Where are you going first?

Our plans

So, to recap, we’re selling our house, resigning our jobs/closing our business, and have some loosey goosey plans to travel abroad like a family of nomadic backpackers. Yup, that about sums it up. Can’t really blame my mom for her concerns, now can I!?

First Stop = Hometown

My only saving grace is our first stop is our hometown. We’ll tie up the final loose ends and spend quality time with our families before we’re officially ex-pats. There are cars and sailboats to sell, deposit boxes to obtain, and lots of necks to hug.

After that, the world is our playground. We could head south then west to Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Mexico, California, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore & Southwest Asia. Or east might be better? To Europe, Spain, Italy, Greece, United Kingdom, even Morocco and Turkey perhaps. We’ve generated a list of 30 countries over 6 continents. DJ is still advocating for Antarctica. I’m not sold.

It’s easy to make a list, but a lot harder to coordinate a temporary residence, plane tickets, ground transport & immigration laws. Plus, we want to avoid a world wind tour that feels rushed and devoid of truly experiencing the culture. If cramming on another country comes at the expense of making friends at the park, then the price is too high. My dream is to be present, soak it all in, be changed and grow as a person & a family.

Mexico vs Puerto Rico

Our top two contenders to kick off our travels are Mexico and Puerto Rico. We figured something close to our homebase would be comforting. Naturally they are both warm, tropical locations full of natural beauty to explore & new cultural experiences. We’ve been to both locations before, but for very limited stays.

Puerto Rico promises a chance to connect to family roots, kayak in bioluminescent bays, and eat our fill of mangos. It’s a US territory, so we have no visas to obtain, or timeline placed on our visit. Through our research, we easily identified dozens of intriguing sites to visit. We’re eager to enjoy the gorgeous beaches & snorkeling on Vieques & Culebra, kayaking Mosquito Bay (bioluminescent), and caves on the northern shore. We will definitely visit Puerto Rico, but will it be our first stop?

Some of the hurdles to overcome in Puerto Rico are transportation, language, & utilities.

Transportation – We’ll need a car to have the experiences we desire in Puerto Rico.  We can ship our van, but that will cost a pretty penny. We could rent a car, but that would probably be even more expensive. We could buy a car, but that sounds like a huge hassle, too.

Language- DJ & I both speak at a solid toddler-level fluency in Spanish. Surely, we will learn quickly. . .right?

Utilities- Puerto Rico is known for hiccups in their power grid & internet. How much would that affect us?

Mexico promises a seemingly endless coastline and a phenomenal cost of living! I can stuff myself with tacos, enjoy a massage, & get my laundry washed, folded and pressed for under $20. Mexico has a generous visitors welcome of 6 months with our US passports and we can even drive there. A Mexican road trip could be an amazing adventure. We’ll identify the safest cities & routes, the areas to avoid, and voila half a year of sun kissed bliss for less than a trip to Disney! Just like Puerto Rico, we will definitely visit Mexico, but should it be by car?

Some of the hurdles to overcome in Mexico are safety, language, and immigration rules for ourselves & our vehicle.

Safety- Mexico has pretty rough reputation for safety. After we marked the areas to avoid due to kidnapping, cartel activity & malaria, it left us with a near impassable checkerboard. Meeting a native Mexican family at our yard sale cemented the veto on our Mexican road trip. She conveyed her apprehension crossing the border & stated she would never attempt to drive home (Central Mexico). That paired with a few of her personal stories & we were convinced. If a native Mexican mother wouldn’t attempt it, a pair of light skinned, non-fluent, newly minted travelers shouldn’t either. No sweat, we pivot! Sell the van, scout plane tickets bargains instead.

A quick search for best places to snorkel in Mexico cross referenced with Mexico’s safest cities puts both La Paz (Baja California Sur) and Merida (Yucatan peninsula) as top contenders. Merida, a beautiful, historical city in the Yucatan peninsula, is one of the safest cities in all of North America. Flying out of Jackson (highest per capital murder rate in the US) to Merida sounds like a win. La Paz is on the other side of Mexico, near the tip of Baja California. It’s known for it’s amazing wildlife and breathtaking beaches. (See blog header pic Playa La Balandra!!)

Language – Above mentioned toddler-level fluency restriction still applies.

Immigration- We want to follow the rules precisely & that will require a little research and having our documents ready at hand.

 Pivot

As our family is forming this dream to travel abroad, unexpected lessons began to sneak in. One of them was the power of the pivot and staying open to changing plans. Our plans evolved from taking standard family vacations, to RVing, to sailing, before we landed on the current air/road trip hybrid.

Our family’s unofficial motto was born. Reserve the right to change your mind. So right up front, I want to reserve that right at the birth of this blog. I want to reserve the right to pivot, not once, not twice, but dozens of times through this adventure. We will inevitably announce we’re moving to Puerto Rico, then pivot and go to Mexico instead. Talk up the rail system, then hop on a plane. Fortune favors the prepared, it’s true. But flexibility fuels resilience. 

I’m here to openly confess that I don’t know what I’m doing. We are researching and crowd sourcing information as we go. I am not confident we have it all figured out; in fact, I can guarantee we don’t. My confidence lies in the certainty that this path is for us. We feel called to do this. So, I know we will walk through it all together as a family. Together we can weather any storms, learn, and grow to rely on each other even more. We will laugh at our blunders and cherish the magical moments together, like every other adventure we’ve ever had. Travel is a might roller-coaster giving you whiplash between tranquility, excitement & inconvenience. There in lies the magic of adventure and personal growth. (But, I’m making no promises regarding a little complaining along the way.)