How this couple turned a redundancy into an epic adventure

Alistair McGuinness was made redundant in his late forties and decided to go off on one great big adventure with his wife Fran

 WHAT does the average bloke do when he gets made redundant? He looks for another job. Not this guy ... he decided to do the opposite — go on an adventure of a lifetime that’s still continuing. 

 
Alistair McGuinness was made redundant in his late forties. As soon as he found out he called his wife, Francine, and within five minutes the pair decided that instead of focusing on the negatives, they’d look for the positives.

They decided that this hindrance was, in fact, their time to shine — their moment. And so they dropped everything they knew in the UK and headed to South America, then Africa and finally moved to Australia.
We talk to Alistair about how he and his wife have made their dream a reality.

Where are you living right now?
We live in the coastal town of Busselton, in South Western Australia.

When did you make an active decision to change your life?
We had often discussed backpacking around the world but the security of good jobs tied us down to exotic two-week holidays instead. Five minutes after the redundancy announcement I phoned my wife (Fran) and we both agreed that this was our moment!

How one couple travelled and lived in 35 cities in two years
So you got made redundant … but how did that turn into a trip of a lifetime?
That evening we opened a bottle of wine, grabbed the globe from the windowsill and by midnight we had a rough plan that would take us from South America, to Africa and finally a new life in Australia.

Alistair with his English class in the Amazon.

 

It sounds like a pretty big risk!
It was a big risk as my employer, General Motors, decided to expand their nearby truck factory and offered me a production improvement role. It was very tempting, but deep down I knew it was time to take the plunge and move on. We had also been looking to move the countryside and had just found a house that we liked, with a local pub, village green and duck pond all nearby. More importantly, we were also leaving behind family and close friends.

This couple spent four months travelling for free
How long have you been living on the road?
We spent about three months in South America, another three months in Africa and then three more exploring Australia to see where we wanted to live.

Their first night in the jungle.

 

What were your most interesting experiences?
After years of watching wildlife documentaries on TV, we were not prepared for the primal screams oscillating from the Amazonian rainforest on our first day and spent a restless night cowering under the mosquito nets.

 Within days I was teaching English lessons to the local community and each weekend we played football on the banks of the Rio Napo, which is a major tributary into the Amazon. There were also some scary times. Being charged by a rhino and running for safety in a Bolivian underground mine as dynamite exploded in a nearby chamber was something we will never forget.

There were many memorable times, including climbing Kilimanjaro and trekking along the Inca Trail. One of the most uplifting experiences was travelling by boat across Lake Titicaca, in Peru, to stay with a family on the remote island of Amantani.

Fran getting close and personal with a lioness.