Filling in the Blanks

Beautiful Brasov

Today we filled in the last blanks (at least as far as the wheres and whens) of our adventure.

We are currently in Brasov, Romania and all we knew up until a couple hours ago was that we needed to be in Istanbul, Turkey on May 27 to fly to Dubai. We also knew we wanted a decent chunk of time in Istanbul, since everyone we've talked to who has been there raves about it. We have had our flights from Istanbul to Dubai, Dubai to Cairo, and Cairo home all booked since before we left. We actually had the majority of our accommodations in Dubai and Cairo booked before we left as well, and just recently completed those pieces.

But this whole two weeks between Brasov and Istanbul were a big question mark. A question mark that I personally loved, probably about as much as it caused Drew anxiety. To me, having this last open period be SO wide open extended the excitement and mystery and surprise of the whole trip. Sure, each destination, day and even minute will still be an adventure, but once this last piece of our puzzle was booked, a clear path towards the end of the trip would be defined. So I was postponing it and reassuring Drew that we would figure it out and it will all be fine, as it has been all along this journey.(Drew, on the other hand, kept reminding me that he was stressed out by this, and in just two days we were checking out from our Brasov hotel, and transportation on this side of the continent is not very easy). So we finally sat down today for a few hours and...the puzzle is complete.

We contemplated vegging on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast for a week, but without a car it's impossible because there's no public transport there until June. We don't want to rent a car because neither one of us can drive stick well and automatic rentals, if you can even find them, are at least four times the cost of manual making that outrageously expensive.

We talked about visiting the Black Sea beaches in Romania, we could get to them easily enough by bus. But we'd still have to get down to Istanbul. 

We looked for cheap flights to anywhere in Europe hoping for a random deal that matched our date of departure. 

Then, we looked into one of our original thoughts before we even left Buffalo...Cappadocia. 

This is a place in Turkey that I have wanted to visit ever since I received a certain issue of Budget Travel several years ago. It's a place of "fairy chimney" dwellings. They look like God took wet sand in his hands and let it dribble through his fingers to form sloppy, skinny peaks. The picture that is embedded in my mind from that magazine article has hot air balloons floating above these dreamlike structures and in the picture I'm there in one of the balloons looking out. Oh wait...that's just in my dream.

So anyway, we looked into flights and it wasn't too bad! We looked into hotels and found some reasonably priced "cave hotels" (they're like the only kind of accommodation you would want to stay in when visiting this area! It's all about authentic here people!) And so, we booked everything! Our flight from Bucharest to Istanbul, our round-trip flight to and from Cappadocia, our hotel there. The only thing left is our accommodation in Istanbul. So we're just waiting to hear back from an AirBnB host and we might be all set.

On one hand it feels good to know we're done booking stuff (because it can be stressful and exhausting), but like I said before, it also makes me sad because it's the final major piece of the puzzle in place. Now all we do is follow the path we laid out until it takes us back to where we started.

But enough of that depressing attitude! The great news is we still have over three weeks of our journey to live and create! And live it we will!

Here's a few more photos of Brasov for you as well! What a cool little city!

Flower market in the square during festival, Brasov Days 

View from the Citadel

"Behind the Wall"

View from the White Tower

View from the Black Tower

Rope Street, one of the narrowest "roads" in Europe

The main square

RTW Packing List

In the travel blogging community it seems to be sort of a rite of passage to post a packing list and photos. It is quite a daunting task to pack one backpack and one day pack for four months of travel to different climates and for different scenarios. Since we are only a few days from departure and preparing our bags, I suppose now is the time!

So this is what my packed bag looks like:

JUST KIDDING! (This was my mom's bag before she went on vacation last year - and my parents' adorable puppy Maggie!) I just had to put that in here cause she's so stinkin' cute!

OK, so here's the real breakdown of what is going into my backpack.

