Almost two years after returning to the States from our Grand Journee as Vino Vagabonds, we have finally set off again…although this time we did not sell everything we own and we did buy a return ticket.

When we first set off to travel the world in January 2011 we planned to go ‘forever’ and while we didn’t know much else, we were certain we were NOT going back to California. Buenos Aires? Maybe. France? A possibility. But California? Too boring.

Well it never ceases to amaze me how life works out, because by October 2011 we were back in California and planning a surprisingly joyous return to our (wine) stomping grounds in Northern California. Fast-forward two years and we’ve been happily living and working once more in Napa Valley…and couldn’t imagine or want it any other way. Interesting how things change.

But that’s the best part of traveling isn’t it? Change. That you really never know what a day will bring, or how your lives will change by the end of the day, trail, beer, or year. You plan, Google, research, and schedule down to the minute, but the only thing you can be certain of is that those plans will change, that Google will be wrong and your schedule will become a running joke. You’re constantly on your toes, challenging you senses, your preconceived notions, your social skills, your compassion, your ability to adapt. Adjusting, learning, trusting and gesturing wildly in a real life game of Pictionary.

“How can I get this person to understand that I want a ‘fork’?”

For us, that is exactly the reason we will be life-long travelers, not two-week tourists. The reason that the moment we’ve settled back into ‘real life’ from a long trip, our feet start to itch again. Our nine month stint in 2011 didn’t “get the travel bug out of our system”, it simply imbedded itself deeper into our lives. We learned that we didn’t have to choose between a life of travel OR a life of work-that we in fact could and should have both.

So here we are on the road again: same backpacks, same curiosity, same bad French, but this time we’re happy to have a return ticket to our wonderful lives back in California, a little more money and a few new countries to explore. So onward to Turkey, France and Italy…I wonder what today will bring?