Reuniting with the Dog

The moment we've been anticipating after a 12-hour drive home to Kansas City from Alabama.

Travel Sabbatical Insights, A Poem

The Holstee Manifesto.

As our transition back into "real life" approaches, it's natural for any extended traveler to begin having a personal philosophical debate about their experiences, trying to somehow articulate it into some deep meaningful expression before it all gets drowned out by the rat race of life all over again.   After all, doesn't it seem somewhat shallow if we didn't at least entertain the idea that we learned some life lessons from our travels rather than treating it as just one big vacation?

The following is an interesting excerpt from Notebooks by Albert Camus, a French writer and philosopher that spent his life addressing this conundrum between human need to seek inherent value and meaning in everything and the reality that we sometimes don't.  His philosophy of absurdism (no joke, look it up), may have made him cynical, but I appreciate this less romanticized explanation of the value of travel.

"What gives value to travel is fear.  It is a fact that, at a certain moment, when we are so far from our own country...we are seized by a vague fear, and an instinctive desire to go back to the protection of old habits.  This is the most obvious benefit of travel...This is why we should not say that we travel for pleasure.  There is no pleasure in traveling, and I look upon it more as an occasion for spiritual testing.  Pleasure takes us away from ourselves in the same way as distraction...Travel, brings us back to ourselves."

However, towards the end of our trip, my mind - under pressure - did begin racing with the inevitable (and usually unanswerable) heavy-hitting questions: what does this all mean, did I learn anything, did it change my life, etc.  Ironically, writing down any thoughts in complete sentences and paragraphs didn't always capture the correct sentiment without losing the simple meaning in all of the rambling.  I really didn't intend for a poem to develop (especially since I'm ignorant of any guidelines on how to write a proper one), but it seemed the most organic way to jot down my Travel Sabbatical insights. 

Certainly, I will cringe at my own sentimentality when I re-read this in the future.  Oh well, it's how I saw it at the moment.

Happy New Year everyone.

Travel Sabbatical Insights, A Poem

I want time to stand still,

To stay in perpetual freedom.

I want time to pass quickly,

To escape from this vagabond life. 

Responsibilities, 

Schedule, 

Routine, I can't recall.

Discipline, I left it all behind.

How ignorant I am.

How naive I've been.

In my world view.

My cocoon.

Ecuador.  You surprised me.

Jerusalem.  You enlightened me.

Buenos Aires.  You nourished me.

Chiang Mai.  You cast a spell on me.

Cambodia.  Your resilience inspired me.

Vietnam. Your beauty stunned me.

Istanbul.  Your grandeur seduced me.

Tangier. Your impenetrable facade mystified me.

The Balkans.  Your ongoing struggles challenged me.

Witness to history unfolding.

Sometimes repeating.

"Those who cannot remember the past

are condemned to repeat it."

Repeating. 

Personal Freedoms.
Due Process.

No longer just words to me.

I've seen a lot.

Not seen enough.

Done a lot.

More to do. 

Met many.

But only a few.

Learned daily.

Experienced much.

Took less for granted.

Left with more appreciation.

How alive I feel.
For my mom who couldn't.
For my friend who didn't.

This was no vacation.

A career break.

A gap year.

A trip around the world.

Was it a life changer?  
Or a life staller? 

Only time will tell, but right now, 

I want time to stand still,
To feed my curiosity.

I want time to pass quickly,

To acknowledge that new perspective.

Only time will tell.

The insights from our

Travel Sabbatical.

-Akiko Kubo

An Outing to Gadsden, Alabama

Alabama Home Sweet Home

It's been a hectic week since we rushed home to bury our father.  With all the emotional exhaustion compounded by the persistent jet lag, yesterday was a good day to temporarily forget handling any of the post-death details and get mom out of the house for a drive down to Gadsden, Alabama.

Even after traveling the world, the countryscape of northeastern Alabama is still one of the most beautiful and peaceful places we know.  The rolling hills, naked wintry trees, mountain streams, cows grazing, and rolls of hay is an American sight that we have missed. 