Footwear:
Merrell hiking boots
Keens Newport sandals
Havianas flip flops
Sidekicks Foldable flats (cheetah print)
3 pairs of hiking socks (lightweight)
2 pairs crew socks
1 pair black dress socks



Clothes:
Columbia Arcadia rain jacket
North face 1/4 zip fleece
3 cotton tees
1 long sleeve tee
5 tanks
2 dry wick tees
1 long sleeve dry wick 1/4 zip
Zip up yoga jacket
3/4 sleeve cardigan
1 short sleeve tee dress
2 quick dry tank dresses (one black and one colorful print to double as cover-ups)
Charcoal leggings
Black yoga pants
Columbia black water repelling pants
Kuhl Bandita knaki convertible pants
Jeans (dark wash, lightweight)
Black shorts
3 bikinis
Underwear (10)
Sports bra
Strapless bra
Regular bra (2)

Accessories:
2 scarves - 1 pink, 1 black
Colorful sarong
Hat with brim
Winter beanie
Cheapie gloves
Sunnies
Jewelry (2 necklaces, 2 earrings, extra belly button ring)

Hair accessories (hairbands, clips, bobby pins, headbands)

Extras:

Silksak sleeping bag liner

Pillowcase

XL travel towel

Minimal makeup (travel size Bare Minerals, mascara, eyeliner)

Airborne

Toiletries (travel size everything, plus my awesome foldable toothbrush!)

Cards

Headlamp

Travel alarm clock

Multipurpose tool (screwdriver, flashlight, bottle opener, etc)

Clothesline

Detergent packets

Waterproof pack cover

Duffel for checking pack at airport

Sunscreen

Bug repellent

Extra batteries

Luggage locks
Plastic zip ties for locking luggage
Safety pins
water bottle

Dive gear:

Computer

Mask

Snorkel

Hood

Gloves

Socks

Carry on/Day pack:
Wallet
Passports
Prescriptions
Paperwork
Cameras (Canon Power Shot Elph and Canon Digital Rebel XSi)
Extra memory cards
Power adaptors for other countries (Drew's bag)
Cords for electronics
Laptop (Drew will be carrying)

Kindle
iPhone
Eye mask
Journal and pen

Whew...now hopefully I'm not forgetting anything...

It's Kind of a Big Deal

This might sound dumb, but today I was reminded just how big of a deal this trip is. Not just for me personally, as a huge dream becoming reality, but just as an experience in general.

Because of the research I've done and the people I've come to "know" through Twitter and blogs, I guess I've become a bit desensitized to just how incredible this opportunity is. Sure, I know it, and feel it in through the money saved and time spent planning, etc, but over the past year I've developed a sort of online community filled with people who are living our dream of extended travel. Not just one or two, but hundreds of people. These people have been my inspiration when things were hard, and made me feel normal for dreaming this dream and taking the necessary steps to make this thing happen.

Yet today I realized that though they've made me feel that this isn't crazy or uncommon, following them so much has also blinded me to some of the magnitude of our long term journey ahead. The idea of extended travel has become almost commonplace to me because I see these tweets and blogs from around the world every day. And four months? That's nothing to these people who've left everything and have been gone for years with no plans to stop!

I'm not even sure what caused this breakthrough today, but I did talk to several different people about our trip over the course of the day who didn't know much about what we are doing. I guess their positive, awed reactions one after another might have sparked something in me.

I'm glad I was able to gain this renewed perspective that was based on other people's reactions-the thing I had feared most about this journey from the beginning. It is helping me remember the significance of this experience and prevent me from comparing our journey to anyone else's.

mage: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

T-minus 24 days...!

30 Days to Lift Off

With just 30 days left until we depart on our adventure, it seems that every day several items are added to our "to do" list. Luckily, we are also consistently checking things off, so the list isn't growing too much. There are moments where it feels a bit overwhelming, but we're in the final stretch so it only makes sense that we've got a lot to do. And, our date of departure is now so close that it is actually starting to feel real, so that's a huge motivator to keep checking things off of that list!

mage: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here is an overview of the things we are working on:

