Archive for August, 2007

August 10th 2007
Preparing to Leave

Posted under U.S.

Our house finally sold after more than 100 days on the market! In North Texas we were told that houses sit on the market for an average of 65+ days, but that doesn’t make waiting any easier. The suspense nearly killed us.

On March 17th, 2007 we made it official. We would quit our jobs and travel the world. Such a ludicrous idea was certainly not without much deliberation. We are both very passionate about travel and this was an idea which we’ve talked about since we first started dating. This time Tina brought up the subject. I don’t know why it was different this time…why we actually decided to turn our dream into reality. Maybe it was because we realized that there’s no time like now to do such an extraordinary thing…before we have children and settle down in suburbia with a picture-perfect life (again!). Or maybe we just need a break from “Corporate America” to do something different. Whatever the reason, I don’t think we’ll ever regret it.

Since we made that fateful decision I spent the next two months obsessively planning the details of our impending epic adventure (certainly driving Tina crazy in the process). After losing some of the initial enthusiasm as we waited for our house to sell, we’re back to frantically planning.  We are so excited!  This is all we think about anymore. How can we think about anything else? This is easily the most courageous, exhilarating, expansive thing that either of us has ever considered.

We finalized almost all of the “big stuff” and a lot of the details. The house is sold, most of our earthly belongings were sold and what remained is now in an 10’x18′ climate-controlled storage unit. Travel insurance is purchased, initial plane tickets booked, “rough” itinerary prepared, and we’ve resigned from our jobs (although I will continue working through the end of August).  Our wonderful dog Lena, is going to stay with grandma in Phoenix for a while.  We leave next week to drop her off…ugggghhhh. The good news is that with each day that passes we are able to continue saving more money, spend time with good friends, and look forward to the epic adventure ahead.

19 Comments