I’ve had many questions about our journey. Most of them are more or less the same frequently asked questions. A friend kindly suggested I write a page on the blog with these FAQs for people to refer to. Not that I get tired of telling people our plans, but this does make it easier.  So here are a few to start. I’m sure I’ll be adding more. And please feel free to ask about more in the comment section or you can contact me personally with questions or comments.

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Q: How long do you plan on going for?! And what is your route? Where do you “park” your boat?

A:

• We hope to be sailing for 10+ years. Ideally we would like to stay out until Taj graduates high school. Then again, I’m guessing Christian and I will want to sail alone (sans kids!), so who knows!
•  OLD BUT STILL REALISTIC: As for route: most cruisers would say that having a planned route is impossible. Our idea at the current moment is to go down to Mexico and The Sea of Cortez, starting August 2015 and arriving in Panama early 2017? From there, we hope to sail west via Galapagos, French  Polynesia, Fiji, then New Zealand. We are hoping to pick up work in NZ for a year  (currenlt here in NZ, Now for almost 2 years and mostly likely at least 3) and then head up to Fiji and other surrounding areas for a few months, then back down to Australia. And again, hopefully pick up work in AUS for a year. From there, hopefully up to Indonesia and really take our time island hopping. After that, maybe Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, South Africa, Brazil, Patagonia, then back up to the East Coast of USA.  Really, there are so many options and who knows what will happen by then. We’d love to go up the Red Sea and into the Mediterranean, but as of now Piracy is too abundant for our comfort. Things could change by the time we get near there, so stayed tuned and find out….
• “Parking” our boat will mostly consist of dropping our anchor in safe anchorages along the way. We will most likely find a place to dock  it only if we stay in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa to work for an extended period. Our goal is to not pay for docking or mooring as much as possible in order to keep on a low cruising budget.

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Q: What will you do for income?

A:

• We have saved enough for two years with a budget of $15,000/year.
• I (Josie) have worked as a RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for over 15 years at Wellington NICU, a few of the Kaiser Hospitals in the Bay Area, UCSF Children’s Hospital and Santa Barbara Cottage Children’s Hospital. I hope to pick up travel assignments along the way when income is needed and when opportunities arise.  I would love to get a year assignment in New Zealand (currently employed in Wellington NICU). I also do some canvas work and have a sewing machine on the boat for sail repair/cushions/dodgers etc.
• Christian has is Captain’s license and will be able to deliver boats and pick up jobs that might require a Captain’s license.  He is also a certified technician for Spectra Watermakers‘ desalination units. Which means that when someone’s water maker needs some work and we are nearby, Christian can be contracted out to do it. He is also very experienced with boat maintenance/repair/rigging, so not only will that save us a lot of money, he will be able to help others along the way.
• The kids will hopefully develop their own way to make their own spending money. (Nina loves to babysit!)
  

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Q: What are you doing for school?

A: I think I could spend a whole blog writing on this one. As for a general description of what we do: We are using a Waldorf style education in combination with “what ever works for that moment” and un-schooling. See our boatschooling links for some of the resources we use. If we are at a port for longer than 6 months, we will most likely enroll the kids in the local school (currently in local New Zealand schools, Waldorf and public High-school).

Please let me know what other questions I can answer and I’ll try my best to add them here or refer you to a previous post on the blog.