There’s always a reason to not take a trip- always something keeping us at home. Maybe you get a dog, find a partner or get married. Hell, maybe even you get a job and have kids and go all in. Sometimes you have to take that step to reclaim your younger self, get out the comfort zone and chase the journey.
When you’re young (as I see at Db with the young crew) we have there are only reasons *to* travel. New people to meet, places to see, food to experience, nights to party away and everything is only an Air BnB and a flight away. I love to see the crew taking vacations together, going on festival missions and running marathons. It’s pretty special. In January this year, this slightly older (and more weighed down) writer was met with a choice. My wife had just decided to embark on the trip of a lifetime to South Africa with her twin sister and told me I too should go somewhere. Fortunately, around about the same time, a good friend who had a big birthday coming up told me that he was going to the Maldives to celebrate and that I should go.
My last trip to the Maldives was 12 years ago, and although there has been an invite to return almost every year, I have always come up with an excuse;
“It seems like a lot of money”
“Yeah, but our kids are young”
“I have a lot of work on”
“I’m not good enough at surfing yet”
“next year sounds great.....”
Spoiler – there was never a ‘next year’. This time, when he asked and my wife had this proposition, I threw caution to the wind and told him I was in.
Maybe it’s a British thing, but saying yes to nice things isn’t something we are supposed to do. I always look fondly at Americans who just go for it. But here we go, I had said yes, paid a healthy deposit so all I had to do for the next 6 months was fire up the WhatsApp group chats and keep my body in half decent shape and prep for the trip of a lifetime.
The months of waiting became weeks, which became days, and before you knew I was packing up my Surf Coffin and loading in boards with a good friend of mine, Bram. Next minute we were in Dubai at 4am realizing we had nearly missed our connecting flight and had to sprint to the gate. A sweaty exhaustion.
Once we landed in the Maldives, we did a quick board checkup (all arrived safely) and were whisked onto our support boat - ‘The Dhony’. This took us to our main vessel which would be our home for the next 10 days courtesy of Renegade. The boat was amazing, with big rooms, great facilities and yes, unbelievable food. The only thing to do was wake up, surf, have breakfast, surf, have lunch, rest the body, sunset surf and then more dinner. For an avid surfer the idea of having zero responsibility or choices besides focusing on how to do a better bottom turn is one of the most freeing things ever. It almost transports you back to being 18 and a full surf grom. On the boat we also had surf coaching which was something I hadn’t experienced before but was great (once you get over the initial embarrassment of watching yourself surf) and really helped you improve.
The food, the coaching, the surfing, the boat... they were all highlights. However, the thing that stuck out to me and the reason I love to travel was, of course, the people. On our boat we had an amazing crew from Sri Lanka who cooked amazing food whilst watching the cricket from back home and loved fishing off the back of the boat. In terms of other guests, we had a couple of real standouts.
To me the highlight was Mike, a 67 year old guy from the US and absolutely ripping. He is now retired and figured out a way to surf in warm water a good few months of the year. He has a beautiful style – resembling Tom Curren with his hands behind his back on his bottom turn. He traveled on his own and left with new friends for life (yes, we all shed a few tears on the way home).
Seeing how he hung out with people a third of his age, with people from around the world and how he looked after his body (and also found agreement with his wife to take these trips on his own was a huge highlight). He was very focused on the need for warm water, the need for travel and meeting new people and experiencing new things. I found his approach really inspiring. By now he has kids, grandchildren, dogs, a house and a wife all of which likely need him. However, Mike also needs this time for himself through the year. This was such a good thing to see.
Ultimate lesson? Be like Mike. For all the reasons to not leave home, there are a lot more reasons to go out into the world and now I am counting the years and eventually months until I can take my own kids on such a trip. I guess until then it's me and Bram for the next few years 😊.
So yes, plan that trip, book that vacation, go meet someone new, go explore a new part of the world. And of course remember to send your mum a postcard. To find out more about Renegade, click here.
To learn more about our double award-winning board bags, click here.
