We Quit Our Jobs to Travel – We’re Officially On the Road!

One day, Kait came up with this idea to quit our jobs, sell our house and travel around the U.S. with our dogs. We both needed a break from corporate life and wanted more time with each other and our two dogs, Duke and Leo. Over a year later, we can finally say we did it. Now we’re on the road living our dream.

We Quit Our Jobs to Travel

How Can You Afford to Travel?

People often ask how we can afford to do this. Our answer is simple: planning. Based on research, we were able to sketch out a budget. We figure out how much we needed to buy an RV, tow vehicle and live one year without any income. As we refined the details of full time RV living, we updated our budget accordingly.

Read: Cost of Full Time RVing

Planning for Full Time RVing

Planning has been some of the most fun we’ve had together. The biggest decision was figuring out the right type of RV for us. There were many types of RVs to consider: Class A RVs, Class B RVs, Class C RVs, Travel Trailers, the list goes on.

Going to the California RV Show was an eye opening experience that helped put us on the right path. Over a year of research and shopping, we found our first RV, a 29′ Class A gas motorhome.

We needed a flat towable car. This would give us a flexibility to drive around town, scope out camping spots and make quick trips to the store. Neither of our cars could be to be flat towed, so we set out to find one that could.

The list of eligible cars was surprisingly small. We wanted something big enough for us, the dogs and be able to explore 4×4 trails. Come to find out my dream car happens to be one of the most popular toads among RVers. After extensive research and shopping we ended up with a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport.

Becoming Minimalists

Getting rid of stuff was harder than we thought. In order to move from a 1,200 sq ft house into a 250 sq ft RV, we had to turn into minimalists. This was a difficult process.

At first we thought we could easily go through our belongings and get rid of the stuff we didn’t want. In reality, it was a difficult and time consuming process. We realized we had way more stuff than we ever expected (or used).

We started by going through all our stuff and making piles for donation, for sale and for the dumpster. Trying to sell things that held sentimental value was difficult and emotional. We ended up storing a few boxes at my mother’s house and got rid of everything we didn’t need.

As we got closer to our departure date, we simply gave things away to friends, sold it or put it on the curb for people to take.

Taking the Final Step

Time to list the house and quit our jobs. We toyed with the idea of renting, but didn’t want the hassle of trying to manage the property from the road or pay a management company. Within a week of listing the house, we got a great offer and started escrow.

While the house was in escrow, we were still working and trying to prepare for full time RV life. Once the sale of the house was finalized, we both gave notice at work. This was a very stressful time, but the pieces finally fell into place.

Along the way we had a lot of help from family and friends. Our parents helped out tremendously by supporting us. Many friends and family members have been our cheerleaders through the transition. They had faith that we would achieve our goal when many others didn’t.

We’ve also met some great people along the way who helped guide us. We’d like to thank all of you for your help and support.

Looking back, we had a lot of fun and there were some very stressful times, but as we said to each other the moment we drove away on our first day, “If we go up in a ball of flames right now, at least we did it!”

(In case you’re wondering…no we haven’t gone up in flames yet).

For the whole journey, check out my book Take Risks: One Couple’s Journey To Quit Their Jobs and Hit the Open Road.