“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Friday, June 27, 2014

Sabbatical plans

So, today I begin my year off -- a year of holidays and travelling. I have the dream that I could turn it into long-term permanent travel, but I don't think I work very well on my own time -- my own blog deadlines for 1000 Amazing Places is loose, at best. I've been following travel blogs by digital nomads and other permanent travellers, I've scoured the details on how they make enough money to travel and I've even managed to write a few things (see Outrippin.com), but I travel to fast and do too much. I like breaks in between and I just don't know if I could get it to work, so I won't stress about trying to.

My plans:
I'm off to a cousin's wedding in Ireland, and I'll catch up with my brother in the Netherlands, after which I'm teaching in San Francisco for CTY (I did it before, but am really looking forward to seeing a west coast campus). I'll travel around the Southwest for a while before catching up with friends in Chicago/Madison, Toronto and Bermuda before returning to South America to see all the places I didn't get to. Colombia has so much and is so beautiful, so I'm going to do a circuit then head south into Ecuador (Galapagos!), northern Peru, and hopefully, Bolivia. Guyana with a friend at Christmastime, then the world is my oyster (if I haven't run out of money first).

Perhaps I'll join the Japanese Peace Boat, or going overland from Cairo to Capetown, during which I'll catch up with a friend in Sudan and perhaps climb Kilimanjaro -- I've always wanted to! Maybe I'll relocate to London or take a temporary teaching job. Perhaps I'll find something exciting in New Zealand? I dream of joining the boats I did the Antarctic cruise with, but sadly I lack a specialty that they would need! Perhaps regular cruise ship jobs? Anyway, what happens, happens. I'm really excited to get this started!