Sometime during the middle of March, Stephen told his boss he was leaving his job.
He’s been a project manager at Ericsson for seven years, and he needed plenty of time to help transition his work to his replacement. To our friends and family, this wasn’t a surprise. We’ve been concocting a grand plan for awhile – save all our money from our corporate jobs, sell everything we own, and live like nomads for about one year-ish.
So here we are. Leaving everything and everyone we know and love in Kansas City to spend 12 months traveling abroad to anywhere we want. Why are we doing this? For one, we’re at the perfect place in our lives to take advantage of the type of spontaneous travel that our current jobs, unfortunately, don’t allow for. So we decided to jump in with both feet and go for it. Stephen finishes work on May 21, and my last day at Cerner is the 23rd.
We first started forming the idea for this trip in January of 2017. Stephen was all in. For those of you who know Stephen, you know that comfort zone isn’t really a “thing” for him. There’s what he wants to do, and what he doesn’t want to do. Simple. I’m a little more complicated than that. What ifs, hows, whys, whens, no thanks, etc. I went back and forth more times than a kid crossing court in a fifth grade basketball game. It was scary. It seemed reckless. I let lots of doubt drive my thoughts. But I started to reflect the reality of this idea. What’s the absolute worst that would happen? And it all boiled down to one phrase: We would be okay. No matter what, we would always be okay.
Working to make this idea become a reality makes me feel brave. And scared. And nervous. And anxious. But our support system is so incredible. Our friends, family, neighbors, coworkers – we’re so grateful to have you in our lives and can’t wait to share our adventures with you all.
So with that, here are some logistics we’ve either already worked through, or will have to work through, before we get on a one-way flight to Brussels on May 30, 2018:
- Renting our house – building a bathroom, completing maintenance and repairs, cleaning, vetting potential renters, writing a lease, preparing emergency contact info.
- Downsizing our things – lots of Facebook Marketplace posts, meeting strangers, preparing for a garage sale, agonizing thoughts of “maybe we’ll need that one day…”
- Selling our vehicles – washing, cleaning, detailing, hoping for a private sale and willing as few trips to the Missouri DMV/tax office as possible.
- Emotionally preparing to leave our dogs with family – as much quality time as possible, reassuring them that this is not abandonment, pushing aside horrible thoughts that something may happen to them while we’re gone, and stock piling their food, toys, and vet supplies. This is the HARDEST by far.
I’ll continue to update this post as we check more things off our list, as well as write a corresponding post for each item for anyone who has interest in the logistics of what we’re about to do.
We plan to provide updates on our current location and share how our trip plays out through regular posts. You can also find us on Instagram, @rempalaroundtheworld.
Au revoir, KC.
