Family & Friends

Once you've made a decision like this and start planning a long-term trip, the moment eventually comes when you have to break the news gently to your family, friends and colleagues. But how do you tell your family and friends in particular? With some colleagues it may feel easier because the relationship is less close. But that also makes them good practice.
And when it's time to say goodbye, you might as well do it properly: with a small party attended by all the lovely people you know at least those who have time.

How We Told Our Families

During a family gathering in summer 2024 in Nußloch (at the “Gogglfeschd”), we told Andrea's mum, her brother and his partner that we had something to announce. Amusingly, they immediately started cheerfully guessing whether we were planning to get married, and the mood already turned celebratory. We laughed and denied it. We would actually do it in a heartbeat, but there are good reasons not to for now. Then we told them that we had quit our jobs.
This was received with some confusion; we weren't sure how to interpret the rather different reactions: Andrea's mother looked surprised, her brother also questioned us with his eyes, and the sister-in-law clapped without changing her expression.
So we first pointed out that it would surely be interesting to know why we came to this decision and then we dropped the bombshell.
When Andrea's family heard that we were planning to travel around the world, they were genuinely happy for us. Andrea's mum even said how great she thought it was. After all, we had both travelled before, and Frank had even done a world trip once. So she felt quite relaxed about the whole thing, convinced that we would handle it.
Holger, Andrea's brother, was also delighted. He immediately started throwing out ideas of how Andrea could earn some money along the way by filming beach workouts or singing. We explained that our main goal was to enjoy the world, and any earning would just be on the side. We quit our jobs precisely so we could travel, not so we could work.
Christiane, the sister-in-law, clapped again. She also thought it was good to quit our jobs in order to become self-employed and brainstormed ways to finance the trip. We explained that we had also thought about this, but were leaning more toward things like WWOOFing, house-sitting and similar ideas. Those would only help stretch our travel budget a bit not finance the whole journey. Our plan was to travel using our savings first.

We didn't manage to meet Frank's parents in person that summer, so we had to tell them over FaceTime.
But they both reacted completely calmly. Frank's dad said that you only live once and that we should do what brings us joy. And Frank's mum added that Frank already had world-travel experience and that it was perfectly normal for her children to come up with crazy ideas and actually pursue them.

We were, of course, particularly happy about the support from our families. It's especially them who will surely miss our personal visits most while we're away.

Letting Our Friends In on the Secret

Besides our families, we also wanted to tell our dear friends. One by one, during meet-ups, we surprised them with our plan. Many reacted with astonishment, but everyone was happy for us. They all understood our decision, even if they would never do something like that themselves.
Some of Andrea's friends met Frank for the first time during these get-togethers. These moments were especially emotional, because they were thrilled about Andrea's new love and then came the news of the travel plans on top of it. Naturally, there was a lot to talk about. Everyone wanted to know how we met and how we came up with the idea of the trip.
Overall, it was much easier to tell our friends than to tell our families. Still, we knew that once the journey began, we'd be leaving behind many wonderful people whom we'd only be able to reach by phone or FaceTime for quite some time. But in the digital age, that's hardly a problem anymore.

Goodbyes Are Hard

Naturally, everything must eventually come to an end if we want to set off on our journey. That required not only preparations but also saying goodbye to many lovely people who had accompanied us along our life paths.
The families knew, our employers were informed, and friends and acquaintances as well. So the question arose: what do you give to travellers who have hardly any space and no need for knick-knacks?
We were overwhelmed not only by touching words - spoken and written - with incredibly warm wishes, but also by funny, creative and wonderfully thoughtful little gifts.
Each gift was unique, lovingly handmade or chosen with care for what we might genuinely use. Because of this, we don't want to highlight them individually but simply let the photos speak instead, so none is favoured or overlooked.

At this point, once again, a big heartfelt thank-you to everyone who thought of us, who wished us nothing but the best, and who moved us to tears so often with their thoughtful surprises.

We also said our farewells to our employers - as you should - with a proper send-off. At Frank's workplace, the team shared dinner in the evening, chatted, and raised a glass to the past five working years. Even his boss's children had the chance to run around and play with Frank one last time.
At Andrea's workplace, because of the work schedule, a team meeting was used to celebrate her departure after 20 years of service - with alcohol-free sparkling wine and some treats.
The colleagues were pleased that we left in such a thoughtful way, giving them one more fond memory of our time with them.

And of course, our farewell had to be properly celebrated.
So a few weeks before our departure, we organised a farewell gathering. Well, organised is only partly true. We didn't invite everyone to a fully catered event, but instead simply announced the date and place. We sponsored a crate of beer, some baguettes and sausages, and the guests contributed salads, barbecue food and whatever they needed for themselves. This way we could, without fuss or leftovers, spend time with many friends and part of the family. Sharing our plans for the future, laughing together and reminiscing about wonderful memories.