The Three Tenets of Something

Oh boy, life is not set up nowadays for people to just move and who don't want to plan everything in advance. Hell, families are certainly not set up for it.

Everyone's a critic! That's not just true in music, theatre and politics, it's even true in your choice of tent, chrissakes! One would not expect family members who have not camped in maybe twenty years to have such strong opinions on the suitability of our temporary fabric shelters in a temperate country with lots of hostels, Bed and Breakfasts and hotels if anything goes badly wrong. Maybe the fact we've been planning this for a year or more escapes them, but our choice of rain wear or backpack have not caused this much stir. O.K. Sure, it's not normal, but it'll make a decent home.

There are some real issues with our plan though, and to be honest it's probably a good thing that the things we're worried about register less with others than the cut of our hammock. We're concerned about adequate mapping of the areas we're walking, my left ankle, our stamina, but greatest of all of course – we worry about money. As it says in the title of the website, we are aiming for cost-neutrality. We're not being complex here, we aim to start with £x in the bank, and return home with £x.

This will not be easy! It might not even be possible, but we've seen enough people successfully spending money like crazy on their travels that we wanted a new way, or more properly, a much older way. We want to see the world. We're happy to pay – we just don't want to pay by card. Travel should still be possible even in the more developed regions of the world for people who don't have silly money in the bank and offices to go back to.

Maybe it's just a romantic notion, but if it is, I for one want to test it beyond breaking just to make sure. We're setting a few standards at the start to judge the success of our journey, and if anyone is interested, it makes sense that this be made clear to them as well, in case some of our travels may seem a bit odd.

1.We come back with the amount of money we left with.
2.We see and do as much as we can for free and for little money.
3.We stay in countries long enough to get a real feeling for the place and the people by interacting as much as observing.

I'm not sure if we're trying to do this to prove anything, I'm a bit busy getting ready, but rest assured we'll come up with an awesome reason when we get back!

J-P