FROMEVERYWHEREWITHLOVE
You've asked a million great questions! And we're sure you have a million more.
We'll keep documenting as your questions keep coming, but for now, here are a few of our favortie FAQ's.
01
I'm sorry... you're doing what?!
Yep. We're traveling the world. For the forseeable future. That's a real thing people do sometimes!
02
What are you doing with all of your stuff?
Well, we did a nice clean sweep of our apartment before we moved out and got rid of about 40% of our stuff. What wasn't recycled (old manuals, magazines...) or tossed (our VERY beloved but horribly uncomfortably and broken hand-me-down sofa) we donated to Good Will and Disabled American Veterans. A very special lady (Hi, Auntie! We love you!) generously offered to host the remainder of our belongings. We packed everything up in boxes and bags and tucked them away nicely in a safe basement.
03
What about your jobs?
We were both fortunate enought to have great jobs we really loved...unfortuntely, we can't do both. So we said 'goodbye' to our careers and coworkers. For now...
04
Wait, what about your cars?
Sara's Rogue is snuggled in Auntie's garage for the time being. Don't worry, she plans to start is every once in a while to keep it in tip-top shape through the fridig Minnesota winer. Will decided it made most sense to sell his Jeep. It was a tough decision. We will be a one car family when we return, and purchase a new car when we need two again.
05
How do you plan for something like this?
Once we decided long-term travel was something we were serious about, we slowly started making changes in our life to support our adventure: ate out less, brought lunches to work more, skipped the Starbucks line, increased our 401k contributions since we wouldn't be contributing while we were traveling, put more money into savings every paycheck, researched countries, cities, airlines, backpacking blogs, travel sites... you name it, we read about it to decide how to most cost efficiently plan and execute the trip, got help from friends and families (so much love and support here helped as we wrapped up plans), made a timeline, kinda stuck to it, and slowly started checking things off our to-do list leading up to departure. We know that no matter how planful we are, we will need to be flexible and roll with the punches. No type-A here, folks.
06
So, where are you going?
We don't have everything planned to a T, but we're starting in Tokyo and plan to spend about 2 weeks in Japan. From there, we'll head to South Korea for a week or so. China for 2-3 weeks. Stop off in Taiwan. A few days in Hong Kong. And then fly into Bangkok. We then have a rough route for Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines. Depending on how quickly or slowly we move through those countries, we would like to hit India, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Iran before coming home around May/June.
07
What are you bringing?
We each have a backpack. That’s it. So the lighter the better. No suitcases. No duffle bags. No 50 lb checked luggage. Everything we have with us fits in a pack that we carry. Sara also has a cross-body bag for daily use, and Will has a compactable day-pack that tucks up nicely in his larger pack when we don’t need it. Want to know the knitty gritty? Check out this blog post cataloging every one of the items we packed.