Preparing to travel the world: Our relationship, 1 year later

walking hand in hand in Georgia

Travel the world: Preparing for a new life – the impact on our relationship. 

A little more than a year ago we decided to change our lives drastically. One of the largest impacts it had was on our relationship. Our personal story:

One year ago

We knew each other for a few months and recently finished our 5 week road trip to Georgia. The question “What now?” was omnipresent. Continue to “just date” wasn’t really an option for us. My career wouldn’t give me the time to date someone that lives far far away, and at the same time we didn’t know each other long enough to start a long-distance relationship – which neither of us wanted. Living on different continents didn’t fit that picture. Thus, the real question was: should we go all in or not at all? And “all in” entailed pursuing our dream to create the freedom to live the life we imagined for ourselves and to travel full-time. A dream we would both regret not pursuing. Before we fully grasped its impact, we bought our STEYR and turned the key.

Now – Beginning of 2016

We still laugh with each other daily but we also cry, are frustrated, angry and surprised with one another.

Preparing for a complete new lifestyle was a gift and a challenge at the same time.

Having the same drive and goal in life brought us together and makes it easy to grow closer. This is where we inspire and motivate each other. When working together or driving the truck we are a team that runs like a well-oiled machine, with a few occasions of bickering – we are still not perfect 🙂

But although we are preparing for a “slower” life, we paradoxically find ourselves in a situation where we are far from slowing down. When not filling the money jar, we are working on the truck and the new apartment (our security blanket) or spending time with family and friends. Little time is left for doing nothing – doing nothing together –  to be there in the moment and to just observe.

Note: Curious about the value of doing nothing. You might find this an interesting read: “The importance of staring out the window”

Pursuing our dream also meant that I had to turn my life around completely, absolutely nothing stayed the same. This was exciting in the beginning but as you can guess once this excitement calmed down there was an emptiness that had to be refilled. I did however underestimate its impact. For an independent soul as I, who had once a packed work and social schedule, becoming more dependent is a compromise/sacrifice that is difficult to accept. So why is this then a relationship challenge? Because the changes made were a joint decision and we realize that for our relationship to keep flourishing we have to re-establish a balance.

But no, we still don’t regret the choices made; we continue to follow the call of our dreams, together.

Do you remember this one from a few weeks back:

I'm going to succeed because I'm crazy enough to think I can-Terratrotter


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4 thoughts on “Preparing to travel the world: Our relationship, 1 year later
  1. Ik doe een beetje zoals jullie,de wereld verkennen al is het juist Europa.Ik hoef niet ver te gaan om iets nieuws en spannends te beleven,dit jaar is het Corsica.Met een wandel-GPS de verborgen plekjes ontdekken die een ander heeft gevonden en wilde delen.Ik hou van technologie,4×4’s,caravans en mobilhomes,camperen,het eenvoudige leven.Laat jullie maar gaan en deel het met mij via Terratrotter

    1. Dag Philippe,

      Corsica staat bij ons ook nog op de lijst. Als kind ben ik er 2x geweest maar we kijken er naar uit om er met de truck naar toe te gaan. En Europa is er inderdaad nog heel veel te beleven; je zal ons er ook nog een tijd vinden. Het is bovendien leuk om te horen dat je van onze verhalen geniet. We zijn van plan om onze avonturen nog lang met je te delen.

      Nog heel veel reisplezier,
      Nicole & Elmer

    1. Dag Linda,

      Hoe tof! We zullen de vragen beantwoorden en dan de “liefde” verder verspreiden. Dankjewel Linda voor deze nominatie!

      —-
      For the english speakers:

      Linda nominated us for the Liebster Award – how cool is that! This award is given by and to starting travel bloggers (less than 1000 followers). A part of this nomination is that we have to answer 11 questions and add 11 random facts about us. After we publish these we have to pass on the award. This will be fun!

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