A curiosity question: Do you have a particular time frame in mind for your travels or is it pretty much open-ended? Similar question as far as places you may visit.

Mostly comparing notes with some of the extended travels I've done. Most recently it was 18 months on the road and travels from Alaska to Argentina. Like yourself I had a few extended breaks in that time:
- six weeks once I hit San Diego to take breather before crossing into Latin America
- a month in Bariloche at language school and let seasons catch up
- a few weeks in Mendoza followed by short trip home
- a week in Panama City followed by two weeks home to get my taxes done
- a further week here and there for various reasons
So I'm familiar with idea of not changing sleeping places every single night and occasionally taking a break during an extended trip.

What might be different was that I had structured my travels around a goal - namely crossing 125 degrees of latitude. So I also measured incremental changes along the way as in how far south I had come. This gave my trip a mix of goal driven - but also serendipity to adjust things along the way or sometimes take breaks.

As I think about my next extended trip, I am more likely to have somewhat open-ended travels. Essentially "retiring" before starting. Perhaps I'll work again after the trip, but I don't need a specific date to finish. Where it might be different is I find myself enjoying weaving in a particular goal as well. Perhaps not degrees of latitude but something strange like visiting all the US state capitol buildings or something like that...

So I am curious how much you weave things like that into your travels - and more generally how you view more extended travels...