You may be asking yourself one of two things here.
1. What the hell is this all about?
or
2. Why the hell would you do that?
To be different, I’ll answer number two first. The short answer is ‘why not?’. The summarised version of the long answer is that Hayden has always had the dream of living out of his Land Rover, and what better way to do it than to try and bring old Maggie (all cars, like boats, must have a name), salvaged from the Welsh Council, back to his homeland in New Zealand. Now, where do I fit in? I’ve often wondered what would have happened to our relationship had I not been agreeable to the idea. In truth, I am more than agreeable. It excites me and has created a burning desire for exploration. I’ve always though of myself as the adventurous traveller type, a free spirit, but I don’t really have anything to back me up on this. Sure, I’ve slept on beaches in Spain, bungee jumped in Zambia, swam with sharks in South Africa, got into Glastonbury without a ticket and even ran into Angelina Jolie in Auschwitz! But the actuality is I am a list maker. Someone who likes to hand write appointments in an old fashioned diary, someone who enjoys structure and routine. Am I kidding myself here? Or reinventing myself?
Back to question number one. Why Maggie The Turtle? It has already been established that Maggie is the name of the Land Rover, and whilst she is faster than a turtle, it isn’t by much. Also, a turtle carries it’s home on its back, and Maggie is carrying our home. The ‘around the world in a 88’ comes from the fact that Maggie is a Series III 88 inch short wheel base Land Rover. Hayden thought it was a fun play on words.