• Home
• Took down and put away all of our Christmas decorations.
• Starting to compile our stuff in our designated "packing areas."
• Health
• Visited the Niagara County Health Department this past week to get our immunizations. Needed Tetanus, Yellow Fever, Typhoid, and Hepatitis A (Drew also had to get Hep B, but they have a mixed Hep A/Hep B shot so he still only got four needles). 
• Saw our doctors to get a final checkup and get prescriptions written. 
• Need malaria pills, and Cipro for if/when you get travelers diarrhea (We both experienced it in Thailand so we're not taking any chances!!)
• I also needed to get an extended prescription for my birth control pills. All of these prescriptions bring new challenges for me with my newly diagnosed Celiac Disease - I have to make sure all of my drugs are gluten free. This is a lot more difficult than I expected, but luckily we started this now so we have a bit of time to get it all figured out.
• Finances
• Creating a plan for our money while we're away. Including:
• What our daily budget is while we are gone.
• How much cash we want to have on us at different times so as to have what we need, but not have too much just in case we lost our wallet or got pick-pocketed.
• Set up automatic bill pay - so we have less to worry about while we're away.
• We already have a credit card that doesn't have any foreign transaction fees, however, it is important for us to have a debit/ATM card that will not charge us fees when we withdraw money abroad. We did a little research and found out that Charles Schwab will reimburse withdrawal fees while abroad, so we've recently sent in our paperwork to set up an account with them. There are other options, but this seemed like the best one for us. 
• Trip Details
• Diving in Miami - we want to do a day of practice diving while in South Florida, so we are confident and comfortable from the very first dive in the Galapagos - it's supposed to be far too amazing to waste a dive getting re-acclimated!
• Rental equipment in Galapagos - we are only taking our masks and a few accessories with us to the Galapagos - because we don't own much equipment, and our flippers are much too big to bring along. Therefore, we needed to send our sizes to our liaison so she can make sure we have everything we need when we arrive. We stopped at our local dive shop, Dip 'N Dive, who "sized us up" for about 10 seconds each before giving us our sizes which I emailed to our dive contact.
• First nights accommodations in the Galapagos - because the Galapagos are islands there is clearly a limit on the number of places to stay - especially budget accommodations. So, we are trying to have our rooms booked for our two nights on San Cristobal island (where we will be departing on the cruise from) before we leave home.
• Accommodation for first night after dive cruise - for the same reasons as above and because the dive company needs to know where to take our bags when we get off the boat our last day, we need to have at least our first night on Santa Cruz island booked. We don't want to book more than that because we aren't sure how long we will stay on that island as we may want to venture to another island the next day and stay there.
• Packing!
• It's crucial to practice packing for such a long trip with such a small amount of luggage. We're going to be living with just the packs on our backs and a small carry on bag.
• It's definitely a bit intimidating to try to figure out what we are really going to need while we're gone, but it's also exciting and liberating to know that I will (hopefully!) have everything I need in one bag that I can just throw on my back and go!
• Collecting Information
• I'm continuously reading and researching about places I want to go.
• Brushing up on my Spanish. Drew found a great app for the iPhone called Duolingo. It's free and takes you from beginner language skills up into advanced. I've spent quite a bit of time on it, but have a ton of lessons ahead of me. It's a great way to refresh the skills I haven't used since a trip to Costa Rica in 2007, and high school Spanish before that! It's also helping Drew to learn some of the language as he took French in high school.
• Some Final Purchases
• A journal - I wanted one that is lined, spiral bound, has a soft, pliable cover, and is about half the size of a standard spiral notebook - not too big to take up a ton of room, not too small to be a pain to write in. Found it yesterday, so I can check that off my list!
• Fold-up toothbrushes - no, we didn't know that we wanted these, because we didn't know they existed, but for $1.59 at Target they seemed like a great buy and a nice way to keep our toothbrushes clean AND they are compact! 
• Memory cards for our cameras.

So that's our current situation! It's really starting to get real!

Making Many Lists, Checking Them Twice

As our date of departure quickly approaches, there are so many things we need to do. It's extremely important and helpful to make lists and write things down whenever I think of them or read about them because with all the busyness of work, regular life and the holidays, it is easy for things to slip through the cracks.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's been an eventful week.  Here's what's been done trip-wise, and trip-related:

• Been diagnosed with Celiac Disease
• Booked our Galapagos live aboard diving trip and made payment
• Secured dive insurance
• Made an appointment for our immunizations
• Made a doctor's appointment for a checkup and to acquire Malaria pills (needed in South America and possibly other places we may be)
• Connected with other Celiacs on Twitter - even traveling Celiacs!
• Shared our plan, tentative destinations, and excitement with more family, friends and coworkers
• Began writing up a list of all of the things I do at work that the replacement will need to do
• Finalized the intern we will be hosting starting in January
• Crept closer to figuring out what flights we are going to book ahead of time so that we can make our flight booking appointment with Airtreks.com in the next week or so! (Can't WAIT to have our departure on the books!!)
• Finalized (for now) the things we need to purchase for the trip
• Visited other travel blogs to get packing tips, last-minute planning advice, and ever-growing inspiration and excitement from people who are living our dream right now!

