We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves and announce anything before it was finalized, but now that it is…

WE HAVE SOLD OUR BOAT!

 

 

Let’s backtrack a little…

Last month we were at a spot in our lives where we didn’t know which direction to go. We’ve had this feeling before, where we feel that we are not doing enough for our personal growth, our goals, and for others. We felt fortunate with what we had and where we were, but something still felt like it was lacking.

We created a list. On the list we wrote down every idea we had: where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do, anything and everything, no matter how implausible.

There was a clear divide in our options, some involved the boat, while others did not.

Without fully committing to any one plan we decided to test the waters to see if there would be any interested buyers for Necesse.

The response was positive, and quick.

We had interested folks writing to us within the hour. (Thank you BLOGOSPHERE for providing such an amazing way to spread the news!)

Of all the inquiries, we had two emails that stood out. They were from the same couple, that just happened to be in different locations when I posted. Both knew they were keen, and both emailed me within a few hours of the post going live! I felt it was the most serendipitous thing ever.

To have the stars align even more, this family (they have two girls almost the same ages as our two!!!!) was already on island, and planning to take off sailing in a few months. They just needed the right boat.

The ball was rolling and it hasn’t stopped.

If we were going to sell our boat, these were the type of people we were hoping it would go to. It felt right. And now it has happened.

FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS

 

You may think we are crazy, and asking yourselves, “who are these fools that are selling the dream and moving on to land?” WE ARE!

Sailing was never the ultimate dream for us. Travelling was, and will continue to be.

Don’t get me wrong, we have loved the last 7 years of our lives aboard Necesse. We have built this boat up to be our home and the thought of selling her still pulls at our heart strings. There will be tears I’m sure.

She has given us many adventures and the opportunity to island hop with our home in tow. We have raised our daughters aboard this ship and she will always be a part of who we, and our girls are.

Even without a boat, the travels and adventures will continue.

 

 

Our list showed us that the same dreams and goals we had when we got married are still alive and strong.

We have always wanted to have “something” of our own. Our own business. Something that we would be proud of, and that would bring us residual income over time (allowing for more travel).

We just had to decide the where and what.

WHAT DO WE REALLY WANT

 

Over the years, and the travels, we have come to see that there are a few things that we find very important in deeming somewhere the “ideal spot”.

We want:

-a location with flights that are cheap and short, so that friends and family can easily come visit (and vice versa)

-somewhere that has a cheaper lifestyle, where our money will last longer

-a secondary language (I would love for our girls to be raised with an extra foreign language in their pockets)

-warm climate

-kiteboarding nearby (as per Eben’s request)

-accessibility to mail and online shopping

With these criteria we were able to narrow down our list of destinations to something a little more realistic. But how do you decide if the next spot is going to be the right spot? There’s no way of knowing without going!

STOP PLANNING AND GO

 

It’s time to follow our own advice and not over plan anything. Just throw ourselves into the next adventure.

Without really looking too much into anything we have a pretty crazy next three months ahead of us.

This is roughly what our lives are going to look like for the next little bit:

-pack up the belongings we wish to keep and either ship them back to Canada or store them in the USVI for further shipping decisions to be made!

-fly from St Thomas to Cancun, Mexico. Nope, not an all-inclusive vacation, but rather, we have kite friends that just moved to El Cuyo (2 hours north of Cancun) and are telling us we need to go check it out. They are saying its the “next” Cabarete. Spend one week there.

-fly from Cancun to Baja Sur, Mexico to go see friends in Todo Santos. Spend 2 weeks there. They, themselves, have also been seeking out the spot and they think they have found it. We are keen to go check it out and are HIGHLY considering becoming their neighbours. MEXICO!!!! 

-fly from Baja to California to see a friend, and to finally bring the girls to the ever promised DISNEYLAND! WE HAVE NOT TOLD THEM YET! Spend a few days there.

-fly from Cali to Canada to visit some friends and drop off some luggage. Spend a week there.

-fly to Germany and head on a STOLZ-FAMILY bike and boat trip. We will spend 9 days pedalling and boating our way along the Danube river!

-backpack some of Europe for a month. Heck, if we are already there we should stay a while and check it out! Not too sure where we will end up, but are keen on Budapest, Croatia, Greece, and Italy. I know many of you will think that a month is not enough to discover Europe, but we want to check it out without spending all of our money and valuable time.

And here, when we rang in the New Year I thought that 2017 was going to be tame! I’ll have to remember to re-read my own post about STRESS-FREE FAMILY TRAVEL!!!

All of this should put us back in Canada sometime around mid-June. From there, who knows. We’ve got the property in BC we can continue to build on, we’ve got this possibility in Mexico, or as our list suggests, we may end up in the Philippines!

The only way for you to know where we will land is to keep following our adventures as we travel with two in tow.

 

 

FEAR WON’T STOP US

 

Even though in a few weeks we will find ourselves homeless (other than that sweet 28ft NON-winterized trailer) we have back in Canada, we are not afraid. 

We’ve sold our current home, kick-starting us into creating a new plan. There was no way we could have both worlds (not right now anyways). So by selling the one, we are in essence “forcing” ourselves on to our next BIG PLAN, without even knowing what that is yet. You should try it sometime, it’s exhilarating!

This unknown is like pure adrenaline. Without the boat to fall back on as a PLAN B, we really have a world of opportunity ahead of us with our goals as our driving force.

We just have to nail down our next location before winter catches up to us!