Well I've gone and done it. Finished work as of the 2nd of March. I collected all my stuff together, laptop, phone, ID etc and handed it all over. Considering it constituted 30 plus years worth of "stuff" I felt next to nothing. I thought I may have some regrets, anxiety, fear, sadness. But no. Apart from every day that goes by I'm starting to figure that I don't have minutes to cram hours worth of thinking/work into a day. I'm absolutely de shi##ing my mind as well as my life.
Anyone want a pile of work clothes? Wow that felt good, going through the wardrobe and removing anything remotely "corporate" I will NEVER wear a tie again, maybe not a suit either. You should never trust a middle-aged man in a sharp suit :-)
We've bought this, so the adventure begins. How does "The White Van Plan" sound?
2016 Europe and maybe Morocco if we have time.
2017 South Africa. Then who knows. It won't be your standard rtw trip, we'll still have family and business commitments in the UK.

I'm really pleased with it so far.

For the petrol heads it's:

Selectable 4wd by pushing a button on the dash. Not quite as basic as a mechanical lever but that's progress. This is the configuration I wanted. They do multiple variations, some constant 4wd. Only down side is that it doesn't have the low range transfer box. But the engine is very flexible and torquey so shouldn't be an issue. At the end of the day it's not an extreme off road vehicle.
OM642. 3.0 V6.190bhp, 440Nm. Goes really well, very flexible. Don't know the economy yet, I've only done 300 miles or so.
6 speed manual. They do a 7 speed auto but that's pushing my confidence in MB electronics too far

So the conversion will start the end of this week. It looks like we will have enough space for a permanent double bed, compact kitchen unit and a toilet/shower cubicle (luxury )

Only issue to date is that my wife struggles to get in and out, jeez it's high! See the photo, for perspective I'm around 6ft 1.

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