So what exactly is going on here you ask? It's hard to compress the thought and emotion of how we arrived abroad into a short paragraph, but i'll do my best. After briefly tasting international travel several times (Bali and the atoll nation of Kiribati), U'i and I longed to saturate our palate with the flavors of the world. Short vacations are great for purging the superficial stress banks, however, it seems you just begin to get to settle in, make friends, adjust your GI tract, and forget what time sheets are when you are crammed back into an airbus and return to the rat race. Several years ago, we discussed long term travel, but it never seemed realistic. Student loans, budding careers, mortgage, family obligations. It seemed a dream we would live through others' travel logs. Then sometime last year, we had a long talk and set a goal. Save every penny, bang out our loans, prep our families, quit our jobs, and hit the road. For months it seemed a distant event, like next years Christmas, something that was always "later". Then suddenly I had traded my Hawaiian Airlines miles with some guy i never met in California, who booked us two tickets on Continental to the Philippines, and there was no turning back. The last month was trying on both of us. Closing out our jobs, anxious stomachs, endless planning, vaccinations in every extremity, supplies, reading, sleepless nights, stress, stress, stress. This was supposed to be fun we thought? Even packing our bags proved challenging. We managed to squeeze everything into two 49 pound duffels (limit is 50lbs each). And then we left in a blur.
It's incredibly hard to leave everything you know, everyone you love behind. We had second thoughts throughout the process. But there wasn't a single person we talked with throughout our planning who tried to change our mind. Go for it! was the mantra. And so here we are. Bring on the San Miguels, the Bintangs, the Victoria Bitters and the Kava. Life just started again.
