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All You Need is Luck: When the kids left home, so did they. The hilarious adventures of a couple who made world travel a way of life.
All You Need is Luck is the very funny story of an ordinary couple who decided to take a chance and do something extraordinary which others only dream about. Six years ago Frank and Maria Nelson traded in excellent jobs, financial security, the safety net of family and friends, plus deep roots in their local community, for a nomadic lifestyle few people ever experience. All You Need is Luck recounts their first two years on the road after saying goodbye to their home in New Zealand. During this time they lived and worked in Australia, England and the United States besides visiting Indonesia, France and Thailand. Leaving their comfort zone thousands of miles behind, they worked at American summer camps in Vermont and Cape Cod; at hospitals, a university and other jobs in Melbourne and Brisbane; and looked after scores of pampered pets in the poshest of homes all over England. This amusing adventure will appeal to anyone with a sense of humour but especially those who sometimes wonder what it would be like just to take off...and keep going.
202 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2002
336 people want to read
About the author
Frank Nelson
17 books3 followersTravel has always played a big part in my life.
I was born in Germany but when I was one my parents moved back to England, thoughtfully taking me with them.
Some 30 years later, by which time I had two children of my own, my wife Maria and I decided to emigrate to New Zealand. The kids then were aged three and four and we thought New Zealand was a much better place to bring them up, as indeed it turned out to be.
We did some major trips to England and South Africa over the next several years but it was not until 1996, when the kids left home, that we left home too. We gave up our jobs, rented out the house, bought a couple of backpacks and set off to travel for a year. Before we knew it, that year became two, then three … and now, 18 years later, we have just returned to New Zealand and moved back into our house. We’re going to miss so many things about the places we’ve lived and visited over all that time, but it’s great to be back!
My two books – All You Need is Luck and A Little More Luck – are about what it was like just giving up our “normal” life, leaving the rat race behind, and setting off on this huge adventure. And yet I wouldn’t, strictly speaking, call them travel books. They are really books about a particular lifestyle. But unlike, say, Bill Bryson’s experience of living in England (Notes from a Small Island) or Peter Mayle’s account of moving to southern France (A Year in Provence) or Chris Stewart’s fun and games settling into a remote new home in Spain (Driving Over Lemons), our new lifestyle has been much more nomadic. We have lived back in England, in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia, and in various parts of the United States – Colorado, San Diego, Seattle and, for about 12 years, in Santa Barbara, California.
Those of you familiar with Santa Barbara will appreciate how hard it was to leave such a beautiful place. Our incentives were three baby grandsons in Auckland plus the prospect of returning to the grape-growing region of Marlborough, home of the very best sauvignon blanc!
For many years I’ve worked as a staff writer or freelancer for newspapers, magazines and web sites all over the world. That’s something I plan to continue doing in New Zealand while (hopefully) finding time to complete my overdue third book.
I was born in Germany but when I was one my parents moved back to England, thoughtfully taking me with them.
Some 30 years later, by which time I had two children of my own, my wife Maria and I decided to emigrate to New Zealand. The kids then were aged three and four and we thought New Zealand was a much better place to bring them up, as indeed it turned out to be.
We did some major trips to England and South Africa over the next several years but it was not until 1996, when the kids left home, that we left home too. We gave up our jobs, rented out the house, bought a couple of backpacks and set off to travel for a year. Before we knew it, that year became two, then three … and now, 18 years later, we have just returned to New Zealand and moved back into our house. We’re going to miss so many things about the places we’ve lived and visited over all that time, but it’s great to be back!
My two books – All You Need is Luck and A Little More Luck – are about what it was like just giving up our “normal” life, leaving the rat race behind, and setting off on this huge adventure. And yet I wouldn’t, strictly speaking, call them travel books. They are really books about a particular lifestyle. But unlike, say, Bill Bryson’s experience of living in England (Notes from a Small Island) or Peter Mayle’s account of moving to southern France (A Year in Provence) or Chris Stewart’s fun and games settling into a remote new home in Spain (Driving Over Lemons), our new lifestyle has been much more nomadic. We have lived back in England, in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia, and in various parts of the United States – Colorado, San Diego, Seattle and, for about 12 years, in Santa Barbara, California.
Those of you familiar with Santa Barbara will appreciate how hard it was to leave such a beautiful place. Our incentives were three baby grandsons in Auckland plus the prospect of returning to the grape-growing region of Marlborough, home of the very best sauvignon blanc!
For many years I’ve worked as a staff writer or freelancer for newspapers, magazines and web sites all over the world. That’s something I plan to continue doing in New Zealand while (hopefully) finding time to complete my overdue third book.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 18, 2008
A good-natured account of life on the road for the slightly older set. I like the emphasis on working on the road. It offers some creative ideas on where and how to find work (pet-sitting, summer camp, van driver, universities), and things to do on your days off, which is pretty important when you are on the road. You can watch television at home.
October 29, 2014
It's rarely one reads a book that is so interesting and full of humour as well; it made me want to pack my bags and head off immediately and follow in Frank and Maria's footsteps. I just couldn't put the book down, but at the same time didn't want it to finish!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews