So how did we put this vision into action?  Simply put – had an idea, made an action plan, made adjustments, and executed that plan.

Regarding our travel plan, we looked at a variety of approaches on how to eat this elephant. Our initial discussions focused on when we should return to the US and begin our new life. Using the ‘backwards planning’ technique, we decided to conclude our travels in July in order to settle and prepare our kids for their return to school. This directly impacted our budgeting plan as well – to be addressed in a later blog.

We benefited from our early brainstorming sessions, whether as a couple or as an entire family, to communicate and understand what was important to each of us individually. As we churned through different timelines, schedules, and regions, our plan took shape.

One schedule had us gone for ten months, alternating between month-long home-stays and months broken into more robust travel with shorter trips and stays. The month-long visits would, presumably, allow us to get to know communities better, let us unpack, establish routines, and plan.

We then added a layer of our ‘must see’ countries to correspond with the month-long home-stays. Early discussions included Australia/New Zealand, Thailand, somewhere in the Middle East, Namibia, and Germany.

The ten-month plan and the concept of ‘must sees’ stuck, but we then factored in weather, direction of travel, anomalies, and cost … and made adjustments.

We looked at Hawaii as our initial kick-off point, figuring that it’d be the perfect place to rest and recover from the busyness of leaving our home, leaving our jobs, preparing for our travels, selling our cars / home, and putting what we didn’t sell into storage. However, when friends who were posted to Colombia invited us for a visit, we adjusted our kick-off stop from Hawaii to Colombia. Since then, and moving forward, adjustments and flexibility would be commonplace.

For instance, we have and will continue to incorporate ‘stops of opportunity.’ A great recent example includes our short stay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In looking at flights from Seoul to Sydney, many included a break in travel through KL. So, rather than a 16-hour flight with a layover in KL, we added in a 48 hour stay there and were lucky to experience a mesmerizing cosmopolitan city that wasn’t even on our radar.

Our plan, now a couple of months into our adventure, is less firm than you might think. Thanks to the many travel resources that are available, we are much more creative, diverse, and free in our decisions.