It all started on our cruise in November to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Travis was reading a book called "The Practical Nomad" and kept talking about taking an extended vacation. When I asked him what he meant, he suggested a year! After I got over my shock, I told him I was in, but I didn't want to mess around talking about it for a long time. Let's plan it and go! We started looking into destinations and since he has wanted to go to Macchu Pichu for quite some time, we decided that was as good of a place as any to start. We checked out some books from the library and he did major research on places to visit in South America. Boy are there some cool things to see, which I won't spoil for you now, but you can come along with us and find out about them as we do the exploring.

The first thing we had to do was tell our families. They were more than a little surprised! But, they know how much we love to travel, so could understand our desire to see a little more of the world, even if they didn't take it very well at first! Then, telling our employers came next. Travis' job allowed him to take a leave of absence, so he will be returning there after we get home. Since I was working part time anyway, it wasn't much of a stretch for me to quit completely. Because I was a secretary, they wouldn't be able to hold a spot for me for that long anyway. But, they are always needing people, so I'll check in with them when I return.

Next, contacting a travel agent to schedule all of our flights proved to be easy with Exito Travel Company. They were great and really worked with us. Things like cancelling magazine subscriptions, changing car insurance, finding someone to rent our house and take over the responsibilities that accompany it, along with giving some tender loving care to our incredible cat, Sesu, came next. We also needed shots for yellow fever, typhoid and hepatits as well as malaria pills and Cipro for any infections we might contract. Once all of that was in place, we were set. Since Christmas was coming up, we had quite a list of things we needed and received most of them from our families.

The next step is to pack everything up and head off for home, where we'll attend a family wedding, hang out with friends and family for about a week, and then drive a rental car to New Orleans where we check out the city for a couple of days there. Our flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina leaves on the 18th of February. We'll be checking in closer to the time we leave. Stay tuned!