The question is, are we brave enough?

Well, there's been a lot to talk about here the last few days. As anyone working in the music industry will know, the whole CD business in general is slowly dieing a death. Music stores all across the nation are closing down and many owners are looking for new jobs or ways to make money. We are noticing a sure change in the amount of Cd's we are selling and will more than likely not keep the shop open once our contract is up in January. This is quite sad. For many years Dan has worked so hard to provide for his family in this way.

So we got to talking about what to do next. We decided that we have two options. 1) Feel sorry for ourselves, worry about the future, panic and generally stress. Or 2) See this change as a great opportunity. There have been so many things we have wanted to do but couldn't because of the tie of the shop and Dan being self employed. Come January we will not have these ties or any kind of responsibility, and will theoretically be looking for new jobs.

So why not take some time out? For years I've talked about selling everything and travelling around the world. But after talking with Dan this week we have come to realise that we wouldn't need to sell our home to do it. So what we are thinking about is freezing our mortgage for a year, renting out our house to a family, selling everything that is cluttering up our lives and taking off on a journey, with the kids for 8 months.

Why eight months? Well, in September 2008 Annabelle is due to start high school and Luke will be the age to start primary school (although we haven't yet decided to send him to school). What we are seriously considering is a big journey, by road, across a continent or two. We have so many ideas and feel a little scared by it all, but we've talked about it so much now that I really can't see us not doing it.

The question is where to go? At first I fancied a trip across Europe, and into either Asia or Africa (or both). I started researching on the Internet and found some fabulous sites recording journeys that people are currently undertaking.

• The Africa Overland Network which actually covers the whole world, not just Africa
• Magbaz travels
• RV Life the story of a family driving (RVing) across America
• London2Sydney the story of two guys travelling from London to Sydney by car

The Africa Overland network contains hundreds of blogs written by people travelling across the world. Its an amazing read.

The possibilities of where to travel are endless and planning a trip like this would take months. We have 4 possibilities.

1. Travel in campervan from Ireland, through the UK, into Europe stopping at as many countries as we please along the way (France, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Turkey - the possibilities are endless) and then travelling on into Asia through countries such as India, Nepal, China, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.
2. Travel in campervan from Ireland, through the UK, into Europe stopping at as many countries as we please along the way, and then travelling on into Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Kenya etc)
3. Flying to America or Canada and travelling in RV across the Americas, (Alaska, Canada, various states of the US, Mexico) and then south into Guatemala Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Brazil, Chile etc)
4. Flying to Australia and spending 8 months driving across the whole of Australia.

Dan is keen to do the Americas. I wasn't at first but after looking into it the prospect is more appealing. We could fly there cheaper than Australia, and we could buy an RV there which we could sell before we leave. We would speak the language in the north and break ourselves in slowly. America is a vast land with every type of scenery and landscape and weather possible. Then travelling into the South we would see more exotic lands and different cultures.

I was more keen to travel through Europe, as there are so many countries to see, all vastly different, and then into Asia or Africa. Travelling by car to Asia or Africa un-nerves me a bit and I'm not sure I'm actually brave enough! Travelling to Australia would be the most costly, for the flights.

So we are not sure what we are doing. But one thing is for sure, life will be changing round here come Christmas time, and I'd prefer it changed for the better, into something exciting and adventurous. It's also just occured to me that I may well be able to meet with one of my prison pen pals on two of these journeys. That would be exciting!

So what do you all think?