We’re sitting here on our flight to Iceland, officially beginning the trip of our lifetimes and it’s safe to say we’ve had a range of different emotions leading up to this moment. Yep, we’ve had all of feels. We’ll unpack a lot of this in our first ever blog post, but one thing we have an overwhelming feel of is gratitude. Neither of us can completely grasp what we are doing, and how we become the lucky ones who get to do it. It’s humbling. We intend to never forget how lucky we are, even during the rougher moments of our upcoming travels.
It has been over two months since we sold our condo in Denver and officially became adrift and homeless. The beginning of the “trip” (in quotes because we were still in Denver) was supposed to be stressful, chaotic, and well, just not that pleasant. It ended up being anything but. All of our friends had a hand in this, but we’d be remiss to not mention our host for most of our homeless period in Denver, Michael Klinker (aka Dad). We went from unsure of where we’d be week to week, to having a stable place to call home (and we mean that in the literal sense of the word). It ended up being a ton of fun, and gave us a place to host friends and just relax as we planned. We’ll always be grateful for this great gesture of hospitality and friendship. So… speaking of friendship, this time leading up to us taking off from Denver was incredible, but also incredibly hard. So many goodbyes (albeit temporary ones), hugs, beers (dear god, so many beers) were had as we prepared to leave. Again, remember that fortunate and grateful thing we mentioned above? Yeah, that applies here too. We had dance parties, pool parties, rafting, and cookouts. And this was all just in the last week. Following up the goodbyes in Denver we got to see family both in Indiana and New York, as well as a final stop off in our old stomping grounds of Nashville to play with some friends. Family was also emotional, but also grounding. Reconnecting with our family was in a way just what we needed, not to mention our livers needed a break from the pummeling we had been providing them. By far the hardest thing to do was to leave the love of our lives Russell in New York. There are no real words to describe what that was like, so maybe just imagine having every fiber of your being screaming at you and stabbing at your heart. Then multiply that by 1000. The peace we have here is that Russell is being taken care of by the truest of dog-lovers in what amounts to dog paradise. Acres of land and trails in the county with Jolene and Jeff to play with them. The best thing of all is that he has a new playmate in Shelby. Shelby is essentially Russell but in black lab form, with some awesome quirks of her own to make her wonderfully unique as well. That kind of brings us to today, sitting on a plane flying to Reykjavik, wonderfully exhausted emotionally and physically.
We sit here now, reflective about what is to come and (here it is again), how fortunate we are. For the friends and family that saw us off to the crazy opportunities we have coming up. So, yeah, you’ll have to forgive the repetitiveness, it’s just where we are right now and hopefully where we’ll be for quite a while.
LOVE that you’re doing this and can’t wait for the stories!! Soak it all in. What a time in your lives!
Woohoo! Hugs to you guys from Bolivia! So happy for you both and can’t wait to read your blog!! 🙂
Liz and Pablo
How are your travels in Bolivia?!
I have chills!!!! Bob voyage you two! Let the freedom find a home in your bones!!!!!!!! (I accidentally wrote bob voyage, and I liked it so I’m going to leave it. It feels… appropriate.) ❤️❤️❤️
Bob voyage forever has a place in our hearts! Love and miss you and Win.
xoxo, m
So awesome! Enjoy your travels and keep the blogging up so we can live vicariously through you 🙂
Just noticed your name Mr. Jofferson, classic. Hope things are great for you buddy!
God speed Brother Kriete. Can’t wait for the unedited stories. Let those fly without so much as a spell cheak.
Such a grand story y’all are embarking on.
Be good,
Kdog
Thanks brother! But, be good? that’s no fun now. 😉
Virtual hugs from The Serbin duo in Nashville! We felt blessed to get to see you both before you headed out. I am so excited that you get the opportunity to take this trip.! So glad I get to see some exciting places living viacariously through you & Michelle. We will be looking for the miniature elephant❤️ Love you & have a blast!
Thanks Suebear, miss and love ya! Miniature elephant will hopefully be making an appearance soon, thanks for reminder!
Keep blogging – good stuff!
I’ve been using the silverware you gave me every day – so much better than that blue spork! Thanks again.
Take care of each other and have fun. If you ever find yourself in a bind, tell them your name is Jack Spellman (or Jackie Spellman) and you left your ID back in the hotel. That was my alias in college.. “Jack” was responsible for many a petty crime!
Have fun!
Klinker (AKA Dad)
I see you were so eager to post twice Klinker :). Sorry, the first one I have to approve and then you should have free reign from then on! Miss ya buddy!
Btw, you have one more surprise gift coming that we expect you to use frequently. Btw, Jack’s name is already mud over here, rough first week. Any other aliases are very much appreciated.
Love! However, it’s been over a week. Where is the next post?? With more pictures please.
Soon my child
I think what you are doing is awesome, and I love that you are doing the website and blog with it; so, we can live vicariously through you. It gives Carolynn and I a lot of ideas and things to discuss.
We want to know if you put things in storage for a year or did you just rid yourselves of all of your earthly possessions first?
I also love that you incorporated the Douglas Adams quote into your website.
Good Luck – Jeff (a.k.a. Billy)
Billy! A bit of a combo. We got rid of most things (condo, most of our clothes, most of our furniture, etc). But, the stuff that was left over we just put into storage. Much more Douglas Adams to come hopefully :). I hope to give you guys lots of ideas in the coming months! How’s Mexico treating you?
Actually – I’m still going back and forth to Mexico. The immigration/visa process to be able to officially work there has been very long. We should be going to stay in July.
I know that you’ve already carefully planned your trip, but seriously if you decide to come through Mexico at some point, we will be good tour guides, and you’ll have good food and a place to stay as long as you want.
Carefully?? You surely know me better than that Billy :). We may just see you in Mexico, it would be summer-ish next year, but it’s possible!