Why travel?

So, why would we want to sell our house and move into 400 square feet with two small children?

First, we love traveling. Or at least we did before we had kids. Then traveling turned into a nightmare when it interrupted sleeping schedules, and flying was both expensive and nerve-wracking because when our child is screaming, he's not just bothering us but also the other 200 people on the plane. Driving takes too long to go the places we want, like California. We've often joked that we could drive to California if we could do it an hour at a time. This way we actually could. Plus, we'd get to see so many friends and places that we'd never have the time or money to go see on individual trips.

Second, we love the idea of getting out from under our stuff. We do try to keep from accumulating too much, and often give things away or hold an occasional garage sale. And every time we move (which has been fairly frequent) we eliminate a whole other chunk of our things. But somehow, especially since having kids, it all keeps piling up anyway. I feel like I spend a lot of my time just taking care of our 'stuff'-putting things away, cleaning, etc. I read recently that the average American only uses 10% of their stuff on a regular basis. We love the idea of getting down to just that 10%, and making our lives (and our kids' lives) more about experiences than about things. Sure, it will be rough on all of us at first to not have a million toys for entertainment, but I think it will be good for us.

Third, what a great opportunity! It would allow us to really make the most of Jeremy's ability to telecommute, before we have to worry about kids' school schedules, or our church commitments, or our house, or Jeremy needing to go into the office, or any of the other things that will eventually tie us down when we settle in Ohio. It will be good for us to put down roots as our kids grow, but why not take this last chance to really get out and see the world. We figure it's go now or wait until Jeremy retires. Why wait?