From June 6, 2012 to July 31, 2013, we backpacked around the world on what we called an extended honeymoon. Most people thought we were crazy to quit our jobs, sell our possessions and give up our home, but we had the experience of a lifetime, and that was the only way we could make it happen before retirement. It took our life savings and nearly a year’s worth of preparation to wrap up our lives and plan a 14-month global trek.
Some might see an around-the-world trip as an escape. Others, an adventure. We saw at it as a little of both. Rather than live with regret, we decided to pursue the beauty around us while we had the energy and resources to do so. We left a comfortable life, but moved forward into one that was filled with once-in-a-lifetime experiences. We hope you enjoy our posts from our pre-departure period, when we hit the road and our return back to the USA. Keep following us, because the adventure is not over!
New to our site? Here are some articles you may want to read first:
PRE-DEPARTURE
Where It All Began: The Idea of Traveling Around the World
Behind the Scenes: Planning Our RTW Trip
Moving Forward: Quitting Our Jobs
ON THE ROAD
Packing for Long-Term Travel: Mike’s Top Six Items (and Tara’s)
Transforming Into Better People: Embracing the Positive, Finding the Good
Trying to Make Sense of Our New Lives: The Loss of the Familiar
Catching a Moment: Losing Myself Around the World
Effects of Long-term Travel: 9 Confessions After 12 Months of Travel
RETURNING HOME
The End of An Epic Trip: Reasons We’re Excited to Return Home
Figuring out America After 14 Months of Travel: Dealing With Reverse Culture Shock
Struggling with Not-So-Healthy Choices: Navigating America’s Food Scene
Rejoining the Workforce: Tara is Employed!
Meet Tara
Hi, I’m Tara, and I am a travel addict.
Glad that’s out of the way! Ok, so I grew up in south Florida, then moved to DC to attend American University, where I met Mike. After graduating, I hightailed it to Europe for three months for a solo backpacking adventure. That trip made me want to run a hostel for the rest of my life. But I didn’t, and instead I accepted a sweet job at The Washington Post. Almost five years later, in 2012, Mike and I got hitched. Then we promptly sold all our possessions, quit our jobs and embarked on an amazing round-the-world journey for 14 months. Best honeymoon ever! As of writing this, we are returning from our trip. Hopefully the next update will include a dream job + beautiful condo + Mr. Chubbs the pug.
More about me?
•I don’t hold pens “correctly,” whatever that means. Growing up, my teachers tried to correct me, but I always fell back into my own habits. Therefore, I’m a righty who writes like a lefty.
•I never grew out of my tomboy phase from childhood and prefer mesh shorts and a t-shirt to a dress or skirt.
•I’m one of the only people in my age group who doesn’t want to read a book on a Kindle or tablet. I love the scent of the pages and the tactile experience a book provides.
Meet Mike
Hi! My name is Mike and I am a travelaholic.
When you are young, you may to hate to travel because life is easier to consume in a sedentary fashion. However, as you get older, you realize that traveling challenges you and creates enjoyable opportunities that you may have never known existed. My parents took my brother and I on cross-country trips every summer when I was growing up. Every summer I would roll my eyes and curse the skies when we would take off. All I wanted was to watch TV, hang out with my friends and do a whole lot of nothing. How times have changed. Now I am the willing participant in the planning of trips that used to cause me so much grief growing up. My wonderful wife and I are filling up our passports with stamps from the nations of the world, to the point we needed to add extra pages. Sometimes life does not follow a predictable pattern.
Here are a couple more salacious details about me:
•I tend not to chew when eating, which allows me to swallow spicy food whole.
•When I was in high school, I was able to sweet talk my way into getting press passes for music concerts. Then I would write them up for the school’s newspaper.
•I almost never worn flip-flops before this trip, and then I hit SE Asia where wearing shoes is impractical.
•My soundtrack for our around the world trip has relied heavily on Bruce Peninsula, Arcade Fire, Minus The Bear, Queens Of The Stone Age and UNKLE.
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