hear from friends and family would involve 'if you've got the opportunity, you should go do it' in some form or another.

Although I don't think I could've done all of this any sooner, nor would I have, I do wish I could've known beforehand how positive people would be about it. No matter though, as although I'm not that religious or spiritual I do have a belief that most things happen for a reason and therefore the timing of everything up until now is just right. Plus with the fantastic modern invention of Skype, I'll be able to easily stay in contact with everyone back home, so there really is no reason not to go! In fact, if you're reading this and you've ever had the same thoughts holding you back, then please take heed of this and feel free to discuss it with your loved ones, as you have no idea how supportive they can be.

What's next for us? Well... we fly on Wednesday from London Gatwick to Vietnam, land in Ho Chi Minh on Thursday morning to spend 4 days on a mini holiday before meeting with the British Consulate to sort out our documents for our work permit. Once we've finished that task, we get picked up and taken to our location where we'll be living for the next year - Tan An (which is roughly an hour south of Ho Chi Minh in the Mekong Delta). Once there, we'll just need to wait for our employer to finish up our work permit and then before we know it'll be time to teach our very first class as English (TEFL) teachers!

So to all of my family and friends, I thank you for your amazing support but I choose not to say goodbye, I choose to say arrivederci - which is Italian for "until we see each other again". Because this isn't goodbye forever, it's simply goodbye for now. My next update will be the first one on our travels, from the other side of the world! But for now, I'm outta here man!

Our long awaited adventure starts now.

What's made it into the backpack?

So here we are, less than a week to go, we're 'mobilised' and it's time to bring together all of the items that have made the cut that will actually go into our backpacks for our travels.

There are a few items that have a big significance to me so I'll take you through why they're so important as well as giving you a run down of what else I'm bringing that I think will be vitally important on our travels.

Running shoes

My trusty Nike Lunarglide+5 running shoes - the comfiest I've ever had and these babies have already seen some fair mileage, but they have a lot more to do yet!

To me these are a must to take on my travels. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I absolutely love to run. Back home I run as part of a running club (I'll miss you Westbourne RC!), plus I run for pure enjoyment as it makes me feel better instantly no matter what mood I'm in. Running gives me the remarkable capacity to both help me think about things going through my head and to also help me drift away from the things that are on my mind. So to imagine my life in a whole new environment as well as a new career without the escape that running gives me is almost an impossibility.

Above all else I think I'm going to absolutely love running around new places, using it as a way to explore. Even this week as I've moved to my mother-in-law's in Creekmoor, Poole - an area I do have a good bearing of but not 100% - I went for a long run to get re-acquainted and explore local routes I didn't know existed, and I loved constantly changing my route to go where I want and using my own sense of navigation to make sure I remembered my route home. Fair to say I won't always have the best self-navigation on my travels, but as long as these hold up I'll get home in one piece!

Tablet

The Hudl tablet from Tesco - rave reviews already and you can add me to the list!

For all my wanting to live a technology-free life, these days it just isn't possible (plus how would I blog?!), so an important decision was made to try and find one device that could meet both mine and Claire's needs on the road - and taking a bulky laptop wasn't going to work. So we decided we'd 'get with the times' and get ourselves a tablet, but being on a budget meant we couldn't go for an iPad. After much research and deliberation we settled on the Hudl from Tesco as it was supposed to be the best low budget tablet out there at the moment and I'm already hard to part from it! It's slim, light, works really fast, and above all else it's able to contain all of the apps we're going to need on our travels such as Skype, Facebook, Kindle, email and of course - Football manager!

iPod

As we decided to go for the android based system of the Hudl tablet, we knew that we wouldn't be able to sync our music we already had on iTunes, so making sure we had good iPods that were fully loaded with all the music we're going to be able to put on it for the next 2 years of so was massively important.
Both of us have spent ages collaborating playlists, buying more music, asking friends for music and then re-collaborating our playlists again so that we have playlists that we can simply have on us for a couple of years and not get bored of!

I've had a big help in getting music from one of my best friends Adam (who is in the amazing band called 'Lost in the riots'), and he has taken time to create personal playlists he thinks I'll like so I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks bud for all your help!

Clothing:

• New teaching attire (chinos, khakis, shirts, tie etc)
• Running gear
• swimshorts
• x1 hoodie
• x1 waterproof jacket (emblazoned with the mighty Southampton FC - representing of course!)
• x1 Saints shirt

Other than these, I won't be taking hardly any other clothing other than the bare essentials and t-shirts. I've been told that clothes are dirt cheap out in South East Asia and that I should travel light and just buy more out there - a plan I'm sticking to! The Top Gear Vietnam special where they bought tailored suits for about £60 also gives me encouragement that this will be easy to do and if they can find enough clothing to cover Clarkson, they'll have enough for me! Although, I've also heard that there are issues with getting the right sizes out there as a man as I might just find that I'm either too tall or broad for their standard sizes (me? broad? I know, I laughed too).

