One Big Year
Posted on Nov 9, 2011 | 31 comments
We take things for granted.
Right now we are sitting on a rock that is traveling at 67,000 miles per hour. And it's been traveling for a very long time.
You think it's hard for the Earth to keep spinning its way around the Sun year after year?
I think we assume it's easy, but who knows? Maybe the Earth is busting its hump everyday trying to get around that Sun. Maybe it just keeps going cause that's its job, and that's what it was created to do.
I'm sure some of you are probably wondering what sort of special medicine I took this evening before I sat down to write this, but I do have a point.
If a giant, stupid rock can hurl itself around the sun for a few billion years and not even think about taking a day off, then what's my excuse?
Why can't I do what I'm supposed to do?
Why can't hurl myself into my work for 1 solid year and just stay on track?
Why can't . . .
Enough with the cant's.
I can. I will. We will.
One big year . . .
and then a lifetime of travel.
The Two Paths
I believe that there are 2 paths you can follow to try and get what you want in life.
The first path is full of hope; it's the path that allows you to stroll. This is the path I have followed most of my life. I like this path. It's comfortable. It provides me with moments of intense creativity and complete laziness. It offers me opportunities to watch the big game and "take the day off". Actually, I love this path. Only problem is that this path just leads me around in a circle. As I continue to walk down this path I keep passing by the same highs and lows I have always had in my life. This path doesn't lead to my promised land.
The second path is a straight line, and it is far from comfy and cozy. It's full of obstacles. It doesn't allow for rest. And when you walk this path you do it with shackles on your legs and an empty stomach. This path leads across the Sahara. Through the toughest places on earth. And most people never dare brave its elements. But, as difficult as this path may be, it provides what the circular path does not. A chance to make it to the promised land.
I choose the second path. I have to. It's the only way.
So, for the next year we will be putting 100% of our time, money, and hearts towards our goal of traveling forever. I know some may think this is an extreme approach, but I have tried others, and they don't work. Understand, we are not trying to take a month off and visit Costa Rica. For us, that might be classified as torture. To experience a piece of our dream up close and then have to wake up and go back to reality. No, that won't work. Our choice is do it or don't.
1 year. 1 long year. And then we will wake up one morning and say, "OK Kids, where do you want to go today?"
What It's Going To Take
I will admit that when I started this website I was naive. I didn't realize the size of the ditch we had dug for ourselves in this rat-raced world. Turns out we were a lot more consumed than I thought. And with this realization came a heap of problems I wasn't really ready to deal with. Traveling forever wasn't going to be as simple as selling our stuff and saving a couple bucks, it was going to take a lot of effort. And again I'll admit, I wasn't ready for that kind of effort.
When you live a certain way for a long time it can be really hard to start living any other way. That said, change ain't going to happen by itself. You got to make a choice, and finally I choose change.
So, here is what our next year is going to look like.
- We have to pay off our remaining $10,000 in debt. (We paid off $30,000 in the past 3 months. Bye, Bye Savings!)
- We have to learn how to live out of a backpack.
- We have to continue to work 9 plus hours each a day and then come home and blog, cook, and plan.
- We have to start homeschooling.
- We have to sell our house, and find a way to get some money out of it.
- We have to save or generate at minimum $50,000, or put away pretty much every cent we can and hope for blackjack.
- We have to make sure we don't forget our kids are growing up before our eyes.
- We have to plan our travels. Or at least the initial bare basics.
- We have to start making money online.
- We have to learn Spanish.
- We have to get healthier.
- We have to sacrifice.
- We have to work.
- And then work some more.
Essentially, we have to start to do everything that is needed to break free and start traveling the world. And we have a plan for how we are going to get that done.
And we are going to share with you every gratifyingly miserable step along the way.
The "GREAT" Family Escape
Like I said, when we started this venture I had no idea what I was getting into. This is not easy. I have often said this would be easier if we were homeless. The tide of progress is surely working against us.
