Why?
This has been the most common question asked to us . . . even more than “Are you crazy?” I guess the most straight forward answer can be . . . well, we might be – just a little. But, why not? We have worked very hard to create this wonderful opportunity that not everyone gets. We are at a crossroads of our lives and this gets to be one of our paths to choose. We can opt for a life of domesticity and normalcy with a mortgage and weekends spent cutting the lawn. OK, we’d buy a condo so there wouldn’t be a lawn to cut – but we would have to enjoy our weekends sipping mojitos on our deck looking over a downtown skyline. Or before that happens, we can take this time and travel.
We aren’t weighed down by many of the common issues and limitations that most people have.
We are both relatively young
We have all our health and most of our wits
We don’t have kids
We don’t carry debt
We save our money
We live well within our means
And we really like to and want to travel.
Christine was lucky enough to be in the Peace Corps. She was placed Jamaica for 2 years in a small community just outside Montego Bay in the northwest part of the island. After the Peace Corps and after college, Christine began working in the school system – and getting summers off. What a deal! She would spend the spring term of the school year preparing for her trip and the following fall basking in the glow in the memories of a well spent summer traveling through the world.
I didn’t really do much traveling before he met Christine. I was born in Eastern Canada and soon my family moved into the US. My traveling was within the US. I can recall at least eight towns or cities I’ve lived in through the years. But I had never traveled outside of either the US or Canada. When we met in 2005, I didn’t even have a passport! Shameful, I know. I grew up reading books and watching movies of adventures in faraway places I’d never knew existed with names I couldn’t really pronounce. I guess I’ve always wanted to be somewhere else. Not because I didn’t like where I was or who I was with . . . I just wanted to know what it was like to drink from a coconut on a sandy beach, feel the stinging frozen air during a Scandinavian snow storm, or to be overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of an overcrowded train making its way across a desert in India.
We met in March 2005, and by that July I had my passport in hand and met her in Guatemala while she was on another amazing summer trip. Christine has done more traveling than I have. When we met my two countries of experience paled in comparison to the 30+ countries that Christine had been to.
We’ll be getting married on September 1, 2009 on a sandy beach in Aitutaki, while in the Cook Islands and our travels will continue from there.
This just seems like the right thing to do.
It feels right.
To grab a backpack, hold each other’s hand, walk on a plane and begin the adventure of a lifetime.
Themocracy
Hey B&P,
I totally agree with the stuff you say above… but that doesn’t make you less crazy:)) I just had a look at you itinerary and it looks amazing! Only by seeing and dreaming about all these places must be amazing. Hopefully the preparations are going okay, and its already less than a month from now:))
Cy, david