Is It Too Late to Get Our Deposit Back?

I read another cruising couple's blog (http://morejoyeverywhere.blogspot.com) during lunch today that was very different from all the other cruisers' blogs.  After almost two years of enjoying the cruising lifestyle, they have become self-proclaimed Anti-Inspirational posters.  They once shared the same dream that many wantabe cruisers have, and that is to quit the jobs, sell everything, and cruise the world.  Now that they've enjoyed enough of the cruising lifestyle, they want to share the "honest" side of the story.

So why does anyone want to leave the normal comforts of a land-based home to endure the hardships of a cruising lifestyle? 
The internet is filled with inspirational stories of couples who have done just that.  Long before reading all those other stories, Carla and I had looked out over the water at those lone sailboats and said to each other, "Wouldn't it be great to just sail off into the sunset?"  Maybe that sounds like a childish dream to some, but reading about numerous others' adventures has just reinforced our belief that this is the right thing for us to do at this time.  Mark Twain has been quoted frequently,

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
– Mark Twain

Although we're usually very firm when making important decisions like buying automobiles, having children, and building houses, we often start questioning those decisions about half way through.  Mark Twain is also quoted as saying,

 A real adventure is one that halfway through you wish you were home.
– Mark Twain

 

 

Making such an extreme lifestyle change has certainly caused us to question each of the drastic measures we've had to take.  We took one of the last drastic measures this past weekend when we placed "For Sale" signs in the yard.  We've built five houses and this hangar ourselves, working toward a home in which we would eventually retire.  In a way it feels like all those houses that we built were for nothing.  Here are some other examples of hard decisions that we've either already made or will have to make in the very near future:

• Sell the airplane that took more than 1800 hours and 14 months to build
• Dispose of souvenirs from the various places we've visited
• Spend thousands of dollars upfitting a boat that will return half the investment
• Leave behind our "baby", Shula Bear
• Sell most of our furniture
• Sell many of our tools
• Sell the cars
• And finally, quit the jobs

Sometimes it feels as though we're throwing away everything that we've worked for 30 years to acquire.  But, like others who've made the change ahead of us, we realize that all those "things" that we've accumulated were just liabilities that "moth and rust destroy".  We called them "comforts", but they cost us an extraordinary amount of time, money, and energy to maintain.  So whenever we start getting emotional about the things we're selling or giving away, we just remind ourselves that we're merely trading it all for a more simple, relaxed life.  And if it turns into an adventure that makes us wish we were home, we'll just make another lifestyle change.