One way to deal with the recession is to ignore it altogether. In one sense, that’s what Philly Markowitz and Myke Dyer are doing.

Philly and Myke are married to one another, have 2 kids aged 10 and 13, and when Philly lost her job two months ago, it was the catalyst to pursue a life-long fantasy: to spend months traveling and exploring, with no job to tie her down, and pay for it largely by volunteering her time in exchange for room and board.

The only difference is now she is a family of four. Philly contacted me through my blog to fill me in on their plans, and I was immediately galvanzied. Could a better way to deal with the mess all around us be just, uh, chucking it all?

“After I lost my job, it began to hit me: I’m not tied down to anything anymore. I can scramble and try frantically to find a job in an excruciating job market,” explains Philly, “Or I can just leave.”

For the past 17 years, Philly worked as a contract producer and broadcaster for the CBC, one of Canada’s national TV and radio networks. Ironically, she was made full-time just months before major cuts began. “I’m glad I got out when I did,” said Philly. “For those left, it’s been like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Myke splits his time between managing the local natural food store and café and curating the local film festival where they live — a beautiful rural area about two hours from the city. Although CBC’s headquarters are in Toronto, Philly was able to do her job by commuting just twice weekly.

As Philly puts it, they’ve lived on “vapours of money” their entire adult lives, spending little and pouring a lot into the house they purchased when they were quite young. They’re now just two years away from paying it off completely. At least they were till now.

With the job market in their small town of 2,500 almost non-existent, the immediate option was to sell their house –  in a very bad market — move to Toronto, and both look for work — with no guarantee of finding it. The idea filled Philly with fear.

But as she began to think about the possibility of using some of the equity in their home to fund an adventure, she began experiencing an enormous sense of freedom and excitement. “All of a sudden I wasn’t feeling anxiety and terror,” she says, “And I thought, if thinking about taking a year off is making me this happy, let’s do it.”

Disrupting the mortgage-free course they’d followed so responsibly in order to fund such a crazy plan made sense to her. She thought many might think her bonkers, borrowing money against their equity and giving up any chance of income. Yet, the way she sees it, they’re still young enough to size up their mortgage and delay paying off the house. Their children are at an age where they can afford to miss a year of school without significant ramifications, but that won’t be the case for much longer. And when they return after a year, the job market will hopefully be stronger.

Of course, Philly still had to get everyone in her family thinking the same way. She was afraid they’d look at her like she was nuts. The truth is she had to do very little convincing.

When she first approached Myke with the idea, Philly had to sit through some agonizing minutes of pure silence. “He was stunned for the first few minutes. I’m sure he didn’t think he heard me right,” explains Philly. “And then, slowly, very slowly, he started nodding his head.”

As for the kids Nathan and Cleo, they were on board right away. As long as they could still communicate with friends from the road via instant-messaging and Skype, they were happy to leave behind their usual routines and escape school for a year.

The first four to six weeks of the trip are already arranged with hosts ready to welcome the Markowitz-Dyer family. Through personal acquaintances and sites like couchsurfing,com, as well as community volunteering sites, Philly’s been feverishly putting their travels in motion. They’ll start by winding their way through Ontario and Quebec, then over to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, before heading down through the American eastern seaboard with hosts lined up in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

One of their stays will involve helping out at an off-the-grid farm. Another will be spent harvesting wild mushrooms in the bush. They’ll be collecting hay at still another farm and volunteering at a natural food co-op during a different stay

“We plan to contribute about 3 to 4 hours of volunteer work a day in exchange for room and board,” explains Philly. “The rest of the time we’ll spend exploring.” As many of their stays will be at farms or other rural areas, they plan to take breaks in urban areas so they can explore museums and other urban callings.

As they continue south, they’ll venture into Mexico, Guatemala and Belize then make their way back up the west coast of the U.S. and Canada. Philly figures they’ll cover about 40,000 kilometers – or 25,000 miles — during the 10 months they’ll be on the road. That’s about the same amount they put on their car every year given they live in the country and Philly’s twice-weekly commute to Toronto.

They’ll be scrapping their current car which has almost 300,000 kilometers on it and trading it in for a second-hand Mazda5.

As for other expenses, here’s the break-down Philly has calculated for them to live on:

WEEKLY EXPENSES

Gas and Oil $75

Phone $25

Insurance $50

Groceries $100

Road Food $50 (1 or 2 cheap restaurant meals

Lodging $50 (1 night per week in a motel or 2-3 nights at campsites)

Entertainment $50

Miscellany $50 (parking, transit, emergency purchases)

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It all adds up to $450 a week for a family of four. Or $16 per person per day. Or $19,000 for 10 months of travel.

Philly’s factoring in some up-front purchases they’ll be making before setting off — new sleeping bags, a family international museum pass – to round off their budget at $20,000.

“I’m sure there will be weeks when we’re in the countryside where we
spend half of the $450,” explains Philly, “ but when we’re in urban centres our spending will increase.  And we also hope to treat ourselves to a week in a bed-and-breakfast in Mexico, just for a vacation from our vacation.”

Philly figures that will be the challenge for her family – the intensity of continually being guests in other people’s homes. It demands a level of being on all the time.

“Myke’s an introvert, he normally needs big chunks of time to himself,” says Philly, “but being in other people’s space, there’s a need to be social and make yourself available.”

Similarly, Philly thinks the hardest part for the kids will be a need for down-time where they simply get to veg out. “That won’t be easy to give them in other people’s homes”, she says.

That’s why they’ll occasionally cut themselves some slack and take a break from staying with others. The budget allows for pitching a tent for a night or two and cooking over a fire on their own. “Otherwise,” as Philly explains, “it’s a recipe for family communication breakdown.”

I would guess that for many families, traveling together for 10 months in a closely-packed vehicle would severely test not just communication but all-round dynamics and relationships.  But after speaking with Philly, my sense is that this is a family that’s going to have an incredibly rewarding adventure. The kind of adventure that many of us fantasize about, but never find a way to put into action.

I have to admit I have Philly-envy. It takes courage and spirit and a strong belief in yourself, as well as in the cosmos, to offer yourself and those you love this kind of wondrous experience.  I wish her, Myke, Nathan and Cleo an adventure of a life-time. In return, they gives us a shot of inspiration at a time when it’s so badly needed.

To learn a bit more about the family, visit their page at couchsurfing.com.

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