FEWA in the Wild
Four Elements. Two Feet. One Life & A lot of Miles to Go
I wrote a book about a pattern. Fire, Earth, Water, Air, the rhythm that runs through every project, every relationship, every chapter of a life that's actually moving rather than stuck.
Then I decided to do what anyone slightly suspicious of their own theories should do. Test it on myself.
1st September 2026, I'll be setting off toward India and beyond, backpacking overland through Europe, Turkiye, Central Asia, and Pakistan, before limping across the border at the famous old Wagah/Atari crossing.
Living on my UK state pension alone, which means the cheapest transport and accommodation going, often sleeping on buses and trains to save the cost of a bed. Europe fast, because every day there costs what a week costs further east. I'll keep a reserve for the genuine emergencies, but the day-to-day runs on the pension or it doesn't run.
I won't pretend that's a hill I'm prepared to die on. There'll be moments I'm tempted to spend beyond it, and probably moments I do. I'll tell you when that happens rather than quietly editing it out afterwards.
This isn't a travel blog in the conventional sense, though there will be roads, and some of them will be the wrong ones. It's FEWA observed in the field rather than explained from a desk, loosely rather than dogmatically: the Fire of setting off without fully knowing why, the Earth of logistics and flat tyres and the unglamorous grind of actually getting anywhere, the Water of the moments that don't go to plan and dissolve the version of the trip I thought I was having, and the Air of whatever it is that arrives once a place, or a version of me, has been well and truly left behind.
The fuller record, the actual roads and borders and bus stations, will live on YouTube, on a channel called UK to Australia Overland on a State Pension. It's not live yet, it'll be up and running before I set off on 1st September, and I'll post the link here the moment it is. Shorter cuts will go out on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
If you want to back the trip directly, there's a Patreon too: Subscribe. No pressure on that front, the pension covers the basics either way, but if you'd like a hand in keeping the reserve fund healthy for the inevitable Pakistan-to-India logistics chaos, it's there.
So: two feet, one life, considerably more miles than sense. Let's see where Fire takes us first.
Book Link: https://amazon.co.uk/dp/1837097097