How It Began
Waiting for take off for the East Coast to visit family before continuing on to South Africa - our adventure begins!
Becoming the VagaBonneys - the journey of how it all started and the experiences along the way.
**This will most likely be our longest post and is meant to introduce you to who we are and, well, how it began.
Our journey started long before we packed up our belongings and gathered our bags in 2023. We had been planning this adventure for quite some time, even though the entire process took longer than we initially anticipated. I mean, who doesn’t dream of what they’ll do after they stop working? We had our own company, and we took great pride in the services we provided. Then, after a health scare in 2019, thoughts of turning those retirement dreams into actions became more imperative. We needed to reduce the stress in our lives and work had become more and more stressful over the last handful of years. We could stay in San Diego, sizing down and living very meagerly (it’s referred to as the Sunshine Tax because there is a high cost to live in SD with its amazing year round climate and activities) or take a chance and be bold enough to discover new and exciting places. We leaned toward the latter. Thinking about this exciting future and what it could look like, we entertained several scenarios, and we began to seriously consider an extended visit to Portugal or Italy. Our initial searching led to the discovery of an amazing rental property situated along the coast in Taranto, Italy, which was offered at an unbelievable price of $550 a month - seriously, you can’t find that kind of a deal in San Diego! The rental had breathtaking sea views surrounded by vibrant and colorful buildings, and several small, inviting restaurants nearby where we imagined ourselves happily mingling with the locals and enjoying aperitivos before heading out to shop the markets for fresh dinner ingredients. However, the onset of the Covid pandemic abruptly put the brakes on that dream. And, during the lockdowns, our IT consulting company, which was primarily focused on serving essential workers in the rental housing industry, led us to work even harder as the days turned into months and the months into a year. Consequently, we found ourselves falling back into that same monotonous routine of wake, work (even remotely), sleep, and repeat.
When the restrictions ended and the world began to open up again, we knew we couldn't continue this pattern, so we started making purposeful choices toward achieving our travel goals. The first step was to sell our downtown San Diego condo. We’d loved our home for over 10 years, however doing this would relieve the financial stress and allow us to focus on quality time together and going back to the full blown planning we started prior to Covid. We were eager to explore the world after the lockdown after all! Our condo sold in late 2021, and we moved to a rental in Hillcrest, a neighborhood we loved for its walkability. Doing this allowed us to give our clients roughly a year to plan for our closing down and also to assure both parties that we would leave them in good hands. And, it also allowed us to save additional funds for our travels.
After our move to the vibrant community of Hillcrest, we became even more active and engaged in outdoor activities. While not completely out of our rut, it was a step toward our goal. Our new neighborhood boasted the perfect location where we could easily explore and enjoy the surrounding area. We made it a point to regularly walk the historic Spruce Street suspension bridge, the wooden Maple Canyon bridge, and the First Avenue Bridge (all part of the Seven Bridges Walk linked here on AllTrails); we also took time to wander the many trails of Balboa Park on a regular basis. We discovered a variety of amazing local hangouts where we quickly became regular customers and embraced the fabulous community vibe. Sister’s Pizza on Wednesday became a favorite for their delicious East Coast style slices (a big thank you for adding midweek vegan slices to the menu just for us!). Also nearby, we enjoyed The Loft Bar with their generous pours of wine and friendly bartenders and patrons, Jimmy Carter’s for their delicious Mexican brunch and dinner options, and both La Taverna (now closed) and Mia Trattoria satisfied our cravings for authentic Italian food. It was hanging out in these locations that we talked about where we ultimately wanted to go first when we finally stopped working, where we mused about the implications of actually making that leap (gulp!), and where we discussed how best to travel mindfully and save money for all the adventures we dreamed of taking. After a bunch of back and forth about the initial starting location (no map with darts were used but could have come in handy!) we finally made the bold decision to buy our one-way tickets; what better way to really set everything in motion. No excuses, no procrastinating—just a one-way plane ticket and a plan to embark on a journey that would take us halfway around the world!
