50, wanting to make a huge change, lack of support from family - your thoughts?

OP ... I believe that when everyday life is not satisfying any longer and it becomes a preoccupation of one's mind...when a cloistered environment of academia becomes stifling - there has to be a change. Some people are just not 'ordinary' - always yearning for something different. I have a friend who taught school in China for one year - post divorce - did her wonders... Another friend in her post masters years spent a year in Costa Rica studying monkeys - she found out she really didn't want to be Jane Goodall ... But they both went and did it ... and were the better for it. Being locked into a cookie cutter life is sheer hell for some of us ... Although we spent years in quiet and dutiful desperation - the void is still there.

I say - take precautions - have a backup plan - learn the language, study the situation well (sounds like your're doing that) AND DO IT.

You're getting some great advice here OP and is some cases Not. But you know what is in your heart and head. Real adventure for some of us cannot be just the road well traveled... not just a two or three week jaunt. You'll be the one who is envied in the end.