A 40-YEAR-OLD man has insisted that quitting his job, moving his stuff into storage and going travelling to find himself is definitely not a sign that his life has quietly derailed.
Digital sales co-ordinator Julian, not his real name, claims his decision to cash in his entire life in favour of living out of a backpack in locations where nobody knows him shows his questing, independent spirit, not that he has nothing to lose.
He said: “I’m selling everything I own to fund the trip. Who needs a lifetime of accumulated possessions, anyway? Not me.
“This has nothing to do with my still being single, or failing to get promoted, or not being able to get a mortgage or any of that materialist stuff. I just think there’s more to life, you know?
“I’m going alone for spiritual reasons, and because it’s more free, and yeah, I suppose that means I can reinvent myself and my past and tell bronzed Aussie surfer girls I’m called Coyote, but that’s not the point or anything.
“It’ll be great. Wind in my hair – what’s left of it – sand between my toes and there’s no way a random desperate drunk Englishman on the verge of middle-age will get robbed or conned.
“Hostels are downright luxurious now and I’m so young at heart that all the 18-year-old backpackers will be delighted to hang out with me. They won’t judge like women here do. Also the locals will love me, not least in countries with a low GDP.”
“This isn’t running away, it’s reconnecting with who I really am. I just hope that’s not who I am now, only sweatier, poorer and wearing elephant-print trousers.”