About the Journey

In October 2009, just after my 50th birthday, my sister Marie and I decided we wanted to see more of the world than we'd had the chance to so far. Our kids were all grown up and launched on their own lives, and seeing how their travels in the developing world expanded their horizons inspired us to take off ourselves. We decided to spend a year traveling together, taking our time, volunteering along the way, and just opening ourselves to whatever comes along. After more than a year of planning and saving, we said goodbye to jobs and friends and homes--mine in North Carolina, Rie's in Connecticut--and set off.

We hope to learn new languages and other ways of living in the world, to get to know people all over the globe, to give of ourselves when we have the opportunity--and to have the time of our lives!

(The whole back story is here: http://open.salon.com/blog/jesstraveling, the anonymous blog we kept as we got ready to go.)