We are Wayne and Elizabeth Taylor (chuckle now at my name and get it over with 😛 ), 2 home grown Aussies who decided to retire whilst we are still young and healthy enough to see our dream of travelling the world full time in an expedition truck become a reality in 2018. What makes us tick?
Elizabeth
I was born in 1964 in Sydney, Australia and have lived there my entire life. From a young age I dreamt about travelling the world, inspired by a book I had as a child that told the story of a young girl who journeyed to various countries and marvelled at what she saw. The first place on my list was Disneyland and in my early 20s I finally made it! From that point on I travelled as much as I could, bearing in mind I was married to my first husband at 21, had a mortgage at 22 and our first daughter was born when I was 27. Still, we managed to visit a number of countries in Asia and spent 6 months travelling around Europe in a motorhome when I was 26. A few years go by and I married my second husband Wayne, who is now also addicted to travel and is setting off on this crazy journey with me! We have been fortunate enough to travel to some amazing places together and I don’t think there has ever been a time when either of us have said that we want to go home! Likewise I think you could drop us off anywhere in the world, so long as it wasn’t at war or something, and we would work it out, after all that is half the joy of travel. We have also been lucky enough to be able to take my daughters travelling with us and as adults now, they too have a desire to travel and experience this world.
I am the organiser of the team 😉 , the one who pays attention to the details and bargains for a better price on everything (sometimes to Wayne’s embarrassment I’m sure!). It is not surprising then that I am the one who does most of the communication with the team building our truck and working through the design, the inclusions and most importantly the cost!
I will be the Navigator, Finance Manager, Co-Driver, Co-Entertainment Director and Communications Specialist (translating as no one can ever understand Wayne, or embarrassing him with my excellent charades when needed) on this adventure. I will also be the one who is forever putting things back where they belong!
And to finish, some random facts about me:
- my favourite colour is blue
- my favourite vegetable is mushrooms
- I loved Maths and hated English at school
- I am a rev head …… hope no one from the police is reading this
- I wish I could sing!
- my favourite place is Africa, followed by China
- the most beautiful country I have ever visited is Norway
- I hate cooking and ironing!
- I am scared of dogs, birds and anything else that buzzes and flys
- my workmates call me The Queen (due to my name not my attitude!)
- I have 2 beautiful daughters that I am very proud of
- and lastly, despite not being girly at all, I can knit very well!
Wayne
I was born in 1967 in Sydney, Australia and have also lived there my entire life. I was not much of a traveller when I was younger, apart from the obligatory cruise when I was 20 and my first honeymoon in Hawaii. My passport was quite empty when I met Elizabeth, but that has changed! As Elizabeth mentioned we have been lucky enough to spend a few weeks a year in another country almost every year since we have been together. The thought of saying I am homesick and I want to go home has never entered my mind. Any hassles or issues whilst travelling just make the trip all the more adventurous. Okay maybe not when Elizabeth broke her back, but that is another story.
I will be the Driver, Chef, Co-Navigator, Co- Entertainment Director, Handyman and Mechanic (we are in trouble 😯 ) on this adventure.
- I don’t have a favourite colour or number
- my favourite vegetable is carrots, especially raw
- I just hated school
- I recently got my motorbike licence and love riding the bike
- I played soccer and surfed when I was younger
- I cannot clap in time to music, so singing and dancing was never going to happen!
- my favourite place visited so far is Africa
- I like to cook and hate ironing!
- I am a dog person, until we got 2 cats 11 years ago, which we will be leaving behind with Lauren
- I have 2 step daughters who I can honestly say it has been a pleasure to be part of their lives and upbringing