Let’s do This.

How often do we realize our dreams? We have talked about travel our whole relationship - where we want to go, where we would love to take the kids, and how there will never be enough time off work to scratch the surface. We planned to stay the course and travel after retirement, but things happened in the past few years that changed our mindset quite drastically. Realization set in that we are not interested in taking the thrill-seeking trips we sought out in our twenties. Will we be interested in traveling at all in our late sixties? The time is now. Our kids are still at the ages where they love to be with us. We want to seize the opportunity to take the kids on a big adventure to watch them grow every day. We believe this experience will bring us closer together as a family and to broaden our perspectives in ways we cannot anticipate.

Photo Credit: Dean B.

Due to Covid restrictions, we wondered when travel would ever be possible again. Borders were closed and vaccines for the children seemed a distant possibility. Still, we decided to think positively and plan for a big trip that would happen as soon as the world would safely allow it. Our goal was to immerse ourselves in these new places without rushing as we would with a typical American vacation. A long break would be needed to achieve our global goal, but how?

Luckily, other people have taken career gap years and shared their experiences through blogs, vlogs, and published books. They shared their personal experiences, the challenges, the rewards, the destinations, and the rough costs. We took the advice of other family travelers and decided we would go the minimalist “one bag” approach which lead to a many hours spent researching backpacks, how to pack them, and specific items to bring/leave behind. Renting our house vs. selling was a big topic to tackle, but ultimately the only future we saw landed us back where we started, so renting the house made sense. Figuring out how to keep in contact with family and friends was a top priority. We signed up for credit cards with travel perks and a new bank give us access overseas. Many nights and countless phone calls were spent reviewing global medical insurance plans and spinning the dials on coverage and deductibles. All this on top of drafting several iterations of our route while considering the challenges for traveling to those destinations as a family of five with young kids - safety and security, visa conditions, restrictions, accessibility, and cost. Long story short, we have a ton of hours in research and planning for this adventure.

The day the emergency authorization for children’s Covid vaccines was approved, October 29, 2021, to be exact, was the day we began putting our plans into action. First, we set our timeline. Jon could not resign from his job until after December 1st, 2021, at the earliest. The winter break from school seemed to be the most natural break for pulling the kids out of school. After reviewing airfare calendars, we decided that January 1st, 2022, would be the start of our yearlong adventure. Jon’s last day of work was on December 17th, which left us only three weeks to button up our affairs before leaving on our trip. With some of those days allotted to enjoying the holidays, and Colette and Jon’s birthdays, we had to work in double time to finalize our plans and pack up the house to meet our departure date.

As the big day approached we had been feeling the build up of emotions. All of them. Excitement for what is to come. Sadness for what we are leaving behind. Worry that we are making the right choice for the kids and for ourselves long-term. The kids began getting anxious about taking the leap. It was stressful to balance the holiday magic with the moving out chaos and the detail-oriented preparations for the impending adventure. All of the wonderful quality time we had with our loved ones was bittersweet knowing it was possibly the last gathering for a year. However, we felt grateful knowing that we will have the experience of a lifetime. 72 hours before our departure, we had our Covid PCR tests and reality truly sunk in that we had only three short days until we would find ourselves almost half a world away. Time was especially precious as we had so much left to do and so little time to to say our final goodbyes.

The day before we flew out, we said farewell to our trusty minivan of 10 years and that was by far our easiest goodbye to swallow. We are fortunate to have incredibly thoughtful and helpful family and friends who have gone above and beyond to help us in a multitude of ways to achieve our goal. We are extremely appreciative for all of the meals, child distracting, packing, cleaning, and moving help, last visits, and general support. A million thanks to all of you for helping us make our dream come true.