You're doing WHAT?

That is the response I expect from our family, when we tell them.  But as of yet, this is as public of a place as I've confessed this idea.  And for the moment I'm keeping our identity a bit of a secret.

Yes, my wife and I plan to leave our careers 20+ years before "normal" retirement, liquidate almost everything we have, take our dogs and go live on a sailboat in the Caribbean...as what many in the know call a "cruiser".  Oh, and did I mention that we don't know how to sail and don't (yet) own a boat?

I would like to say that we are charting unknown territory, and for us it certainly is, but we are far from the first to have this idea.  After a couple months worth of serious research, we have found a number of people that are currently planning, or are already enjoying, this lifestyle.  We hope to be well on our way to joining them within the next year.

But...first things first...our sailing lessons start in a week.  So, stay tuned for more on our attempt to escape the rat race.

And I'll leave you with this thought from Mark Twain that seems rather fitting:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.