On top of all that, we have to fit in decorating, shopping and wrapping for the holidays; weekends full of visits with family and parties with friends; researching and learning about my new Gluten Free lifestyle; and simply the back and forth and up and down of everyday life!

It's tough planning such an extensive trip at this time of year and with the big life changes I am going through. However, we're lucky because we're not planning TOO much; we're leaving a lot up to whim and decisions in the moment. Not to mention, I sort of thrive under pressure and deadlines and being busy. So, we're making progress, visiting with loved ones, and trying to enjoy every moment of this time of year all while that fabulous date of departure creeps, make that races, towards us. We both know it will be here before we know it and somehow it will all get done, because it has to!

How to Decide Where to Go on Your RTW Adventure

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My Tips for Deciding Where to Go:

• Research, research, research
• List your "top ten" (or 15!) destinations (not even taking into account this trip and logistics yet, just in general) You may already see that most of your locations are close to each other and would make for a good trip or you might see that they are scattered all over the globe and you'll need to take more things into account.
• Decide why you are doing this trip. Is it to go to every continent? Get to know a specific region really well? Visit the wonders of the world? To literally go around the world? Once you have a true purpose and know what you want to get out of this adventure you can better formulate a vision and break it down into smaller goals.
• Look at your time frame and budget and start researching costs: flights, accommodations, food. Long haul flights across continents will add up fast. Certain regions of the world are just cheaper in general and your money will go farther. If visiting one of your "top" destinations is important to you because you want to do a certain activity or see a certain event, take those costs into account as well.
• Consider timing. If you are traveling from January to March and want to enjoy tropical weather, don't plan a Trans-Siberian trip from Russia to China!
• Talk to people. Again, more research. The more you learn, the easier it will be to figure out what you are OK with sacrificing, which brings me to my final point.
•  Focus on your main goals and be OK with sacrificing some places to save for later. Let's face it...at some point you're going to have to say, I just can't do that on this trip. It doesn't mean you'll never go to that specific destination or that your trip won't be everything you've dreamed of and more.

Happy travels!

Where to Go on Your RTW Trip: The Snowball Effect

For me, the hardest part of planning a RTW trip was not making the final decision to go, sacrificing along the way in order to save money, or even telling my managers about my impending departure and hoping they would want me back.

No, for me, the most difficult part has been deciding where to go. I want to go everywhere. Literally. I don't think you could name a place in the world that I would not visit. No, I do not want to go to Iraq NOW, but I would in the future if things become safe.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How did we finally come up with our tentative route?

Priorities and Compromises: I am not alone on this trip, so that can be both helpful and add to the difficulty of making decisions. We are two different people with different ideas and, at times, different priorities. Nonetheless, after we both wrote up our "top ten" lists (that quite interestingly turned into "top 14" lists for each of us) we were able to match many of our priorities and come to compromises on some destinations. Also, having another person to plan with helps because sometimes one or the other of us will get stuck and we can work together with unique perspectives to evaluate things and come to decisions. 

Our "top 14" lists are the reasons why, despite the cost, we are starting our adventure in the Galapagos. It is not your typical RTW destination due to costs and could easily be a two to three week trip all by itself. However, it was the number one destination on my list, and in the top three of my husband's list. Why should we put off till tomorrow what we can do now when it is clearly a priority for both of us?

Connections and Cuts: From there, since we will be in Ecuador, we decided to also go to Peru. Another place on each of our "top 14"s is Machu Picchu, so it would be silly to be in the bordering country and not go! (Of course, this logic is what can easily derail me because Bolivia is also so close... And if we're in South America we might as well go to Brazil and Argentina since I HAVE to see Iguazu Falls!) So you see, the list of "must sees" can quickly snowball. We could easily spend our entire four months in South America. Easily. But, that wouldn't satisfy my husband because he is not as interested in this region as some others, and it wouldn't satisfy me because I want to visit at least two continents on my RTW adventure, regardless of the length of time we have.

Which leads us to Europe. Croatia is extremely high on my list (Probably second after Galapagos). A couple Balkan countries are intriguing to my husband. So, we knew that Eastern Europe would be a destination for us and we could easily travel around these countries relatively affordably, and without a plan devised months before. Of course, if we are going to Croatia, we need to go to Italy because, despite it being more expensive, it's somewhere we both had on our "top 14" lists and it's a bigger hub to fly to. Again, the snowball effect!

