By: MJ + PJ
Before we made the decision to uproot and travel for a year we had sat ourselves down in 2016 and considered all factors (CAF; CoRT Thinking) and scenarios for what we could do with our lifestyle and intentions, to the tune of:
- Stay, don’t move, keep house, status quo.
- Move within US, buy small/cheap house, passive income, increase travel frequency.
- Move to Australia, build minimal house on sister’s land, part time work, be rural.
- Move to Australia, buy a coastal house, work traditional or part time.
- Travel for a year, then decide.
So yeah – we chose to perform the ultimate act of professional procrastination.
Luckily for us, we had some friends who had just returned from a year on the road who were willing to deliver some wisdom and throw some fuel on our fire. They were back in town, and we were able to ask some beginner-esque questions over some local beers and then delve a little deeper on topics some time later over a backyard dinner.
The big difference was: We have a kid.
But this is not a reason not to move ahead. This is 2018… it’s not like no parents in the history of humankind ever took their offspring on a open ended trip with the bare minimums. Even single parents can do this sort of thing. We decided to focus not on what could go wrong, but on what our kid would get that would separate him from the rest of his generation as he grew up. (A stream of double negative verbiage for you… it’s a healthcare thing.)
With our vagabonding friends’ good advice and a few borrowed books, we came up with a Plan A. We also did a lot for searching and snooping around online for other similar families and travelers. And we created a sketch of things to start sorting out:
Clearly, these parents drive a broadly defined and slightly oiled machine. If you came looking for how to plan a trip like this, maybe try the ADVICE + TIPS page of this website instead of studying this photo.
The last arrow point: prophetic
