Not All Who Wander Are Lost – Lord of the Rings
The above is my favorite quote. I have a necklace with that saying engraved on it even. My greatest desire has always been to wander.
Many months ago (if you recall) I blogged about the idea that my family and I might move to Costa Rica and stay there for a year or so. It was VERY exciting to me, to realize that we could afford to go on my salary. Yes, we would have to sell off most of our belongings (which we did in great part) and we could not maintain a home here in the US as well … but we could go live elsewhere on my income. We put things in motion and started researching places to live and the customs in Costa Rica, as well as the visa requirements. It was a source of stress to think that my work at home income would be the ONLY income we would have but I wanted to make that leap.
Our dreams were kind of dashed when we started talking to relatives. The hints were not so subtle that our leaving would be like knifing them in the heart. And if someone took the children I love more than life, out of the country for a year, I too would be upset. I can understand and so we abandoned that dream with a heavy heart. Maybe if we hadn’t… things might be different now.
I would still love to do more traveling because it has always been a big part of life up until I had kids. My green lifestyle would make travel a challenge but one that kind of excites me. I still hope to find a compromise that will make some extended travel possible. We may have to set down some roots and expand my income so we can maintain a “home base” that we can return to often. Or we can broaden the plan to include a travel group larger than the 5 people in our family. Maybe we could make our home base mobile via a motorhome that could be parked for relatively cheap when we wanted to go beyond the borders of our continent. I follow the blog of several families who have veggie oil motorhomes and they travel the US in them. There are several states I want to see before I decide on the best place to set up our base camp. We have many options for our wandering hearts and I cannot give up on the dream.
I love to read books about families who have made the leap….
Monkey Dancing – About a man who took his two kids on a round the world trip after a painful divorce.
All in the Same Boat – It is about a trial lawyer and a teacher and how they decide to quit their jobs, buy a boat and sail away. They even raise two daughters from infancy on their boat.
One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children – About a man and his wife who sell off everything they own and use the money to travel with their kids for a full year.
One family, whose blog I follow, just released a new book called “Extended World Travel – How to take a break from the rat race and travel the world with your family for 6 months – or more!” . This family of five is Swedish and they travel for large chunks of time… like 6 months or more, in places all over the world and this book is a compilation of their formula for how they are able to travel this way.
Recent developments in my life have made me realize that the rat race is sucking the life out of us. We need to Grab Life By the Disco Balls and Dance. There is no time like the present and repeatedly ignoring our dreams is not working out for us.
This is my one and only life, and its a great and terrible and short and endless thing, and none of us come out of it alive. – Holly – P.S. I Love You
Do you have dreams of extended travel or some of other wild dream? Are you working towards it every day?
