A Day in Nairobi, Kenya

Africa Series – Part 5

The Journey Begins! 

We started our month-long adventure in Nairobi, having completed the 2-leg flight from the UK, via Dubai.  

First impressions weren’t great as we stood in the immigration queue for 90 minutes. It was a warm, stuffy place and the queue was a battle! Other passengers didn’t seem to have the same ‘personal space’ values as we do!  

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Review of Ultimate East Africa

Africa Series – Part 4

As you probably know by now, we spent most of the summer in East Africa! We were away for a month, with the vast majority of our time being spent on the Ultimate East Africa trip by G Adventures.  

We wanted to provide a review of our trip in the hope that it helps others when choosing a similar escapade! 

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Africa Trip – What We Spent!

Africa Series – Part 3

We gave a rough estimate before we left that the trip would cost us in the region of £5,500 each. Was our estimate right?!

A lot of the costs were already known before we left. We had paid for the flights, the tour with G Adventures and some extra hotel nights at either end of the trip. The tour costs also included a lot of food and transport etc.

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We’re Home! Africa Snaps

Africa Series – Part 2

That’s it – we’re back! (Actually, we got back at the end of August but we’ve been kind of busy….) 

Over 6 months in the planning, our Africa trip was over in a heartbeat. We saw incredible wildlife, stunning scenery and got to meet some inspirational locals. It was truly a life-changing experience for both of us. We’re so happy we got to make those memories together.  

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A FIRE Trial Run

Africa Series – Part 1

The world is always open, waiting to be discovered

Dejan Stojanovic

For quite a while now we have been deciding what the next step in our lives looks like. After much discussion, including options such as working abroad, travel, starting a family etc (see Our Version of FIRE for more), we settled on the idea of a FIRE trial run!

OK we’re not actually retiring, or even leaving our jobs. Actual FIRE is still a distant dream. But we’re taking an extended break in summer 2019 to travel for a month!

But how does this fit with our frugal tendencies and our ambition to achieve FIRE? 

‘Be Present’

A concept which we have raised previously is to ‘be present’. What we mean by this is to enjoy the journey to FI as well as the retirement itself! It’s very easy when seeking financial independence to get bogged down in saving every last penny and forego experience until a later date. Delayed gratification is a core principle of FIRE after all! We have been trying to optimise our spending to increase our savings rate and this trip will have a huge impact on those numbers. But it’s important to strike a balance. It essentially boils down to this:  Continue reading “A FIRE Trial Run”