Dream. Brainstorm. Plan. Execute.

Once I had a dream it was time to make it a reality. There are a lot of details you're not going to know. I have been to about a dozen countries already but I've usually used a travel company like G Adventures and Intrepid or I went with family and they did most of the planning. 

So I wasn't sure how I was going to travel the world especially with a small budget. Using a travel company is great for smaller trips where you have less time and want to see a lot or you don't feel comfortable traveling on your own just yet. The price includes a guide and takes some of the stress of planning and loneliness out of the equation. 

My dream, however, included me going from continent to continent, by myself wandering homeless and unemployed.... and I have never been so excited in my life! So it's time to get dirty and figure this shit out. Here is what I had to get clear on:

MONEY

1. How much money is this going to cost? Determine my budget. What would make me feel comfortable having so I can eat, play, see to my heart's content?
    
2. How much will I need to save each month to reach this amount? What can I sell, cut back and other side jobs I can do to make more money for this trip?
     
3. How much money will I need when I get back? What would make me feel comfortable if I had to come back and job hunt

TRAVEL SAFETY & DOCUMENTS

1. Where can I get travel insurance and how much will that cost, what will I be doing? Compare costs.
     
2. What credit cards don't charge me a percentage when I use it overseas? What cards will also give me rewards as I use it like cash back, miles or other benefits?

COUNTRIES

1. Where the hell do I want to go?? There are so many places to go, how do I choose???
     
2. What is the political and social situation? Would it be safe for a female and a United States citizen to go there?

WHEN

1. When would be the best time to go weather wise for all the countries I pick. This will help me know which order I should go and where to start and when.
     
2. Set a time frame goal for yourself and for your employer.

NOTE TO SELF: So many people say they want to do things but never do it. Understandable, life gets in the way. But if you're for real about this, about what you want, you have to work towards moving closer to your goal every day and that's why having a game plan is so important, and it works. 

Contrasting Moments Give Birth to New Desires

A long work commute kills something inside of you. Anyone who does the Los Angeles commute to work knows what I'm talking about. (Or any other soul sucking drive in traffic to work). Not everyone minds the sea of cars on the 5 or 405 freeway every morning and evening but I sure as hell did. 

You find anything and everything to entertain your mind and distract yourself enough that you don't ram your car into the wall to end your misery right then and there. From music to movies to even streaming all the Ancient Aliens episodes though your iPhone 3GS and AUX cable. You press on because you get a paycheck but you know you do not want to do this. You leave at 8 am and get home by 8 pm .... and I know people have it worse but that's not the point. You detest the commute which leads you to dream of something better for yourself.

These contrasting moments, no matter how annoying, give birth to new desires. There has to be more to this, right? What was all this for? What was all this money for? Is this how I'm going to spend the next 5 years?? Even thinking about doing this another year seemed exhausting. 

Which leads me to my ultimate dream. I wanted to travel the world! Yea, I know... who doesn't right? But really... I wasn't going to do this commute forever and I saw an end game. I had a coming to jesus moment where I thought, "Ok Pauline, it's now or never. Your dream was to travel and be free. To explore, have adventures and shit. Do it."

Once I had a dream, the commute didn't even seem so bad... well, it still sucked but at least I had something to look forward to in the near future. My traveling. The suffering was going to be worth it because now I had something to do and the light at the end of the tunnel was beckoning me to merge with it. 

So the next few posts will be about my journey to make my dream a reality. I was going to quit my job, quit the commute and travel the world. So... here goes...

NOTE TO SELF: Contrasting moments give birth to new desires. If you don't like something, change it, you, your environment, your thinking, your attitude, something has got to change or else you will be miserable and who wants to be miserable.