Ticket is bought!!!!

The countdown can officially begin!  June 8th I am flying to Michigan to see some family and be in my best friend's wedding!!  June 13th I will head into Chicago for a night (and most of the next day) and June 14th I board a one way plane to Lisbon, Portugal...already even have my first Couch Surf set up!! My Poppa has his ticket bought to London and will be doing the Edinburgh Festival with me, so I know to be in London August 5th.  A couple of my bosses are going to be in Paris at the end of July so I will get to see them there.  My Mom is going to try to figure out where she may be able to meet me (I swear I am getting a rough route ready for you Mom!!).  Reality is rearing its head into my dream trip, and the reality is that I think that I am only going to be able to do Europe so I am thinking I will head back to the states in October before the weather turns.  But at this point, I have a one way bought and from there we'll see what happens!!!

Countdown on, prep work commencing

So I picked up a travel planning guide, "The Rough Guide: First-Time Around the World" and am in love with it so much!!!  It has some great general advice, some tips on saving before you go and budgeting while abroad, words of wisdom for finding work, and ways to stay a little safer.  On my list of major things that I need to get I am down to a back-pack and an external hard drive, and I am getting a better and better idea of what needs to go in my pack.  I have an appointment to get my passport tomorrow and have started looking into flights.  Fortunately, the one channel that I get at home is an American channel broadcast for a Mexican audience so the commercials are helping me brush up a little on my Spanish and I am going to start watching my favorite English Language movies with the Spanish subtitles.  One of my favorite purchases so far: Old Navy's Techno Hoodie that has ear phones in the hoodie strings and runs down the zipper so that my ipod can be plugged in my pocket!  From here, I start looking at my vaccinations and get to planning an art auction!

New Year Big Plans

So I feel like I am a little in pressure mode now, as I officially have about six months left to plan and save.  I got some awesome stuff from my family for Christmas to start getting me ready.  My poppa hooked it up with a digital camera (checking off one of the technology investments that had been on my list), my sister Jill got me some self defense/survival stuff that fits in my pockets for easy travelability and access, and my mom got me some SWEET traveling clothes that are super comfy and roll down super small for the space-saving packing.  I have started making some connections with Couch Surfers (http://www.couchsurfing.org for explanations, GREAT non-profit) and may get a chance to do some hosting before I do some surfing, and will also start getting a chance to go to some local get-to-gathers to hear some surfing experience from others.  Count down is putting the pressure on, lets see if the pressure worked the same way it did when I had a paper due!!

So this is Christmas

This is my first Christmas with NO family.  I have been in San Diego for five years now and have traded a Christmas here then the next year Christmas in Michigan.  Although, except for that first year I don't think the Christmas celebration has actually fallen ON Christmas.  But, even when it didn't I had my sister and my niece with me on the actual holiday.  This is my first year without them since they relocated to the East Coast.  Its really got me thinking about what the holidays are going to be like next year, what if I find myself somewhere for Halloween that doesn't celebrate Halloween??? Where am I going to be for Christmas????  Will I even notice that Thanksgiving has come and gone??? How exciting!!

The why factor

I've been getting a lot of questions about why I am taking this trip, what I plan to do with it, etc.  I have no plans beyond getting the experience, I have many reasons.  The biggest reason is that I am out of answers.  I don't know what I am supposed to do with my personal or professional life at this point, and I'm hoping to find some clarity.  I am not even going with any questions, if I don't have the answers than maybe I am asking the wrong questions.  I don't know what answers I am looking for, I am only hoping that they find me along the way.  This is not a study of human nature, although I am excited to go observe the interactions between people I already know that at our core we are all the same.  This is not an Eat, Pray, Love situation where I am growing older and more lonely and am going in search of self so that I can love, although I am expecting a healthy dose of self reflection and realization.  I am going because I have no more answers, and this seems to be the only one that makes sense to me anymore.  I have started putting together a more concrete idea of where I will be and when (guided by some fantastic festivals around Europe!!) and I will be posting those soon!

Refocusing

I recently had a visit with my dad and we got to talking quite a bit about my trip, its gotten me re-focused on my planning!!!  I am planning on heading to Europe beginning of June, starting in Portugal or Spain, and staying primarily in Europe for 6 months.  While I'm there I plan on dipping down into Northern Africa to see the pyramids and the nomads. Once I get back into Europe everything else is pretty up in the air at this point....well with one exception.  Apparently every September in Edinburgh, Scotland they have an arts festival that involves street performances, theater debuts (rumor has it often free!!), book vendors, visual artists, etc.  This has come highly recommended to me and I want to see it for myself!!  After that festival, another couple months will be spent wandering Europe, I am currently looking into where I can catch the Trans-Siberian into Moscow and that will determine the end of my European leg.  From Moscow I look East to China and Japan (say China/Japan in December), then down the Southeastern Asian coast where I hope to be able to arrange to be there at the same time as a friend of mine, which would allow me the opportunity to meet/stay with actual family in Cambodia and Vietnam.  In January/February I would like to be in Thailand and India before I head to Austrailia where my dad wants to meet me for my 32nd birthday in March!  Should be heading to South America from Austrailia by the end of March and plan on spending April May and June in South and Central America and back in the states in July?

Wanderlust Wishlist

I want to go into the world untethered, unhooked from reality and at the same time hooked in by the realities unknown to me.  I have my wish list of places that I would like to see, and many of them have no names because I want to wander the earth and discover the cities that are so small you have to super zoom into a map to find them.  I want to attend festivals that have been held in towns and villages for years and dance down the streets with the locals.  I want to see temples that were abandoned centuries ago and soak up the peace and tranquility that still lives there.  I know that realistically I can not see all the places I wish to see, that's why its called a wish list!  I know that I have to be certain places at certain times in order to meet up with family and friends that come to visit on my journey, and I will.  In the meantime, to attempt to provide a basis of where I want to go, here is my wish list map: