far be it from me to keep my personal life off of this blog (i like to think that i reflect on my own life here, not jutting into details much). but, i feel like i should be forward from here on out, at least for a little while.

i’ve decided (about 7 months ago) to go abroad. i hate my job, i’m 26, and i’m pretty much the most head-down-plow-through traveler i know (aside from kayla s, steve t, and heidi p). my wanderlust is at a fever pitch and i’m choosing to be stupid enough to follow it. however, i’m not being dumb about this… mostly.

in the grand sense, i don’t have what some would call “a lot of money” or anything near that. i have… enough. now, when i say “enough,” i’m speaking in terms of what i perceive as enough for me to be comfortable. keep in mind that for a vacation, i go into the wilderness and travel about 20 miles a day in sweltering heat through mosquito infested bogs and wear the same clothes for a week at a time; that is my idea of fun. however, funding my travels is only half of the money i’ll need. the other lump sum is for student loans, something i haven’t been fortunate enough to pay off yet.

where will i stay? with people. my goal is to not pay for accomidation by using great sites such as couchsurfing.com, globalfreeloader.com, and the like. what will i eat? cheap food. super market dining (i.e. pop tarts, granola bars, etc.) is a feast among beggars. where will i go? …

well, that’s the twenty thousand dollar question, isn’t it?

i have a rough idea of where i’ll head in mind, but only so far – winging it has fast become the most attractive way to go about this. yes, i have secured some places to stay- dublin, IRE; belfast, UK; and sterling, SCT. other than that, it’s all from the hip. yes, dangerous, but necessary at this point. if not for anything save for my own insatiable will.

this is a trite venture, true. countless stories flood the market of 20-somethings going out into the world to find themselves, and even more about European adventures, of which i’m taking part in (at least for the first leg of my journey). but i’ve found that i’m simply doing this because i can. nothing is stopping me.

if it is, i haven’t found it yet.