Adventure Logbook
Destination: the world
TIMEFRAME: foreseeable future
Start date: Mid 2025
plan: the road less travelled
TIMEFRAME: foreseeable future
Start date: Mid 2025
plan: the road less travelled
|
Our home went on the market this week. And I’ve spent the week fielding messages from friends and followers on the social platforms I shared the listing to. It’s been intense (and exciting!). But I guess that’s what happens when you’ve chosen to share your home and garden with the internet for the last five plus years.
I’ve been consciously manifesting and sending out energy into the universe for the perfect buyers to find our home, people who will love what we have created and want to make it their own. Things have moved fast this month. After all it was only at the start of the year that we made the decision once and for all to pull the trigger on this full time travelling, van life idea. In reality it’s been in our minds for a long time and it was all ready to set in motion once the decision was made, but to the outside world it’s an almighty shock. It’s hard to articulate this next adventure when I’m asked what we’re doing & why we’re selling. I love this place and this life. If I could live out two lifestyles simultaneously I 100% would! But this itch to travel has won out and the way we know we can make that happen is unfortunately by not owning property at the same time. Matt, somewhat jokingly, said the other night it's our fault for not doing the OE thing in our early twenties - while we were getting married and building a life together, many of our friends were out travelling the world during gap years! We seem to be doing it in reverse and now our 'gap year' has no planned end date. For the first time in my life I don't really have a 5 or 10 year life plan. We're not frittering away our life's savings, don't worry Mum! But we have no idea where or how we will land when our travel is done. We don't have a timeframe in mind. We can't even tell you where the first destination is. I have spreadsheets (of course) and plenty of ideas for the adventures ahead, but beyond that the plan is loose! And you know I love having a solid plan - so this is all very new for me to not be trying to map it all out! It's kinda freeing. Scary. But also I have mapped my life out in explicit detail many times before and then the dang plans change and it turns out even better, so why bother spending energy on it ya know?! Full time travelling is going to be downsizing all over again. My love for simple living is still strong. I have grand plans of what life on the road will look like 😜 - farmer's markets & road stands galore. You can bet I'm taking my sourdough starter with me. And just wait until I have to fit my entire wardrobe into 2 small cupboards in a van (I will be sure to share that journey with you!!!). I like to think of it as we’re just putting experiences ahead of possessions for this next chapter of our lives. But of course there is still a part of me that is heartbroken about leaving behind Devon Cottage... Now some might be wondering about Matt. Obviously he is on the same page otherwise we would not be doing this! I think Matt has been ready for this long before I have been. He is not the homebody I am. But I also don't know that he'd ever pull the trigger on doing something like this if it wasn't for the fact we're a strong team. We are very in tune and thankfully want the same things in life. I love asking him deep, thought-provoking questions (usually during road trips!) and last year we rattled off all our bucket list items on one such road trip - all the things we want to do or experience in our lifetime - it was not really a surprise that our combined list was filled with travel adventures. So while this blog is all from my perspective, rest assured that I'm not dragging my husband away from his shed & tools (he has a plan for all that!). 😅 Anyway those are my thoughts this week as we wrap up a BIG month to start off 2025! Thanks for enjoying my Ted Talk, not sure it was very well structured nor had much of a point to be made, but if you're still reading - thank you for being here on this journey with us.x  From the archives. So many adventures from the old blog - I can't wait for the next chapter of adventures! They say a change is as good as a holiday and boy-oh-boy are we about to put that to the test!
The cat is officially out of the bag if you’ve driven past our home this week…we have made a very hard decision to sell our beautiful home & garden to embark on the next adventure… We’ve bought a van (an off-road adventure campervan). To live in. And travel the world in (starting with NZ). Yep, we’re taking downsizing to a whole new level! So while we are sad to be saying goodbye to what we thought would be our forever home (I’ve cried multiple times already!), we are excited with the prospective of soon calling the road our full time address. We will both be working from the road part time, Matt will use his trade & various skills to do casual work and I hope to expand Heidi Horton Photography to a whole new level! I’ll still be in Southland for seasonal portrait work, BUT I’ll also be able to offer photography all over the country as we travel!!! I’m so excited for all the new places I’ll be taking my camera and for the people I will meet along the way. I’m also excited for expanding into new genres in the creative field, but more on that soon. So this is where this blog comes into play… 2025 is the year I am bringing back the Blog. Do you remember my OG Heidi Horton Photography blog?? I used to post blogs (three times a week 🤯) about things I was learning as a photographer & entrepreneur, tips & tricks, camera techniques, photos I took on holiday and probably the most popular; the behind the scenes blogs! I really miss that blog as a creative outlet and so this year with all the adventures ahead, I have decided to get back to my roots of blogging; in the form of the Adventure Log. The Adventure Log will live on my website as a standalone blog where I’ll share snippets from life on the road, travel photos, pop-up photoshoots around the country and all things photography & adventure. We will also be creating video content on our Youtube channel Horton Adventures too! I hope you’ll tune in as we embark on this next adventure of our lives and if you have somewhere you’d like to see Heidi Horton Photography offering shoots please let me know. In the meantime if you'd like a little more context around this crazy decision of ours read this next blog entry here. |
|
Home • About • Portraits • Mini Sessions • Travel • Content Creation • Horton Adventures • Privacy Policy
CONTACT HEIDI: Email 📧 • Phone 📞 |
© 2025 Heidi Horton Photography Limited • Southland, Fiordland, Otago, Canterbury, West Coast, Tasman, New Zealand & worldwide!