Saying Goodbye

Well, guys, this is it. It's time to say goodbye to Fearlessly Infertile. I've been debating what to do with this space now that we're no longer pursuing parenthood and honestly I can't think of any reason to keep it around. Most of the blogs I follow have moved on to parenthood and I don't really stay up-to-date in the world of infertility or adoption.  So in a few days (maybe even weeks) I'll be shutting down this blog forever.

I'm not sure if we'll continue down the path to parenthood again.  Last week I had a tarot reading (yes I do believe in those things) and my cards showed that we would be parents, most likely through adoption or surrogacy (my child card was sitting next to a queen card, therefore it appeared my child would be coming to us through another woman.  That was our interpretation anyway).  But until then Brandon and I are going to focus on us.  We're going to travel, I'm going to focus on my career and Brandon's going to finish his degree.  Then we'll see whether we feel our lives are still missing something or whether we feel whole.

But I don't want to give up writing completely so I've started a new blog.  A travel blog.  A blog where I can write about our adventures and sometimes just our everyday lives.  I'm not going to link the blog website back to this one because I really want to start over, start fresh.  I did take one piece of this blog, though, and carried it over to the new one: the theme. It's not a private blog so some of you may even stumble across it one day and realize it's me.  If anyone is interested in keeping in touch, my email is cvpis4me@yahoo.com.

It has been wonderful getting to know each and every one of you.  No matter where you are on this journey, I wish you all the very best and I hope that you're able to find happiness in your life, even if that happiness comes from a place you weren't originally seeking.     

What's in a Name?

I've got a new poll up. I'm trying to come up with a catchy title for my new travel blog. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!  Oh, and I'll need recommendations for a custom blog designer, preferably someone who charges around $50 or less. 

Around the World Update

I thought I've give some extra clarification to my last post. Because this is such a huge trip it's going to have to be planned well in advance (obviously).  So I figured we'd work it like we work every trip, by starting out with a flexible budget, picking out the things we want to do, and then firming up the actual cost as we're finalizing the itinerary.

So for now we're thinking this trip may cost $25-30K, based on the fact that all our plane travel will be one-way and the distance of flights will be fairly short from destination to destination.  Of course, as time goes on we could totally blow that budget out of the water.  Who knows.  The African safari alone is ~$8,000 but that was with round-trip flight.  Hotels in Switzerland can easily run $300 a night.  I'll have to do more calculations to get a more accurate figure.  But we're willing to spend up to $50K on this trip, assuming I work-full time with decent wages.

For now we've got a rough draft of our journey.  The next step will be to research things we want to do in those countries.  I probably didn't explain it well in my last post but we're not planning to see all of a country in 3 or 4 short days.  Instead we'll pick a section of the country we want to visit and focus only on sightseeing in that area, which means choosing between Tuscany or Rome, Bavaria or Berlin.  It's very different from our regular adventures where we select one country and experience everything.  But I think we can adapt. 

If there's a country on the list that I start researching and can't find anything I absolutely must do, then it gets replaced with another runner-up.  Like Prague.  A friend's high school daughter went to Prague and she loved it so it made the list, though I have absolutely no idea whether I or Brandon would enjoy anything about Prague.  We'll have to wait and see when we go to research that city. 

I should probably point out that we're officially done with adoption for the next 2-3 years.  Our homestudy is expired and our agency is no longer showing us to birthparents.  So that just freed up $26K for us to pay off bills and afterwards we'll go back to saving up.  We may revisit adoption but right now I feel no need to pursue parenthood of any kind.  I'm happy with the way my life is right now and that's all that matters.  Maybe I'll change my mind in a couple years, when we're ready to adopt again.  If not, then my answer will be clear: parenthood is not meant for me.  This quote strikes at my heart during this point in my life:  "We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." -- Joseph Campbell

Aside from this big, big, big trip I'm also planning next year's annual international trip.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, it's been in the works for a couple months now.  Brandon and I are taking my mom to England and Scotland in mid-May.  It will be all her Mother's Day presents for the rest of her life rolled up into one.  We're not paying for everything for her but we're footing the bill for the hotel in London and the rental car and gas.  And we'll be her company and guide because I know she would never travel somewhere by herself.  Neither would I, really.  So here's our plan for that:

2 nights in London
1 night in Dover
2 nights in the Cotswolds (English countryside)
2 nights in the Lake District near Hadrain's Wall
2 nights in Scotland, between Edinburgh and Glasgow
Last night in London

And then perhaps in 2014/2015, depending on Brandon's deployment schedule, I'd like to take a trip into the Yukon to see the Northern Lights.  Well, at least I know that's on Brandon's bucket list.  That trip is really more for him than me, but I suppose I can find something appealing about spending hours outside in the snow staring up at the sky.  Or maybe I can just have Brandon do the waiting and then call me when the lights come out and I can hop out of the nice warm bed to go see them :)

Someone told me once that I make plans way too far in advance.  I wonder if that's a bad thing....

Around the World in 80 Days

I'm starting to plan Brandon's college graduation gift. He gets out of the military in 2014, by which time he should have enough college credits earned that he only needs about 2 more years of full-time college left. So we're assuming this trip will take place in 2018.

We're taking a trip around the world.  At first I thought 12 weeks would be good.  Then when I was calculating how many days that would be (84) I decided, why not make this a cool theme?  So Around the World in 80 Days it became.


So here’s my tentative plan for the Trip Around the World.  The number in parentheses is the number of days we plan to spend in each country, though that also includes travel time between destinations.

This itinerary is based on our trip starting and ending in WA and the countries are in order based on flying east around the world.  Some destinations will be spent relaxing in luxury (French Polynesia), others will be adventurous (Costa Rica).  Sometimes we’ll stay in big cities (Paris), others we’ll only travel the countryside (Belgium).  I want to do something unique to each area so we get the best experience.  We don't plan on renting a car except maybe in England or Australia, everywhere else will be spent using public transportation.  All of Europe will be spent traveling via train.  For places that only have a few days earmarked like England and Germany, it’s because we’ll probably have already visited that area by the time we make this trip in 2018.  So there’s no need to spend a full week in that country again, just enough time to visit some places we didn’t get to visit the first time around.  But if it turns out that we don’t get to visit those places on a separate trip then I’ll change the days around so we can have more time to spend in those countries.

I'm thinking about maybe adding another country to this list, most likely Indonesia or Ecuador (Galapagos Islands).  I would shave off 2 days each from Australia and New Zealand and maybe a day off Moscow to make up for it.

Comments and suggestions are welcome considering Brandon has absolutely no opinion, he just wants me to tell him when he needs to get on a plane.  Typical.  Please note that we'll be taking this trip in the spring or fall to allow for the best weather possible between the two hemispheres. And yes, I am dead serious about taking this trip.

Costa Rica (6)
England (4)
France (4)
Belgium (4)
Germany (3)
Switzerland (4)
Italy (4)
Austria (3)
Czech Republic, just Prague (3)
Romania (3)
Russia, just Moscow (5)
Kenya/Tanzania African safari (10)
Japan (8)
Australia (7)
New Zealand (7)
French Polynesia (5)

Total: 80 days!