One foot out the door

I don't know how many times now I've been asked, "How can you do that?" or I've heard, "I wish I could do that".  Just an hour away from leaving, and I'm still wondering how it has all come together, myself.  Last week I left my old contract, and earlier that week Alexis had her last day of work for three months.  All of our things are in storage, our tickets are booked, we've handle banking, visas, insurance and logistics.  We have a plan for our first week, for some holidays, and for meeting up with a few friends along the way.  All that's left is to wish our friends and family farewell and anxiously tap our feet while we wait to board our first flight... The last few days have been a whirlwind of last minute tasks mixed in with lot's of anxious foot tapping so it's a good thing we've had our friends to help distract us for our remaining time at home. Au Revoir!

-Jeff

"Of Course I'm In, but What Have You Done With My Girlfriend?"

This is what Jeff said to me back in January when I brought up the idea of going backpacking through Southeast Asia for three months. I was working in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for two weeks at the end of January. I was hanging out with some people I met at the hotel when I brought up how jealous I was of friends who had been backpacking throughout the world. One of the guys asked me why I didn't just do it myself. I had countless reasons why not - I had a job (how could I possibly leave my job?), I had a car (not yet paid off), I didn't have the money (it would probably take forever to save up), and I had a boyfriend (how could I convince him to do this with me?). Bottom line - I could not just ditch my life in VA to go galavanting through Asia. 


Needless to say I became convinced that I could do this. I could leave my job (temporarily), pay off the car, save up the money, and bring the boyfriend. I went home, got on Skype, and called Jeff. When I told him what I wanted to do, he really did say "Of course I'm in, but what have you done with my girlfriend?" You see, I'm not a very spontaneous person. I like to plan my life, and I swear by my Franklin Covey Pocket Slim day planner. In this way Jeff and I are complete opposites. He is spontaneous, likes to fly by the seat of his pants, and go with the flow. If it weren't for him, I would have probably come up with some kind of itinerary. Instead, we have only a handful of items on the agenda. For now, our sights are set on Chiang Mai where we will go to experience the Loy Kratong festival. After that we'll just figure it out as we go along. And yes, I will bring a planner.


Alexis