I’m sorry, you did what?
Put the rest of our life on hold to follow a lifelong dream to check out the world.

How long were you gone?

We left Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 17th, 2009 and returned on February 22nd, 2010.

How on earth did you afford that? - or - How can I do that too?

First, we sold everything we owned (from bedsheets to the TV to the car) in an estate sale, which allowed us to wipe out our credit card debt. We put the house itself up for rent. For the next year, we stayed with our folks (thank you!) in order to save as much money as possible.  During our trip, we stretched our dollars as far as they'd go by staying in cheap hostels, guesthouses, and even camping when necessary.  We've also utilized Couch Surfing, too, which has been a great help!

How did you blog/post pictures while you were away?

We have a convenient netbook PC and a large storage card for the camera to tide us over between internet cafes and wi-fi hotspots.  The world has gotten a lot smaller.

Where did you go?

We had no set itinerary for the trip, we really just moved on when we wanted to.  Here is a list of the countries we've visited:

The Danger Question - or - Isn't it dangerous to visit X country?

Yes, some countries are dangerous, probably, we don’t know other than news reports (which can be exaggerated) and government warnings (which we do follow, but can also be strange sometimes). To those people who have recommended, with our best interests in mind, that we not take this journey – here is our response:

Thank you for your concern… Bad things appear to happen all across the globe, but they happen here too, and sometimes in greater numbers. We can’t choose to live our lives paralyzed by fear of something that may or may not happen; we will take all of the precautions necessary for ourselves, but we will not automatically suspect everyone. We believe in self-fulfilling prophecies and that the majority of people are well-intentioned. We will listen to our instincts though, and if something doesn’t feel right, we’ll be on guard. That’s the best we can offer you – and we’ll check in as often as we can on our blog so that you know we are safe.