Decisions, Decisions…

As we said goodbye to our former lives (selling our house and quitting our jobs) and hello to a simpler existence; making tough decisions seemed like the last thing that we would be doing. But during our first house-sit in Fountain-Chalendray, France we were faced with a big one—at least to us.

You see we started out this journey with a one-way ticket to Europe and not much else planned. We knew the European countries we wanted to hit and knew that at the 3-month visa expiration mark there was a decision to be made. Would we be going back to the States to pickup our pup Marley, visit our families and then head down to Costa Rica to settle for a while, or would we keep traveling? If the plan was to keep this traveling train moving, then Asia was in our crosshairs with a possible stop off in Turkey.

For a good four days during our morning and evening dog walks in France we hashed everything out. Those walks were intense. We tried every decision making method we could think of; from an extensive pros and cons list to what does you your gut tell you. And just when we thought we had it all figured out, a listing on Trusted Housesitters popped up. One month in South Africa with a pool. Yes!! Our icy toes and noses were screaming for summer.

We put our feelers out to the owner and a day later we had our next destination… Africa!

We decided on Africa for a few different reasons, the most enticing being that it was a home base (free of charge). The whole slow-travel thing is really agreeing with us. I mean lets face it, packing up your bags every 5 days and schlepping it to a new destination is WORK.

A few days after the “Big Decision 2013” was made, the panic ensued. Did we make the “right” decision? Africa was never on our radar, Asia on the other hand has always been firmly planted in the back of our minds. What will Africa be like? Oh wait; I must not do the whole expectation thing again. Geez! It was too much.

In the end, there was never really a “wrong” decision and I don’t think there ever could be when it comes to traveling and picking destinations. The only wrong decision in my eyes is not traveling at all. Never learning and growing from other cultures and never expanding your personal horizon in order to bettering yourself.

Get out there! See what this big world has to offer. The money that it costs to travel is priceless compared to the personal growth that you will gain!

 

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Lovers Drive

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Lagoon near Hermanus

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Smiling Dassie

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Black Oyster Divers

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Shark Infested

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Itchy Dassie

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Yard plant

We arrived in South Africa on January 2nd. It has been amazing and also a bit of a bummer. I was sick for almost 2 weeks with the flu. Poor me right?

Once I started to recover we reached out to some friends of friends here in the cape. First trip was with Anneke and her crew to Hidden Valley Vineyard for wine tasting and cheese plates in the hills of Stellenbosch. Amazing views of the vineyards (many owned by Ernie Els), great conversation and delizioso wine. (pictures below) The other outing was a drive east along the coast with our neighbor and all around awesome lady, Elize. We had a picnic in Hermanus by the sea and watch the Dassies. (pictures above)

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Sunset hue on the mountains outside of Hidden Valley Vineyard

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Wine of plenty

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Tangled

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Valley view from the vineyard