Bumps in the Road

While traveling we have hit some bumps in the road, literally and figuratively. We had Joe's little trip in Boston. We missed a train in Germany. We had Seth's acute appendicitis in Egypt. The six of us shared a two-person sleeping compartment on an overnight train. We had Sam's shellfish (?) allergy on a remote Malaysian island. Our latest bump in the road happened in March while we were in Australia.

We had just finished a beautiful week in Katoomba, outside of Sydney, and traveled back to Sydney. We had just committed a bunch of money to renting a camper van in New Zealand (our next stop). One morning while in Sydney I opened up my email and learned that I had been laid off. The company I worked for had sub-contracted me out to another company and this other company had decided to go in a different direction on the project I was working on. My employer didn't have another project lined up for me and consequently I was laid off.

There I was in Sydney Australia, half-way around the world from home, with my family, and my primary source of income gone. Just like that. Whoa, what kind of father would do that to his family? When I think of it this way I still feel a serious jolt of anxiety but there were several things I was grateful for in this circumstance despite it being another bump in the road:

• Our airfare for the rest of the trip had already been reserved and paid for.
• Most of our lodging for the rest of the trip had already been arranged and paid for.
• We have been staying within our budget on the trip so we had a good idea of what we would need for the rest of the trip. Thanks to Elaine for tracking the money!
• We had already committed to the camper van in New Zealand. We loved seeing New Zealand in a camper van and visiting one of my missionary companions and his family was wonderful. We might not have done the camper van if I had been laid off earlier.
• Income from my full-time employment represented a little more than half of our income. My side business is still healthy and growing and providing us with income.
• Having more time has allowed me even more flexibility while traveling with my family.
• With more time and energy to devote to the side business I have been able to enhance our product significantly and will soon roll out two new major features.

If you are reading this as you consider traveling and working then I guess the point is that you should consider what you would do if your primary source of income disappeared. In our case the side business has really helped. Without the side business I don't think we would have considered this trip especially in light of how things have worked out. Now that we are back to one primary source of income I've already started on several backup plans. For now, I am looking for part-time contract work doing Ruby web development. Let me know if you know of anything.