It is time once again to address Dear Uncle Cal, in our series of fellow traveler interviews attempting to convince our beloved uncle that long term travel is indeed a very good thing.

And that we’re not really crazy (well, at least not because of this)!

(If you missed Part One of this series, you can find our interview with Dyanne here.)

Meet our friends Jack and Jill – married college sweethearts from California who are, as you read this, in the final hours before embarking on their own round the world adventure!  Yes, they have given it all up – the home, the car, the good jobs – and are heading out into the big scary world with nothing but their backpacks and each other. Sound familiar? Given that they are just starting their adventures, you can bet that they’ve had their share of Uncle Calvin’s questioning their sanity…

1. Thanks for doing this guys!  Please kindly introduce yourselves to our fine readers.

We’re Jack and Jill, a recently homeless and (gainly) unemployed couple from California.

A long time ago we marked 2011 on our Google calendar as ‘the’ year we’re going to travel the world.  Well, it’s 2011 now — so, hmmm, gotta follow the schedule (seriously, if we hadn’t marked the calendar I think we would’ve kept postponing the trip. It’s amazing what the simple act of putting it down on a calendar did to our subconscious).

Our last of employment was March 18th and tonight we are leaving for Colombia.  Finally!

2. What are your current plans?

Photo by: Flickr user nunorodrigues.net

Currently the plan is to travel in South America for a bit and slowly making our way  through Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and… back to the US?

How long and where exactly we’re going — we don’t really know.  We might be able to find jobs on the road and keep on going, or we might get sick of each other 3 months from now and decide to go back, or we might end up never leaving South America.

In general though, the plan is to be open to any opportunity that presents itself… and not to kill each other.

3. Why do you believe travel is important?

Jill: Travel is important to me because I believe it brings out the best of me as a person.  I’m constantly humbled and amazed by experiences that travel brings – it challenges my perceptions on how things should work, it breaks stereotypes I didn’t even know I harbor.

Whenever you take yourself out of your comfort zone, you inevitably learn things about yourself (sometimes things you don’t want to know) and I think learning more about yourself is always a good thing, no?

Photo by: Flickr user Rishi Menon

4. How has travel changed you or, what do you expect to gain from your upcoming travels?

Jack: It has made me more tolerant, more patient, and more accepting of things that I can’t change (such as, yes, people will come up to me out of nowhere to try to sell stuff — I’m learning to be okay with that). At the same time, it has made me aware that I can always do more to help out others than I originally thought I could.

Jill: Traveling as a couple has taught us to laugh at each other’s mistakes and not to take little inconveniences too seriously. We’re hoping that our upcoming travel will show us what living a nomadic lifestyle will be like and whether or not it’s for us.

5. Tell us about your “Uncle Calvin”.

Jack: What a tough question. Let’s just say that our Uncle Calvin is made up of pieces of personality of my parents, Jill’s parents, and some of our friends. They know us well enough not to be surprised at our desire to travel long-term, but still yet managed to be surprised that we’re actually making it happen (tsk, you’d think they know us better than that!)

6. Help us draft a letter to our Uncle Calvin.  What do you say to someone who believes you are crazy for your decision to be a perpetual traveler?

Follow Jack and Jill as they begin their worldwide travels!

Their blog: jackandjilltravel.com

On facebook: facebook.com/jackandjilltravel

On twitter: @jacknjilltravel