Since the beginning of the year, my wife and I are constantly working on the project of our lives; sell everything to travel across North and Central America with our children. Two weeks ago, we made another big step by putting our house up for sale. Since we plan to leave sometime in summer 2016, we are giving ourselves about a year to sell our house. What if we sell right now, this summer? Well… we will live half the time in our RV and half the time at my mother’s house I guess! This would probably be the best case scenario considering that I could save tons of money while keeping my day job and being debt free! We’ll see, I already had my first visit last weekend!
Another Big Step: The Travel Itinerary!
Today, I want to share with you another big step for us: the first draft of our itinerary! The green line is the first trip down to Costa Rica and the blue line is the way back home:
Itinerary Milestones:
There are several places that I am eager to visit starting as close as Niagara Falls and as far as Marietas Island in Mexico going through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Here’s a quick list of highlights of our trip so far. The Central America part is less detailed at the moment as we will work on it this summer.
Canada, my home and native land
We will start our travel by getting used to RVing while traversing Canada. I don’t expect to make many stops until we reach Alberta. Then, we will visit the Dinosaurs Park and head up north to spend a few weeks in the Rockies (Jasper & Banff National Parks). I expect to do lots of hiking and cliffhanging during this part of the trip. Then, we will go through the Okanagan Valley where I have family and the wine is World Class! Meanderingover to Vancouver, I will take a ferry to VancouverIsland as I have to show my kids the beauty of Victoria and really want to see the beaches & orcas in Tofino.
USA, The Western Adventure
Our first trip to the USA will be on the West Coast. We really wanted to do the mythic Western Coast road from Oregon to Mexico but we also wanted to visit the beautiful Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. This is why you see two loops inland before we continue on the road to Mexico. The second loop is to detour through Las Vegas, going through the Death Valley and boondocks in Monument Valley. I expect to spend a few weeks in California too. I really enjoyed my first trip there when I was 9, I guess San Francisco will be even better today! We will finish the state of California and continue our route in Baja California, Mexico!
Mexico, Somberos, Tacos and Chillos!
Once entered in Mexico through Baja California, we will begin “beach mode”. We expect to travel only by day and through paid route to avoid any potential problems. I’m looking forward chilling in Los Cabos, visiting Marietas Island and the ruins in Oaxaca. The ride through Mexico should take about 2 months, but we haven’t figure all the places we will stay.
The Final Route to Costa Rica
After leaving Mexico, the plan is unclear as to how long it will take to go to Costa Rica. We have to go through Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. These are poor countries and we will have to do lots of research on them to make sure we stay on the right path. I don’t expect to spend more than a month to do this part of the trip.
Our New Home in Costa Rica
After 5-6 months of traveling, we expect to take a pause in Costa Rica. We should arrive around December and celebrate Christmas there. We want to rent a house (a casita) for 3 months before we return. We might extend our trip to 4 months, break up the stay with a visit to Panama. It will be a great time to relax from our trip and help the RV rest a bit before we start back. I hope my son will be able to play soccer in Costa Rica for a few games at least while my daughter wants to learn how to surf and do some horseback riding. Yeah… it will be the hard life! Hahaha!
The Way Back Home
Then again, the path through Central America is unclear. We want to do the Atlantic Coast, especially to spend some time in Yucatán, Mexico. Depending on how we enjoy our trip to these countries, we might stay between 2 and 4 months until we reach the USA again. I have several stops planned that I’m looking forward in the USA such as New Orleans, going back to Disney with the kids, we might drop down to see the Keys, I’m looking forward to learning more about US history driving up the East Coast (Charlottetown, Washington DC, etc) and we will definitely stop in NYC and Boston before we arrive back in Canada.
Then Hitting Home
“Home” as I call it won’t ever be the same after this trip. In fact, “home” will become my RV soon enough and wherever I go will be where I belong. We expect the trip to last around 12-13 months and then, I hope to come back as an internet entrepreneur and never have a day job again. This is very exciting!
What do you think about my itinerary? Any places you suggest?
PSST! During this trip! I’m also looking forward to meeting with investors! I hope we can enjoy a coffee or drink a beer and talk about dividend stocks one day!
