On May 3rd I will commemorate one whole year of living in America. 12 whole months! At the same address! Without crossing any international borders or washing my clothes in a bucket!
Of course, I spent the first 24 years of my life living exclusively on American soil, but there were several years there where I changed addresses and currencies like a gypsy. I love my job, my sweet little apartment and my amazing friends here in St. Paul, but my feet are starting to itch. And not because I don't wear flip flops in the gym shower.
I've spent the last several months socking away money for another world ticket. I plan on staying here through the summer (bonfires and birthdays and weddings, oh my!) but I've started to formulate an escape plan come Autumn. Thus far it includes teaching in India, hiking in Nepal and Tibet, crashing with friends and hill tribes in Thailand, a volunteering stint in Cambodia, six weeks in my old home of New Zealand and possibly resettling in Oz.
At least that's the plan today.
What travel plans are you fantisizing about? Any advice on any of those destinations?
Of course, I spent the first 24 years of my life living exclusively on American soil, but there were several years there where I changed addresses and currencies like a gypsy. I love my job, my sweet little apartment and my amazing friends here in St. Paul, but my feet are starting to itch. And not because I don't wear flip flops in the gym shower.
I've spent the last several months socking away money for another world ticket. I plan on staying here through the summer (bonfires and birthdays and weddings, oh my!) but I've started to formulate an escape plan come Autumn. Thus far it includes teaching in India, hiking in Nepal and Tibet, crashing with friends and hill tribes in Thailand, a volunteering stint in Cambodia, six weeks in my old home of New Zealand and possibly resettling in Oz.
At least that's the plan today.
What travel plans are you fantisizing about? Any advice on any of those destinations?
49 comments:
Sounds very exciting indeed Sarah! Yay for travel adventures!
And relocate to OZ! We'd LOVE to have your unique brand of happy, inspirational, effervescent loveliness in Sydney...
That sounds awesome :D
I wish I could have the job to travel like that... I'm really a gypsy @ heart I love airports and I have mastered the zen art of packing light the same day but I only traveled to US so no cool countries 4 me :( but I'm studying modern languages so.. maybe I can actually speak all the 5 languages!!!
EEEEEEEEEEEE! SO EXCITING!! I really hope you maintain some kind of blog while you're away. I love it when people I already read go away somewhere, it's like a friend telling me stories. Plus I can live vicariously through your travels.
Yes, definitely come to Oz, but visit the West Coast (it's sooooo pretty! And our beaches are less crowded!) so I can be friends with you. I will totally dress my cats in sweaters in your honour.
oh you should definitely come to australia! we'd love to have you. :)
you are living my dream(:
ah I followed the link to see what you do now - what other jobs have you done tho? xxx
I plan on driving across the country after graduation! So if any one has suggestions on places to go let my know!
I have to be utterly selfish here and beg you to - whatever you do and wherever you go - to STAY ON BLOGGER!
As for me... quite bewilderingly, I don't really want to go anywhere at the moment: I'm having SUCH a good time being settled in Prague - discovering something new about the town every day, seeing my friends here, enjoying the changing seasons... it's weird, I know, I am. :o)
I'll be looking forward to your accounts from your travels, however! Big hugs.
How incredible! I didn't even know it was possible to get such a thing as a round the world ticket. I'm attacking the site right now, dreaming up my own trip. I find it absolutely amazing that you're so adventurous and able to do such grand journeys, and I'm seriously looking forward to seeing all you have to say and share. Here's the fall!
I've always wanted to visit Italy (both sides of my family are from there), but I've also never been to the West coast. My boyfriend's brother lives outside San Francisco and I'm dying to go out there!
Sara: I'm actually thinking about Sydney! One of my closest friends lives there (Hi, Anna!)
The Curious Cat: I've worked in education for the last six years, but before that there were brief forays into pr/marketing/event planning before I realized that the corporate world wasn't for me :)
Also! Yes and Yes will totally continue as I travel! I was able to swing it last year while I trundled around Peru and Bolivia for three months, I'm sure I can do it again!
That trip sounds magical!
