What if you will obtain a dream job before you leave?
Aren't you afraid to get settled and never end up making the trip?
You never know what comes your way during the preperations..
Secretly, I think that people who ask such questions just had dreams themselves which never came true. The urge to protect us from going down the same path is well-intended and very nice. Emotionally, it feels like dreams should be chased before they vanish by everyday struggle and the priorities of creating family life. However, rationally it's better for us to wait.
The main reason is money. In the perfect scenario, we would be financially independent during our travels. We don't want to be dependent of work. Ofcourse we could live the dreamy digital nomad life. Our expertises - marketing for me and trading and (IT) management for Hugo - can be exploited from everywhere in the world, specifically in today's WFH-culture. However, the dreamy digital nomad life where you'd only need your laptop and WiFi immediately indicates that it is not that dreamy at all! During the trip, we will be in remote places mostly, where 4G is not a given. We will sometimes not even be in places, as we will be making passages staying on the water for multiple days. Elon Musk has to be quick with his satellites to make a good connection possible there.. Next to the WiFi argument (which is fixable if you really want to), we assume that work responsibilities keep you from fully enjoying the ride. Sailing from one place to another can already a full-time job. When you arrive, you want to relax. Not work! We see this in many vlogs from our YouTube-sailing inspiration, who are busy editing and maintaining their online community for many hours of the day. They sometimes don't even get to see their surroundings.. When you're in such beautiful places, you don't want to be inside your boat the whole day, just because that's the only place where your screen is visible and the laptop doesn't burn away.
The next big reason is quite simple: we are very content with our life right now. Shout out to our friends, who we can still see within 2-hour train rides! Everyone around us is still moving around, just starting to find their place in the working life. Nobody has kids or is settled in any other way, meaning that all of us still have plenty of time for spontaneous drinks. I don't want to sound too pessimistic, but I can imagine that later on, planning activities would just become harder, no matter how eager you are. Friends would still think about their kids while they're enjoying a wine with you. ;) And for now, it is fantastic to randomly crash at friends that are still studying in Groningen.
Our only consideration to bring our plans forward, recently arose from growing environmental concerns (10/10 recommend David Attenboroughs documentary). It shows how quickly the beautiful spots on earth disappear: think coral reefs, sea-level rise that will fade out islands, extinction of the wildlife... Not only do we (very egoistically) want to enjoy the beauty of earth while we can, we also want to commit to put work in to save it as we can. We do not want to hurry during the trip, so it will take at least 5 years before we can put in some serious hours for environmental organisations. Obviously, before we leave we could chip in a bit, and during the trip we can be a helping hand here and there. But it feels like it would not be enough. Following that train of thought, it would make sense to start with 5 years of traveling - creating even more appreciation for the wonders of the world - and then fully commit to the working life.