88 days.   It’s just a hair longer than the novel, although with the cheat of using primarily air travel, not quite the accomplishment.   Luckily, we aren’t in a race, instead we’re on a voyage.   A long planned and dreamed quest to go everywhere, all at once.   We hoarded Delta Skymiles and packed our little brown bag lunches for years to have the means to make this happen and now we are finally able to take the time to do it right.

We’re leaving the South and traveling continuously Eastward around the globe, touching down in 4 continents, more than a dozen countries, and ending our journey by finally setting foot on my 7th continent!  We’re packing up our lives into 80L backpacks (and causing me severe anxiety when I realized I wouldn’t be able fit even one pair of cute heels in that pretty purple bag unless I wanted to forgo several other basic human needs…) and seeing how many places and experiences we can tackle before real life occurs once more!

Who are we?  Well, for the sake of the internet and the unknown of what will happen over the next several months, we’re going to be Him and Her…He and She…Mr. and Mrs, really what ever I deem to call us when my jet lagged brain gets a chance to type up the adventures!  I understand most people reading these posts (at least the early ones-hi Mom…) know us, but on the slim chance we become popular or funny or a bad influence on some other crazy, young couple who gives in to the need to see everywhere, we’re keeping things pseudo-anonymous on the big, bad internet.  After all, at the end of this mad adventure we have to put back on our suits and sensible shoes and be productive members of the business community…and we might not want some of our future misadventures to be completely traceable in those pesky background checks!

I’m the Her in this dynamic duo…the Him will probably never write (although you better believe he will take it upon himself to attempt to edit the heck out of every one of my run on sentences…in vain as seen above!) but he will definitely be a huge part of our post.  His birthday present was a GoPro which he is ready to clamp, strap, or tape to every moving surface we encounter (animal, vegetable, or mineral!).  I also full expect (ie secretly hope for) some “hold my beer and watch this” stories that his family and frat brothers have come to know so well.  And as my family and friends know well, he will inevitably become my 2nd set of hands when I’m too covered in Barbie bandaids to type as fast as I talk…

On the day we start our adventure, we will both be 30, residents of a great Southern city, and have been married exactly 1 year and 1 day.   They say the first anniversary is traditionally paper, so we are honoring that with plane tickets, maps, itineraries, and those strange yellow vaccine cards.  This isn’t our first big trip, but it is definitely our longest, both in length and in planning…but more on that when we get to “The Why!”

The question my husband and I are asked more than anything else…honestly, maybe even more than “how are you?” and other generalities…has been the same for 5 years…

“Where are you going next?”

We are a couple who started traveling together before we actually started dating, so our newlywed year has (thankfully)  not been overwhelmed by questions of “when are you having a baby” like most of our friends.   In hindsight, it might have been easier to handle that question…my stock answer is always “I have too many places to visit,” yet l didn’t know how to divert the trip question.   For the past 5 years, we have been cooking up the ultimate trip…a 3 month voyage around the world!

So finally, the truth is out!  Our next trip is planned and the first day of our 2nd year of marriage will be spent where we are happiest, on a plane, with a new adventure in sight.  Where are we going next, you ask?

Everywhere!