Over the past 6 months I kind of forgot what all of this is all about. And then once again I was reminded in the most casual of ways.
I was at a Starbucks (which by the way will be banned for the next year) and this young girl behind the counter said simply to her friend,
"Thursday is going to be the best day of my life."
I got my coffee and left. I didn't have to hear anymore. I knew exactly what was happening for her on Thursday. She was quitting.
It's not true when people say we only get a few chances in life. We get a million chances. Everyday is full of chances. But if we are on that circular path those chances just become cups of coffee and TV shows and emails.
I remember when I quit my job at 22 and thought it was the best day of my life. And since then I have quit many a job, and made many a move, and done many a thing in life that I might have classified as the "best thing I have ever done", but then again I was on the circular path. I was going around the sun year, after year, after year, and I was doomed to repeat my "best" and "greatest" days.
So recently I remembered why I called this adventure The Great Family Escape. Because good things you do many times, but great things you do once.
OK Escapists, that’s it for now, but make sure you come back and check in on our progress in our quest to travel forever. We promise we’ll put everything we’ve got on the table for you.
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Go for it! Sounds like you've got a great plan. We were much more haphazard about getting ready
We'll be watching and cheering you on this year.
Thanks Alison. I have so tried the haphazard approach. For me it didn't work. I wish it did, it would have been easier. But for me I just have too much working against me. We will see. Good luck to you!
Way to go! Talk about a great pep talk for all of us!!!
You guys don't need a pep talk!
Thanks!
we are behind you one hundred percent of the way. we'll be waiting with bated breathe for each 52 week step. and i must say, i love the idea sooooo much, i'm already thinking of a derivative of that for us. that is sooo inspirational. i've got it. justin, thank you again for guiding us. ready? 52 reasons we travel the world. each week, one reason to inspire others to do it too. you are god. have i told you thank you. i loved the post! so proud to call you guys friends.
gabi
Thanks Gabi! I kind of can't wait to follow and share these steps. If we can pull it off, it will be good news for us and anyone else with a dream.
Thanks again,
Justin
Awesome! I always love a plan. Especially one so public that will help you stick to you plan. The beauty of the life style that you are choosing is that there are a 1001 other positive people to help you.
Can't wait to actually meet you guys in real life
Looking forward to hearing the progress.
Cheers,
Colin
Colin Burns recently posted..Cambodia with Kids: Phnom Penh
Yeah! I figured if I throw it out there I don't have much of a choice but to follow through! Plus I think it will be helpful.
Can't wait to meet up some day!
Sounds like a great plan! Will be really interesting to follow along - although by 1 December we'll only have 48 days until liftoff!!
I'm intriued. Why do you specifically need to learn Spanish?
Tracey recently posted..One Day in Heaven – My Best Travel Memory.
What, no internet on the road?? You can follow along, and we will be following you of course. Learning from you as well!
GO! GO! GO!!! You can do this!! You HAVE to do this!!! We'll help any way we can!! Want to come down some Saturday in Dec. and have a 52 Weeks Launch Party!!! We'll celebrate every week of the year with you... but we won't be here much longer!! WOO HOO!!!!
To quote Robert the Bruce: "FRREEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!"
Jenn Miller recently posted..Goals: Past, Present & Future
Yep! That's the only way right. But we have such a long way to go! No doubts though, but it's gonna be work!
Thanks for all you fantastic support!
Love this post!!! Love the commitment and sacrifice! So excited!!
Melissa recently posted..Good Morning, America, let’s Occupy Wall Street!
Thanks Melissa! Yep, it's going be a long road, but it's all or nothing. Got to get it done!
This was so good for me to read today! I've just spent hours in front of my computer making spreadsheets, budgeting for different travel scenarios, trying to figure out whether to sell or rent out our house, and trying to determine exactly which steps we need to take to get out the door next August. When I first sat down at the computer this morning, I just sat, staring at the screen for a while, trying to just figure out STEP ONE. Not how to do it, but what it was! But I'm happy to report that I figured it out. I actually made just the spreadsheet I needed to figure out which will be better for us. It's got all the variables, everything my husband and I need to see to make our decision, all in one place. Yay for me! And yay for you for mapping out your 52 steps! I may be following in some of those steps along the way.
