AJ: On the day I asked Erin to be my wife, (after she said “yes!”) I half jokingly suggested we take a year off to travel the world for our honeymoon. She didn’t blink. What started out as a passing comment, quickly transitioned into a plan...all within 30 seconds. Now, 10 months later, the trip is about become a reality.
In a little over four weeks, E and I will commence our global deployment - my second and her first. The last time I was on the verge of embarking on a trip like this was 2005. I was a young Lieutenant in the Navy preparing to deploy to the Persian Gulf on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). The context around that trip was much different from what we're about to undertake.
At the time, I was sleeping on an air mattress and sharing an alcove studio apartment with MV in Seattle. The thought of living on a ship for seven months had each of us sinking into a mild depression as the departure day grew closer. We were also leaving two days before my birthday, meaning I would celebrate turning 26 watching gauges move in the reactor plant. Not ideal. At the time, all I had to look forward to was coming home, which seemed an eternity away. I do remember feeling uncertain and anxious leading up to that trip. I sensed that I'd come back a different person, for better or worse. That trip did change me. I grew and the world became smaller.
As we prepare for our year abroad, there's a familiar level of anxiety that I now feel. Like before, we're heading into the unknown, likely to come back different people. This time, however, there's no mothership to rely upon. This time, I'm leaving much more than an air mattress behind. We've built a very comfortable life in DC that we're disrupting - city living, good friends, right house, great dog, money, etc. If I think about it too much, what we’re doing sounds insane.
So why are we doing this? The answer has to do with freedom and time. E and I have a chance to see how we blossom free from the burden of work and far away from the expectations of others. We have a chance to explore and experiment with little repercussion, and we can let curiosity guide our days. We'll be able to connect and reconnect with friends old and new along the way and through this personal connection, shrink the world even more. And then there's the concept of time. We want it to slow down. And we want to use it more purposefully. For me, this trip is ultimately about our growth as individuals and as a married couple. The best part is, I get to make this journey alongside my best friend.
Erin: While AJ was leading a structured life in the Navy and working towards building a successful career in Finance, I have always been a bit of a nomad. DC is actually the longest I’ve been in one city since childhood. I love to explore new places, see new things, learn new skills and dive head-first into the unknown. While the idea of leaving it all behind and hitting “reset” can seem scary, it’s incredibly exciting for me. Of course there is a bit of fear for what we're giving up and what's to come, but that makes it all the more worth it. There’s no greater potential than a blank canvas. So when AJ asked if I wanted to travel for a year, my answer was an obvious yes.
This year is not just about seeing the world, but about personal exploration. It’s a chance for us to spend a year learning, reading, listening, seeing, experiencing, and appreciating as much as we can. A chance to immerse ourselves in the world through exposure to different cultures. And a chance to truly connect with people in each destination we visit. We want this year to help us define our passions and put the wheels in motion to turn those passions into an enriching life.
Our plans have been met with nothing but excitement and support from everyone we have told. From friends to family to coworkers to strangers, there is no denying what an incredible opportunity this is for us. We’ve decided to make Day Trip to Cannes public to share our experience with close friends and family who have asked for a way to follow our adventure. Ultimately though, this site was created for us to catalogue that amazing meal we had in Italy, or the special person we met in Africa, or that view from Brazil that took our breath away, so that 30 years from now, we can sit with our children, look back at these memories, and never forget that time we gave it all up for an adventure.