Thoughts on Traveling (before we actually go anywhere)

We have been talking about spending a chunk of time traveling for quite a while. Once this would have been a major sailboat cruise. Then we talked about buying an RV and traveling around the US, perhaps trying to visit all 56 national parks in one year. We were inspired by my brother Bill and sister-in-law Cathy's experiences in their RV as well as tales of similar families spending a year or more traveling (as examples see Rich Luhr’s blog at www.tour.airstreamlife.com or Bobby and Danine’s at www.ayearabout.wordpress.com; both couples have a daughter whom they home schooled while traveling).

Finally, however, we decided not to make any capital purchases. This would allow us to feel that we were not locked in to any specific forms of travel or destinations or even any specific duration. Our very rough calendar that includes Eastern Canada, national parks in the southwestern US, Hawaii and other parts of the Pacific, and southern Europe, is based on ideas we generated during the summer and some commitments that required at least one of us to be near home at several points. But nothing actually requires us to follow this plan. As we explained to Julia’s school, one of our reasons for wanting to follow their curriculum is that if we at some point decide to terminate the travel idea altogether, with some notice she could join her classmates and not be too far behind in at least most of her schoolwork. To further ensure flexibility, we decided not to rent out our house while we are away.

So we plan to use our existing car, pack tent and sleeping bags, and seek out inexpensive motels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, camping areas, as the situation warrants. We will spend more on average each day than we would if we were RVing, but we don’t have to pony up tens of thousands of dollars for a rig that we would only use, at most, for a year. And as soon as the RV was off the table, spending winter in the tropics and spring in Europe became feasible ideas.

There are many generic travel web sites, but I would mention “One World, One Bag” as particularly helpful in thinking about lightweight, relatively unencumbered travel, and Matt Gross’ blog on frugal travel for the New York Times.