How do you prepare to radically change your life and what would motivate someone to do it? Tom and I have travelled quite a bit since we got together in 2011. We also had the opportunity to live and work in Japan for more than three years. While there, we travelled quite extensively.
Coming back to the US from Japan in 2020 during COVID was a challenge. There was also the reintegration upheaval or reverse culture shock from being an EXPAT. After a year in Monterey, we moved back to our hometown of San Diego. Much had changed in the almost 5 years we were gone. It wasn’t the same.
At the end of 2022, Tom and I took a trip to South America. I was finally able to identify what was causing some of my restlessness, exacerbating some lifelong depression, and making me feel like my life was passing me by.
I had also turned 60 and that probably contributed some to my existential unease.
Travelling does something for me. It makes me feel alive; I am connected to the World around me. I see and experience the people, the culture, the food, the landscape, the history. I experience the awe of living. It piques my curiosity. It also satisfies my hunger for adventure.
I heard about awe listening to my favorite podcast, Hidden Brain. The timing of the podcast, my trip to Peru and discovering a few social groups and retirement traveler YouTubers showed me that it could be possible to live a life of travel, to see more of the World, and to obtain a greater level of life satisfaction and happiness in life. So, we sold our home in San Diego, got rid of three quarters of our belongings and set off on our journey.
My plan is to document some of our experiences, successes and even struggles, with this blog. Feel free to follow us in our journey.