Let’s start at the very beginning….
Monday, July 21st, 2008Ok, so the planning for my trip has begun. I figured one good way to start is by creating a travel blog where I can track my progress during the planning stages and where people can read about my adventures once I depart.
So first and foremost, the question I get the most…WHY AM I DOING THIS?? A bunch of people think I am crazy for leaving a great job when most people my age are married with kids, in a career and own property. Well I have none of those things at the moment, except maybe the good job. So why pick up and leave you ask??? Well, very simply, I have a yearning to go and see the world and experience other cultures. I realized after my visit to Thailand in February that I have lead a pretty sheltered life (and a good one at that!) and I really want to EXPERIENCE the rest of the world and what it has to offer. So, despite the major chaos this is going to cause in my life, I am packing up and taking off! I am so excited to take this adventure that I can’t adequately put it into words. Although I get a bunch of the you are crazy comments I have also gotten alot of great, positive feedback and for that I am really grateful. Most of the people I have talked to about this trip have been unbelievably supportive, including my family, friends and surprisingly, work. I think I am most surprised that my parents are right on board with me. My Mom, dad and stepmom have been my biggest supporters thus far. Not only are my Dad and Susan letting me store my life in their house when I am gone, my Mom has been awesome! Most Moms would be freaking out that their daughter is planning on traveling the world alone but my Mom has been totally supportive not freaking out about the fact that I am going to be half way around the world by myself for a year. Mom, I know you reading this, so thank you for not moming out on me! 🙂
So obviously I am doing this trip solo. That is the second question I get the most; who am I going with? This is the point in the conversation where most people stop in their tracks and say that I am crazy! LOL. When people find out I am going alone their jaws drop. Yes it is a little bit scary going by myself but it is also very liberating. I have never done something like this totally on my own. It is going to be a great learning experience for me and I am going to know myself inside and out by the end of this trip. Don’t ask me where the inner strength to drop my life and throw myself into the unknown armed with a backpack and a general idea of where I am going comes from, but somehow it is there. People have always told me I have set on me, guess they are right. 😉
The other question I get just as frequently as the ones mentioned above is where and when I am going. Well according to my plans I am going to be leaving on January 7th. My current itinerary looks like this: New Zealand (1 month), Fiji (2 weeks), Australia (close to 2 months), Indonesia (1 month – Mom I looked into this and YES IT IS SAFE!!), South east Asia (close to 4 months), Turkey (1 month) and finally Italy (1 month). This brings me home sometime around mid-November. This is all still tentative since I have not booked my ticket yet. I will probably be doing that this week. Once that is done it is onto vaccinations, visas, medical insurance, world phone, laptop and travel gear. Whoo-hoo…..I am going to be so broke even before I step foot off of American soil!
Well that is all for now. I will update this puppy periodically as I get more things done for my trip.
Hugs from your soon to be world traveling freak,
Jax
kittarina