Reasons...

This is my first travel blog entry. I’m starting this in hopes that I will continue it as I make my way around the globe. This will also give me a way to be contacted (although I guess facebook is just as good for that!) Welcome, please in share this with people who you think might be interested.

As I right this there are many reasons floating around in my head for leaving so suddenly. That sentence isn’t quite accurate. Although I may be planning a 9 month trip in 80 days, it has been in the works for at least 12 years, dating back to a class trip to the big apple where I first contracted this travel bug. It has something to do with my current stagnant job situation but goes deeper. Where to begin…

Some people may disagree with this statement but I feel like I’m quickly reaching a point in my life that I may not be able to just drop everything and go. This is the ideal time for me to leave the country. I have no real job, I plan to go to graduate school but I don’t know the field of study, I’m not in a relationship, I have no mortgage or car payments or kids. I’m young and I need to do it.

I need to get away. I have lived an amazing 23 years that I wouldn’t trade for the world (especially not a trip around it!). What is need is to be broken. I mean this in multiple senses: I need to get away from the culture and peoples that I have grown up with and experience the new. My biggest fear as a traveler is being seen as a tourist. I desire to immerse myself in the places that I visit and learn from them and experience them through the eyes of a local. I need my eyes to be opened to different ways of life.

I also desire a renewal of faith that I haven’t been successful in finding here. I need to get away so that I can be alone. Alone with God. Whether it be on a mountain top in Kazakhstan, spelunking in a cave in Slovenia or floating in the Dead Sea, I need to be cleansed. My mind is so cluttered with worries about the life ahead of me and I need to focus on the present without the distractions of everyday tasks.

My flight is booked. I leave LAX at 5:30pm on January 22nd 2009 and arrive in Berlin, Germany on January 23rd at 4:40pm. All I will have is a 1-way ticket, a loaded backpack and my boots to carry me to my next destination. Yes I’m scared but that’s all part of the brokenness that I seek. It is more of an apprehension than a true fear. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m worried more about how people will react to me as a traveler than about how I will get by. Don’t worry though! I doubt my Mom would let me leave the country without being as prepared as possible!

Some of the preparations that have begun include:

1. Compilation of a country info notebook: This will include some basic necessary information about all the countries that I will potentially visit like visa info and neighboring countries
2. The search for a sublet: If you know anyone who would be interested in a lease from January through to September for $550/month, please let me know! If you need more details just ask!
3. Buying/obtaining all the equipment and gear I will need. I plan on camping in warmer climes so that will include a tent.
4. Filling my positions in junior high youth group.
5. Saying goodbyes, even if they are temporary.

I love you all. Thanks in advance for you excitement and support!