Hello, we are Alexis and Jon. In August 2014 we decided to take a sabbatical from our careers for a year to pursue our love for travel and adventure. We hope that this blog can be a place to share our journey with family and friends, as well as provide a travel resource to others who may be interested in the same destinations and activities. We hope to help others discover that such a trip may be possible for them as well, with the right planning.

We are both Penn State graduates who met in the Washington, DC area in 2007 and married in June 2013. Alexis is a licensed structural engineer who has most recently worked for a large materials testing firm in their facilities group. Jon is a software engineer that designs web and mobile applications for startup companies. We’re in our early 30’s and at the point in our lives when we can take a risk and enjoy some adventures together before settling down. Early on in our relationship, we discovered we both have a passion for traveling and participating in activities such as rock climbing and hiking.

The Big Trip

Our adventure will begin with a road trip around the United States where we hope to visit as many national parks and interesting cities as possible, but more importantly visit our friends along the way. After seeing our families for the holidays we plan to travel overseas in early 2015 and go to Australia, New Zealand, and eastern Asia. While we have made plans for parts of the trip that are popular destinations, we hope to try to “wing it” as much as possible and see where the adventure takes us.

We’ve been saving for this trip for several years. While on the road, we will have little to no income. We hope to prolong our trip by camping, staying with friends, finding cheap transportation, and eating frugally at times. However, it is important to us not to miss experiences and cultures and we’re excited to treat ourselves to some amazing opportunities and cuisines along the way. For those interested, we plan to share the details of our expenses along the way.