How things came about

We have been asked by many people, "How did this all come about?" Here's the story...
We have heard the comment many times, "You are so lucky to be able to do this trip, I would love to do something like that." Well, with all due respect it isn't 'luck' that is allowing us to do this 'Journey of a Lifetime' it's all the saving, planning, organizing and researching that we have done over the past 9 months.
Cathy and I have come full circle in the past few years. We both became professionals in the work force, we bought a new Subaru, bought a big house and got our wonderful dog Elke.
We did it, got all the 'stuff' right? Well, we were (and are) happy, but felt like we were kind of in a rut. We found ourselves doing the same thing everyday and we wanted more in our lives.
Cathy has always wanted to travel to the south of France, but we could never find a time to go that worked for us. One day she came home and asked me this question, "What do you think about packing up our things and traveling for awhile?" I have always been kind of spontaneous and somewhat of a free spirit, so my immediate answer was an enthusiastic "Lets go!!"

We decided to sell our house with the thought, if the house sells it's a sign that we should do the trip, if not, then we shouldn't; the house sold in 30 days, the ball was in motion.
Cathy and I did not make sacrifices for this trip, we made choices; we chose to make this our priority. We feel this trip will make us better individuals as well as a stronger couple.
As I stated earlier, we have come full circle. We sold our big house, quit our professional jobs, sold our new Subi, and moved into a friends house until we leave. When we return from our trip we will be back in our 750 sq ft. condo, driving our 1993 Subi and looking for new jobs.
Something we have realized while preparing for our trip is that, for us, life is not about material things, it's about the experiences you have, it's about the people you meet and the friendships you make; it's about the different cultures you encounter and the places you visit.
Being a teacher I have always told my students to be 'Life long learners,' and to me there is no better education than traveling the world! Next stop...south of France

That's our story and we're sticking to it. Cheers!