To travel the world one stop at a time.
Have you ever dreamed or thought about doing this before? I have and I feel compelled at this stage in my life to seek it out and fulfill the dream.
If you have extensive or random experience in world travel, please feel free to share your experiences & especially your advise.
My plan consist of picking destinations to travel to. Once there I will find the cheapest place to stay, acquire a job and work until I have enough saved up for the next destination. Planning will be limited and open to a mass degree flexibility so I can adapt to anything that comes at me.
Italy looks like it might be my 1st stop abroad but nothing is set in stone. I’m currently reading Vagabonding by Rolf Potts and I must say it is an amazing read. Both before reading this book and durning, my mind has been a buzzed with ideas, worries, concerns and excitement!
I feel, in some weird way, that the personal events I have experienced and dealt with over past several years has oddly prepared me for this very quest. The impending foreclosure on my Townhouse down in Charleston, SC has forced me to simplify my life and depart with so many material things already.
Now, I just need to downsize my belongings a few more notches and I’ll be prepped to take off and see the world :)
I need help from any & all who read this. I need info & shared knowledge from people who have traveled extensively or “have done” or are currently doing this now.
Please suggest the best types of backpacks, travel bags, shoes, clothing, etc.. Best destinations for work/stay, safety issues or concerns.
One area that would be a HUGE help would be ideas & suggestions about money issues: making it, exchanging it, storing it. Can a travel blog be an options to make some coin while documenting my travel or is this now cliché and overdone?

I am a Forty year old Failure!

I have never been married. I have no kids. Currently my job is waiting tables. I only have a 2yr degree in Culinary Arts and never really did anything with it. I’ve worked in Food & Beverage for well over 20yrs and have no appreciation for my time & experience invested.
I constantly make bad decisions throughout my life.
I currently have about $30,000 in debt, $18K I owe to the IRS. If you count my home that’s in a state of Foreclosure, my debt just shot up an additional $118K
I don’t really have a family. I have no brothers nor sisters. My Father remarried many years ago and has a wonderful life with his new family. We speak from time to time on holidays & birthdays where he asked me the typical questions: how’s your life? What are you doing for money these days? blah blah!
My Mother is a recluse whom I barely speak with anymore. We use to have a decent relationship and spoke quite often but all that’s changed now.
By societies standards… I am a Failure! I own nothing but debt! I have no direction nor motivation! I have no ambition nor future to look forward to!
After my fail attempt of switching careers and going into Real Estate I realized I’m not cut out for this world we live in. I tried to fit in the best I could. I bought a house, I paid my bills and my taxes. I was a good little Americian and played my part as a Consumer and consumed! I was good at being selfish & self-centered, why not I was raised an only child. I didn’t have to share or give to anyone, just take take take!
Money this and money that!
Shit, that’s all anyone in my life has ever talked about. Back when I was 16 my parents decide to divorce each other, all that was discussed was….Money! Take this, take that! The house, the car… The money! Your Father is this.. Your Mother is that..
I write this not for your pity nor your sympathy. Hell, I don’t even want your understanding. I’m just being selfish again and writing this for myself. To vent some of this pent up frustration and disappointment I have for myself.

I do this because I just want to set the record straight…
I am a Failure and there is nothing you can do about it!

Life, it has it’s ups and downs, twist and turns, successes and failures. Throughout our journeys we will have good days and bad days, but what sets us apart or better yet, put’s life in perspective, is our view. How we perceive things is the magic often heard in stories and tales of true success.

The age old story of “David and Goliath” where the little guy triumphs over the behemoth; the “against all odds” conquest or the story of sheer perseverance winning over consistant failures. They all have a common theme if you read between they’re proverbial lines. The success came from their steadfast and true personal views on life itself. No matter what the outside world thought or said, they always stayed the course of what they believed to be true.

I love this storyline. Just the thought of it inspires and invigorates my soul!

Oddly enough, I have yet to watch the movie staring Bill Murray but it seemed an appropriate title for my post. I haven’t used Posterous in quite some time mostly because I’m l disappointed in their App for the iPhone as they STILL don’t allow composing in Landscape mode WTF!
But, none the less I felt compelled to write here today.
This New Year has been a struggle for me internally. I’ve reached an odd place in my life that I was never prepared for. I grew up buying into the monetary system that modem society has instilled in all of us so very deeply. The belief that a person’s success is solely based on their ability to acquire and manage money. Don’t misconstrue what I saying, I understand the construct of money in society for trade & commerce and interactions between cultures, but I believe things have gotten far out of control.
See, for the past Seven Months I have categorized my life as a journey, maybe more akin to a quest. A quest to find true happiness. Wait now, don’t go jumping to conclusions so soon. I haven’t gone full blown hippie on you. I’ve just reevaluated my recent past life to date and I’m not pleased with the progress so far.
Looking back on all my poor decisions, and there were A LOT of them, they were made with selfish ideals in mind. Ideals that I feel were placed their by my parents (not their fault) and modern society. I often think of an quote by John Lennon “When I was 5 years old, my mom told me that happiness was the key to life.
When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I
wrote down “happy”. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment. I told
them they didn’t understand life.”
It resonates deep inside me every time I read it. I also feel lost at times in this life we live in. Modern life to me now feels fake and skewed like a Milli Vanilli song from the 80’s. It’s catchy and entertaining, everybody is doing it and it becomes an ear worm stuck in your head “Gurl you know it’s true. Oo Oo Ooooo I love you!” and POW! Next thing you know your doing the cabbage patch and thinking of big hair and bad fashion choices. Oh it can be fun and exciting but soon I realized it is devoid; lacking substance! I feel disappointed and betrayed, the same way we all felt when we heard the news that Rob & Fab had been lip syncing their songs all along. “Gurl you know it’s true!” Ha Ha, oh the irony of those words once you knew the truth.
It’s so weird though, I feel the same way now as I did back then. Thinking of society today the same way I thought Milli Vanilli’s songs just didn’t sound the same after knowing it wasn’t their voices all along. I know I’m transitioning; I’m changing the way I see things and people and it’s scary. Breaking down the belief structures that were the foundations of my previous 40 years has an odd affect on ones psyche. I have lucid moments, between the bouts of depression and the paralyzing fearfulness, where I see clearly and feel a glimmer of hope for myself and the world around me.
The title rings true. I do feel lost. Lost, yet in a state of transition. Changing from one mentality towards another. I have NO clue how this is going to turn out for me. My past haunts me. No, more like taunts me into thinking I’m merely making another mistake in a long line of historical mistakes. But, I’m trudging forward. Into the unknown and deafly afraid of how it all may turn out. Yet, wildly curious as to what I will discover along the way, both about myself and others. Wish me luck, I think I’m gonna need it.