It is late into the night and I am sitting hear looking at this site. I finished the design over a week ago and keep checking back to make sure that I still like it. The two previous designs were scrapped the next day, when my rested eyes saw how horrible they were. I tend to work late into the night on this site in bursts and wake up the next morning saying “What were you thinking?” I have come to the conclusion that this design is it. I like the way it looks.
I have four test posts on the site (which will be were deleted when I post posted this) as to see how it will look with actual content. This seems to bother me tremendously so I decided I might add actual content. Over the next two weeks I plan to finish the static pages on the site which might give you more of an insight into who we actually are and why we are doing this. I have also included a “FAQ” page to answer the basic questions that we typically get asked on a regular basis. I will however, post some basic information here.
My name is Shawn Coomer and my wife, son and I are about to embark on a journey around the world. We tell everyone it will last two years. The reality is that the time frame set is open ended. We may feel like coming back in a year or decide to stay somewhere and settle down for awhile. The one thing I did not want to do was set an exact date to come back only to realize that I needed more time.
World travel has always been a dream of mine. It seems that many years ago when my son was born I decided that it was not possible to do this until he was an adult. In June of 2006 by an act of divine intervention (or just being tired of the daily grind) something in my mind just clicked and I said to myself “Why can’t we do this?” It is amazing how one decision made many years ago stuck with me for so long. I am truly grateful that I was able to change my position on this subject.
In June of 2006 I fearfully brought the idea up to my wife after a couple of weeks of consideration in my own head. I expected to be shot down immediately but thought it was worth a shot. I didn’t know if I was just crazy but certainly thought that NO ONE else in the world had ever considered such a thing. She was completely taken aback from the whole idea but it definitely intrigued her. We agreed to do research for a month before making our final decision. After reading several books on the subject of family world travel (who knew I wasn’t the only one who had ever had this idea), we decided to give it a go.
In a way it has been difficult ever since we made that decision. We have had to put our lives on hold in anticipation of that miraculous day when our journey will begin. I definitely believe the sacrifices to be worth it. We decided to sell our house and use a portion of our equity, along with savings to finance the trip. We also decided to leave plenty of money behind to re-establish ourselves when the time (and place) are right. We currently reside in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States. Las Vegas has been my home since 1993 and my wife has lived here almost as long. While the desert has some positive sides, my wife and I feel like we might prefer somewhere else to settle down when we come back. I guess only time will tell as that question does not need to be answered right now.
As mentioned before my wife and I have one child. Our son, Shawn Reece is six and a half years old. This blog is here to serve a couple of functions. The first is to help us keep a lasting record of our trip for our own memories. Secondly, it is here for friends and family (and anyone else) to see what we are up to. We really hope that everyone keeps in touch with us as we travel, either by commenting on our posts or via email. I know that we will definitely enjoy the connection with people back home.
As I sit here writing this we are about two months away from leaving. Our original departure date of March 1st has been pushed back because of reasons beyond my control. Now it stands that we will most likely be departing between March 15th and April 1st of this year, 2007. April 1st would be the latest that we would be leaving. I will in the next couple of weeks post some more information about the route we plan to travel along with more information on the specifics of the trip. I will also talk about some of the preparation that we have gone through and post some pictures of the gear we are taking.
I hope that in addition to the things mentioned above, this blog becomes a resource for future families looking to do the same thing! When I was able to work past the initial fear I realized that the world isn’t as scary as some would have us believe. My life is full of excitement and unknown as I sit here today. I have read in excess of twenty books on the subject of travel along with countless websites. I believed that as a father my duty was to make sure that this trip could be done safely with a child. I learned through all of this research that people are doing the same kind of thing all the time! My perception of this trip has turned from excitement to fear and back several times. The unknown always has an element of fear to it but sometimes we need to live life. American culture in general is so fast sometimes that I can easily see life passing me by if I am not careful. I don’t want this to happen.
On the other side I want my son to look at the world through different eyes. I want him to be exposed to how the rest of the world lives and maybe to learn a little humility. I find humility is often lacking in our culture today. In closing I believe this trip to be a gift for all three of us. The fact that at this point in our lives we are able physically, mentally and financially take this trip is truly a blessing. I guess I will close with that. There will be much more information coming soon (and actual trip related blog posts in about two months). Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please don’t forget to keep in touch.
Shawn
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Terri,
We actually spell it Reece (like the candy!). I wanted it to be a little different. Thanks for leaving a comment!
Shawn, Great start on your photo gallery. I look forward to following you around the world.
Much love and light to you, Jasmine & Shawn Reese (is that how you spell little Shawn’s name?
Hugs,
Terri