How often do we say to ourselves “I’m gonna do that one day!”
If like me, you’ve been saying it but never actually did anything about it, then hopefully the following true story will change your life…as it did mine.
A number of years ago Allen, a friend of mine fell sick while working overseas. Allen was a tough bloke who’d never complain of being ill. He was always the last man standing. For him to make the decision to fly home to Perth, Australia to see a doctor meant he thought something was wrong…very wrong.
I had arranged to catch up with Allen after he’d seen the doctor, so when my phone rang and Allen’s name came up I was expecting him to organise a quiet drink at the pub. Instead it was his wife calling to say Allen was dead.
Allen was in his early 40’s, had been married for 10 years and had two awesome boys. Allen’s business was going well but draining a lot of his time. His family life was pretty good for someone who spent a lot of time working on the other side of the world. Any time at home was spent with the family. This was ok with Allen, however when we did meet, he would often tell me of the things he was going to do. He wanted to cross the Nullarbor with his boys to see the F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne, he wanted to take his wife to Thailand for a week, he wanted to “chill” on the beaches of the Bahamas. These were all things Allen was “gonna” do but never made time for.
A rare form of Myeloma (bone marrow cancer) stopped Allen from achieving his dreams. To say it affected me is an understatement. We were the same age, we’d been married for roughly the same time, we both had two kids and I had another on the way. What if that had happened to me?
It’s too easy to make excuses to put things off, to say to yourself “I’ll do that when…”. Life is too short to say (especially so in Allen’s case) you’ll do it later. As Richard Branson says “Screw it, just do it” and that’s exactly what I did. Without asking or even telling my wife, I booked a Himalayan Motorcycle Adventure.
I had been researching motorcycle adventures in the Himalayas for about a year with the intention of doing it “one day”. After that shocking phone call, I made the decision instantly to do the trip. I put a post on Facebook saying “I’m going on a 2 week motorcycle adventure through the Himalayas, everybody is welcome to join me”. By the end of the day, three people said they’d come with me, by the end of the week another five people were in and by the end of the month we had fifteen people from all around Australia booked to go to India and ride the highest motorable road in the world.
Those 15 people had the best experience of their lives and it inspired us to provide the opportunity to others who wanted to experience the same life changing experience that we had. Hence Himalayan Heroes went from being a one off adventure to what we believe is the best Himalayan Motorcycle adventure available.
Have you been stuck in the rat race and need to inject some adventure in your life? There is never a better time than right now to make a commitment to yourself to start filling your life with stories to tell. Book a tour now or get in touch!
