Around the World in 180 Days

Unemployment sends people into crisis mode. And one of the side effects of being in crisis mode, is that looking long term becomes difficult-to-impossible. It's hard to make long term plans when you don't know what's going to happen next week or next month.

But oddly, even as our own unemployment crisis goes on, my husband and I have started to make some long term plans. Not about retirement, not yet anyway. Not even about saving for college. Nope, this is revisiting an idea from a long time ago...a trip around the world.

When I met my husband, I was in the planning stages of a year-long sabbatical from work to backpack around the world. Having spent years spending long hours and working 6 and 7-day weeks doing systems implementations, I was burnt out, and in need of a change. I had planned my route, was pricing out airfare with specialty providers, and saving up. This was by no means going to be luxury travel, more like camping and hostels. Still, I was mesmerized by the idea. I still have the route penned in to my atlas.

But then I met my husband, and eventually other plans took the place of the backpacking trip that was supposed to start in Singapore and end in Norway. We've done some traveling, but not like that.

But recently, I started thinking about that trip. Not for now, not yet. But maybe, just maybe, a 6-month sabbatical when our daughter is 12 or so. It's become a topic of discussion - what would we need to save up? Where exactly would we go?

It's become a fun way to spend an hour, here and there. We're not quite serious yet, but I put it at over 50% probability that we'll reach a point where 'Wouldn't it be nice....' becomes 'Okay, when should we leave?' We know it wouldn't be before the adorable one is 10, so we've got a ways.

But when the time comes, I just might be blogging from India or Kilimanjiro. Life is just too short not to.