Pink sunset, Crossville, Alabama.

We doubt Gadsden is on anyone's travel destinations, but if you happen upon it, you'll want to stroll down this very well-preserved, old-timey American downtown that looks like a flashback from half a century ago...

(Bitter)sweet Home Alabama

Grand old pecan tree
that graces the center yard
of our parents' home in
Alabama.

Hello 4 am.  Jetlag is always a good companion for some blogging.  Here goes...

We're relieved to be back home stateside, but it's not how we predicted our Travel Sabbatical to end.  Our dad's sudden decline in health and passing is still shocking and confirms that anything can happen, so plan and live accordingly.  

Start of our 30-hour journey back from Tokyo to Alabama.  Will we make it back in time?

Even though we didn't make it back  in time to say goodbye, we feel very blessed.  Had it not been for us quitting our jobs to start our travels in May, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to spend 2 precious weeks with our parents in Alabama before we departed.  Ironically, we stayed in touch more via FaceTime while we were traveling than when we were "too busy" with our lives at home.  We're blessed that we were able to give him a glimpse into our adventures.  He avidly kept up with our travel blog and was very proud of what we had accomplished.

"Welcome Home!" said
Homeland Security upon our
arrival to stateside at LAX.

Dad's passing affirms our decision for taking a career break to pursue this dream, as originally inspired by the untimely death of loved ones already gone.   There's no regret because we accepted the inherent risks when we decided not to wait around for "what might have been".

  
Thank you to our Travel Sabbatical family for your thoughts and prayers.  It's been a truly (Bitter)sweet Home Alabama homecoming.  

A Very Important Visit

Today was a deeply personal trip.  Most of our Travel Sabbatical fans will not find this the least bit interesting or relevant, but our visit to Akiko's mom's gravesite was very important to us at the conclusion of our trip.  We think she was our guardian angel throughout our journey, keeping us safe from harm and illnesses, so we wanted to pay our respects and gratitude.

Akiko's mom, Yoko, was somewhat of an adventurous vagabond herself.  Akiko probably got the travel itch from her.  While living in the States, it was nothing for her parents to pack-up the station wagon and aimlessly drive off with the kids to explore the vast open road and national parks.  They also explored Southeast Asia during their 3 years spent in Singapore.  Although her full-time job in Tokyo prevented Yoko from traveling too much, she was an avid hiker and skier who liked to be in the mountains of Japan as often as possible.  Once retired, she was able to realize some of her dreams of trekking the Swiss Alps and witnessing the Matterhorn.  In fact, she went to Thailand way before we did and she's visited countries that we've not yet seen including Brazil, New Zealand, parts of the Canadian Rockies, etc.

So, it was with great shock and sadness that such an active person would be afflicted by Lou Gehrig's Disease or ALS, robbing her of her ability to move and eventually breathe.

1974?, Japan.

8-Months Travel Sabbatical, Within Budget at $50,000

No, we didn't win the lottery or have a trust fund.  We were an average middle-class DINK (dual income, no kids) household, living below our means, saving money the old-fashioned way to be spent on an event such as a travel sabbatical.

At first, we didn't know how to budget for an 8-month trip, but we took a stab in the dark by figuring out what our average daily cost might be, plus any outstanding bills to maintain our house, private health insurance, and our dog while we were away.

After 8-months and a few unexpected home repairs and veterinary bills, we are astounded by the accuracy of our $50,000 budget!  Of course, human nature dictates that expenses almost always expand up to a set budget.  Isn't that correct?  So, if we had set our daily goal at $100 instead of $150, we would've probably been able to achieve that, albeit a little less comfortably.  We're glad we set a realistic goal that fit our lifestyle and stuck to it.  We also had help from friends and friends of friends, who graciously provided us free lodging at some points of our journey.  We can't thank them enough. 

We can't remember the last time we heard these 2 words together, "Balanced Budget", yet here it is in USD: