We grow up surrounded by tales of exploration and adventure from history lessons about Livingstone and Alexander the Great to films about lost civilizations. As life goes on, these stories get put aside for more mundane things - mortgages, pensions, responsibility. Every now and then we'll hear a story about 'that kid at school' who's ended up climbing Everest or trekking across the Antarctic. Why is 'that kid' always somebody else? How come they get to do things like that? And, even if they do, how small a portion of their life was that - a couple of weeks, a month, a year at most? And what about the rest of the time - were they working nine to five in an office like the rest of us to pay for it? More than likely.
Life's so incredibly short. We'll live for less than 0.0000002% the time the earth's been around. A hundred years from now, will it matter if that e-mail got sent on time, if the electricity bill was paid, or if that Pouilly Fume was perfectly chilled for dinner? I'm guessing not. Not even for those celebrities under microscopic scrutiny at present. It's all a bit irrelevant. You get one life. Your life. What do you want to do with it?
Who's to stop you, really? Palaces, powerboats and Paganis aside, how expensive are the things that would really make your life the life that you want it to be?
Then why don't we live that life? I'd go with fear. It's not what's normal. It's not something we've got a real comprehension of. It's not what others can really help us with. So it's all a bit scary. It's easier to let the days pass by and daydream of it.
I'll take door number two, please. The one with deserts and minefields to cross, strange countries to see and amazing things to do. The one where I get to write books, tear across continents in sports cars, wake up half a world away from where I went to sleep. That's the life I want. And there aren't that many years to fit it into, so that's the life I'll get on with living.
This site will be my diary of that life. Anyone fancy an adventure?