The Trip.

In my head, it’s always had a capital “T”.  The details have changed over the years, but the underlying plan has remained more or less the same.  It’s been a driving force behind major life decisions, an occasional source of frustration, and above all, a light at the end of the tunnel.  It’s been such a pervasive aspect of my life, in fact, that at times I forget how unusual it must sound to anyone that doesn’t live inside my head (which, to my understanding, is a lot of people).

In August of 2016, Bridgette and I will be quitting our jobs, selling most of our things, and heading to the airport with nothing more than a pack on our backs and a one-way ticket in our hands.  The plan is… vague.  Intentionally so.  We know that we’ll be flying into Colombia and heading south from there.  We also know that we’ll be in South America for around nine months, at which time we’ll be heading to Japan and, from there, westward into the rest of Asia.  Beyond that, it’s a lot of blank pages waiting to be filled.

We’ll be going to cities, towns, and regions that seem interesting and exploring them until we decide to move on.  No itineraries, no schedules, nowhere we have to be.  If we decide we aren’t enjoying a place, we’ll move on.  If we find a place that we love, there will be nothing stopping us from staying for a couple weeks or even months.  We’ll be hiking in the mountains, relaxing on the beaches, visiting museums, and trying new foods, making memories and (hopefully) friends along the way.

This won’t be a “vacation” as they’re normally envisioned.  Save for a few special occasions, we won’t be staying in 5-star hotels or all-inclusive resorts.  We’re not going to be having three meals a day in restaurants.  We’re going to be staying in hostels, which usually offer cheap beds in a dorm-style room on a per-person basis.  They cater to the younger backpacking crowd, so we’re likely to meet like-minded travelers without going too far out of our way.  They also have kitchens available for use, so for a number of our meals, we’ll be cooking for ourselves, which will help keep costs down as well.  We’ll be taking local transportation like buses rather than taxis in many cases.  The idea is to make what money we do have saved up last as long as possible.

I’ll go into more detail on a lot of these points in future posts.  I’ll go into our plans, finances, motivations, budgets, health, vaccinations, and probably too many other topics to list.  I’ll also, of course, be blogging in detail about what we’re doing during the Trip itself when that time comes.  This blog will serve as a journal for ourselves, a way to stay in contact with friends and family, and hopefully as a useful resource for fellow (or potential) travelers.  There’s a lot I don’t know about the direction this blog will take, but I suppose it’s only appropriate that it has as meandering a path as its topic.

The rest is just waiting to be written.