Over a month ago, Ryan and I sent New Years cards to our friends and family. In our New Year's card, I had happily announced that they could find a little recap of 2017 and a description of our plan on our website.The problem at that time was:I had not written a recap of 2017Our website was half broken.In an effort to fix it, our website crashed.We had no actual plan for 2018.It is now mid-February, and the season for New Years greetings is over. But I am happy to announce both that the website is repaired, and that we now do have a plan!

We know, we know... This article is long due!!! If you cannot wait to know where we are in the process of buying our sailboat at the moment I am writing this article, just scroll down.If you want to know how we did buy our sailboat with 0 knowledge or prior experience of sailing, keep on reading here is the story!

In June last year, Ryan texted me about this article he read, telling the story of Matt and Jessica, a couple who had quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a sailboat and left a conventional lifestyle to start sailing the World together with their cat.I wished it was Ryan's way of telling me that he finally liked cats and want us to get one. But it turned out to be the beginning of what will probably be the biggest adventure of our life so far. Sadly, still no cat in the picture.

I did not recognize the sound of my alarm when it suddenly went off on Monday.The bed I was laying in was unfamiliarily soft and the sheets dry. Ryan felt far. It took me a moment to remember where I was, what day it was, and what I was gonna do."Right, going to the office..."

It's crazy how many people have visited our site since we launched our sailboat adventure in July (despite the few updates we've made), we can't believe it! Thank you so much for reading our blog, we're super thrilled to have you onboard :)

Back in August, we decided that the first step towards our big sailing adventure would be a two weeks intensive sailing class in Gibraltar. The point? Learning how to sail, get some practical experience, experience life on a sailboat, and eventually decide if we really like this or not.We eventually chose Hercules Sailing School in Gibraltar, that delivers RYA certified courses, for the way Mandy and Chris welcomed our ambitions and tailored a two weeks program for our specific objectives. We're now 7 days away from departure and here is what we've been doing to really get prepared!

Our friends, family and colleagues have almost all checked our website (hello there! :D), and our project seems to surprise many of you. Ryan and I are getting asked all the time "So... are you really going to buy a boat?!!" Heck yeah we're doing it!!But I don't really have time to update this page. So here are a few answers to the question: what's up in our sailboat land?

The idea of our 10 days trip through Israel and Jordan came up after Ryan dislocated and broke his shoulder as the result of an infamous goose attack, and had to cancel a 5 weeks climbing trip to Nepal subsequently.We wanted to travel together instead. I had want to visit Israel in a while and Ryan had always have Petra on his bucket list. We had put together the trip a little before getting serious about our sailing project, and were so absorbed by our new found dream that we had almost forgotten our visit in the Middle-East was coming.As Stockholm started to show some early signs of Autumn, we welcomed this opportunity to escape the cold, packed our bags and gladly left rainy Sweden for a well deserved holiday in the sun.

Ryan *Shaking my left arm as I lay in bed, sleeping* Babe? Babe… I know..!!!Me… Hmmmmm… what?Ryan We're getting A BIG RUBBER DUCK ON OUR SPINNAKER!!!Me *yawning* That's awesome honey… Let's do it…. What time is it…?Ryan 6am. It's only four hours left to the show, let's get up and be the first there!!!Me Yeah... right... *falling back asleep*One hour later:Ryan *shaking my left arm again and singing* Rubber ducky, you'RE THE OOOONNNE!!! You make bath time LOTS OF FUUUUUUUN!!!

Yes, that tiny detail... We've never actually sailed!Although Ryan claims that I "have some good sailing experience from growing up in the west cost of France" (probably referring to my optimist sailing when I was 9), together, our combined experience of sailing is close to zero.So how do you consider sailing around the world with no experience, and where do you start when you're totally new to sailing?

Late June 2015, Ryan came up with the idea that we should buy a boat and sail the world.I spent the last month listening to him talking about sailboats. Sailboat alternatives, sail options, ways to learn how to sail, budget, ect... I can't really estimate how much time Ryan spent looking at sailing resources on Internet, but he would mention his latest findings on the subject literally each time we met each other's.