Around-the-World with Drew & Erin

Join The Blogging Post as we head around-the-world with our friends Drew & Erin. They’ll be sending us regular dispatches and updates from around, across and all over the globe. This is their first post:

“Aloha… Namaste… Sawadee… G’day… Hola… Hello!

My name is Drew. My girlfriend, Erin, and I are a young couple from Colorado who have decided to take a year off from our life in America and see the world. I resigned from my job as a product manager in the outdoor industry, and Erin has taken a leave of absence from her position as an environmental educator for elementary school students. We’ve been saving money for the last few years to make this happen, and are now realizing the fruits of our labors.

Our prime motivation for wanting to take this trip is to see the natural beauty of the world. We are both nature-lovers, outdoors people, and adventurers. We’re making pilgrimages to the amazing natural places of our dreams - the mountains of the Himalaya, the turquoise water and coral reefs of the Caribbean, the fjords and white-capped peaks of New Zealand, the tropical islands and beaches of Thailand, and the glaciers and rock spires of South America.

Beyond these natural attractions, we are also interested in meeting the people of the world and learning about their cultures and religions. We’re excited to taste their food and see their architecture and use their modes of transportation. We’d like to learn a bit of their language. We seek an understanding of their history and their view of the world.

We’ve both traveled a fair amount in the past. In fact, we met while studying abroad at the University of Melbourne in Australia during our college years. And what we’ve learned from our travels, especially internationally, is that it brings us a better perspective of our place in the world and our country’s place in the world. It can be humbling in some ways. In other ways, it gives us a greater appreciation for how fortunate we are and for all the things we have and sometimes take for granted. It this new perspective and deeper understanding that we’re seeking.

And finally, we’re psyched to be free for a year! We’re excited to explore and do as we wish. After having worked in “the real world” for about a decade, we’re excited to be free of the rent, commuting, car insurance and career goals. It’s refreshing to be free of the financial rigors of work-a-day life in America… to not be focused on accumulating things or wealth. We are planning to live simply with few material things. We each have one backpack for the entire year. Less is more is one of our mantras for the trip.

So that’s why we’re going. As far as where we’re going, these are our intended destinations:

- St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
- Kauai, Hawaii
- Nepal
- Southeast Asia - Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia
- New Zealand
- South America - Chile, Argentina, Peru, and perhaps Ecuador

We’ll be posting regular updates about our adventures and welcome you to follow along and join us for the ride!”