Operation: Soaring Eagle

Operation: Soaring Eagle – 7 Highlights Of Our Montenegrin Adventure!

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In previous articles I’ve shared with you a little bit about my six month sabbatical so far, offered guidance on planning for adventure and dealing with Day One Jitters, but now I’d just like to share with you the highlights of our recent trip to Montenegro. I hope this proves useful and rousing for anyone considering Montenegro as a potential travel destination and also goes to show, in general, that once you get past all the tricky stuff with planning your travels and dealing with your nerves, great things can follow! So without any further ado, here are my seven highlights from my trip to Montenegro:

Continue reading “Operation: Soaring Eagle – 7 Highlights Of Our Montenegrin Adventure!”

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Operation: Soaring Eagle

Operation: Soaring Eagle – How To Deal With Day One Jitters

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Hello all! I would like to share with you, if I may, my experience of beginning my adventure in Montenegro and I hope that if you are thinking of having an adventure of your own, wherever in the world that may be, that it proves useful in helping you prepare and finding your feet once you’re out there!

Most travel blogs start with listing the highlights of a trip, or describing an idyllic scene of natural beauty and supreme tranquillity, but I’m going to start by describing a difficult portion of our trip. Me and Megan had a very smooth flight from Manchester to Tivat Airport, where we found the weather to be gloriously sunny without being overpoweringly hot. The host we were staying with picked us up promptly from the airport and took us to our nice, incredibly reasonably priced apartment and then we were able to amble around the Bay of Tivat enjoying the weather, the views and the food. The next day, we were picked up by the driver from Playworking‘s Adventure House and taken there, which we would be using as our base of operations for the rest of our in Montenegro. So far so good, right?

IMG_7703I’m sure you all can remember a time where, even though things are going great, something just knocks you off kilter and you end up heavily doubting yourself. For me, that happened the first time we went into our local town of Radovici to do some shopping and get the lay of the land. I found myself confused at where the local hiking routes were, unfamiliar with the products on offer at the market and feeling unable to get clarification or assistance due to the lack of English-speakers in the area and my extremely limited grasp of Montenegrin.

We just about cobbled together some food that would maybe last us a day or two but I wound up questioning myself: why was I paying for accommodation and food all the way out here when I was doing just fine back home? Why hadn’t I learnt more Montengrin or done more research about the area before arriving here? I was in such a state of doubt, I wasn’t appreciating where I was. However, by the next day, I had completely turned myself around and was getting stuck into adventures left, right and centre (which I’ll write about in a later Highlights of Montenegro piece).

For now, here are four things you can do to get over the jitters that are usually part and parcel of going on a big adventure somewhere new:

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Operation: Soaring Eagle

Operation: Soaring Eagle – Planning for Adventure!

In a previous post, I wrote about the importance of planning and budgeting to allow yourself to have the kind of travelling adventures that suit you without breaking the bank. I would like to share with you a few things that me and Megan have done with our recent trip to Montenegro prior to even setting foot on Montenegrin soil that allowed us to have a fantastic two and a half weeks out there with no need to sell any kidneys whatsoever! So without further ado, here’s four things you can do from home to save on your upcoming adventures:

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(Photograph from Porapak Apichodilok)

Continue reading “Operation: Soaring Eagle – Planning for Adventure!”

Operation: Soaring Eagle

Operation: Soaring Eagle – Or Why I’ve Given Up A Regular Paycheck For 6 Months

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(Photograph from Eberhard Grossgasteiger)

Hello everyone! Hope y’all are happy and healthy wherever you are!

So, this title… I’m interested in how people might react to it. Operation: Soaring Eagle is the name I’ve given to the 6 month sabbatical I am taking from my place of work, after which time I shall be returning to my position which has been kept safe during my absence. This time stretches from March to September of this year and during this time I don’t have to do a single bit of work whatsoever, but obviously as the work stops, the pay also stops. I’d imagine some of you wouldn’t be too fussed about not having a regular paycheck since maybe you already have a good savings tucked away or you live quite a free range lifestyle allowing you to comfortably pick up work here and there. But I’d also imagine some of you couldn’t fathom a world where you don’t have a regular source of income for a prolonged period of time.

Let me tell you a little about my situation.

Continue reading “Operation: Soaring Eagle – Or Why I’ve Given Up A Regular Paycheck For 6 Months”