If this is "retirement" for Sandy Van Soye and Darren Van Soye, then the two former IT executives at Experian will need a "vacation" some time soon.
But, they may have to wait 14 months.
The husband and wife duo embarked in late January on a 424-day, 50-country (and six continents) world tour, with the goal of connecting with student classrooms around the globe and inspiring the kids by spurring a new awareness about the wonders of the planet's geography.
They have launched Trekking the Planet.net and plan to travel by ship, train and bus, with plenty of hikes thrown in, to places such as Bali, Indonesia; Casablanca, Morocco; the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Amazon River in Brazil -- and another 46 countries along the way.
The southern California couple have a Live Tracker on their Trekking the Planet website; here's their location as of this writing:
The itinerary will take them on five Princess Cruises sailings on three ships -- the Pacific Princess, Ocean Princess and Star Princess -- and they will give guest lectures on board.
Here's a marketing-tinged Princess Cruises video they did on the Pacific Princess on the first day of the journey:
Sandy and Darren have 700 classrooms, including 50,000 kids in 19 countries, signed up to subscribe to 60, four-page weekly overviews about their escapades. Educators can sign up here to subscribe to the free overviews. People not affiliated with schools can enroll, as well.
And, don't think that the weekly educational modules, which will include a newsletter with links to additional materials and videos, will be a dry, academic affair.
"Each module will let them know where we are, cover the human and physical geography of that region or country and detail our plans for the coming week," Sandy says.
The couple is hauling two digital cameras which can handle high-definition (1080p) video, a laptop, and smartphones on two networks, and Sandy and Darren plan to connect with the classrooms on Skype every once in awhile when communications permit.
And, they are providing updates on Twitter and Facebook, and via podcasts, too.
The idea grew out of a trip they did with their kids, then 10 and 13, nine years ago. By the current trek's standards, the 2003 journey was a mere junket -- just 13 countries.
But, during the 2003 trip the Van Soyes corresponded with family and their kids' teachers, who shared the communications with their entire schools, kindling tremendous interest among the students.
And, now empty-nesters Sandy and Darren are exploring the world again, hoping to educate students about world geography and inspire them to explore other cultures and countries.
The couple describes their journey here:
Who knows -- some of the students may get the travel bug from the experience.