Rainy days.

Time and money. These two factors have probably been the most influential factors in my crises thus far.

The top of Africa.

While I managed to push the time limits in 2011 with 6 weeks in Africa there was definitely some collateral damage on personal finances which goes along with taking unpaid leave from work. The trek up Kilimanjaro was worth it though!

On the other hand, the New Zealand crisis of 2013 was less financially damaging (well, except for the flight!) but it didn’t take long to realize that 22 days on a bicycle wasn’t going to be nearly enough time to explore an entire country (even a small one). The big clue on that one came as I was going through customs in New Zealand. Upon telling the Customs Agent of my “plan” to cycle from Auckland to Queenstown in 22 days she just stared blankly at me and said, “Good luck with that.” I probably don’t need to indicate that there was not a lot of sincerity in her voice. Sigh. Not exactly the vote of confidence I was hoping for! In the end things worked out, not as planned, but they worked out. But I definitely left New Zealand wanting more. A lot more.

So, what is one to do? And which factor is more limiting? While both are limited resources, I really only have (limited) control over one of them. Yes, I’m aware that I just used the word “limit” three times in the last two sentences (and four times in the last three sentences). Of course, there are two aspects to the “time” limit. One, how much vacation time do I have available? And two, how much actual time do I have left? As I progress through my midlife crisis I realize more and more that the latter of the two is the important one. As for the money limit, while challenging, it is somewhat controllable and I’ve been pretty good over the years at saving for a rainy day. That’s probably a good thing because something tells me it’s about to start pouring soon.