So, yeah, let's get back to the trip and why we even have a blog. Murphy and I came up with a pipe dream on our annual family vacation this year. We usually spend the week talking about how we want to start a business, or move somewhere new, or just take some big plunge that will radically jump-start our lives. Luckily, since we both think this way, laying on rafts for a week discussing these dreams and brainstorming ways to make it happen is what we find relaxing, and hopeful. So, there we were in July, on our favorite man-made lake (Pinecrest) doing the same thing we did every year, when through different scenarios, and major encouragement from our mothers, we decided that it was time to take a leap of faith and get out of dodge. Out of the country. Out of our safety nets. We agreed (with a couple of fuzz busters under our belts) that we'd travel, together, for 6 months, come the new year. Murphy is practical, financially responsible and amazingly friendly, and I'm crazy and like meeting new people and getting out of my comfort zone to find a new one. We're pretty much a match made in heaven. And so the planning began. "Planning" doesn't just mean booking flights. That would be easy. Planning means giving up the apartments we love (in Seattle and San Francisco) with the roommates we adore, in the cities that we feel at home in. Planning means realizing that we're going to miss 6 months of our families lives, and we like our families, so this one's tough. Planning means that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.
Boom!
So, the game plan. (That took a while to get to, huh? Sorry...) We're planning to leave mid-January. San Francisco to New Zealand. And, then, well, basically work our way back over the next 6 months. See you in June!
I know. It's pretty detailed. We're working on that. Australia. Bali. Viet Nam. Thailand. Nepal. Turkey. Greece. Paris. Italy. Ireland. Spain. Switzerland. Like I said... we're working on it. :) And, yes, I know I just named cities and countries, instead of one or the other. But I am looking forward to some good geography lessons, regardless.
This trip is about checking some things off our bucket lists! Someone, and I'm not naming names, will be turning 30 while we're there, so it's now or never before we have to come back and be adults.
And, in true fashion, a toast: 'Here's to planning the trip of our lives, and saying "adios!" to our comfort zones!' ~Mary
