Grandparents who quit their jobs and sold their house to backpack round the world say they “can’t wait” to continue travelling after cancer brought their adventures to a temporary halt.
Tina Waddle, 58, and her husband, Kevin, 65, decided to pack in their careers and follow their dreams after realising they had “more years of their lives behind them than ahead”.
The couple sold their £218k three-bedroom house in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and most of their belongings, bought a motorhome, and embarked on a journey around the world.
Their adventures included hitchhiking along the Argentina-Chile border in Patagonia, scaling glaciers in Iceland, and riding camels across the Sahara desert.
All was well until Kevin was diagnosed with anal cancer in March this year, which has forced the couple to take a break from their travels.
But as soon as Kevin is well enough, they plan to get back out on the road again with Tina planning forthcoming trips to Armenia and Turkey.
Tina, a former NHS worker, and Kevin, a telecommunications worker, used to live a “typical family life” with their son, Scott, 36 and daughter, Steph, 31.
But in 2016, Kevin realised something needed to change when a friend quit his job to live in Paris, France, but sadly suffered a heart attack and died before he was able to complete the move.
“He wanted to do more, he wanted us to sell the house and make some money to buy a motorhome and just go travelling,” Tina explains.
“I was really unsure – I’d never stayed in a motorhome, let alone thought about travelling round in one.
“But there was always the thought that ‘if it all goes wrong, we can just start again’.”
In February 2017, the couple sold their house and most of their belongings before buying a £25k six-metre motorhome.
“It felt like we were closing the doors on one life and opening the doors to another,” Tina says.
“It was such a fantastic feeling.”
The couple initially headed around Europe, visiting Spain, Italy and Croatia.
The van became their base, but was then left in storage or on friends’ driveways while they began backpacking in locations further afield, including Mexico, Vietnam and China.
They returned to the UK in February 2023 and decided to sell their motorhome, but that wasn’t the end of their adventure.
Instead they spent nine months of the year travelling, returning to the UK throughout the year to visit family and friends to house and pet-sit over the summer.
The duo were enjoying their adventures until January, when they were in Morocco and Kevin had some worrying symptoms.
Initially the couple thought it could be piles, but after medication didn’t help, the pair realised they needed to return to the UK for a proper check-up.
In March, after tests by UK doctors, Kevin was told he had anal cancer.
He needs a course of chemotherapy which will begin in July at St James’s Hospital in Leeds and last for five-and-a-half weeks.
“Of course the immediate thought was ‘where are we going to live while he goes through chemo?’,” Tina says.
“We don’t have a house, the tumour was growing bigger by the day – Kev needed somewhere stable to rest and recuperate.
“Luckily, we know some really fantastic, supportive people and have house-sitting arrangements in place until September.
“Some time after that – as soon as Kev’s feeling fit and well – we’ll be off backpacking again.”
Kevin adds: “Just think how I would feel now if we hadn’t taken the plunge 10 years ago to see more of the world.
“I would have worked all my life looking forward to my retirement, only to be told ‘you have cancer’.
“My point is, do not put your life on hold thinking ‘I’ll do that later’ and, as the old cliches go, ‘never put off until tomorrow what you can do today’, because tomorrow may never come.”
The pair share a sense of relief that they decided to take the plunge when they did and they are eager to get back on the road once Kevin is fully recovered.
“We can’t wait for him to ring that cancer bell,” Tina says.
“The cancer is treatable and curable, so as soon as he is fit and ready to go, we’re off backpacking again.”
Rise of the silver backpackers
Gap years may make you think of hedonistic full moon parties and post-uni students slumming it in hostels, but it seems there’s a whole new tribe of wannabe travellers keen to tour the world.
New research has revealed almost four in 10 over 60s are throwing caution to the wind and booking the trip of a lifetime.
Dubbed the “grey gap year”, or, the grown-up gap year, these golden year travellers are opting to forgo the golf course to spend their retirement touring round the world.
While cash-strapped adolescents are starting to think twice about taking a gap year, silver adventurers are on the rise as 37% of generation 60 plus are hoping to find themselves on an extended trip away.
When it comes for reasons for the rise in silver travellers, almost a fifth (19%) admit they have much more of an urge to “seize the day” and travel than they did five years ago, while wishing they’d done more travelling at an earlier age has also contributed to the desire to set sail in later life with 21% seriously regretting not taking a gap year in their teens or early twenties.
Commenting on the findings Eamonn Ferrin, vice president of international business at Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), who commissioned the research, said: “While globetrotting has long been associated with the young and carefree, our research suggests more boomers are travelling than ever before.
“Whilst golden gap year travel is becoming a trend, we’ve seen a surge in all generations prioritising travel, taking more frequent trips to long-haul destinations. No matter your age, travel has no limit.”
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Additional reporting SWNS.