An Introduction
Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 3:24PM 
My name is Bob. My wife, Brenna, and I both awoke early one morning late this July after yet another fitful night, but instead of trying to go back to sleep we started talking. In hindsight, sleep would have been the easier choice.
I'll back up a little first. My job (a perfectly fine one -- if you like that kind of thing) is very seasonal. I have no control over when, or if, I'll be working. When I am working it's 14 hour days, often 6 days a week. My family grows up and goes on without me. When I'm not working I'm worried about no money coming in, and my re-entry into daily family life is excruciating for all of us.
So, back to that morning. There's the job I never loved to begin with. Bosses bent on replacing me with a 22-year old who's excited about being in show biz and happy to work for less money. A laundry list of unfinished creative endeavors. A family life that wasn't working for any of us. And, the crushing thought, "Am I going to be able to do this for twenty-five more years until I can retire?"
Brenna and I sat side by side in bed and decided that we would make a change. Not just work more or work less, save more money or take a vacation. I mean completely shake it up. Rock the whole foundation. I would leave my job, and we would change our lives.
We both knew the weight of the choice we were making, but the feeling was more of lightness, a release from a constant crushing pressure. Things were not going to be easy, but they were going to be better. We decided that I would finish out the television season, saving as much money as we could, sell everything we owned and go explore some other part of the world with our two kids. Maybe we'll sail the Caribbean, go on an Australian walkabout, or explore Europe. Exciting, huh? Crazy too.
Timothy Ferriss says in his book The 4-Hour Work Week,
"Having an unusually large goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal. Realistic goals, goals restricted to the average ambition level, are uninspiring and will only fuel you through the first or second problem, at which point you throw in the towel. If the potential payoff is mediocre or average, so is your effort."
There's no turning back now -- not that we'd want to. We shook on it. If you'd like, check back in every so often and watch the very public chronicle of our journey from here to uncertainty. We'd enjoy having you along for the ride.
Reader Comments (7)
Hooray! Hooray, hooray, hooray!!!
If you go to Australia on a walkabout, you can go visit the family and tribe who adopted me when I went after I quit my job. They are full blooded traditional Yolngu who live in the outback of Arnhem Land. I went because I had a dream about some people who invited me to come visit them. When I asked where they lived they took me to the border and showed me the signs. When I woke up, I Iooked it up and found out that Arnhem Land was in Australia. It took me a year to go, but after I arrived, the Aboriginal people I met, the Yolngu understood completely. It made perfect sense to them that I would follow my dream and go on a journey. I was adopted, painted, and invited to dance with them in their sacred ceremonies.
So.... do it! You are on a fabulous adventure. So much lies in wait for each of you!
Wow! This is very brave!
Thanks for stopping by our SAMBA blog and commenting on our post. I wish you the best of luck on your journey. As for money...it's become a lot less impolite to talk about it. I've also found that it takes a lot less money and a lot more inspiration to do that which you truly want to do.
OMG! Congratulations, we've dreamed of doing exactly what you're doing but have never had the courage. I can't believe I actually know someone who is doing this. Have an awesome, adventurous time!!!
Discovered your blog from Almost Fearless and have been chuckling ever since. Great writing!
My family has just returned from our year living and traveling abroad. Very similar thought process sparked our journey. I wish you happy travels, true expectations, luck with homeschooling, flexibility, patience and humor (which it seems you already have!)
Ours was a journey of a lifetime, and we are already trying to figure out how to continue it.
I look forward to more reading and laughs from your blog.
~ Dee Andrews
Merry Christmas on that side of the dateline. Today is Boxing Day in AUS. It is also the start of the Sydney to Hobart Race.
In 2008 I got on a sailboat headed to AUS via Mexico.,The Marquesas, Tumotos, Tahitii, Moorae, Bora-Bora, Suraro, the Samoas and New Cal to Bundaberg AUS.........It has been a life changing and expanding journey. I don't have a blog or site yet but I am realizing more and more the interconnectiveness of us ALL. I connected to your site thru the travel writer's site or was your site on a side bar while I was looking there. Yes, connections and hearing other persons' stories is importatnt. We are ONE! We are interconnected. Currently my partner and I are reading and sharing in "Socrates Style" the book, "Busting Loose From the Money Game" Mind-blowing strategies for changing the rules of a game you can't Win by Robert Scheinfeld. We are the Creators!
Dear Bob and Brenna,
What a lovely breath of fresh air to wake up to! Maile forwarded your url to us. We have always traveled with our two daughters and since my folks lived for 37 years in Paris, that was usually home base, but we did spend a semester in Morocco and more recently a semester in Greece.
We currently have friends who are emailing vignettes from India, others with whom we Skype since their move to New Zealand, others work in China, old friends in Morocco, family in Switzerland, but not one of them has had the great idea to create a website about their travels... expat gypsies everywhere need to take notice! there is a network in EtherLand that needs to connect!
I can just see Apple wanting a piece of this: Have Mac, Will Travel... Or home exchange sites: Time Share Pieds a Terre... Ahh... the capitalist expat gypsy in me has looked into your crystal ball and seen great possibilities... Keep up the good fun. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.
best, Judith
I love that picture at the top of the page where you and the kids are looking out of the window. Where was that taken? The building looks European.
I love blogs like this one. I've always wanted to be free to fly like a bird, but the only travelling I've done so far is to move from place to place in my city, never satisfied it seems. Something was always missing.
If these resources and websites were available when I was younger and so full of zeal for the travelling lifestyle, I have no doubt I probably would have been around the world by now.
I've gotten much older and I prefer roots to come home to now, but I still desire to expand my view of the world.
Even the few short trips I took to different states put me on a whole different mental level. I want to experience that again.
The more I visit websites of digital nomads, the more excited I become about travelling again while I still have something left in me.
I wish you, Brenna and your kids well.