Jonno

Living ordinary days in an extraordinary life

Ordinary Days in an Extraordinary Life

As our blog name suggests we love to walk and we spend many hours wandering together and chatting about anything and everything. A lot of our discussions revolve around places we’ve been, people that we have met, and the little adventures that we have experienced over the past three to four years. Quite often we drift into ‘deep and meaningful’ territory and chat about our lives and how we feel about them.

During one of these ‘deep and meaningful’ conversations Jo hit me with a fabulous expression that I just have not been able to shake and wanted to share. We were discussing how different and abnormal our nomadic life was when compared to the regular routine-like existence that we previously had and many people enjoy. As usual I need to stress that we’re not preaching that our life is better in any way, it’s just different.

However, although our lives are completely different we still have to do the same jobs and tasks that everyone else has to do. We may be living in different houses from week to week but we still need to shop, wash clothes, clean etc and we watch TV and go online in the same way that everyone else does.

So our lives contain so many ‘normal’ tasks and events yet they aren’t exactly ‘normal’ themselves. This where Jo hit the proverbial nail on the head when she described how we are;

Living ordinary days in an extraordinary life

I think it’s a perfect description. Our lives may be a complicated schedule of train journeys, housesits, helpx stays, flights, hotel bookings, visits to friends and family, and so much more but most of our days are fairly organised.

Each housesitting stay we have tends to be for a minimum of 10 days so whilst we are there, be it Devon or Ireland, we settle into a local routine much like anybody else. It’s just that our routines change completely every time we move on. The same with Helpx stays. Our working days and time off always falls into a local routine.

A good example, although a touch weird, would be that we have slept in close to 200 different beds since our little adventure started, that’s the extraordinary bit. A crazy amount in all sorts of far-flung places but we always have our two soft-toy-buddies on those beds (Rocky and Charlie Brown) and generally have the same bedtime routines such as cleaning our teeth and washing. That’s the ordinary part of course.

“Bed number 26 in Launceston, Tasmania”
“Bed number 113 in Pitlochry, Scotland”
“Bed number 124 in Eye, Suffolk, England”

A lot of other travellers appear from their blogs to be forever jumping out of planes or feeding wild elephants but I’m fairly sure that these are just their highlights and that they also have normalish type days in between. I guess a lot of them are in their 20s as well so have a lot more energy. We have our highlights of course, which we absolutely love, but they don’t come along at hourly intervals.

So I just wanted to share this description with you and see what you thought. Just a short post but the phrase has really resonated with us. Perhaps we should get some t-shirts printed with it on? Personalised socks or mugs or even trendy baseball caps!

What else would work? Wanna order something special? Just let us know …………………..

19/02/2019

Living ordinary days in an extraordinary life

34 comments

  2. That’s a great way to express yourselves and your lifestyle. It’s true that we all still have those everyday tasks and events, but you’re doing them with joy in wonderful circumstances. I want to know who climbed the ladder to that top bunk every night. 🙂

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  3. It’s a great saying and sums up your life nicely. I think even the most bizarre life in the deepest jungle, still has it ‘ordinary’ aspects, those little things we all do just to retain a modicum of self respect, health and hygiene. I do have to say, I like the way you always end your posts with those pictures, this one looks just like a book cover – now there’s an idea!

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  5. I’d like to think we all live ordinary days in extraordinary lives, but I see exactly what you mean, and it’s a great description. T-shirts are probably the best option. I’m sure you’ll get lots of questions when you wear them.

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  6. That’s a great description Jonno and I have to say I see us in that description too, (although I won’t nik it honest!). We too live an unusual life and have very different places we stay in, although not as many beds! But as you say, we still have to do those ordinary everyday jobs just like everyone else 🙂

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  7. Your life has definitely turned into something extraordinary Jon. I mean when did you start having deep and meaningful conversations? You were normally too busy making lists and top 5s! Even though you are doing the ordinary stuff of live doing it somewhere different so often must make it a bit extraordinary. I’d like to see the ubiquitous fridge magnet and tea towel please!

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  9. There’s plenty to think about in that post JW’s. I do like the way we tow our bed behind us, as a legacy of my job I have a dodgy neck which only seems happy in home bed or away bed and never 5* bed. The chores though must be done in our life too. Once a week or thereabouts we need to be in a caravan park to do the washing. Cleaning though is oh so quick. Routine is important for our sanity and the little pleasures, like a cup of Earl Grey in the arvo. As much as we love breakfast outside on warm mornings, there are never enough warm mornings. Cool morning breakfasts have become a serious business, each to our favourite seat Woody reading or watching the news while I read blogs and curse the woes of the world. Outside our window the view could be anything from a highway gravel dump to a breathtaking sunrise over the ocean. What a life it is.

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    • Without your own routines life would be far too chaotic wouldn’t it? Those little things like stopping for tea and breakfast give the day its shape. Love the idea of different views from your windows every day though, that’s great.

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  10. Yes, no matter which lifestyle one chooses there will always be the ordinary mundane tasks. When we were full time Grey Nomads people often envied our lack of housework – little did they know……it doesn’t disappear! Nor would I want it to, it provides normality.

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      • We have both left corporate life behind now and are self employed so have more freedom. The plan is to have a couple of longer trips away each year abroad and then some shorter ones in the UK to fit around work commitments. At the same time we are also working on ways to keep some money coming in while we are travelling as well. Baby steps but we are getting there!

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  12. Jonno,
    Bob and I agree with just everything you have written. We listen as people tell us that they couldn’t live our peripatetic lifestyle. Much of it is routine but we love that the setting for that routine continues to change. We too travel more slowly than many, staying in one location for a month or so. I hesitate to even calculate how many beds we’ve slept in during the last 4 years since we’ve adopted this lifestyle. I definitely want one of your tee shirts! Wishing you continued safe travels and hoping that one day our paths may cross!

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