We quit our jobs, sold our house, and hit the road in a 1983 air-cooled Volkswagen Vanagon. But this wasn’t a sudden decision.

From Robert:

I’ve always enjoyed the great outdoors, but it’s hard to really slow down, travel, and enjoy nature when you’re working a demanding job with limited vacation time and a non-existent work-from-home policy.

I had been working at Beaver Valley Power Station, a nuclear power plant located in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Up until a few years ago, I loved my job there (mechanical engineer) and dedicated much extra time to it. I was assuming more responsibility from my supervisor as he groomed me to take over his position (Mechanical Design Engineering Supervisor) upon retirement.

When the time came and my supervisor retired, management deleted the supervisor position and asked me to be “team lead” instead. As it turns out, a “team lead” enjoys all the responsibilities of a supervisor with none of the compensation. I decided then that I needed an exit strategy.

“Hey Abbey, wouldn’t it be cool if we quit our jobs to travel for a year?”

“Yeah, let’s do it!” she said.

Fast forward a couple years, some job changes, an MBA, and a bunch of saving, and here we are.