Danielle & I took our first cruise in 1996 – a week in the southern Caribbean aboard Carnival’s Inspiration. We were immediately hooked and have taken over a dozen more since then, but never longer than 8 days at a time, which always seems too short.

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I might have to just start the next few posts with, “I’m not ready.” Because I’m not. And I’m not totally sure how you get really ready for something this big. I’m a pack the night before kind of person but obviously I can’t do that this time. And now the deadline moves up. Our first flight takes off in 48 days (yikes! that isn’t very far) but closing on the house sale is now in 30 days. Nothing like a deadline to push you into action.

I have made some progress with the sorting, reducing, and selling of stuffs but I am not sure what I should be doing next. Time to start making my trusty list.

make list
sell something
pack something
add something else to list just for crossing off

Crap, I’m not ready.

With 51 days to go, I guess it’s finally time to start letting all my coworkers & clients know what’s going on. Earlier this week I was informed that my imminent departure will be on the agenda of the Thursday staff meeting (Although I informed management of my decision months ago, I’ve been under strict orders to keep it quiet until now). Hooray - I can finally stop living a double life!

So, to all my coworkers, clients & friends – welcome!

Before you start pounding me with questions, have a look around this blog, especially the FAQ page. Then sign up for my RSS feed and come along for the ride! And if any of you have some travel tips for me, please share.

Now that I don’t have to pretend this isn’t happening at work everyday, maybe this trip will start to seem more real. If only I can find someone to buy my house & all my stuff. Anyone?

Frankly, yes. Or as much as we can. My goal was not to box it all up for later. I decided to take the time to really decide the need for all my stuffs.

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Marc and I would occasionally have conversations along the lines of:

Marc: What would you do if money were no object?
Me: Why, have you found buried treasure in the yard?
Marc: No.
Me: Then why do you need to know?

I get where he is trying to go with this but it seems like an impossible question to answer. I’m trying to answer the more important questions of, “What’s for dinner?”, “What else do we need from the store?”, and ” Why can’t the laundry just stay done?”

Finally, he asked me a question I could answer:

Marc: Why don’t we take off and live on a cruise ship for a year?
Me: What??? (Did he really just ask that?)
Marc: Think of it as a mini retirement while we are still young.
Me: Are you crazy? (Even I thought this)
Marc: Yes, that’s why you married me.
Me: Can we afford it? (Oh, I am so in)
Marc: I think so.
Me: Would we sell the house? What about work? Homeschool
the kids? What about insurance? What about our stuff?
Marc: Well now you’re just talking logistics.

Like most people, I’ve often thought about what I’d like to do in retirement. Danielle & I have talked about how we’d like to travel more after the kids are grown, maybe even live somewhere tropical.
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Note: the audio of this clip is not really suitable for children

from Office Space ©1999 Twentieth Century Fox (greatest movie ever made!)

That’s funny, but it’s also kinda deep. You’re supposed to ask yourself that question, and whatever your answer, you should just do it - because chances are, you don’t need a million dollars.
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