Looking at that list, I couldn't help but wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't decided to stay in the US this year. I know I wouldn't be planning a wedding, but I don't really have any regrets. And here's why, I love my fixed life. It's true. Blasphemous almost, in the travel world, but true. Some travelers, like Christine of C'est Christine, write about missing out on a lot of the perks of fixed life, but still enjoying travel. For me, it's the opposite. I love my fixed life, but sometimes I miss my "travel" life.
Let me explain: H and I have a great life. Our expenses are low enough that we're able to chip away at our student loans at a good rate. We work for great companies and I'm going to be starting grad school this summer (hopefully!). We both prioritize travel, meaning we'd rather spend less on stuff and more on the experiences, but we also feel guilty about leaving those loans to hang over our heads for later. We want them GONE and fast! And I'm determined not to leave my education half completed.
We're excited to be planning our wedding. A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how we're doing our wedding on a budget, so we can keep from going into debt. We both refuse to go into debt over one day, its just stupid. Also, since we've been saving for this wedding since about the time we got "real" jobs, we're used to saving now and living on a budget. We plan on keeping that up after the wedding, perhaps throwing more at our loans, but also saving for travel. We're already planning trips. Since we rent (and don't plan to buy anytime soon), we don't feel too attached to one place.
But (you know it had to come to this), there's a problem: I hate long-term travel. I don't like moving every few days. When I lived in the Czech Republic, I would often get sick of traveling. My classmates would hit up a different country every weekend while I would stay in Prague or take day trips. I like having a home base. Over the past few months, as we've been wedding planning, we've talked about the future. We want to travel more, but know that this isn't the time for it. However, we don't believe that travel is a single or childless adventure. Our goal is to live abroad someday. Whether its for a year or ten years, we want to live abroad. We would love to raise our future children abroad, exposing them to different cultures and ideas from an early age. But for now, we stay put. We take awesome vacations and get rid of all our debt.
So, while we aren't taking major, round-the-world trips right now, I still have a list of adventures I want to take. And a world map on my dining room wall. I think when I made this list, I was planning each point as a "trip".
The List:~India
~Nepal and Buhtan
~Thailand
~Mongolia
~Israel, Palestine, and Jordan
~Egypt
~South Africa
~Brazil
~Peru
~Chile and Argentina
~Mexico
~New Zealand
~Norway, Sweden, and Finland
~Denmark and Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg)
~The UK (Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales)
~Italy
~Spain and Portugal
~Croatia, Serbia, Greece and Turkey
~Morocco
~Russia
~China
~Australia
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