One of the hardest, yet best, decisions I’ve ever made (so far) lead to one of the greatest summers we’ve ever had in the UK.
I spontaneously quit my job.
I was working in a sweet shop in my hometown. What was once a job I loved, soon became a job that was crushing my soul. The same faces day in day out. It gave me itchy feet, made me want to see more than the same four walls.
The thing that made it even more unbearable though, was the boss’ mother. Her constant bullying and demeaning attitude to an employee – the only employee – who was available all day, all week, began to grind my gears but the straw that broke the camels back was when my holiday leave got cancelled so I could cover her holiday instead… the fourth one of the year and it was only August.
What came a few weeks later, to some, may seem selfish, but to me, it was freedom from a job that was plunging me into depression.
After another full day watching the shop and another night of tears, Dec finally convinced me to call my boss and quit. It was as simple as that, apparently.
My heart raced but eventually, I made the call and dealt with the fury that faced me. They couldn’t believe I was quitting when they had a holiday to go on… that same holiday that had caused my own to be cancelled… who would watch the shop? Do the orders? Lock up at the end of the day?
Those few moments of final stress were easier to work through than I’d imagined, and just like that a tonnes of stress was lifted off of my shoulders. It really was as easy as Dec had made it sound.
Grabbing hold of my new-found freedom, and Dec’s annual leave, we packed up the car to make the most of the time off I didn’t think I’d get; Within an hour of me quitting my job, we were on our way to Cornwall!! I had never been and had I continued with that job (and putting up with that god awful woman) I would never have been allowed the time off to go. So with nothing but a bag of clothes, we were off. Our first spontaneous adventure had begun.
360 miles later we finally reached Newquay, it was about 1 am the next morning but we weren’t phased. I was free and we were finally having the holiday we deserved, even if it wasn’t planned!
We drove around to find a place to park and try to get some sleep. As the rain poured down onto the roof of our little car I felt all my stress and worries leave me. We managed to get a last-minute hotel sorted for the rest of the week, but right at that moment, I could have stayed in the car forever… who knew that in a few more years, van life would be our way of living. Maybe this was the spark?
We were graced with amazing weather for the whole week which meant we managed to do a tonne of exploring around Newquay and it’s surrounding areas.
See our post‘A lost Gem’ for our hidden Cornwall discovery.
As the week drew to a close we decided to have one last road trip; to Land’s End. Without the need for a boat, it’s the furthest south we could go. Our little car was old, and feeling the strain we were putting it under, but we had faith that good old ‘woo’ would take us there – and hopefully, home again!!
Arriving at Lands End late into the night we struggled to find accommodation, with hostels and local ’24/7′ B+B’s not answering their phones we had little choice but to stay in our car, one more night in our old faithful wasn’t a big issue – it beat being stuck at work!
The Journey was somewhat symbolic for us, driving to the end of England to put an end to all our stress – it was beautiful. For a good view of the lighthouse and Sea, we parked the car in a lay-by. We talked until the early hours and laughed at our spontaneity, although we must have fallen asleep at some point because we were woken up by the sound of tumbling rain just as the sun was rising – unfortunately, we didn’t get to see a pretty sky that morning, thanks to the typical British weather, but we weren’t complaining. Our first adventure had been amazing, dare I say maybe even perfect.
Strolling along the very last British shoreline that morning brought into perspective how truly lucky we both were, to have each other, to have the freedom to go where we want (even if it did mean upsetting the odd bad boss or two…) and to have the ability to make those decisions. I don’t think any holiday will ever top the one where we dropped everything and just went, but what I do know is that was the least stressed I’d ever felt in my entire adult life, and even upon returning to my hometown worrying about work was back at the bottom of the pile – where it belongs!!
*This post was written in 2017 about a trip we took in 2014, little did I know that mid ’17 we would both quit our jobs and go on to travel for two years around Australia in a tiny van, then New Zealand… then Europe!! Be sure to check out those posts too!
What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve done? Did it have an impact on anyone particular? We’d love to hear your stories!! Head over to read more Travel Diaries here.
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