Now that we are home from our year-long adventure everyone is asking “what do you plan on doing now?” “How will you adjust to “reality?”
Easy. We wont. Not really. We just changed our reality to be what we want it to be.
The summer will be a bit different from the past year because we wont be moving around nearly as much as we were. But the travel lifestyle is what we love and so we’ll still be travelling around on Vancouver Island, which is really pretty big. There is a lot to see here in this place we call home. We will also be spending time with our families over the summer.
We have explored most of the island already since I was born here and Ray has been here for over 30 years. But now we have a new purpose in mind.
Over the past year Ray and I made a list of the various ways we can make a living on the road. The list is pretty long! Once you get going the ideas just keep coming and I can see why so many people are choosing the nomadic life with so many options available. Our main goal is to become “location independent” so we can maintain a business from anywhere in the world.
Some of the options involve our previous careers: mine in software and Ray’s in electronics. But our best ideas, and the ones we are most passionate about, involve photography and travel. Those are the ones we are going to try out first.
Right now I’m working on a new photography product (I’m not sure yet what form it will ultimately take – maybe an ebook or maybe a course) and together Ray and I are going to be working on a really exciting project that will take us all over Vancouver Island. We will be collecting the raw materials we need for the project over the summer and then, when we are down south next fall/winter, we will be putting it all together.
So I’ll have some announcements coming up pretty soon about the first project and later in the year about the second project.
But what you really need to know is that the travel photographs will keep coming. I still have lots of images from Utah to share with you. And I plan on going through my archives from the past year to find any gems that I haven’t processed already. Then I will start sharing my images from new explorations on Vancouver Island.
British Columbia truly is a beautiful place – especially in the summer 🙂
Welcome home Anne! I’ve been quietly following your travels and enjoying them but I am very excited to hear that you will be focusing closer to home. I can’t wait to see Vancouver Island through your eyes. Best of luck with what you have on your horizon 🙂
Thank you very much Sabrina! I’m glad you are still here and really appreciate that you’ve been following along all this time. I am looking forward to making images here. I always made better images while I was travelling and therefore my images from Vancouver Island are not my best and I’m hoping to correct that this summer.
Looking forward to your images from Utah. Probably one of my favorite states. Enjoy Vancouver Island and you family before you hit the road again Anne.
Thank you Len, I am hoping to spend lots of time with my family this summer. It’s hard being away from them for a whole year so I have to make up for it now 🙂
I’ve loved travelling with you on this adventure and I plan on continuing to do so. Good luck on whatever form your endeavors take. i can hardly wait to see what you have in store for us next. I love these images from BC and look forward to seeing your Utah shots.
Thank you so much my friend! I really appreciate all the support you’ve given me throughout my trip 😉
Welcome “home” Anne! It’s been great following your journey this past year and I look forward to hearing all the exciting things you have in store.
Thank you very much Russ!
I love your plans and will definitely keep up with your blog to follow your journey.
Thank you very much Melli!
Love your travel photos! Looking forward to seeing more over the coming months.
Thank you very much Andrea, I appreciate the kind compliment!
It’s been a tremendous adventure that I’ve been lucky to share (albeit I was 3 months late to the start of the party). It’s great to read too that you have ideas to follow that means this past year hasn’t just been a sabbatical but the true start of a new way of living. I’m looking forward to the next stage. Keep posting.
Hi Andy, you’ve expressed exactly what I want: for the trip to not be a sabbatical but a new way of life! Thank you so much for following along on my adventure and being so encouraging along the way. I really appreciate all your support.
Anne, It has been fun following your tavels. Your photos and comments hve been eductional. I just started a blog with few pictures I took at Yosemite NP last week. I would love your thoughts on the photos. http://forrantphoto.wordpress.com/
Hi John, thank you very much for following along on my adventure. I’m glad you started your own blog to share your images. I have really enjoyed blogging and hope you will too. Yosemite certainly is a good place to start – I loved it there!
What a Fantastic Voyage you’ve had. It’s been a tremendous source of enjoyment reading of your travels. And I must say I’m a little jealous, both of the trip and of spending time on Vannie Island. One of my favorite spots on the planet. I’ll never forget pulling into the parking area at Jordan River and seeing people surfing…In the middle of January! Enjoy your family and keep us posted on your future sojourns.
Hi Bill, yes they surf all year long in Jordan River, wearing wet suits of course 🙂 But when you live here you learn to get outside and do all your activities despite the wet weather. It is a rainforest after all. I have always enjoyed watching the surfers out there and in Tofino too. Thank you very much for joining me on my adventure via the blog.
Welcome home! I, too, am looking forward to where you go next… not location-wise, but life-wise. You’ve had an enviable year of travel, and your posts have encouraged us to consider doing the same.
Thank you very much for your comments Rob. I think the hard part is going to come now as I try to adjust from the “sabbatical” frame of mind to making it a sustainable lifestyle. That’s going to be a journey in itself.
We’re so excited to see you and Ray back on the island, Anne! Both Mrs. Toad and myself are really hoping that over the course of the summer we’ll have a chance to get together in person! Love your work, my friend, I can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store for us!
Thank you very much for the kind welcome Toad! We’re just getting our lives organized here, getting the boat ready to launch and getting stuff we need out of storage and that sort of thing. It’s going to be an exciting summer. I’m looking forward to catching up with you and Mrs.Toad 🙂
Welcome home Anne!!! Beautiful image of Mt Baker and the sailboats. Looking forward to seeing what you are up to next. 🙂
Thank you very much Sharon! I made that image at Cattle Point in Victoria. Boating around Victoria is always a spectacular sight.
Congrats on making it back home safely!
Your next plans sound quite exciting, so all power to you and your hubby!
Looking forward to your continuing life adventures!
Mike
Hi Mike, thank you so much for your comments and for following along on our adventure. It will be interesting to see if I can make this lifestyle sustainable and that is my challenge going forward.
Hi Anne,
I have been following along with your travels and your images are beautiful and your blogs are well written and I look forward to getting your emails! I think it’s great that you are continuing on this journey! I know it will be a successful lifestyle change for you! And I will try and correspond more often! Thanks for sharing your year journey with us and look forward to more!
Oh my goodness, I just saw my Profile Icon image LOL. I think I need to change that!
Hi Barbara! Thanks for your kind words about my images my blog. I am glad you have been following along. I remember reading your story before I made my decision to change my life and it was one of the stories that helped me decide. As you say “life is too short for someday”.
By the way, I have my blog comments set up so anyone who doesn’t have a gravatar gets a random monster icon 🙂 I know you don’t really look like that, lol.
Thanks for the visit and comments, much appreciated.