Escape Plan Update #2

I’m writing this post in a bar on South Beach, Miami; watching Manchester United play Munich in the UEFA Champions League. So I feel it’s only natural to give another update on my long term travel plans.

In the last few weeks, a lot has happened in regards to my trip. There’s not much time left and there are many things I have to get done.

Here are a few things that have happened…

Embracing the Ideal of Long Term Travel

Right before I landed in Miami, I finished Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. This is a book I read about three years ago, but didn’t really like at the time. The funny thing is after going through it the 2^nd time, it completely resonated with what’s going on in my life.

One of the things that really struck me was Rolf’s philosophy towards long-term travel. He has an excellent point that many people approach traveling as this massive to-do list. They’ll see a sight, and then rush off to see another.

What I’ve come to realize is there’s an inherent danger to approaching this trip with the “must see everything” approach. I’m worried about landing in Spain and becoming so preoccupied with acting like a tourist, that I don’t take time to really enjoy each experience.

I guess this is my lengthy explanation for the following… I’ve decided to take my time exploring each country while traveling. So this means instead of the three month trip that I originally planned, I’m contemplating doing this till at least October or November. Maybe even later than that.

I figure it’s better to take my time with each place, then to make myself sick trying to do everything all at once. At this point, there are really only a few things that could cut this trip short:

1. An emergency
2. Money goes bye-bye
3. I hate long-term traveling

To be honest, I’m pretty good at planning and figuring things out, so I think that last two won’t be a problem. It’s the first one that gives me concern. This leads us to the next point…

Challenges in Interpersonal Relationships

This is something that’s been on my mind a lot lately. I think traveling for a long-period of time is pretty selfish. Now I don’t mean selfishness in a bad way. Instead, I’ve come to recognize that I’m basically putting my own needs first instead of thinking of others.

As I get closer to leaving, I’m starting to second-guess my decision because of this weird sense of guilt that I feel. Especially since I really like where I live and most of the people I spend time with.

Here’s what I mean…

Family- In the last few years, I’ve developed great relationships with my family. The problem is I’m dealing with a time issue. I honestly believe that the only limited resource that we have is time. And the time I spend traveling could be time I spend with my family.

I know they understand the importance of why I’m going away for awhile, I can’t help but feel a little guilty for leaving for a lengthy period of time.

Friends- To be honest, I’m starting to doubt certain friendships that I have. It seems like most of my friends (with some exceptions) are doing their best to make me feel guilty for not being around during the traditional Jersey Shore Summer.

Without giving a long-winded explanation… the summertime on the Jersey Shore becomes one long-party that’s filled with a lot of drinking, beach-going, and poor life decisions.

This used to be something I regularly enjoyed. But I’m at the point in my life where these activities seem completely unappealing.

The problem is a lot of my friends seem to taking as a personal insult that I’m not going to be around this summer. What frustrates me is nobody seems to be particularly interested in what I want to do. They’re looking at this like I’m intentionally trying to mess up their plans.

Potential Relationships- It’s kinda hard to date, and have girls know that it’s not going anywhere. I’ve been 100% honest and have said that everything is going to end when I leave. The way I figure things is it’s better to be truthful now, than to give a girl some sort of false hope that I’m ‘relationship material.’

I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s really hard to have a romantic relationship while traveling the world. Sure, you can have a little fun. But I’m at the point where I’m past casual, meaningless relationships.

To be honest, I’m doing my best to put aside all of these interpersonal factors and make sure that I will be able to complete my workload each week. This leads us to the 3^rd and final section of this update…

I’m in Miami Beach

Like I said, I’m going to spend the week with a few friends in Miami Beach. For the most part, I’m going to do a little relaxing and have some fun. But for the first few days, I’m going to do a “dry run” for my upcoming trip.

The concept is simple. For the next few days, I’m going to do my best to simulate what it’s like to be living out of a suitcase, while trying to get work done.

So that means staying in a hostel, surrounded by people in party mode, to see if I can really get things done. The reason I’m going is to see if I can train myself to quickly switch between the “work” and “play.”

Furthermore, I plan on keeping to the 20 the 25 task schedule that I’m projecting for my trip. Originally, I thought I could get by with twenty tasks a week. But now it’s looking like I’ll have to complete at least 25 tasks, while also outsourcing a number of small projects that I do on a regular basis.

Yes, I might not be the most fun on this trip. But I feel it’s important to see what’s really like to maintain some sense of discipline while being tempted to go have fun.

Lots to Do, Lots to Do…

It’s getting closer to crunch time, and there’s a lot more I have to do. The reason I’m being a little obsessive about over planning is I want to make sure that my life is completely squared away before I leave. That way if I decide to prolong my trip, I won’t have any excuse for why I need to go home.

So there’s a lot left to do. And not much time to get it done.

Wish me luck!

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