While on our midlifetrip, we’ve always wondered how it would impact the second part of our life. How life would be different ‘after’ from ‘before’. So now that we’re 5 (!) years later, it’s time to answer that question.

We are still very nostalgic about our trip. We still get emotional when thinking about what we’ve done. We keep and keep looking back at pictures, wondering if it was really me, there, with my bicycle in the Annapurna mountains or camping at the biggest salt flat of the world. We keep talking about the things we’ve experienced. We keep on trying to settle in with our former life. But not with a lot of success.

The trip affected us much more than we could have imagined:

• We don’t like cities anymore, but spend most of the time we can in nature. We moved out of the city and now live in between the trees. But even now we dream of a more quiet place to live.

• We both don’t manage to work full time at a desk, inside, behind a computer anymore. It feels too unnatural. It hurts body and mind more than cycling up a huge mountain.

• We miss being the true owner of our time. Time is still the most precious thing of all, money is not. And with aging, time becomes even more scarce, something to handle with care. They say time is money. But I’ve started to wonder: whose time, and whose money?

• We question the western rat race. Where everyone is too busy for a friendly smile, but meanwhile find plenty of time to discuss first world problems. And as someone recently wrote in a newspaper: even if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.
  
• We feel much better in a simpler lifestyle, with less stuff. We’re spending a lot less than before, creating more financial freedom than ever before.

• We realise more often how privileged we are being born here. That we’re actually very spoiled and easily take it for granted. Traveling across 12 countries with only one easy VISA application is the simplest proof of that. Seeing the latest election results make us scared of the general perception of that privilege.

• We became very alert to what we have named The Hong Kong Effect. Sorry to Hong Kong as it is a lovely place. But after months in rural Asia, our week in Hong Kong made it very clear how impactful your environment is for what you deem ‘normal’ or ‘important’. We felt it strongly in Hong Kong, and we feel it strongly here too.
  
  Unless you are a true rebel (which I’m not) it’s more common to do and think largely similar to the people in your close environment. E.g. what you do for a living (a fixed job and as-high-as-possible salary), how you spend your free time (hobbies, restaurants, holidays!), what to spend money on (hobbies, restaurants, holidays!), what to find important in life (hobbies, restaurants, holidays!) or what looks weird (people with completely other jobs, hobbies and no holidays!).
  
  It is said that you’re the average of the 5 people you spent most of your time with. So better be careful who you spend your time with. It has a huge impact on your life. It had a huge impact on our life back home. Trying to fit in again, as everybody does. Back to jobs, hobbies, restaurants and holidays. But it didn’t fit us well anymore. So we are, step by step, changing these jobs, hobbies, holidays etc and we are, step by step, changing our environment, to what fits us better. Not the other way round.

• We miss the joy of being in the unknown. We don’t prefer to plan, prepare and overthink, instead be a little more naïve and up for surprise. Taking decisions such as cycling in Nepal straight from the airport or over the Andes mountain range, was totally crazy in hindsight. But those decisions gave us the best memories of life. So we like to overthink less and allow more surprises now.

• And finally and maybe foremostly, we miss being together. We’re stuck in a life where we spend most of our time with people we don’t choose ourselves. Colleagues, customers, strangers. I miss spending time with Dave.

So in a few words what has changed from ‘before’:
The trip has profoundly changed us. We were city people when we left. Now we are drawn to an other kind of lifestyle, simpler, active, outdoor and together.

And since we had the naivety and courage a few years ago to start our midlifetrip, we have found again some naivety and courage for our next adventure. Direction: a simplified, active, outdoor life together. Follow us on Midlifetrip – the adventure continues. On July 1 we set off!