Caroleena Elphinstone is making a travel dream come true

Many of us dream of a 10-month break, travelling the world and having adventures but few of us make it happen, especially as we get older.

But one person who isn’t letting age, or anything else, stand in her way is sixty-something Caroleena Elphinstone.

Caroleena has rented out her home in Faringdon, put her job at the Ashmolean in Oxford on hold, packed her rucksack and is currently in sunny Bharatpur, near Agra.

After a month in India she plans to travel to New Zealand, Australia, Reunion (an island in the Indian Ocean) and the United States before arriving back in the UK for her eldest daughter Emma’s birthday next September.

“Two years ago I asked myself, if money was no object what would I do – the answer was travel,” said Caroleena, before she left last week.

And, even though money was still an object – she’s using her savings to finance the trip – she decided that’s what she wanted to do anyway.

“I kept telling people I was going travelling, then someone said ‘Why aren’t you then?’, and I thought, she is absolutely right.

“So I booked to go to India in October last year.”

However, when her youngest daughter, Lucy, told her she was pregnant with what would be Caroleena’s first grandchild, due at the very time she would be leaving the country, she postponed the trip.

Since then she has become “proud Nanna” to Rachel (born on October 28 last year) and also to Alice, her middle daughter Hannah’s baby (born on March 2 this year).

With nothing to hold her back Caroleena got her travel plans back on track.

It’s not the first time she has made drastic life decisions and her move to the Oxford area five years ago was made a lot quicker.

After leaving her husband in 2007, Caroleena was working as an administration officer for a residential home in Southwold, Suffolk, and regularly visiting her elderly mother in Highworth.

“In September 2009, due to holidays, I hadn’t seen her for about eight weeks. When I did I felt she was dying and I drove the 200 miles home wishing I lived nearer,” said Caroleena.

“By the time I got home it became, I HAVE to live nearer. So I got on line to look for a job in Oxford.

“This was when the Ashmolean was re-opening after refurbishment. I had the interview on October 2, looked at a flat on October 3 – decided I’d have it if I got the job – got offered the job on October 5 and had to start on the 14th.

“So it was 12 days to get a job and move to this area – not bad going,” she said.

“Fortunately I was renting at the time so just had to live with a friend for two weeks, work full-time and travel back to Suffolk at the weekends to pack up the flat.

“It was tough as on opening day we worked from 9.45am to 10pm and then 9.45am the next day,” she said.

“And unfortunately I was right about my mother: she died on November 27, 2009, but at least I was able to be with her more easily for the last days of her life.”

Caroleena started at the Ashmolean as a visitor service assistant and then latterly in the shop.

“I love customer service and enjoy serving the public,” she said. “I also did tours of the galleries.”

She is grateful to the Ashmolean for keeping her job open for her until her return.

“My house has been let to a lovely couple who I am sure will be happy there as the house has a great atmosphere,” she said.

She didn’t have much time to get nervous before she left as she was so busy preparing and packing up.

“I had a lot to do,” she said. “I am a hoarder who struggles to throw things away; I’d much rather give things to charity shops or freecycle. It almost hurts to put things in landfill.

“My darling daughters came to help on Saturday and Sunday before I left, staying til 10.30pm on Sunday in order to make sure I was ready.

“I made it by the skin of my teeth and wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for them, bless their cotton socks! I left Oxford at 3pm on Monday for Heathrow.”

Now she is in India before going to New Zealand’s North Island for a Christmas/New Year retreat in Lake Taupo, “followed by Dances of Universal Peace Camp in Hawkes Bay, moving on to South Island then flying from Christchurch to Sydney”.

From Sydney she will go to Ayers Rock and visit Cairns and Perth before heading for Reunion Island (near Mauritius) to stay with a friend for a couple of months, and then hopes to see another friend in Colorado in the US.

“I hope to have wonderful experiences (including a bungee jump) get some knowledge of the countries and make lots of new friends,” she said.

And what do her old friends think of her adventure?

“The reaction has been mixed – some think I am mad (which I am happy to be), some admire me as they say they couldn’t travel on their own, most are pleased for me following my dream.”

MUSINGS ON LIFE IN INDIA

Caroleena tells of some of her journey so far

* At Alwar I stayed in an old fort, now a hotel, called Dhadikar. Then I visited the local charity school, where the day starts with the ‘period of activity’, clearing the area in front of the school of rubbish, then a period of mindfulness – walking meditation, lessons and a period of joy, which is music and dance.

Lovely to hear and see the little ones singing and dancing.

The headmaster of the charity school comes from a farming family. He was educated at the school for free, then went to secondary school, which had to be paid for.

He lived with his parents in a mud-walled house with thatched roof and earth floor, one room and a yard outside where cooking is done. The women carry water from the village pumps in containers on their heads.

Donations and sponsorship for the school can be made at nivanavan.org.uk

* Shopping is heaven for me. I usually hate shopping for clothes in the UK, but here the clothes are very different and lovely bright colours. I’ve even bought a sari, which I wore to an Indian family’s home when we were invited for dinner. Of course the ladies helped to adjust my clumsy attempt and I had a cuddle with a month-old addition to their family.

* On Saturday we did a ceremony at the sacred lake of Pushkar, praying and asking for blessings for all our family and friends, a moving experience, and a sunset camel safari.

The 13-year-old boy who lead my camel has never gone to school but learnt English while working in a hotel at the age of 11.

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