Info Gathering and "Why Not"s? Speaking of flights, I recently began working with airtreks.com on our flight plans. I discovered that to fly from Lima, Peru to Rome, Italy requires a stopover in Madrid, Spain. I've always been very intrigued by Spain! If we have to fly through there and we can stay for some time for no additional fee - no brainer!  I am extremely interested in Gaudi architecture - which is in Barcelona - not so far from Madrid. Did you know that you can take a ferry from Barcelona to Morocco?! How cool is that?! We can see the Sahara, experience the colorful country of Morocco AND on top of it all - we'll be in Africa!  A whole new continent!

What's not to love?

So, as you can see, if you're like us, it's extremely easy to get overwhelmed with destinations and choices because it's very easy to say "why not?"

The only real answers to that question for us: time and money. 


In my next post I'll share my tips for coming up with a tentative itinerary.

Niagara is for Regrouping

We are racing closer to our estimated departure date (early February), and yet we are still struggling to finalize our route! It's been difficult because:

1. We want to go everywhere and do everything!
2. We want to make the most of our time.
3. We have a budget that we need follow.
4. We want spontaneity and adventure.

Some of these things directly conflict...so it's all a balancing act.  Plus, I am tending to do a lot of the planning, yet I am horrible at making decisions until I feel completely informed!  Luckily, I work well under pressure!

We are both ready to have something officially booked (as in, at least our plane ticket to our first destination.)  Unfortunately a lot has been happening in our personal and professional lives, leaving us with limited time to talk through our choices, make decisions, and plan.  

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In order to step back and regain some perspective, the hubby and I took advantage of one of those discount travel deals and are driving across the border to Niagara Falls tonight. It's just over 30 minutes away from our home, but still allows us to get away, and in addition we get to see one of the most beautiful wonders of the natural world and be reminded of the power of nature and the simple things in life. It's easy to take Niagara Falls for granted when it's been under an hour away from my residence for most of my life, but no matter how many times I stand in front of those waterfalls I am left in awe.

We are both looking forward to this small "adventure along the way" where we will get to reconnect with each other, nature, and our love of travel and discovery. We will visit the falls, enjoy some delicious food, taste wine at some beautiful wineries, sample chocolates at a chocolate factory, and (hopefully!) win some money to put towards our BIG trip with our $50 voucher for slot play at the casino!

And hopefully we will be able to make some more decisions and move forward as we anticipate and construct the large adventure that is quickly approaching! I think sometimes it's easier to focus on long-term goals when the day-to-day routines and concerns are hidden from view.

Here's to spur of the moment getaways, creating your own adventure, spending time with your best friend, and experiencing the beauty of nature!!

The Plan - Jobs, House, Trip

I mentioned last time that I was waiting to hear what was going to happen with my job when the hubby and I leave for our Round the World Adventure.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last week Friday I got my answer.

While I am out, they are going to hire a new employee to take my place.  This person will be hired as a temporary employee with the possibility of full-time hire.  Basically, if the newly hired person turns out to be more amazing than me or is set in their role by the time I return, I will have to find a new job.  However, there is the possibility that I will be able to return to my job, depending on the outcome.

The hubby and I have been analyzing a lot of things, reviewing our options, our budget, and different scenarios.

This is where we stand today:

• We will be gone for approximately four months
• Upside:  This allows us enough wiggle room in our budget to keep our house without renting it out, preventing the headache and work of packing up all of our stuff, finding a renter, and paying all the fees of property management. If we can find someone we know who needs a place to stay for a few months, we would happily rent it out to them, but we don't want to have to worry about moving all of our stuff out.
• This also, in theory, might increase the chance of me returning to my job.  The less time the new person has to get comfortable and get into the job, the better the chance that my employers will welcome me back.
• Downside:  This will cause us to have to eliminate some of our destinations in order to get the free-flowing aspect out of our trip.  Which leads me to the next point.
• We are going to focus our attention on some key destinations in South America, and spend the majority of our time exploring Southern and Eastern Europe.
• A key component of this trip is that we have the ability to "not plan" every day, every destination or every experience.  We want to experience more of our world organically, allowing our whims and interactions with other people to guide us along our journey.  By reducing our footprint a bit, we help to ensure that this will be possible.
• The first month or so, in South America, will be a little more planned down to the date and location, simply because of what we want to see and the amount of time we want to see it in.  But once we arrive in (tentatively) Italy, things can start to flow naturally.
• We will leave in February.
• Due to some constraints of our destinations in South America, specifically Machu Picchu, we have pushed back our departure date by a couple weeks.  We really want to hike the Inca trail, but January is, on average, a very rainy month and not the most pleasant time to do it.  The trail is closed in February, but reopens in March.  If we start elsewhere in South America and make our way to that area in the beginning of March, we are *hoping* it will work out that we can hike the trail (weather dependent).  Plus, it's not high season, so we have a much better chance of getting into a hike with the "play it by ear" attitude that we are adopting if the weather isn't cooperating.  (We will still visit Machu Picchu either way, but if it's gross weather we would just take the train...the easy way).

