A guest blog from Barry Hayes (self-confessed ‘normal person’) which, I hope, will inspire anyone vaguely pondering doing something epic with their lives…
I work in the post room for a very large corporation – it is a world of suited zombies fuelled by strong coffee – everything is very sterile, everything is very standardised, and every day is very similar.
I am also a dreamer.
I was reading Al’s blog, as I regularly do, and saw that he had written about some Irish guy who was planning to cross the Pacific in a rowing boat.
Crazy – I thought.
Then I read that the crazy Irish guy was looking for crew members…’no experience necessary’.
Suddenly it went from a casual comment about the crazy Irish guy, to me immediately battering out an e-mail at break-neck speed. I did not expect to hear back, but anything like this is an opportunity, and if I didn’t at least send an e-mail then I would be resigned to spending the rest of my days not achieving my dreams.
10 hours later I received the following e-mail:
”I’ve received quite a few responses to my mail but yours definitely hit a chord with me. You seem to be pretty much exactly what I’m looking for! I don’t mind at all about the rowing experience – that’ll come – I’m more looking for someone with a never say die attitude and someone that is strong enough for a challenge like this while at the same time able to enjoy it!”
Oh…my…god.
It was 5:30am, I was getting ready to go to work, but the e-mail saw me regress into a sugared-up eight year old. I ran into the bedroom and jumped on my long-suffering girlfriend jabbering at a hundred miles an hour, she only understood around half of what I said but she was really pleased for me. I went to work with a silly grin on my face – the dream had now become a possibility.
Over the next few weeks, several e-mails back and forth and a Skype call further cemented my potential crew membership. I booked a ferry to Dublin to meet with Philip to discuss things further.
I met Philip in a Starbucks on the Liffey, before heading into Temple Bar. A couple of beers in and I realised that whether I was going to be in the team or not I’d made a friend for life. Just as these thoughts were going through my mind, Philip turned to me and said “I’ve made my decision – if you still want to be in the team, you’re in.”
At this point there was a great deal of swearing and punching of the air.
This was my ‘Hey kids we’re going to Disney world’ moment.
I was ecstatic – and had a permanent grin fixed to me for the rest of the night (admittedly this may have been partly due to the alcohol)
I stayed at Phillip’s place for the night then met with his family before heading back to the UK.
We are currently looking for a sponsor, a documentary maker, and for as much advice as we can get hold of – if you can help with anything at all please e-mail me - [email protected]
