If we’re going to have a blog about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, we ought to get to it.  Contrary to what you might think from our first four posts, our strategy is not just to “buy a van and a travel guide” (though that sounds like a pretty good way to go too…).  For a number of reasons, including a home we own, a new business Ian is building, and a job with a company I love, we’ve decided to hit the road at the end of the summer, about 7 months from now.

Many of the travel blogs we’ve referenced begin after the writer has been on the road for a while, but we want to document the process of preparing to head out.  As our readers are learning along with us, our mistakes and successes alike will surely create a great list of “dos” and “don’ts”, easing the trepidation of this road less traveled.  To other hopeful roadies, I would suggest first getting a good grasp on where you really are and what really needs to be done.  Here’s what we came up with:

• sell house
• sell things
• leave job at a good time and in a good way
• develop a way to make money while traveling (optional)

Knowing what had to be done helped us to develop a timeline.  I have never been a “life planner” or been able to tell you where I thought I might be in five years.  This is a general list, a group of items needed to reach a goal, and we’re structuring them in a way that helps us to do that.  We’re careful not to entrench ourselves in rigid plans that might stifle a natural flexibility with the experiences we encounter.  On the other hand, having a dynamic to-do list of sorts is incredibly helpful, and within the time frame dictated by the above must-dos, we’ve integrated a number of would-be-good-to-dos as well.  We’ll write about each piece in further detail, but for now, you can check out the in-progress list on the Big List page.