Excellent question. If you’ve decided to take some time off from work to do something different for a bit, how do you begin to decide what to do? For us it was a long time of what ifs and how abouts and that sounds interestings. One hears from time to time about those people who just quit their jobs, sell their belongings, and travel the world. Actually one often reads about them in a magazine or newspaper or blog. I certainly have – in fact I usually print those stories out and put them on my desk amidst the stacks and stacks and stacks of papers, intending to read up on these fascinating people if only I could find the time.
And then about a year ago, I said to Ryan – no, really, why not?! And that started a semi-serious conversation about whether we could actually take some time off.
And we decided that we could. And what’s more, that we would. A perfect storm existed in our lives at that moment that allowed us to seriously consider and actually decide to take this sabbatical. I was about to pay off my outrageous amount of student loans, we conveniently had no mortgages or other big commitments [because WHO are these people who can actually afford to buy real estate in the Bay Area?!], and we were both at a bit of a turning point at work, having worked for long enough in our careers that we felt comfortable that we’d made a place and a name for ourselves so that perhaps we could risk a break, but also at a bit of a decision point in terms of the future and whether we would continue down our present paths or perhaps consider something different. Throw in there the very pointed decision that we have made of not yet having kids (I KNOW my clock’s a-ticking, thankyouverymuch, but I’ve still got some things to do for me), and it meant that we could seriously think about taking some time off of work and off of life. Take time for ourselves.
Wanderlust consumed her; foreign hearts and exotic minds compelled her. She had a gypsy soul and a vibrant hope for the unknown. -D. Marie
What Would We Do and Where Would We Go?
Being the gypsy that I am, I immediately thought I’d want to travel the world, seeing remote and unique places that have always been “on my list” – which, let’s be honest, pretty much covers everywhere. So we chatted about what that might look like and in particular, how much that might cost. And quickly realized that while we were finally unburdened by my student loans, we weren’t that far in the black that we could afford to be-bop around from country to country. Plus, could we really be away from our beloved Coconut for that long? We certainly wouldn’t be able to take her with us if we traveled around the world.
So we turned to the idea of traveling around this big, beautiful country of ours. I have seen much more of the rest of the world in my 32 years than I have of my own country, and so we decided that maybe we’d want to take the time to see the West. Ryan is a born and bred Floridian, and I’ve hopped around a bit as a child, but mostly in the Southeastern U.S. We’ve both lived in lots of different places as adults, but never out West before moving to San Francisco. As weekend warriors in the last 5 years, we’ve covered a lot of ground but there is just so much to see! So we started to contemplate a road trip around the West.
Why drive all the way to Alaska? Well, why not? We’ve always wanted to go to Alaska, there’s tons of fishing and hiking and beautiful, open, unspoiled scenery. So we decided that’s what we would do. We would basically drive from the Mexican border up to Alaska and to the Arctic Circle.
I mean, look at this #vanlife example! Heavenly. Image via.
What Would This “Roadtripping” Actually Look Like?
We are a bit obsessed with the idea of #VanLife and have been following interesting characters living out of their vans around the country and the world on Instagram. We actually drove by a couple that we’ve been following – Where’s My Office Now – while we were in Montana last summer. And we turned around and introduced ourselves and I am sure they thought we were nuts but we felt like we’d run into celebrities! After looking into what it would take to get one of these vans up and running (seriously, do a bit of googling – some people have the most interesting, ingenious setups!), we decided that we probably didn’t have the time or the space to actually build out a van, or a camper for that matter. We DREAM of buying and restoring an Airstream, but without a garage or tools or any space at all, living in San Francisco, that was out of the picture as well. So we started googling campers and RVs and trailers, and all manner of possibilities and finally decided on a teardrop camper. They are small and compact, can be trailered behind our Subaru Outback (we didn’t want to buy a new car if it could be avoided) and can be unlatched from the car so that we could park it and then drive around as we pleased.
How Long Could We Last?
Having decided on a great western road trip, we decided that we’d try for about 6 months (that seems like a nice round number, no? 3 months is too short, a year seems a little too irresponsibly long?). We’d start around March, because that’s about the start of the nice weather out West, and we’d start in the Southwest, to give the mountains time to thaw out their snow!
We will certainly not be able to see everything in 6 months, but we are going to try to come pretty darn close. We’ll avoid most big cities, focus on the areas that we’ve always wanted to see – southern Utah, the Oregon and Washington coasts, British Columbia, and especially Alaska, and we’ll try to visit every friend who lives out West along the trip. And we’ll try to hit as many National Parks as we can. I love the National Parks. And this year conveniently is the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service.
And there you have it – our basic thought process in arriving at the decision to take 6 months away from reality, do a road trip in a tiny camper, and drive from the Mexican border to the Arctic Circle!
Would you have done it any differently? Any suggestions for Must See spots or Must Do activities?
BY Jackie
BLOGGED FROM Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Arizona
