On July 21st we hit 180 days on the road.
6 months of non-stop travel. There are many travelers out there who have been on the road for years whom we admire, but this 6 month mark feels huge to us.
It might seem like our trip is all fun and games (ok, it kinda is) but when we’re not out meeting new people and exploring this wonderful world we’re each on the edge of a hostel bed, balancing our laptops on our knees, working. (A guesthouse with a desk triples our productivity.) We’re working on the blog, learning new skills and improving ourselves in preparation for our eventual return home.
We have officially caught the bug. Luckily it wasn’t a mosquito in Africa, but an illness that will always keep us hungry. We’re sick with a desire for an independent life. We’ve gotten a taste of living life without a “normal job” and have both vowed to fight to keep it this way. Call it the entrepreneurial spirit I grew up with or Josh’s big dreams finally becoming a reality.
In these 6 months we have been lucky to meet people who love their job and live their lives big. Not big in a rich and fabulous way, but big in terms of dreams, risk and freedom. Whether they are a teacher turned guesthouse owner or a business woman turned smoothie lady each one made conscious decisions to pursue a new path, a change of course or a retirement (however you want to see it).
We are excited not only for the remainder of the year–hiking Patagonia and Macchu Picchu, diving in the Galapagos and exploring the Peruvian Amazon–but are excited for what’s after. Excited, not in an anxious “oh crap what are we going to do next” icky feeling, but an “oh crap we can do anything we want to do and we are confident we can make it happen” feeling.
It’s an odd shift where one day you doubt the unconventional lifestyle, due to the fear of success and rejection – while the next day you are chasing after it. The fear hasn’t gone away, but through our travels we have become comfortable with fear, change and the unknown. We see the freedom that waits for us at the other end and every day we work towards it we feel a little more free.
Here’s to another 5 months of exploring and figuring it all out!
You two are such an inspiration and make me so excited for my own future and unknown ahead of me! I’ve enjoyed reading about, seeing pictures of, and hearing personal stories about all of these amazing things that you’ve experienced and I can’t wait for more to come! Keep up the good work (and fun!), stay safe, and keep doing what you want to do because it’s pretty stinkin’ awesome! Love you both!
Thanks Jade, can’t wait to see what adventures are in store for you!
Congrats on 6 months. When I first hit that milestone I was well into a “get me home already” and “I never want to go home” conundrum. That trip wound up lasting 9 months, and then 3 years later, my wife and I are back at it again!
BTW, love the shot of you guys at the Grand Palace. I remember those long pants they make you rent. MAN do they make your legs hot. As if it’s not already hot enough in Bangkok.
The pants were SO HOT! I was dehydrated by the end of the day. Blamed it on the pants.
Congratulation! I remember when I was introduced to your web site through Vegablogging. I have a question, did you ever watch a backpacker documentary called A Map called Saturday? It’s about a guy who documented his one year experience backpacking and traveling around the world. In the middle and maybe towards the end of the documentary, the backpacker say after a while of traveling, the fizz or the feeling he once had in the beginning of the trip sort of died out. What he meant was even if it was a different country, after a while, it became the same museum, the same type of food, the same type of group of people he would meet, basically the experience is some what the same in a different set of environment. After traveling for six months, do you feel the experience you had at the beginning is the same? Does it feel somewhat of a routine now? So far do you think six months of traveling is too long, too short or just right? If you didn’t have to think about the expense or the opportunity costs, would you go back home for one month and continue your trip where you left off? Congratulation again and thanks.
Good question JL. I haven’t seen the documentary but I can totally relate to the premise. We loved Asia, but by the end it was pretty comfortable. We knew what to expect upon arriving in a new city or country, and went through the same routine of finding accommodation, things to eat and things to do (and wi-fi, of course).
Especially as we neared the end of our time in Vietnam, I felt some of those same feelings. But then we went to Africa and had the adventure of a lifetime on our self-drive safari which re-ignited our love for travel all over again. We’ll see how the next 5 months pan out in South America and if it’s more of the same or if we feel like we’re having all new experiences.
As you travel for a longer period of time, how you decide to spend your time changes. At the beginning we’d try to see everything, and at this point we’re quite happy to skip even “bucket list” tourist attractions because we’ve seen so many. Six months is a great amount of time to travel if you want to see a lot of one continent and maybe a little of another. We had to go longer to see all the places we wanted to see. I don’t think a month at home right now would do us any good. We’re quite comfortable living this way right now and taking a month “break” at home before continuing would probably be a bigger change than heading to a whole new continent!
Thanks for the challenging and insightful comment!
Thanks Josh. Hallie LouLou said it perfectly, I’m with you in spirit and I always go to your website day dreaming in the middle of my day. Check out the documentary, it brought a lot of the same emotion and memory backpacking.
No matter where you two are in the world we will be connected in spirit and stories! Your love and your sense of adventure and freedom is inspiring! You are changing the world for the better!
You come along with me on all my adventures! You are my inspiration and am glad to have you in my world!
i’m so proud of you guys! 🙂 You’ve accomplished so much and you still have more to experience! miss you everyday but I’m so glad you are having the time of your lives and doing what makes you happy! 🙂 love you both, around the world and back
Thanks Kels!