Most of you reading this know who we are, but for the few who might happen to stumble across our blog out of the millions of internet pages available we thought we'd put together a little bio.
Prior to us setting out on our adventure Ben was working in a local accountancy practice, a job he'd been in for almost seven years since finishing his A-Levels. Melissa on the other hand has just graduated from The University of Reading with a 2:1 in Politics & International Relations. (Hence why some of the blog posts are well written, and some are not).
Ben is a massive football fan (supporter of Brighton & Hove Albion) and has played and managed locally since he was a little boy. Giving up football for travelling took a lot more of Ben's willpower than it did Melissa's! Keen to keep fit, the opportunity to travel presents itself several challenges to this, no gyms available to be put through his paces by Big Phil, but the idea of running up parts of Table Mountain are much more appealing than a jog at home!
Melissa is the organised one, putting Ben in his place and most probably wearing the trousers in the relationship (if you know Ben at all you'll know clearly he'll be wearing the shorts). Melissa is very much family orientated and brings a vast range of travelling experience with her on the trip. Her travelling knowledge stems largely from many family holidays and trips to India and Borneo, thankfully this means we have some idea how to cram everything we have for 10 months into just two rucksacks!
Why are we doing what we're doing?
In 2014 we both felt a calling of some sort to travel to Africa. For Ben it was a concreting of foundations that had been laid previously, with a heart for Africa since he was young which was heightened by a two week mission trip to Uganda in February 2014. For Melissa it was a trip to Zimbabwe in June 2014 that helped the bug catch on and the 'idea' soon developed from a prospect to eventuality a reality.
Plans became flight bookings, itineraries and once we had told both sets of parents there was no turning back, especially knowing we had their full support. We have prayed about what we're doing and trust it is the right timing for the both of us. Whether it turns out to be just a 'gap year' for us and then we return to the rat race of normal life we don't know, but we're both open to this also being a step in the direction of a longer term plan that God has for us. We`ve been together for four and a half years now(!) and in that time have become strong enough to put our trust in God that he will guide us both as we go. We`re excited for what lies ahead as we travel, trusting we`ll get to where we need to be.
We`d love to hear from you whilst on the road, either pop us an email springer380@hotmail.com ; message us on Facebook (via the tab) or use the comments box on the posts.
Thanks again for visiting,
M&B
x
