Sunday 3 November 2019

1 Year Later

We've been back in the UK for a year and thought it was time to do one final blog post about life since MERTA before closing down this blog and starting the next adventure. 

Our feelings were mixed at the end of the trip. We were looking forward to seeing friends, family and our cat Mitzy, interested to see what had changed during the 6 months we had been away but also very sad that our adventure was coming to an end and that a way of life we were now used to, would be a distant memory within a couple of days.

Our friend Jay picked us up from the airport and it was nice to hear all the news on our way back home. We arrived at our house to find that our fabulous house sitters had left it in better condition than when we left.

Mitzy was unsure of us to start with but after a couple of hours, she was soon snuggling with us in bed demanding cuddles and strokes. It seemed like she had missed us as it took two weeks for the attention levels to drop back down to normal, she was even waking us up in the night with head bonks and purrs.

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It didn't take long to fall back into life pre-MERTA. We both went back to our jobs and it soon felt like we had never been away; it's amazing how little changes in 6 months!

Whilst we were on the trip, we were cramming so much into a day to get the most out of the time we had. Yet when we returned home, time just seems to disappear. We were back into the routine of getting up, going to work, coming home, having dinner and then going to be bed. Weeks turned into months and then before we knew it, a year had passed by.

A lot of people have asked us whether the trip has changed us. I don't think there has been any radical changes (although maybe those that know us have noticed something we haven't) but there are little things we now think about differently. For example, spending 6 months with each other day in day out has made us closer as a couple. We were close anyway but to get through all those months without a single argument or disagreement showed us just how much pressure stress from work puts on relationships. I now try to leave work at work and not bring it home (although this is not always successful) and if I am grumpy about work, I try not to snap at Lee about it.

We also realised just how poor our work/life balance was before the trip. We were both often working 12+ hours a day, leaving work late and logging back in during the evenings or over the weekends. Whilst its not possible to completely work to rule with our jobs, we are more aware of it now and try to keep those extra hours to a minimum. Lee has even dropped down to a 4-day week, allowing those pesky jobs to be completed on a Friday so that we have more free time at the weekends.

We loved our hire car so much that we decided to by a Fin in the UK! It was difficult to find a Ford Edge in the UK as they are not a very popular car but I managed to find a dealership in Wales who was selling an ex-demo. It is the same colour as Fin and surprisingly, the same size (despite the smaller roads!) but with a few more extras. Our new car is called Guy and he has been perfect for getting out over the weekends for country walks and camping trips. The only challenge has been trying to park him as the spaces in the UK are tiny compared to what we were used to in the US!

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Another question we are often asked is would be do it again. It's a simple answer.... Hell Yeah!

If we had the money, time off work and someone to look after Mitzy, we would be off again in an instant! We would both love to do MERTA again, maybe visiting those places we didn't get time to visit or spending longer in the places we loved. Although we both agreed that if we were to do the trip again, we either need to start earlier in the year or do the trip in reverse to avoid the cold wet weather in the North East.

I would really like to visit Canada, Alaska and Hawaii as we didn't have time to cover these areas during MERTA. We are also looking into doing a 3 week motor home tour of Japan in 2021 or 2022. More details of this will be in our new travel blog!

The most important thing we're left with after MERTA are all the memories we share. We talk about the trip everyday, remembering things we did, places we went, people we met and the amazing experience we had.

This blog was set up to capture our memories of the trip. It was a lot of hard work to maintain, especially when we had no wifi and no power and even more so once we had returned to the UK and were updating the entries retrospectively. But it was worth the effort. We regularly look back at the blog entries and videos, remembering those things we had forgotten and smiling at the amazing time we had.

The most important thing we have both learnt from this whole experience is get up and do it. We all have dreams and aspirations of things we would like to do but unless you make them happen, they will remain dreams forever and you'll never get around to seeing them happen. Sometimes life throws a big spanner in the works and without warning your situation or health takes a turn for the worse, and you'll forever regret not taking that chance when you had the opportunity.

If there is something you want to do, somewhere you want to go or something you want to change, only you can make it happen. So what's stopping you?!


4 comments:

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  2. Has it really been a year ... 🤭

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  3. Great last post Sam and Lee. Have loved every bit, feeling like I was on the trip with you some times!! Thanks for taking us round the US in so much detail and for reminding us with this post of carpe diem, seize the day before you miss your chance:)))

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