"When you're my age, you won't want to do the same things that you want to now. If you can do it, go do it."
-- Mandy's mom
The Plan
The plan has been unfolding for a long time now. We've talked about doing "something else" or "something big" for years. We started saving. We started dreaming bigger. We thought we were going to invest in rental property and it (thankfully!) fell through at the last minute.
After several months of discussion and lining up some details, we're about ready to embark on what Kasia likes to call "a year off." We quit our jobs. Mandy's mom kindly volunteered to watch our house and love our cats while we begin this adventure with 2 months in Costa Rica.
So many people wait until retirement to take time off and travel. We choose to do it now. While we're young(ish).
We have some goals in mind: Learn Spanish, try to surf, work some odd jobs, read, do nothing, do something we can't even imagine yet, volunteer, cook, meet people, see the Western part of the US, go to the New Orleans Jazz Festival, take a family vacation, write, workout, drink good coffee, drink bad beer and who the heck knows what else.
How The Plan Came To Be
We talked about it off and on for what seems like forever. Then Kasia got her red planning journal.
Kasia likes to make lists, so once she had this neatly lined notebook, it was on! Kasia made lists. They drove discussions. We actually got an outline of a plan.
We settled on Costa Rica to start. We love the laid-back culture of Latin America, and while every place has some potential risks, Costa Rica is relatively safe compared to the region’s other options. We also chose a place where Spanish is the native language, because one of Mandy’s goals is to brush up on her old college Spanish skills.
We fly into San Jose, Costa Rica January 2, we stay for 3 days on a coffee ranch outside of the city, then we head to the North Pacific beach town of Tamarindo for a week of sun and Spanish school. The rest of the trip is still TBD, but will include ~3-4 weeks in one place to just take it in and feel like we live there.
We’re home in March for a wedding and the rest of our adventure. Here’s to the experience!