It all started on a cold, blustery day. December 30th to be exact. Somehow I got promoted to first class on my United flight back from NY (where I was spending the holidays with my family) to CO. Not sure if you all know what happens in first class, but now I do. They hang your jacket, feed you three course meals, all the wine and beer you'd like, hot towel, oh, and of course that's where life epiphanies happen. For those of you who haven't tried out first class, give it a whirl. You might just have life epiphanies. Or maybe the life epiphanies just happen when you get promoted to first class, not when you actually pay for it. Maybe I'll take a poll and see.
Anyhow, I was sitting in first class, contemplating life as any normal 26-year old who is confused about many aspects in life would do. I missed the north east. I missed my family and the ocean and my friends back there. So I started to doodle. I drew a sad attempt of the outline of Massachusetts and thought about living in mass. Then I did the same for Vermont. Then I did the same for Colorado. Then I started to draw the world. I wasn't consciously doing it. It was just happening. Then I paused and had an "oh shit" moment. Oh shit. Maybe that's my next step. The world.
So after a few beers and wine, I happily exited the plane. I might have even been the first one of the plane....that's how first class I was. I made a pact to myself to not tell Skylr about this ingenious plan just yet. After all, I was still trying to wrap my head around this crazy idea. Skylr picked me up from the airport and we talked and shared stories about the past week and I did great at keeping my mouth quiet about traveling. We got home and I unpacked and we kept talking and then I just couldn't keep it in any longer. I blurted out "so I was thinking....maybe instead of buying a house we should travel?" Silence. A look of surprise. More silence. I thought "maybe I should have waited a few days. Maybe I should have put more thought into the plan." And then he replied, "yes." What what. I knew he would be on board but I thought maybe there would be some kind of hesitancy. I mean, come on. 98% of people would have said something along the lines of "We don't have the money. We both have great jobs. We both have paid vacation and retirement plans. You have student loans to pay. We have a dog. We're too old. We're too young. The world is scary. We don't have the time. You're insane." But not Skylr ;) He was just as pumped at the idea as I was. We giggled and we became more excited about the thought each minute. That night we mentioned Asia, Austrailia, New Zealand, South America, Europe, and I can't even remember where else. But it was definitely something we were interested in pursuing.
The next night, we had some friends over for New Year's Eve. I was in the kitchen prepping some champagne or dip or something, when I overheard Skylr telling one of our friends "oh yeah. Laura and I have decided to travel the world after our lease is up." Another oh shit moment. Oh shit. This is a real thing. Skylr is telling people already. I smiled hugely to myself. Yes this was happening. Yes we are about to travel the world.
So after New Year's Eve, things just started to happen. We talked about saving money and where we should go for the first couple months, trying to not get too excited because it was so far away and you just never know. We told our families about our big plan in late January to see reactions. To be expected, they were mixed. We started to sell things, not go out as much as to save money, and we researched (well mostly, I researched, but Skylr listened to my findings with a smile on his face).
Now, July 15th, I sit in our almost empty home. We have two weeks to sell the rest of our belongings (that we're not storing in AZ). We have a one way ticket to Jakarta, Indonesia. And we have a list of about 37 things to figure out and do before we leave the states.
We about to travel the world.
