One Year To Go

The one year celebration before departing on our big adventure has arrived. Wow, this is a cool milestone! Since getting to this point (and still going ahead with it all!) is quite something, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out to reflect on what we’ve achieved thus far and think about what the future will bring.

I suppose as we dip into sub-one year, and we start to talk in months and weeks, not years, it starts to focus the mind. We are now seriously looking at trimming the fat around the house, planning out our final trips around Asia, including to Australia, before we head to the Northern Hemisphere for a good length of time. Our financial goal is in sight, although it feels like it could go either way at this point! We will either be on the edge or just about right by the time we leave, which will be a monumental relief. And “just about there” on a stretch goal is darn good. It will still require a few things to go well, along with some good old-fashioned determination and focus. And it’s funny - even though I know the end is in sight on our life in Singapore, it doesn’t hold us back.

At dinner we talked through how on earth we landed on this idea, where it came from, and why we are doing it (come to think of it, the wine will certainly be cheaper than in Singapore!). These discussions happen fairly regularly but it was a lovely way to mark the occasion.

I know from reading in the Liveaboard / Travelling with Kids / Digital Nomad communities that there are those who plan their adventures for many more years than us. But there is also a decent group of families who plan similar trips in less than a year. I suppose the timeline just gets compressed, with the same jobs to achieve but each task perhaps getting less attention or having more corners to cut. But like all deadlines Parkinson’s Law applies (work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion), which either drives a flurry of meaningful activity and/or a healthy slice of procrastination. It’s impossible to be 100% productive all the time, no matter how seemingly tight the timeframes are.

For anyone taking on a similar project, I would definitely advise building in some decompression time, evenings out, a short break, holidays, etc. Resetting the mind certainly seems to make us more productive where obsessed dedication to the task can be draining. That’s our working theory anyway, and so for it seems to be working!

So, here we are: healthy, hopeful and harmoniously happy that we have taken on this challenge. Here’s to the next year… Cheers!

-Ben