Ade's Quarter Life Crisis World Tour 2009/10

So...

where to begin?

Well, it should probably start back when I used to work for O'Neill (the surf co) and everything went tits up because the company who owned it gave up their rights to distribute the brand in UK. I still have a job but instead of working for the worlds top surf brand traveling ALL OVER the UK, and visiting places across Europe every now and then, It means I work for a company who sell tents...In Northampton!

Now, I'm not from Northampton and I'm not saying it's a particularly bad place but it certainly isn't a croyde bay or a padstow. The drive from home to the office consists of a 1 hour drive on the M6 and M1...passing lorries, getting stuck in traffic and watching the same old scenery go by day after day after day. It just doesn't compare to the B roads of Devon and Cornwall where I used to weave my way through the countryside to visit customers. Every drive was different. Sometimes I'd stop to take in the scenery and it was a right of passage to pull over the car when Zane Lowe would put on his sun setter anthem for the evening. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I get out of work to even hear Zane Lowe. 7 times out of 10...I don't!

I started asking myself 'do you like your job' and honestly? I do! I love it! I have been shown a lot of faith by my manager and I've learned more in the past 14 months than I have in the whole 10 years I've been in retail. I've been aiming for goals and targets and pushing myself constantly to move up the ladder. (Not that there is a ladder to climb by the way. I just created one in my head. It's great. I get promoted almost everyday). Yet here I am...giving it up for a bit of self indulgence! Or is it for some life experience? Who knows?

Admittedly, it was quite hard to get passionate about tents in the same way I'm passionate for surfing and snowboarding. I mean, surfing and snowbaording...just saying those words conjure up some great images and sceneries but at the other end of the spectrum 'tents'? With the weather in the UK being rain sodden for about errr...since I've been alive, I just think 'rain, wet, mud, miserable, cold, boring etc'. But sure as hell...I've now got a tent and all the trimmings to go with it for a good ol' camping trip! I'd say I'm a bit of a camping geek now and throw the tent in the back of the car quite frequently. I'm no Bear Grylls mind. I don't like eating all that stuff he likes to sink his teeth into. Elephant Dung. He must be mental. I enjoy my burgers and pastas and all that jazz. I even bought a massive grill which, to put it bluntly, is f*****g brilliant. I'd cook a cow on it if I could (note to self - try and cook a cow on the grill). So my previously non-existent passion for Tents and weekend camping trips has turned into a bit of an obbsession. If someone had said to me 'fancy camping it up this weekend?' 18 months ago, I would have thought it was their way of saying 'fancy coming to a gay bar to get blinding drunk'. Nowadays however, Camping is regular thing for me, my girlfriend and my mates. It can be quite exhilirating if you do it properly. Just make sure you take more than a roll mat, which is more than I can say for my first time. I spent the next day walking like my 92 year old grandad because roll mats are about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. I'm told that this is something to do with the type of mat I took. See, we sell roll mats where I work aswell so there are people who know about this type of stuff, but c'mon, getting passionate about roll mats is starting to take the biscuit.

So why am I doing it?

I haven't got a jeffing clue. It just sorta happened. I've spent years dreaming about it but I never got around to booking it but one day the opportunity came up then...in a moment of madness (this is the life crisis bit), I thought to myself 'aaah, sod it!' and I had a ticket for a round the world trip 60minutes later.

So I suppose that explains it...I'm having a quarter life crisis. It exactly the same as a mid life crisis but you're not supposed to have a mid-life crisis at the age of 27. So we'll call it a quarter life crisis. Good Job, beautiful girfriend, great mates and a good family. There's no reason to want to be upping sticks and 'doing one' but I some how managed to find one. I couldn't tell you what the reason is because I don't actually know. All I know is that there is a reason otherwise I wouldn't have said to the fella behind the counter at STA 'aaaah sod it!'.

So there you go...that's my story.

Welcome to Ade's quarter life crisis world tour :D

Now for some reason, this was possibly the single most nerve wracking thing I have ever encountered. Here I am in a great job that I love, my manager sticks by me and what do I give back in return? My Notice! How very considerate of me. Not only do I hand in my notice but I also plan to leave in the busiest month of the whole retail calendar...December. The anticipation of telling my manager that I was leaving conjured up all manner of thoughts. Would they tell me to go now? (leaving me hard up for money), Would they try and get me stay?, Would they refuse to accept my notice? All these questions went through my head like wildfire and I had many sleepless nights thinking about it and how I should approach the situation. Would my manager get angry? I didn't think he would but the guilt of letting him down would make it understandable. In the end however, the reality was this:

My boss was very understanding, very supportive and even helped me plan my remaining 3 months with the company so I could get my Visas sorted, my innoculations sorted, help me get a portfolio together for when I try to get work in Australia. Now that ladies and gentlemen...is a bloody good guy to have as a boss. He could have sent packing with my knuckles scrapping the floor but he didn't. Instead, he stood by me and my decision to leave and helped me make the most out of my remaining time with the company whilst I still could. What more could you ask for? This is proof of the pudding that I am crackers...OFFICIAL!!! Why do I want to leave and go travelling?!?! As I said in my previous entry 'I don't know'. There's a reasoning in why I'm doing this, 'I just don't know what it is yet'.

So this is it then. I'm off!!! My tickets booked and I have handed in my notice at work. All that is left to sort out is Visa's and Vaccines. In roller-coaster terms, this is the point where the seatbelts are checked. You're sat in the seat, the belt is fastened and any chance of turning back is quickly fading. It's the point where bouts of cold feet need to taken on like you approach a dog's bum nugget in your garden. You can either walk away and pretend it isn't there or you can grab a shovel and fling it in any direction and take on the stinking brown bum furniture like a man. Either way you keep it to yourself and you do it quickly.