7 Years 59 days Sober - Monster Trip7 Years 59 days Sober - Monster Trip
I'm Quitting Alcohol
Comedian David Boyle talks through the chaos of preparing for a two-month "monster trip" to Spain, Ireland and India, seven years and 59 days into sobriety. He shares the practical wins, financial juggling and heat-related grumbling that shape his day-to-day sober life.
5:36•13 Jul 2026
Heatwaves, Football Coaching and a Monster Sober Trip
Episode Overview
- Long-term sobriety can sit alongside big, messy family travel plans and everyday stress.
- Careful planning and re-checking bookings can lead to significant savings, like a cheaper hotel rate.
- Investing in children’s interests, such as affordable one-on-one football coaching, becomes a practical focus.
- Extreme heat and changing seasons are part of the lived context of sobriety, not a separate issue.
- Short, daily, unfiltered check-ins can keep recovery grounded in real life rather than abstract ideas.
“All I know is I'm heading into a heat wave in Spain and I won't be back in Boston for two months. It's a fucking monster trip actually and I haven't really wrapped my head around it yet.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This short, punchy episode of **I'm Quitting Alcohol** drops in on comedian David Boyle one day before he heads off on what he calls a "monster trip" through Spain, Ireland and India. It's less about grand wisdom and more about hearing sobriety lived in real time, in the middle of family chaos, travel stress and 40-degree heat.
Boyle talks about landing in Madrid during a heatwave, lining up the hotel, and realising the booking was suddenly "700 US dollars cheaper" than when they first reserved it. That little win becomes a whole week of food for the family and a classic example of how everyday life admin still happens, even seven years and 59 days sober.
A big part of the trip centres on his son’s one-on-one football coaching with a Madrid-based coach who has international experience and solid reviews. Boyle breaks down the practical side: two sessions a day at 40 euros for 90 minutes, trying to avoid four hours of driving across the city, and making the numbers work. It’s the kind of parenting-and-money juggle many people in recovery will recognise.
Between travel plans, he riffs on brutal heat in Boston and Madrid, jokes about his "brutal white skin", and briefly touches on changing seasons, ski slopes and climate chat he’s half-heard on another podcast. The tone stays raw, sweary and conversational, ending with a shrug that he still hasn’t fully wrapped his head around being away from Boston for two months.
If you like recovery stories told through everyday decisions, family priorities and a fair bit of swearing, this episode gives you a quick snapshot of what long-term sobriety can look like in real life. How might your own plans shift if you treated sobriety like Boyle does – as part of the daily story, not the whole story?
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