In our experience
Meet three globetrotters who have swapped home comforts for thrilling adventures in foreign climes
‘I WENT FROM AN EMPTY-NESTER TO A HAPPY-GO-LUCKY BACK PACKER’
Nine years ago, Janice Horton and her husband James, both now 63, gave up their home and jobs to see the world.
In 2013, James and I made the decision to sell all we owned and choose a life of adventure. I haven’t had a moment’s regret. I’ve gone from being a typical mid-50s empty-nester to an adventurer who’s travelled the world twice over.
We lived in a lovely home in Dumfries. I did the accounts for my husband’s small engineering company and dabbled in writing romantic novels. Our three sons were at university, and James and I started questioning our lives. We yearned to travel more. We’d always prioritised holidays over material things, and slowly, the idea of selling up to explore the world took shape.
It was exciting: we wanted to grab life with both hands while we still could. It took more than a year to sell the house, but with hindsight, that delay was invaluable. It allowed me to process the inevitable worries – how would I feel with no home base? Would I miss the boys and my mum too much? By the time the house sold, our sons had graduated and were living independently, and Mum was leading a happy life in Cheshire.
They were all 100% supportive, and we made staying in touch our number-one priority. We didn’t have a huge pot of money, but cashed in the house, cars, business and most possessions, and James had a small pension. Our idea was to travel frugally, living off the pension and dipping into the capital for big costs like long-haul flights.
Our first trip was a tour of the Caribbean islands. It was bliss, and since then we’ve headed wherever the fancy takes us. We’ve watched baby turtles hatch on beaches, swum with dolphins, seen orangutans in Borneo, climbed jungle waterfalls, remarried in Las Vegas and got matching tattoos in Malaysia.
There have been difficult moments. I was stung by a scorpion in Honduras and had root canal work in South Korea; we lost our backpacks in Mexico and feared kidnap in Central America. But we’ve never once doubted our decision.
Usually, we settle somewhere for a few months and live like locals, house-sitting, or volunteering on conservation projects. We’re happy-go-lucky, treating ourselves to a nice hotel now and then.
I’ve launched my travel website, The Backpacking Housewife, providing inspiration to other midlife adventurers, and I still write my romantic adventure novels. We miss the boys and my mum, but we’re constantly in touch, and they build holidays around wherever we are. We visit the UK, but have never felt the urge to return for good.
A life of adventure isn’t just for the super-
