Sometimes the road is ours.

Not often. Just sometimes. 

April 2011 is when I figured I would be as close as I could get to making the road mine.  So I decided that I was going to change my life through a series of one-way tickets, my knowledge of frequent traveler miles, and the money I had been saving for over a year.  Oh and also quitting the good ol' J-O-B. 

I de-cluttered my life by selling and donating everything.  The only things I kept that are now in storage were either purely sentimental (high school yearbooks) or essentially useful in the long-term (clothes that won't go out of style, obviously). With two checked pieces of luggage (my Taylor guitar and a rolling suitcase crammed to the max), and two pieces to carry on the plane (a large shoulder bag and a hiking backpack, I left in April for some European traveling. Up until this point I had only really been to seven countries I think...and at least four were work related. 

I've never had this much free time before in my life. I've never been able to travel this much before in my life, and I've never had a lot of the things I have now in 2011 that I still haven't decided yet if they make up for everything I lost in 2010.  There are some things I'm discovering about myself that I never really knew before (I really like cooking and I'm not that bad!) and other things I already knew, but never really could embrace (I love sleeping in and having afternoon naps, money sure does help happiness). 

Either way, I was able to book a flight to London Heathrow with only a couple weeks in advance prior to the Royal Wedding and pay only around $300.  The best frequent flyer mileage benefit I've managed that saved me over $1000. 

There are a few sources I have to give some credit to in regards to how I am where I am today.  

The first is a book I finished in record time titled The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World by Chris Guillebeau. He's currently on a journey of visiting every country in the world, and has so far reached over 150 of them along with every state in the U.S.,  while also developing a series of Unconventional Guides that help unconventional people achieve remarkable things and not be afraid to. 

The second is another book that I've recently finished titled The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin.  Gretchen left a career in law to be a writer and I came across this book because I thought the concept was interesting. Also at the time I was a bit sad with some of the things that life threw at me, so I figured this book wouldn't hurt.  After reading through the initial chapters, I didn't think I'd find it as amusing as I did, or actually relate to some of her ideas and stories despite having a life so different from hers.  Her book actually offered a lot of insight into aspects of my life I had actually forgot about, like things that used to make me happy that I just didn't do anymore, and how even though it's nice to belong, just because something is fun for people around you, it doesn't mean that it's fun for you.

The third source is my friend Kate.  I think I met her in the 5th grade when she moved to the same town I lived in.  We ended up in the same group of friends, later at the same high school, on the same soccer team (in fact she was my carpool and I think actually asked if I wanted to join the team), and then we kind of parted ways the way kids do when they go off to different universities.  With the development of Facebook, who we all have a love/hate relationship with, I discovered that she took off on the Camino de Santiago and kept everyone updated with a blog. Years later, we're both randomly in Hawaii and I need a place to stay while I'm getting ready for my life's biggest transition and packing things to move. Kate reads my desperate plea on Facebook for someone to temporarily house me and offers me a spare bedroom.  I tell her about how I found her blog, how I thought it was amazing, and that it was something I was dying to do once the time was right.

And well....I'm leaving tomorrow for it.

Wish me luck!

--J