The Wind Down, and Plane Tickets

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. As I'm sitting at home in my hotel room, it seems a bit surreal to think about. Our time left in Illinois is coming to a close. I've been a bit nonchalant about the whole thing, mostly because it hasn't actually hit me yet. I think this is why my posts have been slowing down a bit... I'm still going about my day to day like like this isn't really happening. My guess is that I won't REALLY feel it until Thursday night, when I close the pharmacy gate for the last time. Last week, we each had a going away party with our coworkers. On the drive there, I felt like I should be nervous, excited, anxious, sentimental, freaking out... something. I made the comment, "I can't believe we're going to our going away party" more than once, but nothing felt out of the ordinary. We socialized, ate, had a good time, reminisced about some good times, said some goodbyes, and ended with "See you at work tomorrow!" My last day is Thursday. Three more days. It will be the first time I haven't been working or in school since I was sixteen. I still have a few things left on my to do list for work, like figuring out how to roll over my 401k, finishing up some continuing education, and getting my resume up to date. For the most part, I plan on enjoying these last three days of work as much as possible. I have been lucky enough to work with some great people.

We are leaving Illinois on May 15. I have one run left with my running club. We will visit our favorite Thai place one more time. One more breakfast at Omega. One more weekend in the hotel. One more haircut. Daniel has one more birthday. One more holiday at work. We have to drive to Ohio from Illinois one more time in our falling apart (literally, there is duct tape involved) car. I don't want to get too sentimental about things, but I do hope to snap a picture at each of our "lasts".

Plane tickets have been purchased and the timeline is final. May 15 through 24, we will be in Ohio. May 25 through 28 will be spent in Florida. Our one way ticket from the US departs on May 28 and lands in.... Bogota, Colombia! What happens when we get there? I have no idea. We haven't planned anything, booked accommodations, or figured out what our next stop will be. All I know is I am ready for the adventure!

Homeless and Jobless, Travelling the World

In the last few years, I've been working towards the typical goals. 2007 - graduate college

2008 - promotion at work

2009 - get married, buy a house

2010 - another promotion

2011 - paid off school loans

I've gone to Ikea countless times, had some fun vacations, started interesting projects at work, taken cooking classes, become a regular at the local Thai restaurant, started a retirement account, paid my mortgage, bought more Apple products than I care to admit, mourned at funerals, been scammed on eBay, occasionally fought with my wife, thought about moving to Seattle, survived snow storms... the list goes on. By all estimations I've been very lucky and have been reasonably successful, largely due to a number of amazing people that have helped me along the way.

And I'm throwing it away.

Jordan and I have spent the last 6-8 months undoing much of the progress we've made in the last few years. We've sold most of our belongings and our home. We've been living off 30% of our income. We've saved a lot of money. All so that for the next 12-24 months we can travel the world.

In future posts we'll explain how we came to this decision. For now, suffice it to say we're young and want to see all the world has to offer before we settle down and start a family.

This post is our announcement, watch out world, we're coming to see you.

In seven days we close on our house, we'll be homeless. Two days ago, I gave notice at work, on May 14th, I'll be jobless.

It's time for an adventure.