A HAMPSHIRE couple have returned home after a holiday to Singapore - but it took them five months to get there.

Lynda Gulvin and Nigel Edwards left from Winchester in their Land Rover last July, knowing they would not reach their destination until December 2018.

The pair, both in their fifties, had been planning the 15,154 mile-long trip for five years, and travelled across more than 15 countries .

Market analyst Lynda, 56, who lives in Southampton said: “For a while we just couldn’t get the permission from our employers.

“Finally, I managed to persuade mine at IBM - they knew I was going to carry on at them, so they thought just to let me get it over with!

“My favourite part was seeing Mount Everest.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to see for a very long time.

She added: “What I did learn is that the world is a much more pleasant place than everyone thinks.

“In all countries, people were so kind and happy to help us out, and asked us if we were okay.

“In Ukraine, a farmer offered us to camp on his land, and brought us some whisky, too!”

The white Land Rover Defender was purchased in 2013 for £20,000. It had low mileage and the couple planned to use it for all of their trips.

It has since been nicknamed ‘Sir Chumley Knight’.

Lynda said: “We didn’t want a car that was all flash with lots of tech, we just wanted something manual that could be easily fixed and maintained.

“Ironically, we didn’t have a single problem on the whole trip - that is, until, on the way back home the clutch went on the M27!”

Nigel, who celebrated his 58th birthday in Singapore, of Fox Lane in Stanmore, is a mathematics teacher at The Bridge Education Centre in Eastleigh, and has been travelling for most of his life.

He said: “It’s difficult to pinpoint my favourite part, the whole thing, being away in the Land Rover, completing such a brilliant trip and seeing so many things, it all comes into one as an experience.

“I’ve travelled since a very young age, it’s built in my life.

“I’m stuck now and don’t know when I can go away next, which is a real shame.”

He added: “Next time we get the chance, I would love to do a similar trip to Mongolia.

“I love the idea of such large spaces with the freedom to camp.

“If Lynda is happy to do so, I think that will be part of the next trip.”

After spending time in Singapore, the duo travelled to Australia, later heading on to New Zealand to round off the holiday.

The car had to be shipped back to the UK due to it being ‘too impractical to bring it’, but Nigel said he “really wished” they could have “taken it on the final stretch.”

Lynda said: “It was lovely to see everyone again, and I really did missed my family a lot, but it was such an amazing time and I would go again at the drop of a hat.

“I wouldn’t call it the trip of a lifetime, though, as I hope to do something similar soon!”