Shoes:

• Multi-terrain trainers (for all occasions!)
• Espadrills (for lounging)
• Wetshoes (for swimming without fear of something biting my feet) 
• shoes (for teaching)
• Fliflops (for.... flipflopping)

Gadgets:

• Bridge camera
• Mobile phones
• Rechargeable battery station + batteries
• Pacsafe (to tie up our backpack and keep it safe from thieves)
• Underwater camera
• iPod speaker

And the pick of the rest:

• All items required for my eyes - prescription sunglasses, contact lenses, ray-bans etc..
• Malaria tablets
• Emergency medical pack + medicines
• Diary + fancy pen (for writing in style)
• Essential documents (certificates, visas, passports and so on.... probably THE most important bunch of items!)

Of course there's more, as well as things I could've bought but have decided to wait and buy out there, all because at the moment I have to try and somehow fit everything I already have into the backpack as it is!

So if you're at the airport next week and you think you see a giant Turtle collapsed on it's back unable to get up, it'll probably be me weighed down by my bag - give me a hand up if you pass by eh?

Fighting the fears

One of the things people who are looking to go travelling will likely encounter at some stage or another are negative stories about the places they're about to visit from either friends or the media - no matter where in the world they're headed. As well as this, I've been facing a weekly cycle recently that probably ranges on the bi-polar: Sunday night/Monday morning I'm scared out of my wit and keep saying to myself 'do I really know what I'm getting myself and Claire into?', then come Thursday/Friday all I want to do the second I've finished work is pack my bags and jump on a plane and never look back!

Last night (a Sunday) I was full of excitement after the initial high of seeing the scenery of Vietnam in the program "coffee trail with Simon reeve" on BBC2, it looked beyond beautiful. However after a while, the program descended into a different view of Vietnam that certainly attempted to take some of the shine off my excitement of going. 

It doesn't take much at the moment to activate my apprehension as I'm under no illusions about the size of the life change we're going through and how much of the unknown we are heading into, but it made me think is this just typical scaremongering?

Don't get me wrong, I'm aware of the potential threats about living abroad in any country. But It's not like I'm walking into a hostile region, so as long as I keep myself to myself like I normally would then surely I'll be just as safe as I am back home right? I don't want to sound naive as I know Vietnam is still an emerging country in the shadow of a still relatively recent war, but I've heard way too many good things to put me off. 

Claire rightly pointed out to me that you could make any country look bad through the power of one TV program and it made me think that if you showed a foreigner looking to move to the UK a show on London's gun crime and Brits fighting in the street when drunk problem then they'd probably be scare-mongered too!

So there it is, I can't help that my fear will attack me again and again before my departure, but I know that is a natural process, especially as moving to any new country and culture is one of the scariest things you can ever do. I also remember that any place can be made to look bad, you just need to know where to avoid and like any country in the world - just stay out of trouble (after all, I wouldn't set foot in Boscombe, Bournemouth - so I just need to remember that ANYWHERE in the world could have a Boscombe!)

So be aware of the dangers, but not paralysed by fear because of them, remember all the good things you've heard and remember that if you've heard a lot more good things than bad things then it must be good - after all, bad news always spreads faster and further so the less you hear the better it is. Plus, what's the fun unless there's a little risk?

And above all else, I just need to keep calm and MAN UP!

The things I'll miss the most

As the time for us to go and begin our adventure draws ever closer, I've begun to look at everything around me in my life through rose tinted glasses. I'm already using the phrase "this'll be the last time I do this for quite a while!" And naturally it's made me think about the things in my life I'm going to miss the most while we're off on our adventure, so here's what I'll miss the most:

My family and friends

This almost goes without saying, I'm really going to miss them all, my friends who I see often and play football with each week and my family. Without their support I wouldn't have the courage to chase my dreams like we are. Having seen more of them recently thanks to Christmas, the pangs on the heartstrings were stronger than ever but they'll all be here for us when we get back. Above all else I feel terrible that I'll miss seeing my two young niece's who have only just begun to know me - but hey, hopefully I'll be the cool uncle to them and I can show off my tan when I come home!

Watching my beloved Southampton F.C

Although I don't go to see them as much as I want to, I'm really going to miss going to see live matches at my church: St. Marys. There's many reasons, most importantly of which is that I always go with my grandad and watching Southampton together has always been our special bond. Other than that I'll miss the boozy away days with my mates, plus Southampton have actually started to come good again and I'm really worried that the best period in their history will coincide with my absence! That said, you can rest assured I'll either find a bar and watch games at ridiculous hours of the night or I'll find an internet feed and get my fix of the saints by hook or by crook.

