ABOUT US
I’m a high school history teacher who loves gardening, reading, and alone time. I prioritize sleep and quiet early mornings. I’m known for my bright red hair, penchant for hallway karaoke, and trying to navigate perimenopause on as few meds as possible. I used to write a local weekly column on marriage, motherhood, and life in the suburbs of Indiana, but retired after seventeen years of occasional hate mail from conservative crazies. I’m a huge fan of the Louisville Cardinals, F1 (thank you, Drive to Survive), and traveling to new places. I also still like my kids and Brad.
Brad is a tech executive and serial entrepreneur (his words, not mine) who enjoys snow skiing, water sports, and trying to beat me in triathlons. He is the funniest human I know and uses his comedic timing to great advantage at social gatherings. He loves our black Lab Libby, our four children, and me, in that order, and is thrilled to be taking this sabbatical to see the world, meet new people, and to step outside his comfort zone. Brad suffers major FOMO anytime anyone does anything and dreams of buying and restoring a farmhouse in Tuscany.
We’ve been married for twenty-eight years, have four grown children (ages twenty to twenty-six), and love having new experiences together. This is truly a life-long dream of ours, and one we are thrilled to share with you.
How did this happen?
We blame our daughter Maddie, who had us listen to the Zero to Travel podcast episode with Teague and Sofia (2018?). They were a young couple in their late twenties who decided they needed a break. They quit their jobs and traveled for 1 year with only one pair of Chaco sandals each and a combined $24,000 budget. We were inspired to do the same within about ten minutes of the show, albeit on a slightly larger budget. That was in February of 2023.
Over the next few months we began to think critically about the possibility of a gap year. Could we actually do it? Did we really want to? How would the trip impact our kids and families? Our careers? By that summer, we'd made up our minds to go for it and figured out a financial plan. Fortunately, Brad can do contract IT work and continue to earn an income while we would be gone. That would help offset some of our fixed expenses, like health insurance and taxes.
I was also lucky in that the school district where I work offers a one-year educational leave for teachers working full-time on a degree. I plan to continue my online doctoral program while abroad in order to qualify for the leave. So we informed all the powers that be, began investigating things like work exchanges and travel insurance, tried to figure out what we'd do with our house and dog, and started saving. All in all, we prepped for 16 months. Could we have left sooner? Maybe, but a full year plus gave us the time to make smart decisions and deal with unexpected complications.
The plan is to spend one full year abroad without returning to the US. We are starting in Australia, and then generally speaking, moving west: Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, Central Europe, East Africa, West Africa, Western Europe, and finally Central America. We have some bucket list items that are already in the works, but for the most part we want to remain flexible and see where the warm weather, work exchange opportunities, and cheap flights take us. We are hoping to spend Christmas with our kids (in Romania?) and potentially meet up with some family and friends at various points along the way. We probably will go over budget, but we did sell our house in the Spring and are okay with dipping into the cash if an amazing experience awaits. Brad will spend time working his contract jobs and I will start my classes up again in August. We will also be occasionally doing work exchanges, so that will fill our days too. We have an understanding that it's okay to want to travel separately. If Brad decides he isn't done with Southeast Asia and I am, for example, we will split up for a few weeks. Anyhoo, that's the plan as of now. But you know what they say about the best laid plans.
The Plan
Bucket List
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Dive on the Great Barrier Reef
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See the Taj Mahal
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Study meditation at an Indian ashram (More D than B!)
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Attend a Formula 1 Grand Prix and a Premier League soccer game
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Learn to surf (Brad also wants to try kite-surfing)
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Go to Greece
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D: See Jerusalem; Sierra Leone/Ghana
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B: See London
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Go on an African safari
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B: Get certified to captain a catamaran