“How to decide where to go.”

This is my absolute favorite part of planning our trip – of course!

Daniel and I have had numerous discussions about the places that we want to visit (which may not necessarily be places we would want to visit with kids!).

Here is our hard look at each continent. We started with listing ALL of the places we’d consider for this trip, and then narrowed it down to the absolute requirements. The must-see’s are considered the pillars of the trip, from which the framework of our route is developed.

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What to do with our housing?

This is the MOST difficult part of planning our trip. I have no deep fears of travel itself, or doubts about being able to save enough money, nor am I afraid to take on the challenges of road schooling. By far, the most stressful and daunting of all of the planning we have dived head first into, has been the careful consideration we have had to make about our house. Since we are owners, our only options were either to sell, to rent, or to vacate and pay a mortgage on an empty house.

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Today, we ask ourselves: Why travel long term with kids?

The answers are endless, and I am sure we might be missing some essential purpose at the core of it all, but here goes…

~ the opportunity to share experiences as a family.
~ to show our kids how differently people live their lives – culture, food, religion, language and economics (specifically to have a deeper understanding and compassion about poverty).
~ learn spanish, in addition to any other key foreign words/phrases.
~ to have devoted family time without treadmill chaos.
~ if not now, when? I have to do this before I die, and before our children fly the coop.
~ we want the experience of traveling with our kids and seeing the world through their eyes.
~ we want to teach them our passion – travel.
~ we hope to deepen their compassion & understanding of our world.
~ we hope to teach them confidence, independence and self sufficiency.
~ Dan wants his happy wife back! I wish this were all jokes, but what a kernel of truth. I know how happy I am in the moment of exploration, and the grind of work, nights of cooking, kid’s homework, and cleaning have been chipping away at my ability to enjoy the mundane.
~ speaking of that happy wife – I want to feel awe, inspiration and gratitude everyday.
~ to live a simple life with little possessions.

Step two in travel planning, found us contemplating a series of questions, which we first thought about from an individual perspective, before sharing our answers.  This allowed us to come to a mutual understanding of each other’s priorities, and further develop a shared family plan for travel happiness.

QUESTION:  What do I need to enjoy a trip? What do I want out of this journey?  How will this experience be a happy one?

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