Hi Ted,

I had a relative who lived in Netherlands, he spent the last 20 years biking all over Europe. He had a 9 to 5 but was away to a rally, or a festival every weekend throughout year. He met lots of interesting people and had many good times making for great stories. Granted not quite a RTW life changer but never the less I was always wishing I could do that. Meanwhile back int the UK I did the whole Career, Wife, Mortgage, kids Thing. Whenever we met I would say how jealous I was of his lifestyle. He said it was great but he just wanted what I had, a family of his own. Now he is back in the UK, working and married. Does he miss it? yep but another chapter in his life has begun. At least doing it that way round he (and you) gets best of both worlds.
For myself and most others who wait till the mortgage is paid off and the kids are old enough to fend for themselves are finding that now we need to look after our aging parents. We are also quite content and by all accounts we're hard wired for comfort after 40.
Your new business sounds exiting and I wish you all the best, I might roll by that way and say Hi sometime (if there is a Starbucks nearby, don't want to scratch the GS ).

Anyway I recon you could still do a big trip it would just take some good planning!

Best regards,
Dave.