As the days got shorter and work really picked up, coming home in darkness every weeknight was taking its toll. A touch of seasonal affective disorder perhaps? I don’t know, but being in a windowless room for 8+ hours a day certainly didn’t help. What I felt the most was the craving for a change of pace and taste of adventure. Where to next? My itchy feet had just spent the last three solid years in Ottawa and, with Matthew in full-time student mode, we were both ready for a change of lifestyle.
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| Parliament Hill in Ottawa via Brian Leckie |
Knowing that we were soon to begin this journey made it easier to squirrel away as much money as we could. Topped off with wedding gifts from our generous friends and family, we finally hit our savings goal of $10k this summer!
Last weekend we ordered and received a bunch of our travel gear, including our backpacks (mine and his). It was such a cute moment of excitement as we tried on our new packs and rain jackets, rifling through the items we’d be researching for months. Just a few minutes ago Matthew had all of the blankets we own stuffed into each of our backpacks as he practiced securing our bags with our pacsafe locks. Since I was the one who’s been more passionate about travelling in general, it’s especially adorable to see him getting so into it now and being genuinely excited about our upcoming adventures.
Needless to say, the mood around our apartment is much more lively and upbeat these days. We’ve both jumped into the planning and prep with excitement as our trip is almost within reach. My husband is more of a plan-it-right-down-to-the-very-last-detail kind of person whereas I have more of a we’ll-see-when-we-get-there travel mentality, so we’re learning to compromise on the kind of structure we want for the trip.
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| Map of Central America via World Atlas |
From Honduras we’ll take the ferry to the islands of Belize, then bus to Guatemala and continue south from there until we fly out of Panama City to the States in April 2014. I’ll be sharing more details in the weeks to come but in the meantime I’d love to hear if you have any suggestions or tips for travelling through Central America -- please send them my way!
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| Maya Beach in Placencia, Belize via Sage Photographer |
This traveller is about to start moving again.
Linking up with Lost in Travels and Postcards from Rachel.
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Yay to reaching your savings goal! The excitement is killing me and I'm not going with you guys. :-)
ReplyDeleteMo
Yayyy thanks Mo and loving the excitement!! I will make sure to keep you up to date with lots of stories so you can travel vicariously with us lol.
DeleteI'm so jealous! I get the traveling/adventure bug often and I so rarely get to indulge. I hope you have a wonderful time and I look forward to reading all about it!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, it can be hard to make travel a priority when there are other important things in life pulling your attention away. It's been 3 years since my last big adventure but I'm so looking forward to everything that's coming up next year. Thank you for your sweet comment and I hope you enjoy reading along :)
DeleteWow Danielle! This is so exciting! I related to so much of this as I read, especially the beginning parts about feeling trapped (I've been there before!!!) and also being impatient with anticipation! But you're right -- once you hit the part where it starts feeling real, where you can almost taste it, then it's so good! :) Because you start realizing: oh wait, I have less time than I think! And you realize soon you'll be off having those heavily anticipated adventures! Yes, right now is totally the sweet spot! I can't wait to hear more and I'll be avidly reading along as they are happening, too! :)
ReplyDelete--Erika
http://www.chimerikal.com
I know exactly what you mean about hitting that "sweet spot". When things weren't set in stone obviously I didn't want to get carried away with planning and such, but now that the tickets are purchased we are getting so excited!! I picked up a guidebook last week which was just the icing on the cake (speaking of sweet spots lol). Things feel very tangible now :)
DeleteWhat an exciting time! I'm sure it's nervewracking but just think, you've made this amazing decision to do something, like really DO something! I'm sure you will have the most wonderful adventure :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your sweet words Sara! I think it's going to be a wonderful adventure too :)
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