Paige AllOvertheMap recently posted..DC’s Hidden Gems: Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Museum
I'm always blown away by people with plans - plans just don't seem to work for me. That being said, yours sounds like an awesome plan and I know it'll work!
You've done the hard part - making the decision. Once that's done, the rest is baby steps til it happens!
Nancy from Family on Bikes recently posted..Service dogs help others live their dreams
I wouldn't say it's a plan. I would say it's tracking the process.
For me, with all the other stuff we have added to our daily lives at this point, without some sort of process to stick to I just can't stay focused. Really it is baby steps. 1 baby step per week.
Thanks for the support Nancy!
Yes, your plan is great, but you make it sound like your life is soooo hard and that the coming year will be so difficult and after that all your worries will be over and freedom awaits.
If you find the life you have so hard (you have so many priviledges that most of this world doesn't have!!!!, you have a healthy family, a house, a job, children who can go to school and don't have to work or prostitute themselves, you have food, water, you have choices, you have ... so much) can I suggest that you find more happiness in your home first and then leave knowing that what you left behind is just good too? If you escape you risk to actually bring all the baggage with you. The world out there doesn't look better than what you have at home. Contrary. And if you feel like escaping your life, what if one day you need to go back to it? You will be terrified.
I know from our own experience that travelling is great and that spending so much time together is great and that living more in the moment and making random decisions is great and lots and lots more is great too.
But life at home can be great too!!!! Don't forget how lucky you are to have what you have.
Another word out of our own experience.... travel forever might be a nice thought at the moment, but it can also become so normal that you might want to escape the travel everyday life too. I believe that a healthy middle path and a good mix of different lifestyles is nice. Also, your children might not want to travel forever, they might want a more settled life after a while. After years on the road (with times of living and working abroad) our boys wanted nothing more than a life at home, a life with more independence and friends they can call, a life in a normal school as normal boys. Their world has actually become bigger since we settled down again!
All I would like to ask for your own sake is that you understand what a great year you have in front of you! And that you see what great things you have. Don't just live for the day of your departure, live the moment now!
Nadine Hudson recently posted..Eltern als Lehrer – eine gute Idee? Wenn die Kinder sesshaft werden wollen.
Great advice Nadine. I 100% understand what you are saying. On many levels my life seems fantastic, and on many levels it is!
I don't want the world to change. Nor do I expect it to be easy, or better. We are the ones who have to change. Currently I am missing out on my children's childhoods. My "grand" life is simply to demanding. Same goes for Heidi. We both feel the same.
Life at home can certainly be great. But it is tough when you spend 75% of your waking day at work shuffling your kids here and there instead of playing with them. And many will say, well, then make some changes to your home life. And that is exactly what we are trying to do.
Traveling forever to us means having the ability to travel forever. I don't imagine we will be living in hotels the rest of our lives, but having the freedom is ideal. We had freedom once, and that was when we traveled. So we will shoot for that again.
In the end Nadine, the kids run the show. If they have had enough and need/want the home and routine, we go back, but hopefully with new careers that allow us to work from home.
Thanks again! I take your thoughts and advice very much to heart!
Dear Justin and Heidi and children
Thank you for your reply and I really wish you all a very good time. It's so true that when you travel you have the gift of spending heaps of time together as a family and you become a very strong team. We often didn't have to talk anymore, as we sort of knew what each other were thinking.
However, I also wish you all that one day you may return to your home a changed person with new perspectives (and the children will of course be older and won't want to spend their time with you too much) and new energy to be the change at home that you are looking for. The Chinese have a wonderful proverb:
He who travels a lot becomes wise; he who is wise stays home.
Good luck!
