Pilbeam family's journey round the world turned into book

Ian and Anne Pilbeam, along with children Rory and Roonagh, left their jobs, home and friends behind for a life-changing experience.

Twelve months travelling the world and visits to more than 20 countries radically altered how they view the world, with Ian now sharing the adventure in his book, Are We There Yet? The Year-Long Adventure That Kept On Giving.

He said: “There is a word for being a travel addict, which is ‘dromomania’.

“We are dromomaniacs and once you let the genie out of the bottle you can never get it back again.

“It changes your outlook on life, not just travel.”

The Pilbeam family visited more than a dozen countries, including stopping off at Waitakere Ranges Regional Park in New Zealand.

The family, from Dunbar, had been on a package holiday in Turkey when they first had the idea of travelling the world.

Ian, who was HR director at Jewel and Esk College, and wife Anne, who is a dietician, had asked their children where they wanted to go next on holiday.

Rory, now 23, and Roonagh, now 21, produced a list of 10 countries, with the family looking into whether an around-the-world ticket existed.

By the summer of 2008, they were ready to get their passports out and leave Dunbar behind.

Ian, 54, told the Courier that family and friends gave the news a mixed reaction.

He said: “Confusion, disbelief, ‘are you mad’, concern and, for some, jealousy but they saw it as a holiday and I know it was not.

“Most parents will understand going away with your kids for a couple of weeks and it is not always a holiday and you feel you need a holiday when you get back.

“Imagine doing it for a year!

“It is 24/7 family living and not on a holiday budget but a tight budget.

“We really had to make money go far and save up for the big ticket items.

“You get homesick and tired and ill, and all the things are part of the challenge of a year but are completely offset by amazing things you do, the people that you meet and the great weather.

“While Scotland was shivering, not just in the cold but in the middle of the last recession in early 2009, we were splashing in the waves of the surf at Queensland in Australia.

“It is not a hard luck story – we were very, very lucky to have done it but we created the opportunity for ourselves.”

The family visited Thailand during the tour through Asia.

The family started off in Cape Town – “a city by the sea with an iconic mountain” – before finishing 12 months later in Rio de Janeiro – “a city by the sea with an iconic mountain”.

Along the way, they visited a number of countries, including Swaziland, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Peru.

He said: “There were 100 days that were special days, where we did something extraordinary and memorable – whether it was seeing the sunrise over Machu Picchu or Rafael Nadal warming up at the Australia Open or walking the Great Wall of China.

“Then, there was family time, the other 250 days, which was just as special.”

However, it was not a trip of five-star hotels and luxury, with the family staying in hostels and travelling overland to reach destinations.

In a time before Kindle, Google Translate and Airbnb, it often meant learning about the next stop on the journey while they were travelling.

Last year, Ian, who now runs his own outsourcing human resources and health and safety business, decided to start writing about his travels as “a legacy project”.

Fittingly, a first draft of the book, which is now available on Amazon, took 80 days to complete.

Positive feedback convinced him to push ahead with the story, which he hopes could inspire others to enjoy their own journeys.

The family has very much caught the travel bug, with Rory marrying a Mexican woman in her homeland and younger sister Roonagh volunteering for a month in Ghana.

Ian said: “Every time we travel, we look back and say we wish we could have done that differently, longer or we did not have the time to do that.

“It would be amazing to go back in time and redo some things.

“It is also interesting to go back to places to see how they have changed.

Starting in South Africa, the family would go on to visit Madagascar.

“Obviously, in that decade there has been a massive impact of climate change, deforestation of rainforests, and species have become extinct that we saw in the wild.

“It would be interesting to go back to the same places and also interesting to go back and see what they look like after dark, rather than being stuck in a hostel room with the kids.

“There are also many, many other places we have not visited that we would love to and we are planning our future travels – and maybe future travel books as well.”