Grandparents who quit their jobs and sold their home to backpack around the world say they “can’t wait” to continue traveling after cancer brought their adventures to a temporary halt.
Tina Waddle, 58, and her husband, Kevin, 65, decided to resume their careers and follow their dreams after realizing they had “more years of their lives behind them than ahead of them.”
The couple sold their £218,000 three-bedroom home in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and most of their belongings, bought a camper van and embarked on a trip around the world.
Their adventures included hitchhiking along the Argentina-Chile border in Patagonia, climbing glaciers in Iceland and riding camels through the Sahara.
All was well until Kevin was diagnosed with anal cancer in March of this year, forcing the couple to take a break from their travels.
But once Kevin is better, they want to hit the road again, with Tina also planning trips to Armenia and Turkey soon.
Tina, a former NHS worker, and Kevin, a telecommunications worker, lived a ‘typical family life’ with their son Scott, 36, and daughter Steph, 31.
But in 2016, Kevin realized that something had to change when a friend quit his job to move to Paris. Unfortunately, he suffered a heart attack and passed away before he could complete the move.
“He wanted to do more, he wanted us to sell the house and make some money to buy a camper and just travel,” Tina explains.
“I was very insecure about it: I had never been in a camper before, let alone thought about travelling around in one.
“But there was always the thought: ‘if it all goes wrong, we can just start over’.”
In February 2017, the couple sold their home and most of their belongings before purchasing a £25,000 six-metre camper van.
“It felt like we were closing the doors on one life and opening the doors to another,” says Tina.
“It was such an amazing feeling.”
The couple initially traveled around Europe, visiting Spain, Italy and Croatia.
The van became their base, but was then left in storage or friends’ driveways as they went backpacking to more distant locations including Mexico, Vietnam and China.
They returned to the UK in February 2023 and decided to sell their camper, but that wasn’t the end of their adventure.
Instead, they travelled nine months of the year, returning to the UK during the year to visit family and friends and look after houses and pets in the summer.
The duo enjoyed their adventures until January, when they were in Morocco and Kevin had some worrying symptoms.
Initially the couple thought it could be piles, but after medication failed to help, the couple realised they had to return to the UK for a proper check-up.
In March, British doctors were told that Kevin had anal cancer.
He needs chemotherapy, which will start in July at St James’s Hospital in Leeds and will last five and a half weeks.
“Of course our first thought was, ‘Where are we going to live while he’s having chemotherapy?’” says Tina.
“We have no home, the tumor was growing every day – Kev needed a stable place to rest and recover.
“Luckily we know some fantastic, supportive people and have a house-sitting arrangement until September.
‘Some time afterwards – as soon as Kev feels fit and well – we will go backpacking again.’
Kevin adds: “Imagine how I would feel now if we hadn’t taken the leap to see more of the world ten years ago.
‘I would have worked all my life and looked forward to retirement, but then I was told you have cancer.
“What I’m saying is don’t put your life on hold thinking ‘I’ll do that later’ and, as the old cliché goes, ‘never put off until tomorrow what you can do today’, because tomorrow might come never.”
The pair share a sense of relief that they decided to take the plunge when they did, and are eager to get back on the road once Kevin has fully recovered.
“We can’t wait for him to ring the cancer bell,” says Tina.
“The cancer is treatable and curable, so as soon as he’s fit and ready to go, we’ll go backpacking again.”
Rise of the Silver Backpackers
When you think of a gap year, you might think of hedonistic full moon parties and students staying in hostels after college, but it seems like there’s a whole new group of wannabe travelers looking to explore the world.
New research has found that almost four in 10 over-60s are throwing caution to the wind and booking the trip of a lifetime.
Also known as the ‘grey gap year’ or the adult gap year, these golden year travelers choose to leave the golf course behind and spend their retirement touring the world.
While young people with financial problems are increasingly considering a gap year, more and more adventurers are looking for a gap year: 37% of the 60-plus generation hope for a longer trip.
When it comes to the reasons for the rise in Silver travellers, almost a fifth (19%) admit they feel much more of an urge to “seize the day” and travel than they did five years ago, while wishing they had travelled more at a younger age has also contributed to the desire to set sail later in life; 21% seriously regret not taking a gap year in their teens or early twenties.
Eamonn Ferrin, vice president of international affairs at Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), who commissioned the research, commented on the findings: “While globetrotting has long been associated with youth and carelessness, our research shows that there are more baby boomers than ever travel in advance.
“While travel during the golden gap year is becoming a trend, we have seen a surge of all generations prioritizing travel and traveling more often to far-flung destinations. No matter your age, travel knows no bounds.”
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Additional reporting SWNS.