Sat 5th April 2008 
Saying goodbye to London isn’t easy, as all of the friends who have left before me have sworn up and down while packing their bikini for a round the world adventure. No one ever believes that this can actually be a really sad time, but no matter how excited you are about an upcoming adventure, it’s never easy to say goodbye to the life & friends you loved, even when you know in both your head and heart that sometimes change is necessary.
For one, Bevan’s UK visa had expired and new immigration laws introduced earlier this year meant that he was no longer eligible to renew. Well, not without a hasty trip to the altar or a very expensive trip back to New Zealand to apply for a defacto visa. Both journeys involved a lot of money to do properly and neither really appealed on such a short time scale. But more importantly, we had one purple beast of a campervan sitting out front of the flat literally itching for a good tour around Europe. Think about it… what would you do?
So last week Bevan and I reluctantly said goodbye to the many friends and colleagues who opened our eyes to the other worlds outside the United States and New Zealand, and packed a 2 bedroom flat into our purple 1992 Leyland DAF campervan for a 6 month tour around Europe.
The last week in London was one of the most stressful and tiring weeks of my life as we dashed around the flat throwing our lives’ contents into piles according to their final destinations of van, USA, donation bins or ebay, then spent our final evenings in the pub with friends to drown our sorrows at leaving through multiple pints of lager.
For one, Bevan’s UK visa had expired and new immigration laws introduced earlier this year meant that he was no longer eligible to renew. Well, not without a hasty trip to the altar or a very expensive trip back to New Zealand to apply for a defacto visa. Both journeys involved a lot of money to do properly and neither really appealed on such a short time scale. But more importantly, we had one purple beast of a campervan sitting out front of the flat literally itching for a good tour around Europe. Think about it… what would you do?
So last week Bevan and I reluctantly said goodbye to the many friends and colleagues who opened our eyes to the other worlds outside the United States and New Zealand, and packed a 2 bedroom flat into our purple 1992 Leyland DAF campervan for a 6 month tour around Europe.
The last week in London was one of the most stressful and tiring weeks of my life as we dashed around the flat throwing our lives’ contents into piles according to their final destinations of van, USA, donation bins or ebay, then spent our final evenings in the pub with friends to drown our sorrows at leaving through multiple pints of lager. I was drunk for literally 3 weeks straight and running on empty but we made it, and our new address is:
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