First Things First

Abby in a taxi in Lima

On Tuesday we arrived in Lima, Peru. It was as easy as stepping onto a plane in Miami and stepping off in Lima, but there was a lot of background work (and luck) that went into getting here. Our intentions with this blog are to: #1 take our friends and family along with us on this epic adventure, #2 document all the cool things we see and do so we can look back in a year and remember how green we were at the start, #3 share the lessons we've learned along the way so that you too can embark on your own epic adventure and learn from the things we did well and avoid the mistakes we make along the way.

Why Peru? Let's rewind to the start (at least the start of where I became involved). From my perspective (Kevin here, Abby will share hers too) it was about Abby. One day back in February we were hiking in Bethel, Maine on the Albany Brook trail when Abby mentioned in a completely casual but non-casual way that she wanted to move back to Peru to complete her one year contract with the American School she had started last year. After what seemed like a horribly long pause as my mind raced with the ramifications of her statement I pulled my heart up out of my boots and with all the excitement I could muster I told her it was a great idea and I meant it. I'm no expert on love but I do know that holding the ones you love back from their dreams, whether intentional or not, is deadly.

Mindly on Android

A bit of time went by and at some point I met a friend for lunch friend who voiced the idea that I had been coming to myself, I should go as well. I thought on the idea a bit more and when I decided I was committed enough to run with it if she seemed agreeable I finally mentioned to Abby, over Mexican food in South Portland. She seemed completely agreeable to the idea so it changed from a hypothetical possibility to a logistical challenge- something I'm more adept at solving. Work, house, dog (Rey)- all known quantities I could solve for. Not that it didn't stress me out a little trying to figure it all out. In the middle of one late night insomnia session I started working out a mind map (using the Mindly app on my phone and tablet). I started mapping out the challenges and possible outcomes. I'll provide more in-depth details on how we solved each of the challenges and what tools we used in future posts. I also can't provide enough thanks to the friends and family that stepped in help. Things could not have gone as smoothly as they did without all the help we received.

Ultimately the most important part was keeping the dream in mind and iteratively identifying and working towards the next step on the path, until the last thing to do was step onto a plane in Miami and step off again in Lima, Peru!