Passports

Cripes, passports are expensive!!

$110 for adults and $80 for children.  I guess we'll have to get one a month or something.  What's a passport card?  Do we need those?  They are an extra $15 for kids and $30 for adults.  There is so much I don't know.  I had a passport back in the 80's (in my photo I have assymetrical hair and one really long earring!  Totally tubular!), so it is long expired. 

I went to Europe for a month with a group from my high school, and it was such a good experience.  I really want my kids to get out of this country for a while and see how other people live.  You don't need a giant drywall mansion, SUVs, Nintendo DS or a TV in each room to be happy.  In fact those things can be a weight on your shoulders.

Have I mentioned that my husband is awesome?  He's all in.  We went to the library yesterday, and he came back with travel guides on Thailand and Vietnam :)  We don't have any real plans, but we are investigating every avenue, including teaching English in a foreign country.  Yikes!!!  Maybe we'll just start off with a month somewhere and see how that goes.  I'm terrified of leaving my job and never being able to get another one that pays as well.

We just started the process of paying off all our debts (everything but the mortgage).  We don't have a lot of debt, but we'll be paying it off for almost a year, so none of this will happen in the very near future.  That's actually a good thing because I'm freaking out a little.  It's nice to have something to look forward to, though, even if it's a complete mystery what it will end up being.  Looking into the future and seeing myself sitting in an ergonomic chair with a large monitor forever is depressing.  Looking into the future and seeing me (and my family) with elephants or something is fantastic!!  We're loosely shooting for next school year.

I'll do a post soon on travel blogs I'm following and books I'm reading about family travel and taking a "gap year."  It's inspiring to me, and maybe it will inspire you, too.