First and foremost you need to know that Barry and I have been planning to 'travel and work the world', with the first leg of our journey kicking off in 2014. We researched the possibilities and opportunities only to find that there are many 'traveling families' who work and home school their children whilst they travel the world. This was right up our alley!
The cost of living in South Africa has become ridiculous, and to survive you need to succumb to this 'corporate society' way of life. Been there and done that for the first 20 years of my adult life and I happily gave that way of life up 3 years ago so why would I go back to an environment that isn't exciting and motivating for me. Why not travel and work the world, surely earning an income in dollars can't be a difficult as earning SA Rands. Besides, if we are going to be poor then we may as well be poor doing the 'stuff' we love doing and that is traveling, meeting and interacting with the children of the world, learning and living life.
Anyhow, so we met with friends for coffee and cake one Sunday (3 weeks ago) and there we were told of an opportunity to sail the Caribbean whilst training up as deck hands. We of course we jumped at the opportunity! Why wouldn't we? Who wouldn't want to escape the city life to experience life in the Caribbean.
Our Skype call took place with Renata and Steve (owners of the yacht) on Sunday, 17 March and there and then we agreed to join them and they agreed to have us come along. Just like that! No fancy interviews, no application process...so chilled and laid back :-)
The only catch? we are to move our journey forward by 1 year and we are to depart the 1 May 2013.
Since the 17 March our lives just went crazy, now we have some major planning to do and this in only 5 weeks. Notice was given on our flat, we met with Kaelah's teacher to discuss our travel plans, we then turned our entire flat into a 'thrift shop' as we need to sell every single last thing to ensure we have sufficient funds for flights, travel, food, diesel and water (for the yacht) for the next 6 months.
Let me tell you, this is all so exciting! I never ever for a moment thought that I would ever 'travel and work the world' and here we are, packing up, selling up life as we have known it for 38 years and man o man are we excited!
Nothing in life is ever that simple,there are a couple of sacrifices to be made and the one that is the most trying for me is to bid my daughters, family and friends farewell. Getting rid of earthly possessions is a breeze but saying goodbye for a whole year is super hard. Thank goodness for today's technology though, we will get to take each and every person we love and adore on this journey with us. Skype, Facebook and Email will ensure that we stay in touch with all of you and that is a huge relief.
Our 'Backpacks and Adventures' kick off on the 30 April when we depart by train to KZN, we are off to spend time with Barry's Mom and Dad. We then travel back to Jozi where we will catch our flight to Venezuela (Caracas) and from there we make our way to the island Grenada. This is where our sailing adventure begins and we can hardly wait :-)
We will keep you updated on our departure dates as and when we have confirmation.
In the meantime, google the Caribbean. Take a sneak peak at where we are traveling to. It's going to be awesome!
Oh yes and if any of you have any good advice on the most affordable flights and routes to the Caribbean we would greatly appreciate it. The cheapest flights we have found thus far, for 2 adults and 1 child is a whopping R39 000!
Peace, love and happiness xx
