How did this happen?

Having planned our journey from land to sea for the last 2 years, we finally put our house up for sale, just a few days before the UK went into lockdown to prevent a COVID-19 disaster. And then everything came to a standstill.

We had spent months getting our house show-room-ready (well, as ready a 120-year-old building can look, that is). 

Just 4 days after the For Sale sign went up by our front door, viewings were officially outlawed and we were left sitting high and dry. Most of our furniture had already gone, the few possessions we were planning on taking to the boat were already in storage and worst of all, we had just sold our TV that week! 

What followed was almost 4 months of social distancing and plenty of time to get creative. From fitness routines with Joe Wicks to recording live music in our living room and so much in-between, we took advantage of this unexpected delay to develop how Red Seas might be organised to share more of the story with you and make sure it isn’t just a glorified holiday on a sail boat.

Hopefully you will see a lot more from us and the inspirational people we have the honour of meeting along the way, so stay tuned.

Come on in, one and all

The first week in July was a bit like playing fruit ninja with viewings by mask- and glove-clad strangers flooding through our front door in 15 minute intervals. We had a few days’ notice to clear the debris of months stuck indoors but it was still a challenge getting used to interacting with so many new people, especially after so long with only zoom calls to interact with our family and friends.

With almost 40 viewings in the first few days, we were excited to hear from our estate agent who suggested we move to a closing date at the start of the following week. In Scotland, you host open viewings for any interested parties and then invite them to place a ‘blind bid’ in the style of a secret auction. Although our property had been on the market for almost 4 months, with the interruption of COVID-19, we hadn’t expected to sell our home so quickly but we cautiously trusted the experts and crossed our fingers.

A week later, we received a call from our estate agent and breathed a sigh of relief as we accepted an offer and the official sale of our house began to come to a close. 

Time to leave

And so it is now time to sell our last pieces of furniture and give back the things we have borrowed from family and friends to make the house look a bit more presentable. We only have 4 weeks to clear out and hand over the keys so we have been balancing non-stop trips to the recycling centre, selling stuff on Facebook and working behind the scenes on some special treats for our Red Seas patrons and followers.

Next up

We can’t wait to share everything with you and patrons will already be getting regular video updates (so head over to Patreon and join our CREWmunity if you want to get in on that) but in the meantime, stick with us as we continue to share our journey in these blogs as well as on Facebook and Instagram. Soon we’ll be moving to our temporary new digs, taking virtual tours as we continue boat shopping, and taking on some travel (both planned and unplanned) – nothing beats living in the moment!