The basic premise of the Time article Want Happiness? Don’t Buy More Stuff — Go on Vacation is the same as item Seven from my Seven Lessons from a Year on the Road post. Nothing here is new. Researchers have known for many years that experiences make us happier for longer than do things. Shannon and I know it is true from personal experience.

But Time misses some important points, I think. Read More…

We’re trading in the RV for a couple of backpacks, at least for a little while. The plan right now is to spend next January and February charting a loop through north Central America. We’ll fly into Belize, but expect to spend most of our time in Guatemala; possibly dipping into El Salvador, Honduras and Southern Mexico. We just bought airline tickets, so we’re on our way.

One of our ambitions is to spend an extended period vagabonding around the world. But up until now, we’ve never done that kind of travel. All of our trips have fit in the typical one to two week vacation style. We’ve always returned from those excursions eager to keep going, but this will be more of a test. We’ve never spent so long navigating foreign countries, often lost and unable to speak the native language. It is one thing to fly to a destination city and have a taxi take you to your hotel. It’s quite another to traverse large geographic areas and multiple border crossings utilizing public transportation. Others have done it; so can we. But how well we handle the challenges and hardships will likely determine whether a larger around-the-world trip is truly in our future.

But for now, we’re looking forward to a winter of tropical rainforests, volcanoes, Mayan ruins, monkeys, and more. Very exciting times.