Every great expedition begins not with a step, but with a quiet, persistent thought. For us, that thought was a question: What if? What if we could pause the rhythm of our daily lives—the school runs, the work deadlines, the familiar hum of Geneva—and trade it for a season of intentional adventure?

For years, a family sabbatical has been our "some day." A dream to create a tapestry of memories with our boys, Axel and Ari, while they are still young enough to see the world with unfiltered wonder. That window, as every parent knows, is fleeting. We didn't want to look back and wish we had been bolder. The idea resurfaced during our trip in Oman, where our friends mentioned they had this desire as well, so we thought that perhaps we weren't the only ones and we weren't that crazy :)

The 'Why' and the 'When': A Perfect Confluence

The universe has a funny way of aligning the stars when you’re truly ready. For our family, the timing felt serendipitous:

• Axel is a sponge—soaking up letters and counting in three languages. He is starting public school, a milestone that would anchor us more firmly.

• Little Ari is still free from formal schooling, and by traveling, we would be sidestepping a trimester of Switzerland's notoriously expensive childcare costs—a significant saving that we could pour directly into our travel fund. The numbers, for once, were on the side of the dream.

The Point of No Return: Asking for Leave

Dreaming is one thing; making it real is another. The first real hurdle was approaching our employers. We are incredibly fortunate to work for a company that supports sabbatical leave, but it was still a conversation filled with nervous anticipation. Our managers, thankfully, saw it not as an absence, but as an investment in perspective and renewal.

Of course, no plan is without its complexities. Just as Paolo was about to share our news, he learned a teammate was planning paternity leave around the same time. A moment of panic set in. Could this derail everything? The solution, like so many aspects of this journey, came through adaptation. Paolo agreed to work remotely for portions of the trip and also he took this as an opportunity to visit other Cargill's offices and connect with teammates he just sees on calls. This meant we had to recalibrate our potential destinations around workable time zones. It was our first lesson in the art of the pivot.

With our leave approved—unpaid, but kind of secured—the dream suddenly had a deadline. It was time to build the financial scaffolding, dip into the savings, and face the reality of not just a paused income, but the increased expenses of a life on the move. We set a budget, a firm line in the sand. A line we would already cross by about 20%—another lesson in the fluid nature of grand plans.

The permission was granted. The dream was officially greenlit. Now, the real work began: turning a blank map and 108 days into the adventure of a lifetime.