It's June 1st, a start to a new month and our last month as Portlanders (for a while anyway). We've been talking about this adventure amongst ourselves for such a long time that it feels surreal to have it finally approach.

But maybe you haven't heard us talk about this trip yet. So you might be wondering what we're doing, where we're going, where we're putting our stuff, maybe even why we're going. I'm not going to touch on all of that now, truthfully we can't answer it all anyway, but I'll try to focus on the why. I'll speak to some of the whys for me anyway - there are two additional travelers that might have their own whys.

This idea started from a 'why not' circa fall 2017. I forgot who brought it up first, maybe it was me, maybe it was Jon. Whoever it was, it resonated as a crazy but doable idea with both of us. We are a well suited couple with equally itchy feet. We spend many conversations dual daydreaming where we'll go next and what we'll do then. It's one of our favorite pastimes. We've been doing that since we started dating in 2002. It's brought us from West Michigan to New York City, back to our hometown of Jenison and to our current city of Portland, Oregon.

Another big why for me is to show our son that we live in an interconnected world, that travel is a privilege and to practice interacting with the world and its people respectfully and responsibly. To be able to pick up and move because you want to is something we cannot take for granted. To be able to get a passport, get immunizations, store items that you want and arrange for travel can be a huge lift and for some an impassable barrier. Its important to me that Harrison sees us working through the processes and understands that travel doesn't happen magically.

My last big why is that time is our most precious commodity - do it now, there will never be a perfect time.