A Sprint vs. A Marathon

We arrived in the States nearly eight months ago. What was meant to be a 2-3 month sprint, split across both coasts turned into a marathon stay.

We spent a small fortune in car hire (lesson learnt: next time we’ll buy a car to sell when we leave).

We stayed with various generous friends, house sat a dog and cat in Palos Verdes, and two cats in Hermosa Beach.

Then for about about 3 months we lived in a garage conversion in a friend’s back garden. It was a testament to how well Red and I can live in close quarters without wanting to kill each other – but also proved how little space we really need on a daily basis. One of the benefits was that we got to play foster parents to 2 black labs called Ruby and Eleanor (think The Beatles).

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I even stayed in three new Airbnb places in towns that I haven’t visited before: Temecula, Idlewild and Lake Arrowhead (I’ve checked two off the list, but would return to Idlewild in a heartbeat).

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The Joy of Planning

I’ve always been a planner. Planning a trip is almost as exciting as the trip itself. But what I’m learning is that with a nomadic lifestyle it’s very challenging to impose a plan. Having the flexibility to come and go as we want has made it more and more difficult to make a plan and stick to it.

At the end of the day, the only person imposing the guidelines and parameters is ourselves. When we tell ourselves. “Oh, we can’t do that” it has taken us a few minutes of discussion to realize that we can plan whatever we want. This newfound freedom is both exhilarating and slightly overwhelming. Especially after seventeen years in a corporate environment as a project manager where all of my month was planned and accounted before the previous month had ended.

An Intention not a Plan

I’m slowly learning to find a balance between creating a plan and going with the flow. So much so that we have been discussing a trip to Asia – where we have no plan, just an intent.

This is after putting plan after plan together, only to have it change direction. Greece, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy have gone on the list for consideration. So finally we’ve opted for an intent to visit rather than a plan, and will see what unfolds.

I can’t wait to see where the next 6 months takes us.