Nadine,
Good advice! I don't think we want to travel forever. I think we want the ability to travel forever. It's the freedom we want, who doesn't right?
I can't see myself living from home and working the 9-5 as we do now. If and when that changes, I am sure things will become very, very nice at "home".
Justin,
wow, what an amazing step. It's both a Great Escape and you're a Great Family! That Starbucks example was very strong, how something tiny can change your life. We will be with you along the way, all the 52 steps (what a wonderful way of getting the message out by the way).
As I also mentioned to Clark in his recent post, once this is written down, the journey really starts. You now have on- and offline friends who are with you, who will help you and assist. Maybe more importantly, who will learn from you. Because I think you can become a role model for many. Sad thing the Oprah show is not airing anymore, you would definitely be on it!
I want to learn from you guys, how you are going to live out of a backpack, make money online, sacrifice and plan. Maybe planning is the least important, the only plan is to be ready for 1 December 2013: S.T.A.R.T.
Emiel recently posted..10 Extraordinary Travel Sceneries (part I)
And of course I mean 2012..
52 steps are enough I guess, we don't want to take 104 LOL
Emiel recently posted..10 Extraordinary Travel Sceneries (part I)
That's a great post and a great attitude, I look forwards to continuing to read your blog.
I'm also using this comment to say thank you for blogging BEFORE you left -- it's not only great to see the process, but you helped encourage my husband and I to start blogging before we left (about six months left for us.)
Whatever else you do though, keep writing!
Thank you Melissa! Great to know we can help push each other along. Please let me know when you take off. I am very interested in seeing how you do and following your adventures! Thanks for the support!
I'm looking forward to following along with you as you prepare for your adventure. I'm rooting for you to be successful in reaching your goal of more time with your children.
Thanks Jo. We will do our best and hope for good results!
I admire your continued and methodical approach to pursuing your goal, despite the 'mundane' tasks of budgeting and downsizing, etc that comes along with it.
My husband too used to feel that 1month holidays would be equivalent to torture--hence we planned for our 1yr trip.
But as Nadine voiced, we don't feel that traveling forever is the answer nor the only means to living the lifestyle that we want. Sure it's fun (most of the time) mostly because of the variety and lack of responsibility for mundane things.
But our kids are not school aged yet and we really couldn't imagine finding time to homeschool based on our itinerary thus far.
So then if we had to do that, we'd probably have to settle somewhere for a while (as many long term traveling families seem to do also). But then you're not really traveling anymore--you're just homeschooling but in a foreign country. And once 'settled', won't you end up with the same day to dayness that you thought endless travel would bring??
We have lots of routine in our lives during our travels--it's necessary with our kids. Plus people are creatures of habit, no matter how much we dislike that thought.
And as Nadine said, we will now hopefully return home with a greater determination to preserving the 'good' aspects that travel brought to our lives, such as more family time, living with less, and appreciating the fascinating little things that occur around us all the time, regardless of where you are.
Travel is wonderful, but so is spending time with old friends and family. A happy medium is probably the key, but as elusive to attain.
I don't think it is "fun" we are looking for, it is freedom. No doubt the road brings a new kind of work, but a work we can control and embrace.
I would love to be stuck in one place with my family for a while, minus the demanding jobs, big mortgage, and the rest. Now many will say this can be achieved without travel and they are right, but we like travel, so why not do it. I have never been able to spend more than a week with friends and family, but this provides us that opportunity.
You are right, people are creatures of habit. We want to change our habits, our jobs, our way of living. If that leads us back home in a year or to so be it, but when we return we will ideally have the ability to get up and go again, to change course. Now we don't have that, nor have we found any way to achieve it.
I don't see us traveling very fast. And I do see us working as we travel, but on our own terms. That makes a huge difference for us.
That happy, elusive medium you speak of, that is what we are after. Long road ahead, but worth taking a shot for.
As you said in your previos post, simplifying your life with 'less stuff' will definitely give you more freedom, so in this case to pursue the lifestyle that you want! Have fun with the planning!