It was time to step into travel and see where it would take us physically, emotionally and spiritually – to challenge the voices in our heads, evolve our life stories and learn from what the world had to offer.

Where do you want to go? What do you want to see? Who do you want to meet? These were the questions that were on Andrew Pettifer and his wife Tracy’s minds when creating a bucket list for their midlife gap year one warm, summer evening, a glass of wine in hand, a notes app open in the other.

Andrew’s second book, Travels with Tracy: Tales from a Midlife Gap Year, is not your typical travel memoir. With successful careers behind them, supportive families and a lifetime of hard work up their sleeves, Andrew and Tracy decided to pack up their lives and embark on a richly diverse two-year journey across four continents, and every state in Australia.

From exploring the outback in an RV to five-star hotels and open-top sports cars, their journey unfolds with a variety of experiences most can only imagine. Brimming with unforgettable adventures and encounters with remarkable people, Andrew takes readers from the Shibuya crossing and earthquakes in Tokyo to the Louvre and the Olympics in Paris, then all the way to the Amazonian rainforest and the breathtaking Galápagos Islands.

Closer to home, he braves the Alps 2 Ocean trail in stunning New Zealand and discovers the wonder of crossing the Nullarbor while playing the world’s longest golf course. As their travels unfold, Andrew and Tracy begin to ponder what makes life important, think deeply about what makes us who we are, and together come to understand life’s ultimate question – who do you want to be?

In Travels with Tracy, Andrew’s thoughtful search for truth and identity – delivered with wit and a fast pace – will inspire you to box up your life and dive headfirst into an adventure of your own.