It seems that we’ve been writing a lot recently about how we’re preparing for our trip around Europe, lamenting about when it’s going to start, but not really focusing on why we’re doing it. It’s a question that we’ve been pondering on; especially when things haven’t been going according to plan.

You get to that stage in your late twenties where you’ve just got married, you’ve got a stable job and a bit of a financial cushion and you’re ready for the next logical step in life…leaving your job, buying a 23 year old motorhome with 10 previous owners and a bit of a damp problem and travelling around Europe in it for a year with no fixed destination. There we go – all explained!

Well, actually, no. I’m not sure that there was a single point where the idea came from to be honest. Kiri had a dream of going backpacking around Europe and Africa once she’d finished her degree and I bought into that, suggesting that it might be cheaper to do it in a motorhome. At this stage of inception, the trip was about adventure and the unknown. At this stage, excitement rating was 10 and anxiety rating was 0.

Soon after these discussions, we got engaged and thoughts turned towards the wedding day. All our creative energy was channelled towards KISTfest and we ditched the idea of departing from the wedding day in our motorhome. I was beginning to get into logistics mode and thought that this might be a little complicated to orchestrate alongside a wedding. We decided upon a “minimoon” after the wedding, with the trip being our belated honeymoon… and it would just be Europe, not Africa too. Excitement rating 9 and anxiety rating 2.

The first few months of married life were full of what the first few months of married life should be… designing a website together. Actually, that only formed a small part of our lives. We had decided to stay in London for another year after the wedding to get used to being married before we were confined to a small space together for another year. There was the question of a van though… and they were more expensive than we’d thought they might be. Was this trip really going to be a good way of spending our money? I procrastinated until the New Year with the choosing of one. Excitement rating 6 and anxiety rating 4.

With the support of a friend, we bought Bertha in March. We started praying about the trip (probably should have started praying earlier). I mean we have always said that we want to do what God wants us to do in life… did He want us to do this? Was this trip just going to be a bit of a jolly for us? Should this trip be a holiday, or something more? We started to get in contact with a variety of projects around Europe ranging from retreat centres to media organisations to a creative arts and prayer centre; we could use this trip as an opportunity to learn about how different cultures approach the concept of community. The aim would be to immerse ourselves within the different cultures, offering our skills and creativity where they can be used, but also taking time to listen and learn. Excitement rating 7 and anxiety rating 3.

As we left London in August, we shared our vision for the trip at our church in Kennington. After the service, someone who we had never met before came and shared something with Kiri that encouraged us that this trip is part of God’s plan for our future. This lady was just visiting church and she said that as she was praying for us, she felt strongly that God wanted to use us on this trip to change lives. That helped to reduce the anxiety. Well, anxiety about whether God wanted us to do this trip, but for me (I think it just encouraged Kiri) that put a little added pressure on the trip. Excitement rating 9 and anxiety rating 3.

So here we are now, almost 2 months after leaving London, but yet to leave the UK. There have been so many ups and downs in excitement and anxiety levels in the last few weeks that it would be impossible to document. There’s the fear of the unknown, the fear of stuff going wrong with Bertha, the fear that this is the wrong decision (yes, even though we’ve had the words of encouragement, I still have doubts), the fear of what will happen when we return. But to counter all of these fears, there’s the excitement of new experiences, of awesome people that we’ll meet in the travels, of the things that we’ll learn about ourselves and the world around us that will equip us for whatever God calls us to next. And actually, we shouldn’t be afraid, because we know that God is with us.

Why are we doing this trip? Because it’s right.