Wrapping up post-retirement sabbatical

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Hi All,

Some of you may remember that I retired last August, 2012 at age 43. We moved on to a sailboat about a week later for a one year sail around Florida and the Bahamas.

Well, we are wrapping up and it has been an amazing time for my DW and I to really get to know our two kids, 12 and 10. We've been homeschooling them and spending every day, all day, with them as we've travelled around from Fort Lauderdale down to Long Island, Bahamas and now back towards the U.S.

Next week we will set sail for the U.S. mainland and start reintegrating into American society. Because of our new perspective on ourselves, our family, and our society, we are both excited and apprehensive!

--AIR

 

[MichaelB]

What an amazing adventure.

 

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Pics

Thanks, yes, it has been amazing. And an adventure!

I've tried to share some pics here:

Early Retirement & Financial Independence Community - AnIntentionalRoad's Album: Post-Retirement Sailing

--AIR

 

[MichaelB]

Nice. How do your kids feel about returning to their old life?

 

[heeyy_joe]

Be safe. Pirates abound!

 

[Shanky]

Hopefully the kids got to see the swimming Pigs and Thunderball Cave when you were in the Staniel Cay area.

 

[Rambler]

Wow! Beautiful pics. What is next on the adventure list?

R

 

[AnIntentionalRoad]

The kids are very excited about getting back to their friends and "regular life." My son said he is done with boats. My daughter, the 12 year old, talks about how she is going to take the same trip with her kids when she grows up. You win some, you lose some, right?

We are planning to be back in the Chicago area in June-ish and will get the kids back in school for next year. Then, in the summer 2014, we are planning a 7 week RV trip to visit the four extreme corners of the continental US. Key West, FL, Imperial Beach, CA, Neah Bay, WA and Lubec, ME. My daughter has already extensively planned out the trip, found RV models she thinks would work, has detailed itineraries on Google Maps--all stored in an accordion file.

Having only been FIREd for the past 9 months, it is hard to describe how wonderful it is to plan these types of adventures with my kids and DW while all the other families in our neighborhood are looking at us like we are nuts--but who is really nuts, as they head off to work their 50 hour weeks and barely know who their kids are

Amazingly, while we've been out sailing, we've met dozens of families out here doing the same thing. Most of them are not FIREd in the traditional sense but have been able to structure their finances to fund 1, 2, or even 3 years sailing and exploring as a family, with the intention of returning to work after that. Most of these people probably have not read Tim Ferris, either, it just makes sense to them to put their family first. That is something I've had to learn the hard way after being an entrepreneurial workaholic for too many years before retiring last year.

--AIR

 

[AnIntentionalRoad]

@Shanky Yes! We have some nice video of DW being chased around the beach by a half dozen 300 pound swimming pigs. She had a bag of bread in her hand that we were feeding them and they were determined to get it from her...

 

[Ronstar]

Wow - your retirement truly is an adventure. And that 2014 trip sounds like fun too. Happy travels!

 

[Live And Learn]

I love it ! Thanks for sharing