Okay, so I decided to be one of those people and create a travel blog. This is mainly for my family, so they know I'm alive and well, but also to inspire my friends to come and join me on this journey *fingers crossed*. Or at the very least, to inspire them to go on an adventure of their own. And yes, I know this is the world's worst blog name, but puns are just so f u n ! Hopefully there are no disasters involved, though I would welcome a friendly non-man-eating pet tiger.

If you had told me 6 months ago I was going to do this, I would have laughed in your face. Leaving a job with interesting potential (the company I am currently on a leave of absence from, Vertigo, recently got acquired by Major League Baseball), an awesome apartment situation with a beautiful view, comfort, stability... who in their right mind would leave!? This was obviously a very difficult decision to make. I was torn in half. I bothered all my friends and anyone who would listen about my predicament. Ultimately, I went with my gut, and this was it.

Reactions were usually in the form of "I wish I could do what you're doing," or "I'm so jealous of you," or "Wow, that takes serious guts," or "Congratulations!" The first three were no surprise (sidenote, you can do it too), but the last? That one caught me off guard. Congrats for... doing nothing? I'm still having a hard time with that. I'm looking into volunteering opportunities in several of the countries I'm visiting, participating in things like Workaway. I know I'm meant to be disconnected, but I brought my laptop with me so I can continue to do design work, learn how to develop an iOS app, and work on personal projects. I'll consider this a trial run for the ultimate dream to travel and work full-time.

I originally planned on going to New Zealand and Australia also, but with my intended timeframe and budget I've set for myself, there's no way that's feasible. My general travel plan:

• Starting off in India with my family
• Nepal
• Burma/Myanmar
• Thailand (again)
• Laos
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• Southwest Thailand (Krabi, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi)
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• Indonesia
• Singapore
• ...back home to SF

I've set aside only $7,000 for this entire trip, which I need to make last for 4-6 months for potentially 11 countries. This seems totally doable, but flight costs, visas, and activities (like the Everest Base Camp trek which will be around a whopping $1,200) are already starting to add up. So, if the money runs out, I'm going home.

We'll see what happens 🙂