How did we get here?
Nick and I met in university, where we both graduated with engineering degrees. Being the responsible individuals that we are, we worked full-time jobs every summer in college. Though, neither of us got to study abroad or have ever lived abroad. While we’ve traveled a good bit, I always regretted not having studied or lived abroad. (I backpacked through Europe for two months after college, an experience that I loved and simultaneously exhausted me. The running around from tourist destination to tourist destination, trying to fit it all into a short span, was fun AND exhausting.)
We took our first long trip in Europe after college. It was a whirlwind of a trip, and we thought we might never step foot into another church or museum again.
After graduating, we both worked full-time jobs in energy. As time passed, we moved in together, had great jobs, made great friends, took great vacations, talked about getting a dog (specifically a corgi… or fourteen), buying a house and getting married. All good things – great things! Until one day we realized that if we embarked on any of these (all of which we do want eventually), we might never actually take a RTW trip.
One of our first trips “roughing it” in Jasper, Alberta, Canada. We lived out of backpacks, but also had a car (so it wasn’t that rough).
One day, pondering a few questions really helped us to grab life by the horns. The first: What is it that I’ve always wanted to do that I’m not doing?
And the second: Why not? Why aren’t you doing what you’ve always wanted to? What are you waiting for?
Once we started to grapple with these, we knew what we had to do. We started to tease out the fears that were holding us back. (For more on this, check out Tim Ferriss’ post on fear-setting here, or watch his TedTalk.) In doing so, realized that taking a leap is more important than holding onto our fear.
Our Grand Canyon trip! A 3-day kayaking excursion in British Columbia!
