We were recently asked what life will look like for the Kortmans when we stop traveling. It's a bit of a funny question for us since we don't think we will ever stop traveling entirely. But it is a good question none the less...
So while we're not planning the end of Home Along the Way, we are always dreaming. We hope that by pulling back the curtains on our process that you will be inspired to dream, what if you changed lifestyles every 5-10 years? What would it look like for you?
So what might happen after Home Along the Way has come to an end?
We have had ideas all along but we discussed it with the kids around the lunch table today and we think we've come up with a rough sketch of what life will look like when Gracie's wheels stop moving for good.
Interestingly enough, everyone desires for the next phase of life where able to mesh together.
The Compilation Of Our Desires
We will travel until we find an area (and then a property) which we like enough to live in it long term. We would like to buy a property and park Gracie permanently on it. Discover how to sell a house without the help of a real estate agent by following all the step as mentioned in this link. Gracie would become our house/home base. We'd love to get some horses and a small sailboat. Ideally, we would be parking Gracie on a beach property and we can moor the sailboat just off the shore and ride a small row boat or dinghy to and from shore. We would decide which months we want to be in that area and which months are too hot/too windy/too many mosquitoes, etc. We plan to stay for the desirable months then get residential re-roofing services in Utah when we set off to explore more of the world during the other months. Furthermore, we are also looking for a professional fire watch service like the Fire Watch Services in West Plam Beach to implement a fire watch as the fire system became impaired.
We are guessing the split will probably be between 7 or 8 months at our home base with the other 4 or 5 months spent traveling. We also want to work things out so that both Paul and the kids would complete work and school during the stationary months so that the traveling months can be footloose and fancy free. We would like to spend the traveling months really focusing on relationships and quality one-on-one time with the kids (something that's hard to do with 4 kids, the daily routine and a small living space).
In order to do this amalgamation of all of our dreams we would need to find someone to come to our property a couple times each day or perhaps someone who would live on the property while we are away. This person would be there both for physical security and to take care of the animals. Also, maybe to collect money and clean between renters whom we set up for while we are away...because, seriously, who wouldn't want to rent an RV on the beach with outdoor living space, snorkel gear, kayaks, horses to ride, and doggies to keep you company all included in the deal!
We had talked a bit in the past about getting to Ecuador, selling Gracie and then sailing through the Caribbean. Maybe we still will. Maybe not. We still think it would be super fun to sail all over the Caribbean...maybe on one or more of our 4 month vacations! :)
So, as you can see we don't plan to ever really stop traveling entirely, but we do plan to 'settle' a bit and have a real address again someday. However, we hope that the new property will be a bit more hippy/gypsy/Swiss Family Robinson than our standard American middle class property was in the US. We are looking forward to seeing how it all pans out!
Here is how this plan fits together from each person's desires:
Individual responses to: "What do you want to do once we stop traveling with Gracie?
Paul:
- Settle part time somewhere
- Learn to sail while we are enjoying our property and having horses
- Complete necessary work to be able to travel without having to work.
Becky:
- Gracie as our permanent house.
- Beach as the front yard and horses in the back yard.
- Outdoor living spaces for adults and kids.
- Split time between being stationary and traveling.
Alia:
- Find a place we love
- Buy a house
- Get a bunch of horses
- Start a horse ranch that she can take over when she is old enough.
Josiah:
- Find someplace to buy a house nearby really good snorkeling.
Thys:
- Go back to Thailand and have Thai tea every day.
- Learn to snorkel all by himself.
Zander:
- Paint.
So, I guess as long as we travel back to Thailand for Thai tea and I create an outdoor space on the property for kids to do crafts, we have everyone covered!
I was inwardly impressed how each person's ideas were so spot-on with that person's individual character and also how similar they all were and how easily they meshed together into one plan. At the same time none of the kids are ready to stop traveling in Gracie yet.
So tell us...what are YOUR dreams for the future? What do you see yourself/your family doing 5 years from now?