I have found that if you start with the end in mind and work backwards, things seem to typically flow in the direction that you want them to go. All throughout life, I have tried this tactic, and it has proved to be successful. I have also proved that being radically truthful and transparent about life and all that happens can feel like a weight is lifted off one’s shoulders. That is what I intend to do with this post. We want to be a long-term travel family, and teach others how to do the same.
About 12 years ago, I met the girl of my dreams, and we started our journey of life together. When Morgan and I started dating, she had told me about all the trips she had taken all over the world and the places that she had gone. I wanted a little taste, and went on two overseas trips by myself for a total of about 7 months. I was hooked, and we were hooked on traveling together, yet we had never taken any long term trips with each other. We were living in the wonderful town of Chattanooga, TN working jobs that we liked, but of course did not fulfill us completely at the time. We both had the same mindset of how we wanted to live life. We wanted to live a simple life. We both loved the outdoors, travel, and just being together. We did not have a ton of money, but that was alright by us. Our relationship continued to grow, and then we decided to get married and start a life together. We then concocted a plan to travel the world.
For a full year before we got married, we planned a 1 year long honey moon across the world together. We set a budget of $35,000 for the entire trip for 2 people. Planes, trains, automobiles, hotels, food, and everything else thrown in. We saved for a full year, and set aside this money to take the trip. I am sure most of you can tell that this dollar amount is hardly reachable back in the USA to live for a full year for two people. If anyone wants the Excel spreadsheets, I am more than happy to share. All that being said, 15 days after our wedding, we set sail to New Zealand and began our year long trip here. I could continue to write for days and days about all the stories and places we went to on this trip, but just not enough time.
We can back from this trip wiser, battered, tired, excited and we had visited about 25 countries. We hit our budget of $35,000 and made it work. Now what?
Fast forward 7 years from this trip, and where are we now? Well, we have visited about 8 more countries since then. We take a 3 week trip every February to a new country. We both own our businesses, and live in a nice house in the woods away from the bustle of Memphis, TN. We are soon to be the proud parents of two twin boys, whom will be loved dearly, Cooper and Sawyer.
In all this time we have been together, there are a few things that we have found out:
- We love travel and we know how to save money.
- We know how to put together a budget and take awesome trips for next to nothing. We are kind of like the Dave Ramsey of traveling.
- Morgan is the artistic and creative person, who is best at picking out the places to visit on our travels. She is also the best at taking the photos.
- David is the best at logistics and budgeting of trip costs.
- We want to live a simple, stress free and financially free life.
- We want to teach our children about how the real world lives, and how to life a fulfilled life.
One may ask, what is the intention of this post? This post is intended to set the stage for our Vows to Voyage lifestyle as we enter into a new chapter of our lives with children. Morgan and I have an intentional year plan that we set in place back in January 2020. We have clear and concise goals of where we want to be with our personal lives, financially, and as a family over the next 7 years. We are 1 year in, and have hit those goals year to date, and will be sharing this plan in content to come. Vows to Voyage fits into this 7 year plan and beyond.
We are the Vows to Voyage family. We are a 4 person show that loves to work hard, save, be financially free, and travel the world the way that we want. We show families how to travel affordably every year and incorporate travel into their lifestyles. We are a minimalistic couple who are 100% honest and transparent about budgets and finances. We value travel and experiences over things, and we want to live our best lives together. We are here to break the societal norms of family travel.
We are going to show everyone a family travel lifestyle that can be reached if they just budget for it and try. We are going to show people how to really travel. We are not going to teach how to live in bunk bed hostel rooms, the Ritz Carlton, or plan custom two week trips to Disney. We are going to explore a realistic, family travel lifestyle. We will show you how to earn $40,000 a year, and still be able to save for a two week long trip overseas every year. We will teach how to zone out societal norms, and do what you have always wanted to do. We will show you everything in between about family travel, and will document it the entire way.
We hope you stayed tuned for more about Vows to Voyage and are excited about passing on our passion for travel to the families who need it the most.
-David and Morgan
Vows To Voyage 