Even though we had a lot to do before our April 26th flights, we took an opportunity to test out our new carry on suitcases and compression hanging shelves. In January we squeezed in a quick trip to Three Forks, Montana, my hometown, to visit family - population around 2000. It’s an amazing small town and is historically known for being near the source of the Missouri River. Yes, if you didn’t know, there are three rivers that make up the Missouri: the Gallatin, Jefferson, and Madison rivers, hence - Three Forks and it is definitely worth checking out! Because our trip was in January and despite the cold and snow and the ice crunching under our feet, we took daily walks along the golf course and around The Pits (if you visit, ask locals if they used to swim there in their youth - we all loved spending summer days there and I’m sure you’ll hear some fantastic stories). We spent time with my mom and grandma who was turning 94 in a few weeks, and my older sister and her family. It was great to catch up with them all and share our excitement about our future travels. While in Montana, we also took a road trip to Pony (even smaller than Three Forks with a population of 101) to see my dad and his wife. Pony is a quintessential old mining town with a bar, a post office, and lots of fresh mountain air. The entire area has a rich history and the old schoolhouse where we used to hold family reunions was used in the TV series 1923. We had a great visit at the Pony Bar before snow started to fall hurrying us down the mountain and back to Three Forks. Richard and I love spending time in Montana regardless of the cold of winter or the heat of summer. When our week visit was up, we returned to San Diego to warm up and resume our work on closing down the company and adventure planning beyond our first destination.
The early part of 2023 was spent focusing on the final arrangements for our clients, ensuring they were in good hands, while also wrapping up projects and clearing out our office of nearly 20 years. We’d done our part over the previous 18 months to help transition our clients to new platforms where they would have continued software support, coached several of their internal staff to cover many of our training, service, and consulting tasks, and helped them hire an entire company for their hardware needs. Yes, we felt we put them in the best position we could once we were no longer working and retired.
Our work here is done - good bye office space!
Time seemed to speed up exponentially, and before we realized it, April arrived and we were caught up in a flurry of constant activity and lots of packing boxes. Seriously! How does one accumulate so much stuff over the years? And this was after downsizing from when the kids still lived at home, then in to our condo downtown, and finally to our smaller rental in Hillcrest. At last, the time had come to begin selling most of our belongings, purging unnecessary items via OfferUp and BuyNothing, trips to Goodwill and AmVets, and boxing other goods and clothes that were carefully labeled to be put into our small storage unit – you know, just in case travel isn’t for us and we might need them again in the future. With no homebase to come back to, we were jumping without a net (metaphorically speaking) complete with butterflies! We were anxious as we watched our life be packed up and packed out but knew that once we were free from those physical belongings, our adventure would begin.
After the movers completed the pack out, which was our smallest move yet, we checked into a hotel for a few nights. The hotel staff thought we were moving in for the entire summer season when we arrived with so many suitcases and even a few boxes filled with items we were on the fence about taking with us! While there, we again made a concerted effort to pare down what we would truly need for our upcoming trip – after all, three months is quite a long time to pack for! How many suitcases do we really need to take with us? Did we have enough of the essentials? Can we easily purchase more items once we arrive at our destination? Do I really need to take this particular item with me?! Once those important decisions were made, we made a final stop at our storage facility to drop off a couple of items we realized we wouldn’t need and one of our sons came by to load some more and was handed a key to our storage unit to drop off what we decided to leave behind. Finally, we settled Branson, our vintage Tesla, into a long-term storage facility, making sure he would be safe and sound while we were away. We’ll share our story of Branson in another post - it’s a great story!
Thanks to an overbooking from a trip we took the previous fall, Alaska Airlines offered us $1500 travel vouchers EACH to take a later flight. Yes, please! We used some of those credits to book our one-way First-Class tickets to Boston, which marked the exciting beginning of our initial trek. I mean, why not kick off our grand adventure in style and comfort? So, with our six suitcases and two carry-ons in tow (we really needed to work on our packing strategies – but more on that topic in later post), we boarded our plane to the triumphant theme from Star Wars (how amazing is that?! ), and sipped champagne as we soared into the sky, shedding a few bittersweet tears for those we were leaving behind while eagerly anticipating the thrilling adventures that awaited us on the horizon. First stops - Boston, Maine, and Rhode Island. Here we go!
