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Today marks 54 days until we leave - but for what exactly? Explaining our trip to people has been a tricky thing. When we tell people we're living overseas for 14 months, the most common response is, "Now is the best time while you're young and don't have kids!" We cringe a little when we hear that because it makes our trip sound like we're just ticking boxes or travelling for the sake of having experiences. Our trip means so much more to us than that.
Sure, there are places or activities we've planned into our travel that both of us have always wanted to do: watching the sunset at Santorini, seeing an NBA game - but that's just the start of it. We've been together for 3.5 years, and during that time we've dreamt a lot about what our future and our lifestyle will be like. We've come to understand those things which are more important to us, those values we want our marriage and our family to stand for. And it's in being true to those values that led to the decision to live overseas for 14 months.
It begins with presence. Since we got married in May last year, we've had to contend with a busy and full lifestyle. We're ready to focus on each other, rather than focusing on work or study or Netflix. We genuinely enjoy each others presence more than anything else in the world. So it seemed obvious to us that we should prioritise that over everything else. Which is why we're quitting our jobs, to cut away things that are going to distract us from one another.
Yet, both of us are people persons. Both of our careers involve helping people in some way. So, our trip isn't about running away from the rest of the world, it's also about meeting and encountering people all around the world. We both value serving others, which is why a big chunk of our travel will be spent in Peru volunteering. We want to learn from others, learn their language and culture and customs, to grow from their unique insights and experiences.
At this point you might be wondering how we can afford all of this, after all, 14 months is a long time and the world is a big place. We're planning to do this trip as simply as possible. Admittedly, neither of us has chosen a high-earning career path, which somewhat dictates that we travel on a budget. But we have always tried to live simply, and that's something we want to be a part of our lifestyle always. In planning our trip, we've sought the cheapest ways to do things. We look forward to sharing with you some of those travel tips in future posts.
You might ask, "Why go overseas? Can't you have that sort of lifestyle here?" It's true, we could stay at home and construct a lifestyle that reflects all of the above values - but we love to travel! We both love seeing the world, experiencing its beauty and immersing ourselves in other cultures and traditions. Even before we were together, travel was a part of our lives. And now, together we get to create amazing memories in some of the most spectacular places around the world.
So, we've called this blog We Venture, because here you'll read not just about the destinations, but about the journey. We'll share with you our itinerary, our top hints, picks and tips for travelling. And we'll also share with you our experience as a young, married couple, travelling the world. Each day we'll be discovering new things that help us grow closer and tighter as a family and we don't want to hide that part of our story. We invite you to join us in this Venture, by subscribing to our email list and reading along here; and by following us on Instagram @we_venture_blog.
