An explanation is in order

As I read back through the blogs, dating back to 2009, I realize that there are missing pieces to the story of our journey.  We've got some 'splaining to do. 2011 and 2012 are missing years in this blog, and they are the critical links between the travel and lifestyle blog of today and the blogs of 2009. These are the years that we took the lessons of 2009 and 2010 and put them into action in a lifestyle changing manner. The changes we made in those years were the forerunner to the many travels and different experiences we're having now. '09-'10 were the years we committed to learning how to live differently and more intentionally. Besides wanting to live local, conserve and be better stewards, we wanted more life and more time to explore beyond just our local community. Hence the phrase at the top of this blog, Bloom Where We Are Planted.  Meaning, wherever we plant ourselves, whether for an hour, a day, a week or a lifetime, we want to bloom and thrive, not just survive or wait out the week until the weekend arrives.

We had a bit more space to work at thriving as the kids were mostly launched by 2009. At the same time I was revamping our kitchen and our eating patterns and looking at ways to cut household waste, we also began recording our expenses and getting serious about how we wanted to spend our money and our lives. We read the book, "Your Money or Your Life" 15 years ago, and the lessons of this book came back to us in our attempt to create a more meaningful existence. Joe Dominguez, the author, brings home the point that what we spend is an expenditure of units of life energy that were committed to earning the money we spend. There is a limit on how many units of life energy we each have. In deciding to spend money on something, we have to consider the exchange of value in our life units relative to what we have purchased and determine if the expenditure is worth it.

In 2010, Chuck decided that the cost in life units of remaining in the corporate world were definitely NOT worth it, and he made the leap into consulting and Hawthorne.  This put us more or less on the same schedule and pattern with more freedom for both of us. This change took a good bit of energy and time to fully recreate ourselves and the business to incorporate him. By early 2011, we decided that the big house had served its purpose and was now more of a hindrance than a help in the new journey. This decision set in motion a protracted process of finding the right place at the right price to get us out from under a mortgage and into less labor and cost intensive space. A major undertaking that took all of 2011 to accomplish.

2012 marked the first year we felt we had made the necessary changes to be ready to undertake a major (more than a week) trip somewhere.  Traveling to Europe had always loomed large in my mind, and we had been talking for a few years that this might be the year. But another opportunity presented itself when Ryan decided to go to New Zealand, so the Europe trip was destined to wait another year. The New Zealand experience was marvelous and broke ground on new possibilities for travel and exploration. It was while preparing for this trip (and being shocked at the cost of travel) that the last piece of the thriving puzzle was laid. By chance, I discovered that an acquaintance I formerly purchased computers from was involved in the world of travel point collecting. My ears perked up because I was facing paying thousands of dollars for airline tickets. Travel would be limited in my future if I couldn't find a less expensive way to do it, and a big part of my sense of thriving has to do with travel and exploration.

Fast forward a year from that discovery to today where all the flights in the past 6 months have been paid with points. Many of the hotel stays have also been on points.  I estimate we've saved $6000 so far. We earn points from credit card sign ups and by managing our spending so that we get maximum travel points for it. This hobby is not for people who need to be able to qualify for loans for major purchases. It is also not a passtime for those who don't enjoy tracking expenditures. But we were already doing that for the past few years, so it was not a big step to add this piece.

Hopefully this post will fill in the missing pieces of the journey. I look forward to many more posts in the future about our various ways we decide to bloom where we are planted.