My PlayStation

Claire won't like this inclusion, but I can't deny it. I've always been a gamer, I think I always will be, in fact I'll probably be gaming with my great grandkids until mfriends

 can't hold the controller as they're crippled from arthritis. I'll be taking my tablet with me which will be loaded up with games, but nothing beats the experience of a console with superior graphics and gameplay so for this reason I know there'll be times I'll miss my PlayStation.

Cider

You might expect me to put a cup of tea wouldn't you? Well I think there's more chance of me finding a half decent cuppa in south east Asia than there is of finding a pint of cider. Sounds silly, but I know there'll be a lot of hot days and although I'm sure to have supply of cocktails not far away, I'll miss that ever so British, ever so refreshing taste of a cold pint of cider on a hot summers day.

So these are the things I think I'll miss the most, I'll come back to this post on my return and it'll be interesting to see what I really did miss. Anyway, I'm not going forever so I'll experience them all again before I know it, but in the meantime I'm going to surround myself with the above as much as I can while I can!

The 3 biggest influences that made me want to travel the world

As I've broken the news of my impending adventures, I've told some people that its something I've always wanted to do. A couple of people were surprised to hear this as they hadn't heard me mention it before which didn't surprise myself as I haven't revealed it to many before, but I'll let you in on what's influenced this secret, burning desire over the years.

I took some time recently to have a real think about what's been behind this desire to get out and see the world and there's a few things:

One is the fact that growing up, I didn't holiday much so when I did for myself at 20 (during a legendary 2 week lads holiday in Ibiza) it ignited my passion to see more beyond the grey skies of Britain.

But when I thought about it there's been an influence all throughout my life that fueled the desire more than I realised; someone who's set the example by seeing the world. He's an adventurer who can't sit still for a nano-second and someone who's been everywhere, in fact you'd struggle to think of somewhere on any wannabe travelers wishlist that he hasn't been to: be it rolling hills, snowy peaks, deserts, bustling cities, beautiful beaches, tropical jungles and even... a space station?

Sounds a bit odd doesn't it? But the truth is my biggest influence is fictitious, he's not human, he's not even 4 foot tall and..... he's blue.

Anyone who knows me won't be surprised to know that since I was a kid I've actually had a borderline obsession with Sonic the Hedgehog, but as a travelers role model he's actually spot on as he never sits still for a moment, he gets his fair share of excercise and he lives for adventure.

Him aside there's plenty of other things that I realise have influenced me, namely some of my favourite films that tend to center around an exotic location and a hero. James Bond taught me that life is about jetting off to adventures in search of a woman, fine food, fine booze and all of the other finer things in life (sure he often had a mission, but that's not what I paid attention to!), whilst the great Dr Henry Jones Jr (but don't call him Junior) also lead they way for me by instigating an interest in foreign culture and history.

No, these aren't perhaps the most spiritual of guides that could set me on my path, but they were my childhood heroes (who am I kidding, they still are) and they're as good a set of role models as any.

So what are we all waiting for? Pack your running shoes, your Walter PPK and your whip and let's go on an adventure!

Let me introduce myself

Husband, runner, traveller, teacher, football nut - I'm all these things, but I'm also someone who usually likes to figure things out for myself.

I'm currently 27 years old, I've been married 7 months and in just 9 weeks I'm about to embark on the biggest adventure of my life: in March my wife and I are both jetting off to Vietnam to teach English as a foreign language.

In the run-up to our wedding we both took stock of our lives and looked beyond the wedding. We both currently work in marketing and although we're only in our mid twenties, we both felt the need to undergo a change. Neither of us ever had the opportunity to go on a gap year and when we realised that we weren't getting what we wanted out of our careers we decided that as newlyweds we'd never have a better time in our lives to make a fresh start and do what we really want to do.

We thought about just travelling but we soon realised that wouldn't be enough, we wanted to enjoy our jobs, we wanted to earn money and we wanted to extend our travels all in one go - and as we found out more about TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), we learned that there was a way to live out all of our dreams.

I want to see the world, I want to learn new things, I want to learn about myself, I want to really know what I should do with the rest of my life and I want to experience things I could never experience at home. Above all else, I want to one day be a person that I'd look up to myself (especially as I one day want kids and I am determined that they have an example in awesomeness father them).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who's riddled with problems that I need to solve and I certainly don't hate the person I am now, I just know I can be more. In fact, if I was to come back sporting the Hansel from Zoolander look and persona then that wouldn't be a bad thing.

So what things do I need to figure out? Well there's a lot to get your head around in life and a big world out there to see, so read on and you'll see as I try to get my head round things as I head out on an epic journey to see the world alongside my wife.

Who knows? Maybe we'll all learn something along the way....