When Jonathan and Abi suggested to Richard that he call me, little did he know how much his life was going to change. Five years later his life has become more colorful, a little louder and he is all the better for it (at least that’s what I say). In our four years in Hawai’i, we’ve gotten married, we’ve made awesome friends and have been able to call one of the most beautiful places in the world home. One constant conversation we started having early on was about travel. Richard had wanted to do a world trip since his time in the Marshall Islands, and did a short version of it in 2010 – which you can read about here. I’d always wanted to do extensive travel, but had only done so on a minimal scale. We thought it would be a good idea to save and eventually embark on a trip around the world together.
We found ourselves at a crossroads about a month ago; we could go back to the mainland, stay in Paradise or just go on our honeymoon, the trip around the world. The idea percolated and marinated for a few weeks. On Monday, the 17th we decided, let’s do this! On Tuesday, the 18th, I gave notice and on Thursday, the 20th I sent out my official notice to the rest of my colleagues to let them know that we would be traveling for 10 months to a year. Sometimes it’s better to just do things on a whim and not overthink it.
Visas, vaccinations, medicines, packing, spending time with friends and family… we have a list of to do’s as we prepare to embark on this journey. We leave Honolulu in 18 days (September 8th). Excitement, fear, excitement, anticipation, excitement, are all the feels I am getting. Did I mention excitement?
Our first stop is the mainland to visit our families and take care of some personal business while we are there. Then it’s off to China on September 18th for Richard to reconnect with his roots. We will plan as we go. We will both be doing some work while we travel.
You can all live vicariously through us as we (well I) say good-bye to a conventional work environment. I do plan to do remote work but I feel that is the wave of the future. You can work from anywhere now days. Anyone need some Rasiers Edge (RE) clean up work, translations? Hit me up.
We will be sporadically updating this blog with our preparation, once we leave the country there will be more cool stuff to help you escape the monotony of your day.
Elated and proud to know such adventurous people. Godspeed!
So excited for you two! Keep me posted where you are and hope our paths will cross!
I’m so proud of you for taking the plunge! Have an amazing trip and promise we can still be connected via G-chat, where I can solicit life advice from you both forever! Safe travels!