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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Destination everywhere

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

Roy and Karen Kawaji have never been to Las Vegas.

That will change this summer when they not only visit that city, but start traveling the world.

The couple, married for 10 years, is selling everything they own — including their Pearl City home — to live and work in other cities, in other countries, on other continents.

For the next 10 years.

Roy and Karen Kawaji have sold their home in Pearl City as well as most of their possessions. They are planning to spend the next 10 years — or more — roaming the world. Their agenda includes getting to New York City and winging it from there.

Photos by Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

It's been a dream they have worked toward together nearly every day since the day they were married.

Consider it a long-awaited honeymoon.

"We always had this in the backs of our minds," said Karen Kawaji, a 36-year-old graphic artist who teaches art at Pearl City High School. "We never really traveled, so that's why we really want to do this."

Their plan is to spend the first three years living in different cities on the Mainland. The first stop is Oregon, where Roy Kawaji went to college. After a few months they'll migrate east, hitting other major urban centers before reaching New York City, a must-stop on their globetrotting adventure.

Then, after about three years, they'll cross the Atlantic.

After that, it's fluid.

The Kawajis have targeted four places they have to hit — New York City, Switzerland, Paris and Japan — before returning to Hawai'i. If they come back, that is. As for the rest of the stops? Well, they're winging it, and they're open to anything.

"Each year we'll meet new people and get ideas from them on where to go next," said Roy Kawaji, 38, smiling just at the thought. "We have no idea where we'll end up."

Will work to travel

Traveling the world is something couples have been doing for decades, ditching personal belongings and backpacking across continents.

What makes the Kawajis' plan unusual is their plan to work in each city. They want to be more than tourists, earning money along the way.

"This is very unique," said Michael Iraha, a Honolulu certified financial planner, who has worked with couples to save for a retirement that involved a lot of traveling. "It's not that (people) can't do it. But there are consequences if you don't plan."

The Kawajis have thought this through. Whatever money they will make from selling their possessions — including their house, cars, art supplies, furniture and tools — they're putting into an interest-growing savings account they won't touch. They're taking about $30,000 with them as a safety net. Whatever else they need, they'll have to work for.

"We knew it would be stupid to live off our savings," said Roy Kawaji, who, with his wife, talked to a financial planner. "Wherever we go, we'll work. We'll work enough to pay rent and live."

After years of working long hours, weekends and holidays as small-business owners — he ran a silkscreen company and they both owned The Wedding Cafe in Manoa Marketplace — the Kawajis now have simpler career goals, such as collecting tickets at a Broadway show or serving coffee at a cafe in Paris.

"We want to do things you can't experience if you're a tourist," Karen Kawaji said. "If the surroundings are exciting enough, that's part of the pay."

Lou and Joan Rose planned their globetrotting differently.

They waited until they both retired from their jobs — he taught economics at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa for 30 years, she was a newspaper art critic — before hitting the road.

Travel guides and maps soon will be prized necessities for Roy and Karen Kawaji as they hit the road.
Like the Kawajis, the Roses sold their Lanikai home — and most of its contents — so they could travel to exotic locales such as Morocco, Nepal and the Galapagos Islands.

"We are so fortunate to be having the time of our lives in retirement," wrote Joan Rose in an e-mail from a beachside rental in Santa Cruz, Calif., before heading to Africa for four months. "The stars had to line up, for sure. We are still healthy and fit, although now 65 and 70 years old. We both like to travel and almost always like each other ... We are very fortunate."

The Roses got the idea from their nephew and his wife who, in their mid-30s, quit their jobs and backpacked around the world for 14 months.

"We thought we could do something like that," Rose wrote.

They didn't want to deal with the responsibility of owning a house in Hawai'i while they were traveling, so they sold it, along with their furniture and most of their belongings. The rest fits in a 10-by-10-foot storage closet. They hit the road in June 1999 and never looked back.

"This was not our lifelong dream of what to do after retirement," Joan Rose wrote. "It just happened. And once we hit the road, we were hooked."

Getting ready to roam

The Kawajis spread out a world map on their living room floor. The home is empty, save for a few chairs, a small dresser and a stereo. They've had to remodel their home to sell it, building walls to create bedrooms in what was once a bedroomless house.

The openness of their home reflects their relationship. They're always together, they love being with each other, even after 10 years of marriage. And that will undoubtedly come in handy on their travels, where they will inevitably become more dependent on each other.

"Since we started dating," Roy Kawaji said, "we never spent a day apart."

The 2,000-square-foot living area housed two pool tables, a foosball game and a pingpong table. The kids Roy Kawaji coached and mentored in judo would come over all the time. That's one thing they know they'll miss.

Both their families live in Hawai'i. Their friends are here. This is their home. But they're ready to leave everything behind to fulfill their dream, knowing they might not come back.

"It's possible we'll continue the journey," said Karen Kawaji, who was born and raised on O'ahu. "There's no place in the world I would consider a better place than Hawai'i. This is the hardest place to leave ... People ask me what would happen if I fell in love with some place (we travel to). Would I leave? If I could leave Hawai'i, I could definitely leave a place I fell in love with."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.

• • •

Plan and pack

Before you quit your job and sell your condo to travel the world, here are some things to consider:

Research your options: Learn as much as you can about traveling to, living in and working in different countries. A large CPA firm could help with this.

Make a plan: Map out where you want to go and how much time you want to spend in each city or country. Then figure out how much money you'll need.

Pack or purge: Remember: You can't take everything. If you plan to spend several months or years traveling, you'll need to figure out what to do with your belongings. You can store them — in public storage or at someone's house — or sell them. If they're not worth selling, donate the stuff you don't want to charity. With property, you should consult a real-estate expert or financial planner about whether selling or renting your home or condo would be more beneficial.

Get your finances in order: Talk with a financial planner about your budget. Ask yourself: How much money do I need for my travels? How much money do I have to save? How will I survive financially when I come home? Can I afford this? If you're planning to travel when you retire, it's never too early to save.

Tie up loose ends: Before you leave, you should designate a beneficiary for your assets in the event of your death, said Michael Iraha, a Honolulu certified financial planner, especially if you own property. Have wills drawn up and assign a power of attorney. You should also research what you should do if one of you dies abroad.

Get medical: Be sure you have some kind of medical coverage before you take off, Iraha said. Find out what your plan covers, especially in foreign countries.

Have Plan B: What happens if you have to return home, but all your money is tied up in investments that have withdrawal penalties? "You don't want to be so inflexible that if you come back with a change of heart, you find you can't access your funds," Iraha said. "You have to plan ahead ... It's like going somewhere without a road map. You can get there, but it will take you longer."

— Catherine E. Toth