FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York City, New York, United States In Masterplan: Adventures of a Lifetime, author Karen Reilly tells the true story of how she and her husband, Stan, sold their home, moved onto a 58-foot Hatteras Long Range Cruiser named Masterplan, and spent 12 years traveling through 63 countries by boat, ship, train, plane, and car.
The project, conceived as a three-book trilogy, has released its first two volumes on Amazon, with a third volume forthcoming. Together, the books chronicle not only an ambitious voyage but a complete reimagining of life after mid-career and child-raising years.
“We weren’t trying to tick destinations off a list,” Reilly says. “We were trying to see what would happen if we actually lived inside the dream we’d been talking about for years. I wanted our grandchildren—and anyone picking up these books—to know that it’s never too late to choose adventure.”
Volume I (2012–2014) presents the honest, sometimes chaotic reality of learning to live aboard a 130,000-pound trawler.
Volume II (2015–2019) widens the frame. With the boat as home base and cruise ships, ferries, trains, and rental cars as auxiliary transport, the couple expands their travels far beyond the ICW.
Throughout Volume II, Reilly keeps the same grounded tone: breathtaking views sit alongside laundry days, missed ferries, and the eternal hunt for gluten-free meals. The result is an immersive, lived-in portrait of long-term travel—romantic, yes, but never frictionless.
Why Masterplan Matters Now
As more people search for second acts and “encore careers,” Masterplan speaks directly to readers wondering what life after conventional retirement might look like. The trilogy offers:
A realistic picture of long-term travel that includes budgets, breakdowns, and bad days
A case study in late-life reinvention, undertaken in their 60s and 70s
A deeply personal account of partnership, risk, and resilience
Rather than offering a tidy checklist or a glossy how-to guide, Reilly lets readers sit beside her in the pilothouse, in the rental car, and on the hotel bed, seeing exactly how big adventures actually unfold—one small decision at a time.
Readers can start with Volume I to experience the leap from land to liveaboard life, or dive into Volume II to join the couple mid-journey as their world expands across Europe, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. For those who want the full arc, from first flush failures in a Florida marina to the emotional horizon of a 12-year odyssey, the complete trilogy will ultimately be available on Amazon.
Masterplan: Adventures of a Lifetime – Volumes I & II are available now on Amazon. Volume III will be released at a later date, completing the Masterplan Trilogy.