So, that's where things stand now.  It's exciting because we are starting to finalize some  plans and make real decisions.  I am currently working with airtreks.com to figure out our flights, and we hope to book at least our flight out soon!  THEN it will be officially official! ;-)

The Waiting Game

Currently I am in limbo, waiting for some kind of answer from my superiors regarding last week's request and proposal.  The hubby and I decided to propose a leave of four months for us to embark on our round-the-world adventure.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We felt that this was a good compromise, cutting our leave request by 1/3. It would reduce our time abroad, of course, but we're trying to find that balance of dreams - our travel dreams vs. career dreams.  So, four months is what I proposed and what I am waiting to hear back on.

Each day since this proposal, at least one of my managers has approached me and assured me that they "are working on it" and "talking about it" and it's "not a no" yet.  Yesterday I was feeling very optimistic about everything feeling like I might receive a response and it might be in my favor.  That did not happen.

As much as I'm trying not to stress because it isn't in my hands right now, it's difficult, because it is causing me anxiety no matter how hard I try to pretend it's not.  I am impatient to begin with...and this is a pretty big thing to be waiting on.  However, I keep trying to remind myself that the longer it takes, probably the better the outcome will be because it means they are working on it and trying to come up with a solution.  They aren't just saying "no."

Either way, we have a lot of work to do and heaps of decisions to make.  For now, I'm just trying to remain optimistic and put my trust in my belief that whatever is best for us will be.

Tick. Tock.

Cat's Out of the Bag

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tuesday I had the conversation that I have been planning for, rehearsing, dreading, and anticipating:  I spoke with my managers about our trip plans and what they mean for my position at the organization.

A lot has happened over the past couple months, personally and at work, causing me to feel a little less comfortable with just saying "goodbye," and wanting to do everything I can to secure my job as a place to come back to after the adventure is complete.  Things have been moving forward for me, I'm accomplishing a lot, and the organization's leadership has changed, culminating in a different type of culture at the top - the one I've been pushing for and wanting since I began working here.  I'm happy at work, happier than I've been, and I see myself moving into the future with this company.  Because of all of that, I decided I needed to tell my bosses as soon as possible about our plans in hopes that we can work something out so that I can "have my cake and eat it too."

The conversations were difficult. The first one went surprisingly well.  The second did not go as well, but I believe that shock and surprise were the culprits of a less-than-favorable, yet not completely surprising reaction.  24 hours later it is already clear that things are on a better path.

At this point, I have been tasked with basically talking with the hub and deciding exactly what we are asking for.  Then, the company will convene and decide if it's something they can give me or not.  It's scary not to be in control, but then again, I know that the true power is in our hands because we know what we want and I am willing to walk away from my job if it means sacrifing my dream.

It's unfortunate and I hope it doesn't have to come to that, but that's not up to me anymore.  I'm feeling relief, although my part is not yet over.  I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be very intense.

Stay tuned, and wish me luck!

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

How do you travel?  Do you prefer to have it all planned out for you by going on a tour?  Or do you work with a travel agent to plan where you will go and when?  Maybe you do a lot of your own research ahead of time so you are well-informed.  Or are you at the other extreme, where you just go and see what happens?

One summer vacation while in college, the hubby and I (we were just dating at the time) were able to make one of my dreams come true - a much smaller version of the longer-term around the world dream that we are currently working towards.  I wanted to get in the car and "just go."

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We took five days, packed our car with some clothes, a tent, and food, and took off.  Our only destination was "the ocean."  For us, that meant we were headed east since we were leaving from Buffalo, NY and only had five days. 

