"took off to" is correct and usable in written English.
It is often used to indicate someone has left a place to travel to another destination. For example, "We took off to London early this morning."
Actually, "struggle" is overplaying things a bit since neither really took off to any great extent.
Then he took off to Europe for an extended vacation.
Then he took off to get himself a drink.
"Maybe she took off to the Rocky Mountains".
After retirement, Haydn and Mary took off to see the world.
He took off to Central America for eight months, working bartending gigs when he returned.
Before you took off to confront the world, what did you read as a young person?
Eight B-17s took off to attack the ships, followed an hour later by another 20.
Bucking the trend after Trainspotting, Boyle took off to America to make A Life Less Ordinary.
We took off to London for 12 days and I did rugby.
As the queen received a stream of visitors, we were informed, "Prince Philip took off to watch a football game".
