When Tony and I began planning our trip, we kept on going back and forth between when an “ideal” time would be to go…Next month? Next year? Two years from now…The debate was EPIC. The funny thing was, there is never an “ideal” time to put everything on hold for a year plus.
For example, we first tired to plan our trip around job promotions, raises, and most importantly, bonus periods at work so we could squeeze as much money into our savings as we could before going income-less for a year. This proved to be unsuccessful though: I get my annual bonus at the end of January, while Tony gets his annual bonus in March, then July rolls around, which is when I am up for promotions and raises within my firm…and so on.
Then we tried to see how our family and friends would play a role in our departure date. We are at that golden age where everyone seems to be getting married, and about 90% of our closest friends are either engaged or in serious relationships (and about to drop like flies any day)…“It’s wedding season, kid!” Do we wait until wedding season is over to leave for our trip?
Apart from endless weddings, my older sister’s baby clock is violently ticking and it is an ongoing bet in my family about how much longer her and her husband will be able to hold out. Do I stick around the states until I can meet my first nephew/niece?
The madness never ends! If Tony and I kept on carrying on like this, we would never travel around the world.
If need be, we can always fly home for our BFF’s wedding, our sister’s newborns, etc. Bottom line, we needed to stop making excuses and JUST DO IT! We are young and have nothing truly holding us back in the states, such as kids, a mortgage, a dog… and even if we did, we probably could still make this adventure work.
With this new mindset, we picked January 1st, 2012 as an approximate date to start our trip.
Why January 1st and not now?
We figured our lease in Miami expires at the beginning of November, so we can take the last two months of 2011 to work through the logistics of moving and deciding what to do with all of our stuff. Most importantly, we can spend the holidays with our families up North before we ship out at the start of the new year.
The key lesson that we learned throughout all of this was that you need to be a little selfish and do things for yourself once in awhile. Sure you may miss Bachelor/Bachelorette parties, baby showers, and birthdays, but your loved ones will just be happy that you are living out your dream, regardless of how many miles that dream separates you.
I said in the beginning of the article that there is “never an ‘ideal’ time to put everything on hold”, but I look back at that statement and can argue that what we are doing is not putting our lives on hold. Instead, we are putting our lives into motion – and it is ALWAYS an ideal time to do just that.
Exhausted from traveling every week as a Business Management Consultant early in my career, I took a year off in 2012 to travel at my own pace. I am a high-energy girl that loves being active, eating food, drinking wine, and exploring the world with my partner-in-crime (and husband), Tony! I now reside in Portland, Oregon and continue to write about travel, food, wine, and the awesome adventures we have in the Pacific NW!
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