Here’s the plan.
Travel the world until I run out of money.
Anyone who knows me knows I have a severely impulsive side, with an affinity for “bad decisions, good stories” (motto c. 2008 – yes I actually came up with yearly motto’s for myself in ye olde college days). Lately, I’ve been having a midlife crisis of sorts (at age 26) since among other things I made myself and my parents a promise that after 27 I would stop wearing fishnets, start dressing like an adult and get a real job. Which I pretty much completely forgot about until I read an old diary from when I was like 16. Oh how quickly a decade passes.
So here I am, 26 3/4, doing dead-end/replaceable work as a bookkeeper and bartender, not getting any younger and not getting any richer. And as a girl, I’m pretty sure by the time I’m 30 I’m an old maid and considered to be too old to be traipsing around the world, getting drunk and trying not to get myself into too much trouble (like on past vacations where I’ve been nearly arrested, kidnapped, and kidnapped again) thus, if not now, then when? I realized I don’t really want to do either of my jobs for the rest of my life (though I do love the restaurant industry), and I’ve always wanted to travel so ….fuck my student loan debt, with what little savings I have, plus whatever I can save until my departure date at the end of January 2013, I will be traveling the world until I run out of money. Which I’m hoping will last at least 3 months to 6 months if I don’t spend like an asshole, and I can stop myself from going out to ridiculous dinners every night. The proposed itinerary is to start with Rio for Carnival (gotta start big), go through South America, move to Australia/New Zealand, then head up to South East Asia, then mainland, then a quick stop in the Middle East because I’m dying to see Petra, and then Europe, at which point I will probably be dead broke and calling my dad for a ticket home. Or stripping until I can afford a ticket back to the states. (Note to self: Get a boob job in Brazil while I still have money, and plastic surgery is cheap)
I’m also fortunate enough to have like minded friends that also are not tied down and hate their jobs so there will be 3 of us traveling together for the duration of the trip – or until we get sick of each other and try to smother one another in our sleep. There’s also an open invite for anyone interested in joining us for any leg of the trip, as it will always be nice to see some familiar faces. Seriously, the more the merrier!
So that’s the plan folks, I’m keeping this blog as a journal for the trip from nose to tail so I can remember everything, since one day I’ll be old and wrinkly in a nursing home telling the same story to bored nurses about how I traveled the world before it was cool (I intend to be a hipster for the rest of my life), and it will be nice to have a journal of the trip. Plus I want to rub it in everyone’s face right now and assert how cool I am because I’m traveling. Half kidding. But seriously, I won’t be able to talk to everyone I’m used to seeing everyday and I’d like to let people know I’m still alive. So that’s pretty much it, and if anyone has any suggestions or trip tips, please feel free to comment or email me. Only 214 days till Carnival!
If it's there, I'll do it 
I can show you around in Belgium. I’m also having the same sort of mid-life crisis (at age 23) as you have, so maybe we can show around each other!
I would love to do that! Although your profile does say that you hate NYC which is my city of expertise haha I’d love to make it to Belgium one day though! Any travel plans for the near future?
Haha, indeed! I went to NYC last February, and I didn’t really like it. But if you can show me some nice stuff, I might revise my opinion!
Although I’m having my summer break, I haven’t made any travel plans yet. However, I might go to northern France, Scandinavia or Scotland in the near future. I feel I need to get out of Belgium. Belgium is very nice, but sometimes, I have the feeling there are too much people and not enough space. Sometimes, I’d like to walk or bike around for a day without seeing anyone, but that’s pretty much impossible here. Maybe that’s also one of the reasons why I didn’t really like NYC. When I was upstate NY – just an hour north – I already felt much better. I think it’s beautiful up there! You sometimes go upstate?
Do you already have something concrete in mind, or still in the dreaming phase? 🙂
Oh my god, that was such a stupid question of me. Off course you have something concrete in mind. That’s the whole set-up of this blog! 🙂
How long were you in the city for? The thing I love the most about NYC is that there’s a little something for everyone, I’m sure I could find something that would make you hate it a little less! I went to school in upstate New York, my college was surrounded by dairy farms and the whole town only had a population of 2000 people not including the college, so I’m familiar with the less noisy and crowded aspects of the state. I have some concrete plans for travel, but the goal of our trip is to plan as little ahead of time as possible. So far I’ve only booked Brazil, and then a flight across the Pacific Ocean. I’d love to see Scotland, but all three of the places you’re considering sound amazing.
I was in NYC and its surroundings for 2 weeks. I could stay with friends in Yonkers, the Bronx and also Philly, but they had to work, so I often had to explore the city on my own.
I’m looking forward to read how your trip goes! If you ever end up in Belgium, let me know 🙂