NEW PERSPECTIVE
2019 SABBATICAL
If our vacation out west in 2016 was the Trip That Planted a Seed, then our 2019 sabbatical trip to the opposite side of the planet was when that seed took root and gave us A New Perspective!
In 2019, Kristi earned a 3-month paid sabbatical from work. We decided to seize the opportunity and go big with a 6-week trip to New Zealand and Australia! The story of this trip is an amazing one…a story I could probably write seven blog posts about. But as we get you up to speed on how we arrived where we are today, choosing to travel the US in an RV for an extended period of time, I want to focus on the parts of this trip that gave us a new perspective and pushed us to take control in life!
In a similar manner to my previous post, there were several significant moments on this trip that became pivotal to our mindset about what we wanted out of life. But, as most of the learnings from our trip out west were retrospective in nature, our NZ and Australia trip, was the opposite. We had already started thinking in the direction of big change. So, we were actively able to call out significant moments as they happened. It was really cool to see how our mindset was beginning to change in real time! And in this post, I’m going to share those moments that we went through and how we grew from them! My hope would be that you can relate in some way to our experiences, so that you too can begin to recognize the significant moments in your life that will help you achieve your dreams!
GETTING PAST SOMEDAY
Australia had been my top vacation destination for a long time. And honestly, I wasn’t quite sure I’d ever get there. I mean, it’s a big commitment to travel across the world. Travel time is a bear from the east coast of the USA (over 20 hours all in), or anywhere in the north-western hemisphere, for that matter. And once you get there, you should stay for awhile just to make the travel time worth it. As Americans that kind of time can be challenging because on average, we get two weeks’ vacation a year. Of course, there’s also a significant financial commitment as well. On top of that, we were 2 years into trying to figure out the whole parenting thing while managing corporate careers and side-hustles. So, Australia was just kinda tucked into the “someday” bin in my brain.
Before I continue, I want to quickly address the previous paragraph. That is what most people tend to do whenever a goal/dream/desire of significant magnitude comes up. If the path to it is not obvious and easy, we go straight to all the reasons it can’t happen. We talk about why it’s “not practical” or “just doesn’t make sense right now” or “we can’t afford it”. And so, it gets dropped in the “someday” folder and off we go, continuing on the supposedly safe, smart, prudent path of the mundane rat race. That is why, so often, “someday” never comes and those big goals and dreams are never realized. This is the behavior we are actively changing in our lives!
There was no shortage of incredible moments on this trip. Insane views, awesome adventures, hardcore hikes, beautiful beaches, fantastic food, and captivating coffee (for me) abounded. We will definitely share more about our New Zealand and Australia trip in future posts. As this one is dedicated to specific challenges we experienced.
We overcame a lot of hurdles, pushed through some fears, and some uncomfortable moments. Lack of planning, visa issue mid-trip, a snafu with a hotel booking, and city life shock were the big ones! But all of these were learning experiences and some intense moments that showed us there wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.
OUR ARRIVAL
The first of the eye-opening experiences on this trip was just getting there! As mentioned above, it was not going to be easy. But even more so was all the pre-trip prep like getting the house ready for us to be gone, packing for 6 weeks, anticipating taking a toddler through 12 time zones, and all the logistics in between. It just seemed like SO much to wrangle! And it was. But we pushed through and let me tell you, the feeling of accomplishment that I felt when we first stepped foot onto the balcony of our Airbnb in Queenstown, New Zealand, was intense! First of all, the view was insanely beautiful. But more importantly, we had made it all the way to the other side of the globe with all our luggage and our sanity, and we did it with smiles on our faces! Was it easy? Not really. Was it as hard and awful as we had built it up in our minds to be, or that others told us it would be? Nope. In fact, Kade was a rockstar on the plane for 12 hours from Los Angeles to Auckland. We were so proud of him! Kristi did a great job of making sure to bring plenty of snacks and entertainment to keep him occupied. When he was awake, we had games and toys for him to play with and we used blankets and pillows to create his own little space on the floor to hang out in. It can be done!
Standing on that balcony in New Zealand, family by my side, jet-lagged, lake-view in front of us, and excited for the what the next 6 weeks would hold for us was one of the best moments of my life! Sure, families take big trips and travel all the time. But this was by far the biggest for us, and just getting there was incredibly confidence building for me. And realizing that, for some reason, we always focus on the bad that could happen in any given situation and overhype how things could go wrong, was huge for me. Because things don’t always turn out as bad as you think. In fact, they could, and usually do, all go very smoothly. And that’s what we need to focus more on from the start. Be ready for the bad, but plan for the good! That was a new perspective for me. Instead of worrying about all that could go wrong, plan on it going right, and deal with the negative if it happens.
MILFORD SOUND
We stayed on the South Island in Queenstown for almost two weeks. During that time we took many day-trips and one overnighter to one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, Milford Sound. This is where the second significant moment of the trip happened for us. The drive to Milford Sound was almost like driving to another planet! At one point there is a single-lane tunnel through a mountain that almost surely leads to the end of the earth. Where it actually led, was to an unimaginably beautiful place that seemed as if time had forgotten it. But the best part was being out on the boat in the sound. With mountain peaks rising to dizzying heights right out of the water and glacial waterfalls cascading down them, it was as if a painting had come to life right in front of our eyes. We even got a “glacial facial” when the boat pulled in close enough to one of the falls for the spray to blow on the passengers! This boat ride was when it really hit me that I wanted more out of life than 2 weeks of vacation a year and a list of “somedays”. I was on a boat in the most beautiful place I had ever seen, I had my family with me, and we were LIVING!! This is what we needed more of! I didn’t want this to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, I wanted it to be the first of many such experiences. And I didn’t want to wait until retirement for another.
