My biggest mistake was to settle down, get married and buy a house before I had travelled round the world.
Don't get me wrong, I love my wife and I am delighted with the home we have bought and the changes we have made to make it our own. Things have turned out great and I could say pretty clearly that I have a good life.
But my single friends, especially old college friends, have always been the travellers. One pair are presently in Australia, half-way through a world tour. They spent eight months touring Africa and said it was the most amazing experience of their lives. Another pair went touring for nearly two years before returning home to get married. They spent time in New Zealand and Nepal among other places.
Another bunch of pals went to South America for six months, and they did it all, from top to bottom. They came back with adventures, memories and photographs that make me green with jealousy.
It's the jealousy that's the problem. Every time I open a newspaper or magazine and read a travel article, I yearn to grab a rucksack, put on my hiking boots and go exploring.
But it's not that easy. I have responsibilities, bills to pay - and a family to think about. Recently some of our well-travelled friends came round to visit. They told us of their adventures and both my wife and me were moaning that we could not do the same.
There are still options, I guess. We could sell everything and go, then start all over again on our return. But that would be such a wrench - we feel we have worked for our home and we don't want to lose it. We could maybe rent our house while we go off for a bit. But again we would lose out on good jobs that we enjoy.
At the moment all we can think is that we might go when we are older, maybe even when we are retired. We won't be so young and agile, but at least we will hopefully have the time and the money. Whatever happens, I don't want to go to the grave feeling that I failed to fulfil this ambition.
Just remembering that I didn't do it all when I was a teenager or a student is enough to make me cringe, and swear I will do something about it eventually.
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L.Grebslar, e-mail: [email protected] Home page: http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/apple/481