Here We Go

Wheeler wandering. A diagnosis that has plagued one of us for the last few years.



Here is our story. An introduction to who we are and how we got here: on a journey that will take us around the world together. We began dating in college almost 6 years ago, but battled the attempt to maintain a relationship while on very different paths following graduation (welcome to your 20's..)


Here is how it happened for each of us.


Jimmy - My post-graduation plans.  1) Travel 2) who cares what number 2 is when you can travel.  I had a small list of places I wanted to visit when I first graduated and I've been on the move now on and off for 4 plus years.  My list is longer now than when I started. 

I've been very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel the world with no restrictions.  Along the way I've spent almost 5 months traveling the US in an RV with my best friends, summited Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, watched the sunrise on the beach in Barcelona after a 100,000 person party on the beach, seen the Great Wall of China, visited the Temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, seen the tallest building in the world in Dubai, and thought hundreds of time to myself, "Times like this are the reason you travel."

You know what isn't fun when you're traveling?  Having to leave your girlfriend at home and having her stay slightly mad/ envious of your trip for its entirety.  No way man.  I could always get by with a couple of weeks traveling, but after that, it just didn't work.  Solution to the problem?  Bring her with me.  It took just a little bit of convincing, but it seems that we have arrived at our destination. 


Kaysee - Following graduation, I went right to work. Technically, I was searching for a "real job" for quite a while, but working was always my plan, and I suffered through some temp roles and part-time retail in the meantime. I did find that "real" job eventually, at a large company that offered me as much as I could have expected as a recent graduate. I learned a lot, challenged myself, and even got to travel regularly to San Francisco's Bay area. But working 40 (or 50, maybe sometimes 60...) hour work weeks doesn't seem so great, no matter how you spin it, when your boyfriend is experiencing new adventures on another continent.

I did love traveling too. So I did what I could to join Jimmy's adventures while sticking to my career mindset and maintaining my Corporate America reality. But you realize when you leave your boyfriend in Thailand after spending your 16 days of saved vacation to join just part of his 6 week adventure, that there really is a lot more to be gained. Quite possibly, a few months abroad could be as valuable as those same months in the job you've now had for the last 3 years.

Ultimately, when your boyfriend says "let's go live out the adventures of our dreams" AND this just so happens to solve the only source (well, only important source :) ) of tension in your relationship... How could you say anything other than "ok?"

So, here we are. After a little convincing and a lot of planning, I am taking a break from the career path I'd known to this point, and we are experiencing a whole new world together.