This blog has been dormant for too long. I've tried to write a few posts since returning back to America from Japan, but I couldn't figure out why I never kept up with it. I love to travel and explore, and I love to write, so what was the problem?
When I created this blog I did so partially to keep my friends and family in the loop while I spent a year of my life exploring a foreign country, but my biggest driving factor was providing information. I researched every corner of the web before I set off on my year abroad in Japan. I wanted to soak up every bit of information I could about life in Japan, the culture overseas, what my school would be like, and everything in between. Looking at pictures, watching videos, and reading everything there was to read consumed me and heightened my excitement immensely. So, I had decided that I wanted to make my trip informative for future study abroad students who would likely be doing the same scouring I had done. I wanted to excite incoming Japanese enthusiasts about the adventure to come, and warn them about any difficulties I had.
So, that's what was missing. I've done a bit of traveling within the US in the last few years, but I didn't have anything more than diary content to share. I was visiting family, attending weddings, and experiencing a craft beer convention. I had nothing to teach you. I wasn't in any place long enough to gain and spread wisdom of any sort. And so, my posts were lackluster.
Fast forward to now. For about three solid years I have been daydreaming about alternative lifestyles. I fantasized about living off grid, owning land with goats and chickens, and maybe even gathering water from a well. I have researched communal living, WWOOFing, tiny homes, and month-to-month living spaces. I yearned for a simpler life, where I could spend copious amounts of time in nature, explore regularly, and simply be at peace. I envisioned a small cottage in the middle of a huge breezy meadow, or a little hut deep in the forest. I wanted to sprawl out in the grass with a book and watch bugs climb onto the pages. For a long while I thought of these sorts of alternative lifestyles as pure fantasy. I never stopped to think that these were things that real people do all the time.
I have always been a very career and goal oriented person. I have a full time job, which I love. I have been saving up to purchase a home of my own for about 5 years. But I recently realized that for the first time in my life, I have no idea what comes next. I have been saving up to purchase a home, but I don't even know where I want that home to be. I have lived in beautiful sunny San Diego my whole life, but I know deep down that this is not where I belong. I thought I would travel to a few places and find a spot that made my heart skip a beat, but how am I going to squeeze out a week here and there of vacation time to every one of these places? How am I supposed to know if it feels like home from just one visit? And how, on earth, am I supposed to afford it all while living in one of America's most expensive cities?
And so, I added another alternative lifestyle to my search history, and I devised a plan. I don't have every detail hashed out just yet, and I still have a long way to go until my adventure begins, but I want to take you along for the ride. The researching and scouring (and obsession, admittedly) that I am putting into this next step has me very reminiscent of my pre-Japan days, and it dawned on me that I wanted to share my journey in this leg of my life, just like I did back then. And so, my mission is back!
In a nutshell, my ball python and I will be hitting the road in a camper trailer for a year(ish) while I explore America and search for a place that feels like home. In my next post I will go into further detail about how I will be putting aside my home savings, saving up for a trailer, quitting my job, and working on the road. I hope that, by sharing my process in all it's excitement and frustrations, I can provide insight to others who are beginning a similar journey, learning to let go, and maybe receive feedback from others who are already on this journey in some way. Come with me as I learn everything there is to learn about the nomadic life, and as I tell brainwashing societal norms to suck it.
When I created this blog I did so partially to keep my friends and family in the loop while I spent a year of my life exploring a foreign country, but my biggest driving factor was providing information. I researched every corner of the web before I set off on my year abroad in Japan. I wanted to soak up every bit of information I could about life in Japan, the culture overseas, what my school would be like, and everything in between. Looking at pictures, watching videos, and reading everything there was to read consumed me and heightened my excitement immensely. So, I had decided that I wanted to make my trip informative for future study abroad students who would likely be doing the same scouring I had done. I wanted to excite incoming Japanese enthusiasts about the adventure to come, and warn them about any difficulties I had.
So, that's what was missing. I've done a bit of traveling within the US in the last few years, but I didn't have anything more than diary content to share. I was visiting family, attending weddings, and experiencing a craft beer convention. I had nothing to teach you. I wasn't in any place long enough to gain and spread wisdom of any sort. And so, my posts were lackluster.
Fast forward to now. For about three solid years I have been daydreaming about alternative lifestyles. I fantasized about living off grid, owning land with goats and chickens, and maybe even gathering water from a well. I have researched communal living, WWOOFing, tiny homes, and month-to-month living spaces. I yearned for a simpler life, where I could spend copious amounts of time in nature, explore regularly, and simply be at peace. I envisioned a small cottage in the middle of a huge breezy meadow, or a little hut deep in the forest. I wanted to sprawl out in the grass with a book and watch bugs climb onto the pages. For a long while I thought of these sorts of alternative lifestyles as pure fantasy. I never stopped to think that these were things that real people do all the time.
I have always been a very career and goal oriented person. I have a full time job, which I love. I have been saving up to purchase a home of my own for about 5 years. But I recently realized that for the first time in my life, I have no idea what comes next. I have been saving up to purchase a home, but I don't even know where I want that home to be. I have lived in beautiful sunny San Diego my whole life, but I know deep down that this is not where I belong. I thought I would travel to a few places and find a spot that made my heart skip a beat, but how am I going to squeeze out a week here and there of vacation time to every one of these places? How am I supposed to know if it feels like home from just one visit? And how, on earth, am I supposed to afford it all while living in one of America's most expensive cities?
And so, I added another alternative lifestyle to my search history, and I devised a plan. I don't have every detail hashed out just yet, and I still have a long way to go until my adventure begins, but I want to take you along for the ride. The researching and scouring (and obsession, admittedly) that I am putting into this next step has me very reminiscent of my pre-Japan days, and it dawned on me that I wanted to share my journey in this leg of my life, just like I did back then. And so, my mission is back!
In a nutshell, my ball python and I will be hitting the road in a camper trailer for a year(ish) while I explore America and search for a place that feels like home. In my next post I will go into further detail about how I will be putting aside my home savings, saving up for a trailer, quitting my job, and working on the road. I hope that, by sharing my process in all it's excitement and frustrations, I can provide insight to others who are beginning a similar journey, learning to let go, and maybe receive feedback from others who are already on this journey in some way. Come with me as I learn everything there is to learn about the nomadic life, and as I tell brainwashing societal norms to suck it.
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