2 weeks to lift off

January 17, 2012 we depart Calgary to start our one year travel adventure. We start first in Tokyo for a week's stay at the New Koyo Backpacker's Hotel We don't have a set itinerary for Tokyo yet. Over the year we have a loose itinerary; from Tokyo we fly to Kuala Lumpur and plan to stay in Malaysia until around the end of March, then we plan to spend April-June in north India, Nepal & Bhutan, from there we will travel to Europe for the summer, in the late fall we will go to Arizona so J can take a hand built bicycle course and finally we will end the trip with about 2 months in NYC, arriving back in Calgary January 2013.

So why now? There were a lot of contributing factors. We know we only get this life once and that it is short. That became all too real when our highschool friend passed away suddenly in 2010. We also know that some regions may not be as easy to travel to in the future. Our kitty Mia passed away in 2011 which left us with no furry dependants. As well this Ted talk motivated us to take a year off now rather than wait for retirement:

How are we doing it? I quit my job and will need to look for a new one in 2013 while J has a sabbatical. We have ruthlessly went through our possessions selling or giving away unneeded items, stored personal effects at J's parents, and rented out the house furnished through a rental management company. We are tapping into savings and attempting to travel on a budget. We are also supported by many lovely people helping us with tasks such as J's sister taking care of mail and at home financial management, our dear friend Kate clearing the snow, J's parents for storage and moving and so on.

During the trip I will be blogging and posting photos. Not all photos will make it to the blog but you can check the rest out on J's Flickr stream as well as on my Flickr stream or my instagram. I plan on taking photos with my iPhone and gopro while J has his professional SLR.

I know there will be difficult times when we miss friends, family, familiar surroundings and our home but I am so lucky to be traveling with my soul mate. This video reminds me that home is where ever we are together.