Thanks to a midlife crisis, we are married, unemployed and homeless — and we couldn’t be more excited. We have one-way plane tickets across the Pacific. Our plan is to travel the world for a year with a couple of hefty backpacks (hence the *oh so clever* blog name) and a loose itinerary.

We boarded a plane early last Tuesday morning for the first leg: Hawaii. We’re newlyweds, darn it! We needed some R&R, so we planned to spend the week camping on the beaches of Kauai in a sleepervan.

It was awesome for a few days, waking up on the beach, the sounds of waves crashing. But then it wasn’t so great. We failed at van life.

After a rough road-side night and a mango-only diet, we easily (too easily?) found a great deal at an oceanside hotel. Don’t judge us.

Up next: East Asia

We’re now packing up and digging into our travel books ahead of flying to Japan. Ahead of us: planes, cross-country trains, jeeps, hiking boots and at least one sea-crossing ferry.

The next few months will focus on eastern Asia, so if you have any travel advice, please let us know. For now, our solid plans include:

Russia: 🇷🇺

We’ll venture into Kamchatka, the mountainous and volcanic region on the eastern coast of the sprawling country. The Trans-Siberian Railway will take us into Siberia (we’re ready, thanks to the Chicago Winter of 2018-19), where we’ll backpack around the deepest lake in the world.

China: 🇨🇳

We’ll spend a few days in Beijing before getting on another train to travel south through some of the oldest civilizations in the world. Don’t fret if you don’t see updates while we’re here. We’re not sure how much access we’ll have to our blog or social media.

Japan:  🇯🇵

Thanks to a 14-day rail pass, we hope to spend a few days in several regions across the country. We won’t miss the beautiful sites of Kyoto, the dizzying streets of Tokyo and the sobering sites of Hiroshima. Then we’ll board a ferry to …

South Korea: 🇰🇷

We’ve received some fantastic recommendations for seeing and dining in Seoul, and we’ll hit up a baseball game, but plans elsewhere in the country are still TBD. We’d love your budget-conscious advice!

And then …

We’ll plan the next few months! On the agenda are Nepal, India and Southeast Asia. If our hoarded travel points and savings hold up, we’ll then dip into Australia before heading to New Zealand and South America.

Stay tuned! And again, thanks so much for coming along and please pass along and any all travel advice.

Love, Erin and Jan