A New Adventure Begins

On August 14th, 2015, I published a post that changed the course of this blog and the direction of my life forever.

“In two days I'll be on a plane to Asia and life will never be the same … I bought a one way ticket to Bangkok to leave this life behind and start over.”

Today's announcement is strangely similar, yet different in so many ways.

In two days, I'll be on a plane to South America with a one way ticket to Rio. But this time I'll have someone by my side… and this trip is not about starting over—it is about the start of our own great adventure, together.

When I returned home from Asia to sell my house, I never thought I would stay. I could not wait to get back to a nomadic lifestyle, waking up to new places and people every day. But there was someone I had met along the way who would change those plans.

Lucas was moving to San Francisco to settle down, and as difficult as the decision was to stay with him in California, I knew I would never be able to walk away from this connection we had.

That connection grew into love, and the beginning of a life together in the city. He found a great career, and The choice was to fully pursue real estate with the purchase of my first flip.

But there was something missing. A void had been left in the absence of travel, and it was growing by the day. A piece of me was gone, and nothing could replace it. I could not look at those old photos, relive the memories or even talk about my time abroad without mourning the loss of the path I did not take.

Some part of Lucas felt the same, and he was also re-evaluating his career path and life plans.

After many long conversations, we both knew what we needed to do.

It was because of a risk we both took in 2015—him leaving his career to backpack overseas for several months and me walking away from a marriage to do the same—that ended up being the best decision of our lives, and the one that brought us together. There was no hesitation, it was time to make that same decision again.

A couple months ago, Lucas quit his job and a we booked a flight to Rio, where we will begin our backpacking trip through South America and Europe for the next seven months.

Just as we each did during our own travels throughout Southeast Asia, we have very little booked or planned because it is all about the journey, not the destination. We will follow our internal compass and let our encounters lead the way.

At the end of this year, we plan to return home for the holidays before packing up and moving to Florida in January. We will settle in Tampa/St. Petersburg and start our own real estate company, investing through rehabbing, selling and renting homes. We have both put plenty of time and thought into this decision and are prepared to fully commit ourselves to this business.

That leads us to the future of this blog. I cannot make any promises about what to expect over the next several months while we are traveling, but I can say that I will focus on raising the bar for my videos/vlogging (the next one is coming soon!)

There will still be blog updates, but they may not be as lengthy as they were during my last travels—it is tough to predict right now. Lucas has also shown interest in contributing with his own posts from time to time, coming from a different perspective of transitioning from the corporate world to self employment, which some of you may be able to relate to.

I know many of you only read this blog for the home décor content, and I understand if you
decide to look at until that resumes next January—I am expecting it to come back bigger than ever once there are two of us working at it full time! But for those of you who stuck around and enjoyed following my first solo journey, there is a lot more where that came from. And it is never going away, as we have both vowed to make travel a priority for the rest of our lives.

There are still many unknowns ahead, but we have learned that is where the magic happens… in following your heart and letting the universe guide you to where you are meant to be. Each day is precious and tomorrow is not guaranteed, so there is no time to waste.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all—and our adventure begins now.