Whatever you do, don’t plan to travel with us.

There’s a running joke at our place at the moment — and like most good jokes, it’s only funny until you realise you’re the punchline.

Whatever you do, don’t plan to travel with us… or at the same time as us.

Every time we get close to heading off, something steps in. If it’s not COVID, it’s a bad back. If it’s not that, it’s car trouble — twice, just to make sure the lesson sticks. Then surgery. Then fuel shortages. And if all else fails, well… why not throw in a world war for good measure?

I know, I know — first world problems. There are far bigger issues in the world right now. But that doesn’t stop the frustration from creeping in when you’ve spent so long planning something, working toward it, and watching the start line keep shifting just out of reach.

We’re so close now we can almost taste it.

The plan — if you can still call it that — is to finally get out on the road in a couple of weeks. After all the delays, all the false starts, all the “maybe next month” conversations, it feels like this time it might actually happen.

And right on cue, as if the universe is staying true to form, fuel prices have just jumped by 40%.

As I write this, the government is meeting to decide whether fuel rationing might be needed. You couldn’t make it up if you tried.

Part of me just shakes my head and laughs. Not because it’s funny, but because at some point you either laugh or you go mad. It’s almost become expected — like there’s always going to be one more hurdle, one more reason to wait, one more excuse to stay put.

But at some point, you stop waiting for perfect.

Because perfect clearly isn’t coming.

Maybe fuel stays high. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe plans change again — they probably will. But the whole point of this next chapter was never about perfect conditions. It was about getting out there, seeing the country, and finally doing something we’ve talked about for years.

So this time, we’re holding our nerve.

If we make it out in a couple of weeks, even if fuel is through the roof and the plan isn’t quite what we imagined, it’ll still be a win. A big one.

Because after everything that’s been thrown at us, just getting on the road will feel like breaking the streak.

And honestly, that first night camped somewhere quiet, away from all the noise and delays and what-ifs…

That might just make it all worth it.

If you agree with what you read, great. If you don’t, that’s fine too. This isn’t advice and it’s not instruction — it’s just one person thinking out loud and sharing the result. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Just Wayne. Just saying.