To Travel Is To Live

Jen

Rachel

In less than a week we are going to be leaving the comforts and the familiarity of our homes, friends, family, jobs and life as we know it. We are two sisters nine years apart who have decided to take on an adventure, go out of our comfort zones and see the world. 

The idea for this trip sprung a year ago when our youngest of three sisters took a leap and moved to New Zealand. Having never been on a plane, lived on her own, or ever having a job we saw her grow and learn as she faced her new world head on. This came as an inspiration for myself, Jen, and I figured if my 18 year old sister could do it so could I. Then there were a change of plans. She decided to come home and my thoughts of living and traveling in New Zealand changed. One day I was reading a fellow travelers blog which stopped me dead in my tracks. He had left with a one way ticket, a minimal amount of money and has been finding ways to support himself while traveling the world. He has been traveling as of today for 5,057 days and has visited 87 countries. You can read his blog if you want to see all the things he has been doing to support himself along the way http://www.wanderingearl.com/

Needless to say he made me look at traveling as a way of life not just a trip. I thought about going back to India, trying the Europe thing, but when I realized how far my money could take me in South East Asia I decided to start there. I've always wanted to go to Bali and Thailand and figured why not add it all in. Gorgeous beaches, new cultures, volcanoes, a chance to dive in some great spots...once I got certified of course! It was a huge life changing decision I made that day and have had to change my life in so many ways since that day. It just so happened that my middle sister decided one day to ask me if she could join me. I was a little hesitant, not because I didn't want the company, but because I had a vision of things I wanted to do. I gave her my list, told her the style of trip I wanted to try and she was all for it. 

I've packed my belongings in storage, lived with roommates, taken a leave from work for a year, said goodbye to most of my family and friends and here we are. We fly out in less than a week from Toronto to Bali with a layover in Hong Kong. I've heard everything from everyone on how to stay safe, how I will find myself, things I need to take. As I did with India two years ago, we're not going to be naive but we're going to go with open minds and open hearts and hope we can really take in the beauty of life. We don't want to just travel, we want to live.

 Here are our lives so far:

Packing our backpacks for six months

Rachel's belongings are packed up at home

Backpack packed and moving out