We love to travel, and for years, we looked forward to annual trips, international vacations, and local explorations. It just all came as a given, and we never questioned its prominent place in our lives. We never had to question the future of travel. When we departed last year for our grand world tour, we never could have imagined how it would end.
Now, we have been forced home due to global restrictions, and we’ve had to reconsider our future plans surrounding travel. Everyone has. Here’s what we think about the current situation and where we’re headed.
When Can We Travel Again?
When we came home in March, we were still talking about what we might do whenever the world opened again. If it was just a few months, we could keep our cat-sit in Malaysia in July and resume our travels with Southeast Asia. Our timeline would be a bit delayed, but we could effectively pick up where we left off.
However, by that point, I had already committed to our local anime convention, so we knew we’d have a hard return date in November. We don’t like being rushed, but we’d make it work; it’s worth it!
By the time May came around, it was quite clear that this thing wasn’t going to be resolved in time for summer. And with that hard cutoff, we resigned ourselves to the idea that we’re probably not traveling internationally again until next year. Even as other countries begin to open up again, it’s not very responsible to travel through multiple airports – especially coming from the country with the highest number of cases in the world.
Scratching the Itch
So we can’t travel yet. Do you know how much that kills a couple as addicted to travel as we are? It’s torture! So what do we do?
For one, we’re taking a few smaller local trips. We can’t take many trips for a number of reasons, not least of which being we don’t own a vehicle. We’re able to borrow one from family, but we have to be considerate with our use.
We took a single day trip to our home city of Portland, and we got to see the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests. It’s difficult to see our city in such turmoil, but we also hold a certain pride that we can be so passionate about a cause that is so important.
We’ve also took a few small backpacking trips locally, and we spent a weekend at Crater Lake to see the Neowise comet. Tourist numbers were understandably down – for which we were grateful – but it was still quite populated. This was the first trip that felt like travel in a long time.
Additionally, we will certainly make it out to the coast soon before the weather cools again.. But we were more-or-less waiting for the school kids to resume school before we brave that. Much to our dismay, we’ve heard the coastal cities have been hazardly crowded.
So What Are We Doing Instead?
Since we have been stuck at home (well, my parents’ home for the time being), we have been occupying ourselves with other projects. Now, you can’t take the travel out of the nomad, so it’s still all been related to our trips.
We’re obviously still blogging about our past adventures, though we’re bummed we don’t have too many new ones to share with you yet. Although, this reprieve has given us a chance to catch up a bit on our thousands of photos and video clips.
Speaking of which, Aaron is working more on his videos, and he’s loving how they’re turning out. We’re working to spiff up our YouTube channel, and you can be sure to see some fun videos coming out on that platform soon!
And… we’ve been working on something very exciting that we’re thrilled to share with you!
We Want to Teach You How to Travel Full-time
We’ve had a lot of time to think and plan, and between us, we’ve hatched a new idea that has us super excited.
We noticed that throughout our travels, we got a lot of people fascinated by what we’re doing. “That’s so cool you’re doing that… I’d love to just travel someday!” Our initial reaction is, “well, what’s stopping you?”
But then I remember when the conversation was flipped, and we expressed our own dreams of “someday.” It wasn’t any one thing that held us back… it just seemed… impossible. Where do we even start? How much would it cost? How would we support ourselves? What would our family think? We can’t just up and leave.
The sheer prospect was overwhelming, and it was just easier and more comfortable to keep doing what we were doing: clocking in and out of a 9-5, flanked by daily commutes and punctuated by those little glimpses of freedom as soon as we accrued enough PTO.
So if you are now where we were then, we want to help you. We did everything the hard way: endless hours of sifting through thousands of blog posts to distill the answers to our constant questions from the ocean of confusing and often contradicting information. We want to guide you through it.
And We Want to Invite You To Be a Part of It
We are starting a brand new program to provide clear guidance through the quagmire of realizing your dream of a nomadic life. Connect with others going through the same journey, and learn:
- How to make money while on the road
- How to plan where to go and what to do
- What to pack to where you have everything you need without the thing you don’t
- How to navigate visas, immunizations, and local scams
- What to do with all of your stuff
- How to travel sustainably and ethically
- and everything else you need to know to travel full-time!
This is still very new, but we want this to be the best program for you as we can make it, so we’re doing something crazy: we want to invite you to be a part of its creation!
We are seeking founding members who are ready to make “someday” today.. and who are interested in helping to shape the exact program you need to make it happen.
Intrigued? Read more about it and sign up for the waitlist here. We’re launching on August 31st, and you are first hear about this and to receive a formal invitation – just for being our awesome readers! You can also join us in our free Facebook group, where we’ll also make the official opening announcement. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments or contact us directly.
The Future of Travel
The future is a bit uncertain right now, but we know undoubtedly that we’ll travel again as soon as we can. Hopefully, we’ll be able to fly internationally. Perhaps we won’t be able to wait that long, and we’ll resort to some local vanlife travel. Maybe we’ll only be able to get as far as Canada. There’s still plenty to explore, even locally.
And as soon as the pandemic passes, everyone will be chomping at the bit to get away from home for a while! How exciting would it be to know you don’t have to report back to a (virtual or physical) cubicle in two weeks? Though it’s not safe to travel yet, now is the perfect time to plan and get everything in order so that you’re ready to hop a plane as soon as it is.
It took us about three years to plan for our big departure. We want to help make that happen for you in a fraction of the time.
Throughout our travels, nothing excites us more than inspiring others to also love travel. It happened a few times somewhat unexpectedly, and it just lit us up like nothing else!
Now we have the opportunity to make travel a reality for others. Will you join us?
Where in the world would you go right now if you could?
Psst… do you love reading about full-time travel? You might also enjoy these:
- Are You Prepared to be a Full-time Traveler?
- 32 Practical Ways to Make Money While Traveling
- 8 Reasons to Love Traveling the Off-Season
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Great idea you guys! Good luck!
Thanks!! We’re excited 😀