If you can make a trip to New Zealand happen, we highly recommend going. We plan on going back in a few years. We had so many unbelievable experiences including hikes, boat rides, exploring the town to find cool shops and restaurants, and so much more! But there were some things we couldn’t do with a 2-year old in tow, and we didn’t get to go to the North Island at all. So, we will go back to explore more of this beautiful country for sure! As our time there came to a close, we wished we were staying a little longer, but were excited about our upcoming adventure in Sydney, Australia!
SYDNEY’s ROUGH START
While in the airport checking in for our flight to Sydney, we were told we did not have the proper visas to go to Australia. I’m sorry, say what? Somehow in all the research we did, this minor (major) detail had escaped us. After some internal panic, the gate agent helped me out with an express visa web site and I was able to get us the visas we needed prior to our flight boarding. Crisis averted. But lesson learned, when travelling internationally, always check to make sure you have the proper credentials before you travel!
We arrived in Sydney and found our way to our Airbnb. One of our goals for the trip was to stay downtown and live the city life. Neither of us had ever lived in a city and we felt like this would be a great opportunity to do so. We had booked an apartment in the Chippendale neighborhood of Sydney, not more than a few miles from the iconic Sydney Harbor. We checked in, met our host, took the tour, and got some pointers on food and local spots. The apt was ok, definitely looked nicer in the listing photos than it did in person. But our host was nice and it seemed like it would work. Then, we headed out to grab a pizza and a few essentials for the evening.
What we learned over the next 4 weeks of living in Sydney, was that we were definitely not city people. We love the city for work and entertainment, but its just not where we want to live. Once we found our way around and learned the transit system, we eventually felt a lot more comfortable and enjoyed exploring all that Sydney had to offer. But it also confirmed that what we really love is the space and nature that come with country living! So, even though we based our stay in the city, we still made sure to get out and explore outside of downtown Sydney.
SETTLING IN
Sydney is a huge city and there are endless things to do. We went to the Zoo, rode the ferry to Manly Beach, saw a movie, shopped at markets and boutiques, watched the sunrise at Bondi Beach, hiked the coast, fed kangaroos, ran the stairs at the Opera House, explored a huge garden, hiked the Blue Mountains, hung out on a “private” beach and so much more. I even climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge! We also did things we don’t typically do, like going back to the same spot more than once. Usually on a vacation, we rarely repeat a place because we want to see all that we can. But in Sydney we found a beach with a chill little seaside restaurant The Boat House that we went to 3 times because it just felt right. It was one of those places that when you’re there, time seems to fly by and stand still simultaneously. The kind of place that settles your soul and just lets you be in the moment. The kind of place where the world goes quiet, and the only thing you can hear is your heart beating in time with the laughter of the loved ones you’re sharing the moment with. It was our place!
But of all the amazing things we did and saw…nothing was more amazing than the time spent with my family. We were together for 6 weeks straight and that just doesn’t happen. With the way life is typically structured, jobs, school, sports, and other activities barely leave time in a day to spend together as family. Everything we did was so much better because we were together! And that became the hallmark of this whole trip. Whenever anyone asks what the best part of the trip was, it was the family time, hands down. That was what we enjoyed the most and that is what we wanted a lot more of. We watched Kade grow and develop before our eyes in the 6 weeks we were there. And we don’t get this time back. This is the time to live, while we’re young, while Kade is young, and while we can all enjoy adventures and opportunities together! This was the trip that made it clear to us that we needed to make a significant change in the way we lived. This was the trip that gave us a new perspective.
TURNING POINT
New Zealand and Australia was absolutely amazing! It was a gift to spend a solid 6 weeks as a family exploring new countries, growing closer together, and growing a love for travel beyond what we had known. That kind of quality time just did not exist for us in our lifestyle. Taking this trip, overcoming challenges, finding new courage, and experiencing pure joy as a family was a turning point for us.
It was an expensive trip, but the experience was priceless. It was a challenging trip, but the accomplishments were invaluable. It was, at times, an uncertain trip, but the rewards were so fulfilling! While those challenges were confidence building in their own right, it was the highlights of this trip that really propelled us forward! We learned that we craved not only the family time but seeing and doing new things as a family! It was this trip that changed our perspective on how we wanted to live our life. It was this trip that set the wheels in motion for what we are doing today.
TAKE AWAY
If you take one thing away from this post, I hope it is this: you won’t ever find what you want, if you don’t get out there and look for it. It doesn’t have to be a mega-vacation halfway around the world. It could be as simple as starting a garden in the backyard, beginning that search for a new job, finding a new hiking spot to take your family on the weekend, or even volunteering for a cause you’re passionate about. Whatever it is for you, stop waiting and start taking steps toward it. Be ready for the negative, but focus on the positive. Know that you can overcome and handle life’s challenges. This is the belief that will give you the confidence to push past your comfort zone. The key to unlocking your goals and dreams is beyond your comfort zone…waiting for you. Go get it!
Ready to Read More? Up next we decide to sell our home.