The only other rules we had were that we were not going to plan anything ahead of time, we were not allowed to drive on highways (except maybe on the way home if time was tight), and we would go wherever our whims would take us.  We would follow roads that sounded intriguing, visit a random hole-in-the-wall restaurant and discover an amazing meal, flip a coin if we came to a fork in the road and couldn't decide which way to turn, and overall just enjoy the journey and the freedom of it.

It was an amazing trip.

We spent a night at a campground in northeast NY,  drove over gorgeous green Vermont and New Hampshire mountains. We spent a night at a campground and had a pizza delivered to us by a four-wheeler. One night it rained on our tent and we couldn't dry it out, so that was the end of our camping for the trip.  We made it to the ocean in Maine and discovered an adorable (but extremely busy!) beach town, Old Orchard Beach.  We ran into trouble finding a place to stay on a very limited budget.  It was a summer weekend in a popular beach town with limited hotels.  Eventually, we found a crappy motel, paid way too much for it, and made the most of it. We reveled in our accomplishment of reaching the ocean and playing in the crisp, gorgeous water. We paid too much for a hotel in nowhere, Massachesetts. We had our ups and downs, our frustrations and annoyances, and a lot of excitement and fun.

Some of the highlights:

• Turning the car around to get a delicious burger at a random burger joint on the side of the road
• Playing tennis at a stumbled upon tennis court
• Driving down a road just because I liked the name of it
• Eating pizza in a tent that was delivered to us by an old guy on a four-wheeler
• Driving over and among beautiful green mountains
• Arriving at the ocean and playing in the water, despite its chilly temperature and large waves
• Overcoming frustrations by working as a team and stepping up for each other
• Being in a car with my best friend, with the radio playing our favorite songs and the windows rolled down
• The feeling of freedom and adventure
• Knowing that we had everything we needed to reach our goal and have an adventure

This was just a small snippet of a trip in comparison to our upcoming six (plus?) month adventure, but somehow I know now, just like I knew then, that we'd be ok, we can do it, we'll make it work. 

I can't wait for that feeling of freedom, spontaneity, and adventure...in an amount that I've never felt before!

Do you ever travel like this?  With limited or no plans, letting yourself "just go" and see where the journey takes you?

What We're Doing to Prepare...May Edition

Things have been busy (as usual), but I wanted to give a quick update on our progress and what we've been doing lately to prepare for our trip.  Our preparations fall into two categories:  House Preparation and Trip Planning.

Since we've decided to sell our house, this is what we've done on that front:

• Decided to hold a yard sale this summer to sell what we don't want to store
• Talked to our neighbors to let them know we are interested in participating in the block sale they typically do
• Put a couple empty (not anymore!) boxes in the basement where we can put things that we want to sell as we find them
• Started going through our stuff, personal and shared, and put them aside in the boxes
• Made a list of the things we need to do to our house before we put it on the market (painting a couple rooms to be more neutral, repainting the bathroom ceiling, staining our front porch steps, tidying up the landscaping/re-mulching (check!!), etc)

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As far as the trip planning goes, this is what we've accomplished recently:

• We each made a list of our Top 10 places we want to go, if money was no object, and not necessarily as a part of our RTW trip, just thinking in general (both of us ended up with 14, many of which overlapped)
• I started a spreadsheet containing a list of potential countries we will visit where we can fill in things like visa requirements and costs, vaccination requirements and suggestions, and the high season  for each location (not that we necessarily want to go in high season - often we want to avoid it!)
• I'm currently reading a few books about sabbaticals, taking time off, and long-term travel.  I have picked up some pieces of good advice and things to think about, and a lot of the benefit of reading them to me is just reinforcement that we aren't alone and we are doing the right thing for us
• Started talking more and figuring out details about what we are going to do when our house sells, where we will stay in the interim, what we will do with our stuff
• More research on destinations and workaways

Some things we are going to get started on soon:

• Look into specifics about costs/requirements of storage facilities
• Start making a list of things we need to purchase for our trip (so we have ideas for birthday gifts, etc)
• Get in touch with our connections around the world to see if we can tap into any opportunities
• Touch base with a real estate agent
• Do more concrete research on transferring our car lease, etc
• Make some decisions about our destinations - can we afford what we want for the length of time that we want?
• Put a departure date on our calendar!!!!!!!!

Obviously, there is a lot more to do and I'm probably forgetting some things that we've already completed or have left to do, but this helps to draw a picture of some of the things we are thinking about/working on while we aren't working, sleeping, working out, or playing.  :)