Trains, Planes, and Vino

In January, I made the decision to quit my job and take time off to travel/figure out what I want to do next in my life/recharge.

In June, I left my job.

In less than two weeks, I leave for my trip. I will be spending 6+ months abroad and I couldn’t be more excited. Also overwhelmed. Very overwhelmed. As the departure date gets even closer and closer, it feels like I have so much to do! Despite having no job, the hours in my day disappear quickly (but I am way more excited about how I am spending my time so that helps).

My trip is a mix of Europe and Southeast Asia. A mix of the familiar and the totally unknown. For the most part, I am visiting places I have never been to before (there is just one exception at this point and it’s because I really love Berlin. Oh and London because I want to say hello to a few folks!). I am trying to keep my plans as flexible as I can, though this is very difficult for a planner like me. I will be doing a work exchange for a few weeks in France. I don’t know how long I am going to stay in Asia, and I can totally foresee myself wanting to never come back. I don’t know what I am going to do after this trip and I am OK with that uncertainty. Maybe I will figure it out on this trip, maybe I won’t.

I am excited just to linger, to see what I can, to enjoy myself abroad and dive into whatever piques my interest. I am looking forward to doing this trip alone, though I fear loneliness creeping in occasionally (at least I have some hostels and tours planned to help with this).

There’s a lot of unknowns and things still to be planned or sorted out, but I am enthusiastically leaning into the discomfort and uncertainty. Things have been slowly falling into place as my trip gets nearer, and with every passing day, I know that this is what I am meant to be doing right now. It’s scaring the shit out of me, but it’s also making me happy and that is what is most important.

I haven’t figured out exactly what and how I will be sharing my travels here or on Instagram – that all remains to be seen. Since I am trying to be as flexible as possible on this trip, I am letting myself figure it out as I go and that includes how I tell the stories of my trip. But I can guarantee I will be writing and capturing a lot on this trip, and I hope to share more of that here.