Digital newsletters come thick and fast into my email inbox all masquerading as THE newsletter to somehow change or improve my life but really just more words trying to sell me something I don’t want or need. Most go into to my junk, or are deleted on arrival...but there is one that I always look forward to , the Explorers Connect Adventure newsletter.
It adds a dosage of magic, potential, and excitement to the daily email shackles. Each month I would feverishly read about things that I could, but the best one ever was the July 2019 Explorers Connect newsletter. The magic one that enabled me to achieve a decade dream of driving a tuktuk across India
I had become obsessed with tuktuks since living in Pune, India working for BT in 2012 - 2014. I loved their cartoon shaped character and their bright colors..they used to make me chuckle every time I saw one on the road as I sped past in my nice hotel comfy luxury work taxi. I loved how they weaved in and out of traffic and always seemed to dice with death.
Even before working in India I had become aware of the Rickshaw challenge which was a 2 week race for people driving tuktuks point to point in India. I so wanted to do this but no one ever wanted to do it, no amount of bribery of my younger brother, begging of pals or story telling about an amazing adventure would convince anyone to join me. I had considered doing it myself solo, but knew that it wasn’t the most sensible of options and generally being someone who has a low awareness of risk, if I was nervous about doing it on my own…. It probably wasn’t the most sensible of options. So it seemed my dreams of doing this was only ever going to be a dream, one of those goals that you have that you know is never quite going to happen, so it just becomes a standing joke rather than a possibility.
July 2019 I opened the newsletter from Explorers Connect and saw an advert wanting co-pilots to drive a solar powered tuk tuk around the world! DREAM!!! I had never been so quick to answer an advert before. A week later I was flying out to Chennai, India to meet Talia, a total stranger and my co-driver for a 2 week adventure across India, which to cut a very long story short, eventually turned into a month.
I met Talia at 2am at my hotel room door, she had just arrived from Nepal after having worked for 6 months managing Danish med students working in remote rural hospitals. An Aussie lady, super smart and recently graduated with two degrees in Electronic engineering and Biomedical science. I instantly loved her. She is the kind of person that you admire, want to be around and buzz of her drive and energy.
As with last minute decision nothing ever goes to plan, a quick trip to the port authority to get the tuk tuk off the boat from Thailand, turned into a 2 week admin and paper work drama and finished with Julian the tuk owner having to flight out from Australia for 4 days in order for the tuk to be released. Once on our way we spent 1500kms together at a max of 50kms an hour, eating as many different breads, curries and drinking as much chai as possible whilst fielding requests for selfies, coffees and answers to ‘Where from? What doing? Where going? Why?’! from the motorcade of motorbike and truck drivers that continually surrounded us.
We drove through the different landscapes, towns & weathers, staying with different solar powered entrepreneurs along the way, having insightful business and cultural conversations about work, about women and society. We worked as a team to keep the tuk in one piece and us alive whilst trying to navigate 8 lanes of traffic on a 4 lane highway whilst shouting ‘Zoomie on the right’ or ‘bump’ for every pot hole whilst desperately clinging onto luggage as it flew out the tuk sides.
It was the best experience of my life, true last minute spontaneity. The adventure alone was enough to make me happy for decades with enough stories to share for endless tea catchups and dinner parties for the rest of my life. But it was so much more than that. I came to realise that adventure gives you so much in the moment, and so many amazing stories, but it actually changes you, and your mentality. It enables you to think bigger, to set more challenging goals to believe in yourself more. It separates you from the trappings of your everyday life, sets your mind free from being a life zombie. It releases you from your self imposed shackles of limitation and enables you to see what you can truly do, and if you can achieve that, what are you actually capable of doing? I managed to ignore all of the people who said no, who tried to persuade you otherwise, who crushed your ideas and I made this happen.
Prior to my tuk tuk trip I had been working in a toxic work environment that seemed to attract talented people but then drained them of all hope and ambition. I was working with amazing clients and candidates but making lots of money for someone else. Spending a month out on the open road feeling the true sense of freedom, whilst dicing with death on an hourly basis and feeling proud that I had managed to make a dream happen… made me reflect. I loved what I did, I was great at it, I had the potential to do this on my own, in my own way, treating people how I want to treat people. Why was I coasting and accepting second best from my employer? Why was I putting my name to something that I didn’t agree with.
And that was it, I returned and started the wheels in motion to set up my own company and do things my way.
Claire Jenkins