‘We quit our jobs to travel the world – disaster struck and we had to come home’

Backpacking grandparents who quit their jobs and sold their house to travel the world “can’t wait to get back out there” after cancer brought their adventures to a halt.

Tina Waddle, 58, and her husband, Kevin, 65, packed in their careers when they realised they had “more years of their lives behind them than what was left in front”. The couple sold their £218k three-bedroom house in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and most of their belongings, bought a motorhome, and embarked on a journey around the world.

Their adventures included hitchhiking along the Argentina-Chile border in Patagonia, scaling glaciers in Iceland, and riding camels across the Sahara desert. The pair sold their motorhome in 2023 after realising they spent most of their time backpacking, living in hostels or house-sitting for friends and family in the UK.

All was well until Kevin was diagnosed with anal cancer in March this year – bringing the couple’s global adventures to an immediate halt. But as soon as Kevin is well enough, they plan to get back out on the road again and Tina has her sights set on Armenia and Turkey for their next trips.

Tina, a former NHS worker, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, said: “We were in Morocco in January when Kev told me he had some worrying symptoms – he thought it was piles, but I bought him some anti-fungal medication from a local pharmacy which had no effect. We realised we needed to go back home and have it properly checked. When we arrived back in the UK in March, we went to the doctors and found out Kev has cancer. Of course the immediate thought was ‘where are we going to live while he goes through chemo?’.

“We don’t have a house, the tumour was growing bigger by the day – Kev needed somewhere stable to rest and recuperate. Luckily, we know some really fantastic, supportive people and have house-sitting arrangements in place until September. Some time after that – as soon as Kev’s feeling fit and well – we’ll be off backpacking again.”

Tina and Kevin, a telecommunications worker, used to live a “typical family life” with their son, Scott, 36 and daughter, Steph, 31. But in 2016, Kevin realised something needed to change when a friend quit his job to live in Paris, France, and suffered a heart attack and died before he was able to complete the move.

Tina said: “I remember Kev saying to me one day ‘I have more years behind me than what’s left in front’. He wanted to do more, he wanted us to sell the house and make some money to buy a motorhome and just go travelling. I was really unsure – I’d never stayed in a motorhome, let alone thought about travelling round in one.

“But there was always the thought that ‘if it all goes wrong, we can just start again’.” In February 2017, they sold their house and most of their belongings – before buying a £25k six-metre motorhome. Tina said: “It felt like we were closing the doors on one life and opening the doors to another. It was such a fantastic feeling.”

The couple headed around Europe – visiting Spain, Italy and Croatia. The van became their base and was often left in storage or on friends’ driveways while they began backpacking in locations further afield, including Mexico, Vietnam and China. They returned to the UK in February 2023 and decided to sell their motorhome via a broker for £18k.

They spend nine months of the year travelling – returning to the UK throughout the year to visit family and friends and to house-sit and pet-sit over the summer. All was well until January, when they were in Morocco and Kevin had some worrying symptoms which he thought were piles.

After medication didn’t help, the pair realised they needed to return to the UK for a proper check-up. In March, Kevin was told he had anal cancer. He needs a course of chemotherapy which will begin on July 1 at St James’s Hospital in Leeds and last for five-and-a-half weeks.

Kevin said: “Just think how I would feel now if we hadn’t taken the plunge 10 years ago to see more of the world. I would have worked all my life looking forward to my retirement in July, only to be told ‘you have cancer’. My point is, do not put your life on hold thinking ‘I’ll do that later’ and, as the old cliches go, ‘never put off until tomorrow what you can do today’, because tomorrow never comes.”

The pair share a sense of relief that they made the plunge and they are eager to get back on the road once Kevin is fully recovered. Tina said: “We can’t wait for him to ring that cancer bell. The cancer is treatable and curable – as soon as he is fit and ready to go, we’re off backpacking again.”

List of countries Tina and Kevin have been to:

• USA including Alaska
• Mexico
• Egypt
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• Laos
• Thailand
• Iceland
• France
• Belgium
• Germany
• Italy
• Croatia
• Montenegro
• Canada
• India
• Sri Lanka
• Argentina
• Brazil
• Uruguay
• Colombia
• China
• Singapore
• Malaysia
• Hungary
• Spain
• Greece
• Portugal
• Russia
• Czech Republic
• Poland
• Holland
• Cuba
• Sweden
• Austria
• Chile
• Cyprus
• Slovakia
• Denmark
• Lithuania
• Estonia
• Latvia
• Norway
• Kenya
• Slovenia
• UAE
• Switzerland
• Myanmar
• Morocco
• Gibraltar
• Romania
• Finland
• Albania
• Monaco
• Vatican City
• Ireland
• Kosovo
• North Macedonia
• Turkey