I'm graduating from college in May and then two weeks later, heading off to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand! So excited.
Wow how exciting! Okay, in India I have only been to Calcutta (which is only a place to go if you plan to have your heart torn out and you want to do service work or volunteering of some kind. But it's a magical place, as many third world countries are.) There's a tiger camp that I went to, but alas, I didn't see any tigers. Camping in India is fun though! And then in Thailand I've been to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Pattaya. Pattaya is if you want to go to the beach, Chaing Mai is where I rode an elephant and Bangkok is a huge city, obviously. You should definitely go to the Floating Market! It's what they have pictures of in every Thai restaurant. Also I suggest finding your way to the Bermuda Triangle- where Thailand, Laos and Burma meet. Let me know if you want more suggestions. You'll have a great trip! I personally haven't been out of the country in 2 years either, but I've got a big trip coming up here so I'm not itching too bad :)
Wow, sounds very exciting! But I could never do that. I like my roots. Well, I don't currently like the city I'm living in, but when I'm in a place I like, I like to stay there. I of course want to travel, but just for say, a week at a time. Anyway, can't wait to hear about your adventures come Autumn!
I'm taking a road trip to Toronto later this month. I've never crossed the US border by myself before, and certainly not in a car! I'm from your neighbor state of Wisconsin, so it'll be a bit of a hike, but I'm doing it solo and couldn't be more excited about the freedom of going anywhere and doing anything I want! I hope to do much traveling in my life, and this is just one of many!
Sounds like THE BEST PLAN EVER!
Nepal and Cambodia are at the top of my list, too.
I trying to organise a little group to go Interail-ing round Europe this summer, but I don't know if it'll happen. I'd love a bit of adventure right now!
PS: Bit of Mt Everest Ms Von? ;)
Agreed, your trip sounds super fun!
I've always wanted to try living in another country, at least for a few years. I'm at the point in my career where I feel like I have to decide whether I want to make a go of it here or try something different. If I could find a way to do the same sort of job in Paris, London, Berlin, Helsinki, Stockholm, or Tokyo, I totally would. Any ideas?
Sounds amazing! Your plans certainly put my fantasy of sailing the Panama Canal on a luxury cruise ship to shame!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE visit me in New Zealand!
That sounds amazing, Sarah! I knew you must be up to something ;)
Good luck with the plans, I hope everything goes well and will be awaiting your autumn blogging!
YESSSSSS New Zealand!! I hope it'll include a stop in Auckland! I'll pick you up from the airport; give me flight details asap so I can look forward to it for the next year or so.
Yeah Nah NZ is way better than Aussie your should stay here and have Fush and Chips and L&P :)
So excited for you! After travelling and teaching English for 5 years, I've been "home" in Canada for 7 months and know EXACTLY how you feel with the itchy, itchy feet.
Out of curiosity, where will you teach in India? I thought it was mostly about accent reduction over there but hey, a short teaching gig sounds like a blast!
Hope we can all continue to follow your adventures on your blog.
Simply stated? I just want to TRAVEL TRAVEL TRAVEL. Travel until I cannot travel anymore.
The scary thing is actually doing it.
This reminds me of one of your older posts about traveling. I bookmarked it, you know. :)
Have a great weekend!
Wowie zowie! Congrats on the awesome savings plan. Can't wait to hear all the adventures!
Come to Hobart!!
My dream destinations today are Los Angeles and Arizona, north-western Australia, Bukoba in Tanzania (my parents will be living there as of July so I do hope to visit them while they're there) and Milano.
Yes, you absolutely MUST come to Sydney! We could have a Yes And Yes meet-up day :)
I myself have been daydreaming about wandering the streets of Japan, and eating crazy Japanese sweets. I think this will be my next big holiday!
--xo.
Weeee come to Sydney! Have you been to Australia yet? (I haven't been following this blog for very long)
Sarah!!!
Soo excited about your India plans. I hope you're planning to travel to south India too. Don't just go by the Lonely Planet! I would love to host you but I think by the time you're here I'll be back in Germany...but my friends can!
