It’s the 1st of January. Everyone’s head is banging and the dreary grey light of the new year doesn’t reach the crack in the curtains until too long after your first coffee. 

‘This year is the one’, you say, ‘next winter I’ll be out of here’.

Most Londoners have said it, haven’t we? The crawl through the freezing rain of January, the February drizzle, and the inevitable disappointment of early March’s ‘false spring’ is all made somehow easier by repeating to yourself – I won’t have to do this again next year. I’ll be somewhere warm, with my toes wriggling in soft white sand. You look smugly at the other sodden commuters on the 8:28 Northern Line service to Morden. Suckers.

And then summer rolls around. And where is there a summer like there is in London? Light until 10pm, drinks in the park, music echoing down the streets – the one time of year Londoners might actually break character and smile at each other. Bliss. How could I ever leave this?

It’s a cycle, and it’s a tough one to break. But we’re finally doing it.

Towards the end of last winter, we decided that we needed an actual break from the city. After first setting our sights on Europe, which we soon dropped upon realising the complexity of securing the appropriate visa, we decided to take a TEFL course and move to South East Asia to teach English as a second language.                                                                

After some exploration, we settled on Cambodia (more on this choice in a future post). Teaching abroad allows for easier visa access than other vocations, as well as a hopefully fulfilling and enjoyable career as a break for both of us from working in tech in the city.

It’s not been an easy ride out of town. Our flat was unfurnished when we moved in, so we’ve been spending all our free time in our remaining weeks in London on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace, flogging our furniture before our rapidly approaching check-out. We’ve told our story to countless strangers, which has been met with words of both excitement and warning.

We’ve also been blessed with the joy of seeing all our local friends before we leave, an experience that has made us appreciate the beautiful community we will look forward to returning to after our adventure, and the number of people we are lucky to say we will miss.

Now, with qualifications obtained, flight booked, and goodbyes said, we’re on our way. We’ll be travelling around Hong Kong, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam until the new year, when we plan to go job hunting. 

Emma and Chris