Growing weary of his workload, Gray and his wife departed on a trip to Britain, Egypt (for three months), and Switzerland in September 1868. It was during the winter spent in Egypt that Gray first grew his white beard. They returned in autumn 1869. In early 1872 Gray tried to resign his professorship and garden duties still with no replacement for himself. He proposed only looking after the herbarium and writing books in exchange for the rent of the house in which he and his wife lived on the university grounds. Due to the way the finances of the funding sources were handled and the lack of a replacement, Gray was unable to resign at that time.