{"id":13,"date":"2026-08-03T17:17:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondthedeparturelounge.com\/?page_id=13"},"modified":"2026-09-01T11:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:20:29","slug":"our-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/beyondthedeparturelounge.com\/?page_id=13","title":{"rendered":"Our Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n \t\t\t

This is us.<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n
\n \t\t\t

We\u2019re Derek and Christine.
And for most of our lives, we\u2019ve done what most people do.
We worked. We raised a family. We built a home we loved and filled it with the sort of memories you don't really think about while you're making them.
We weren't looking to escape any of it.

We had a good life.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

\n \t\t\t

Maybe it was simply getting older.
Or maybe it was simply realising that time doesn't slow down just because life is comfortable.
We began to think less about what we had already done, and more about what we might still have time to do.
Not because anything was missing.
But because there might still be more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

\n \t\t\t

On paper, we're probably not the two people you'd immediately put together.<\/strong>
Me? I'm probably what you'd call a man's man. I've been a scaffolder most of my working life. I like a beer, I ride motorbikes, I'm fairly rough and ready and I've usually got a sarcastic comment waiting somewhere.
I've travelled all over Europe on motorbikes with friends, so travelling has never really bothered me. Point me in a direction and I'll generally just get on with it.

Christine's quite different.<\/strong>
She's a down-to-earth person who loves her family and her home. She's never really been one for socialising much outside the family and close friends, and disappearing off into the unknown certainly isn't something you'd naturally expect her to do.
Even when we talked about buying a motorhome, she wasn't completely sure.
Then we bought one.
And she loved it.<\/strong>
I think, for Christine, the motorhome gave her something neither of us had really thought about beforehand.
A home she could travel in.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

\n \t\t\t\"\"\/\t\t\n<\/div>\n
\n \t\t\t\n\t\tRead where it all began \u2192\n\t<\/a>\t\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is us. We\u2019re Derek and Christine.And for most of our lives, we\u2019ve done what most people do.We worked. We raised a family. We built a home we loved and filled it with the sort of memories you don’t really think about while you’re making them.We weren’t looking to escape any of it. We had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nOur Story - Beyond The Departure Lounge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beyondthedeparturelounge.com\/?page_id=13\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Story - Beyond The Departure Lounge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is us. 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