I began to seriously consider long-term travel in summer of 2016. Eighteen months later my husband was convinced too and it went from daydreams and hypotheticals to spreadsheets and timelines. Two of my favorite things.

We take a trip overseas whenever we can save up two weeks’ worth of vacation time. You can see a lot in two weeks, but at this rate it will take me 30 years to visit all the places on my list. I’m not ready for that kind of commitment. I’d much rather focus for one year and not to fly back and forth across the Atlantic and Pacific 30 times.

Now seems like the perfect life stage for traveling. I have been working for eight years so I have job experience, a preferred field to return to, and most importantly, a savings account. I have no house and therefore no mortgage, and since I am not returning to Santa Barbara, I’m not paying rent anywhere. I don’t have pets or kids, and moving out of country is a great way to get out of volunteer commitments. The hardest part is leaving Santa Barbara, but this cannot be my forever home.