Why I Want To Travel

I want to travel because I wish to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

I do not wish to live what is not life, living is so dear; nor do I wish to practice regret, unless it is quite necessary. 

I want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that is not life, to cut a broad swatch and shave close, to drive life into a corner and reduce it to its lowest terms and if it proved to be mean, why then get the whole and genuine meanness of it and publish its meanness to the world; or if it is sublime to know it by experience and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. 

For most people it appears to me are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is good or evil and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of people here to “live to entertain themselves.”

There is a good chance those words sound familiar to you because I took some liberty with one of my favorite literary passages, Thoreau’s Walden. These words are from chapter two which is titled “Where I Lived and What I Lived For.” I’ve carried a tiny laminated version of Thoreau’s words in my wallet since college.

And now today as my wife Joyce and I prepare for a year of travel the words just seemed to fit why I am doing it. There is much to share with a trip like this. From the preparation and thoughts behind it, the experiences while on the road, and the lessons learned once the journey is complete.

I’ll start by saying that Joyce and I have always said that we wanted to travel. To get out and see the world and meet the people who share this planet with us. But we had a realization that our dream of traveling more was just that, a dream, so we decided to make it a goal. In early 2012 we decided that in April of 2013 we were going to take a year off for travel.

The Planning Began

We’ve spent the past year getting ready best we knew how. Basically saving money, lightening our material load, and educating ourselves on the best ways to cross the many boarders of the world.

The whole trip is not completely planned but our first flight is to Mexico where we will spend some time relaxing and easing into life on the road. From there we’ll most likely head to Belize but beyond that nothing is set. Joyce’s big goal for the trip is to visit Africa and go on a safari. For me England is on the top of the list, I’ve got to pay my respects to a long dead relative in Westminster Abbey.