The Adventure Begins

Just like that May 15th is here! We are officially starting our year of vacation, sabbatical, early retirement, mid-life crisis trip, or whatever else you’d like to call it. My personal favorite description of our situation is unemployed and homeless.

We’ve had a great month and a half visiting family and friends in Toronto and Toledo. Everyone has been so supportive and we can’t say thank you enough! We kissed lots of babies in Toronto, which only sometimes went well (see below). We even had an amazing going away party where I’m pretty sure we consumed at least 40 bottles of wine. We will miss all our friends and family so much, but are ready to get this trip started!

Packing was somewhat of a nightmare. Lisa is usually the packing type to push the 50lb bag limit for a long weekend trip. Somehow though, after MONTHS of packing, we were both able to fit all we need in these backpacks. Learning to travel simply will be a work in progress. We also may need to buy more socks and underwear along the way since an extra cute dress was made priority over more undergarments.

One big goal we have on this trip is to say “Yes” as much as possible. We want to get outside our comfort zone and experience everything the world has to offer. We will be staying in mostly Airbnb’s and Hostels to meet the local people and live how they live. We want to stay in big cities, small towns, on the beach, in the mountains, try the local cuisine, learn the local dance, insert ourselves fully in all the traditions and customs to get the best experience we can.

We’ve been asked many questions about our trip so thought we would answer a few on here:

What place are you most excited for? Lisa is most excited for Switzerland and Southeast Asia while Chad is looking forward to New Zealand.

How does it feel to not have to check emails 12 times a day? AMAZING!

How much money are you going to spend? We are going to try for $100 a day per person. This will include food, lodging, travel to and from, attractions, entertainment, etc.

What will you miss the most? Our friends and family, summer time at the cottage, Ohio State football, comic books, and especially our handsome dog, Brody.

Let the adventure begin! Our first stop tomorrow morning is Lisbon, Portugal. From there we will be heading south to the beaches and then north to Porto for some Port wine. For any of you who have been please let us know if there is any “must see” spots on the “Say Hi” page.

18 thoughts on “The Adventure Begins”

  5. Have a Fanfreakingtabulous adventure, may great energy and happiness guide your way …so awesome, looking forward to following your trip 🍻🤗

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  6. All the best on your trip!! I REALLY hope you catch Summer….

    Be safe, but most importantly Lisa never feed Chad after midnight. No matter how much he begs.

    All the best, Hennebury clan.

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  7. Love this first post!! Was thinking of you guys yesterday, knowing your trip had begun. Enjoy the adventure and so glad you guys have decided to share so that we can come along for the ride 😍

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  10. May the road rise up to meet you.
    May the wind always be at your back.
    May the sun shine warm upon your face,
    and rains fall soft upon your fields.
    And until we meet again,
    May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

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  11. How did you best prepare for this journey? Mentally, financially, prepping on what to bring? I’d love to do something similar to this but making the jump can be intimidating.

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    1. We prepared for a long time- a little over a year from when we started talking about it.

      Mentally we listened to along of Travel podcast of people who have done similar trips. I liked “Extra Pack of Peanuts”. Read blogs, did research on locations, lots of discussions with each other about where we really wanted to go.

      Financially we decided to keep the money we made from selling our house so we can have a base when we come back. We saved as much as we could otherwise and when the pool of money runs out we will have to come home. So trying to do the trip cheap within reason so we can travel longer!

      Prepping on what to bring- I over-prepared on this. You can only fit so much in a backpack. Neutral colors and tops and bottoms that can mix and match worked best. We got packing cubes which were an awesome gift from my sister. And then everything else travel sized. I ended up having to leave a lot at home I was hoping to back. Best advice I got though- you can always buy what you need almost wherever you are.

      Hope this helps!

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  13. Have an amazing time you two! Looking forward to seeing it all unfold.

    I’ll see you in Iceland!! 🙂

    The Blizzards

    P.S. I can’t really afford Iceland right now. 🙂

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