I'm darn darn sure you're gonna love it and it will be the subject of many crazy awesome posts :)
Hi Sarah, Yes, come to Sydney! I am here and I speak for my whole city when I say, we would love to have you! (Check out my 2 blogs :-)
xxx Michaela
PS You will NEVER see snow in Sydney. And summer lasts for 5 months.
Wow that sounds amazingly exciting! I am studying away and thus pretty settled at the moment, but the idea of taking some time out when I'm qualified is heavenly, and definitely high up on my fantasy list at the moment. I also fancy working in New York or Melbourne for a bit, and taking the time to really get to know a place by being settled there for a few months.
I had similar plans last summer. They involved a year in South America, then over to South East Asia for a peak and Cambodia and Malaysia, then off to India to eat myself silly.
I settled for 6 weeks in Ecuador.
This summer my travel plans include me, my camper van, and North America. All of it.
We're planning on spending a month backpacking down the east coast of Mexico and into Belize and I CAN'T WAIT! Our trip down the west coast of Mexico was great, but I want to see the ruins, etc. and get into Belize. Just reading up on it makes me want to go there NOW. We're all about the lo-fi travel you seem to be into (meeting natives and throwing out itineraries when life presents something better), so I am looking forward to four weeks just my husband and myself for some serious recharging. If anyone has any advice on east coast Mexico and/or Belize, hit me up on our blog!
That all sounds so very exciting. I lived in Sydney during college and LOVED it.
I'm getting ready for a NY/Istanbul/Ethiopia/Tanzania/NY/DC trip. Using lots of your packing advice- just ordered my first packing cubes. Hope they'll infuse some new love into my relationship with my backpack.
Lately I've been thinking about a few destinations, being Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Germany. I have a friend in Germany that I would absolutely LOVE to see. So I'm setting aside my pennies (literally, I have quite the collection of pennies) so that I can go see her.
What an awesome plan!
And should you decide to settle in the wonderful land of Oz, be sure and travel even a little further north and check out Queensland.
It's warm pretty much ALL THE TIME and I know how much of a novelty that is to people that are familiar with snow ;)
I am incredibly envious of your life. It seems like you've been EVERYWHERE! I love traveling, and want to travel to, um, everywhere. I plan to do the Peace Corps after college, and then try to continue volunteering in various countries. Your blog is so inspiring. Thank you so much for writing about your amazing life!
Oooh love me some crazy travel plans! I am about to move to Canada myself. (in 2 weeks!) And you, settling in Oz! (I'm Australian) Wow! You'll love it! Chose Sydney! It's an amazing city! xx
Sounds delighful!
I am heading to Finland this summer...at least a month & half (hopefully with the option of bouncing over to Iceland). I'd like to go to Lapland, take language lessons and explore the possibility of working in the EU.
I still have student loans to repay so my time is affected by that. (However I recently obtained EU citizenship so I may be able to travel/work...it will depend on how transferable my jobskills are over there). Yippee!!!
Wow so many other Australians. Melbourne is pretty awesome too :)
My plans for this year are a few months in Japan then catching the Trans-siberian across Russia then some vague at the moment Europey stuff.
Hi Sarah! I am from India, lived there for the first 21 years of my life and am now in the US. I have traveled a fair bit in India, so so let me know if you have any specific questions.
if the gmail id does not work (somethings seems to be wrong with my profile), you can email me at ranjita_1514@yahoo.com
I travel a lot for someone in my position (a grad student), but i really really really want to go to Egypt! Sadly I have not managed to wrangle a travel buddy for this trip yet. No one has the time or the money. Sigh. Anyone here interested!?
Australia wants you, baby!
I'm currently working in Ethiopia and plan to pass through Tanzania and Turkey on my way home. I've got itchy feet though and as soon as my bags were packed, realized that three months of working and traveling might not be enough this go round. Perhaps our paths will cross in SE Asia this Fall? Also, thanks for your packing list! Silk long underwear and packing cubes have made all the difference!
Oh my, I thought my travel map had a lot of pins in it! You have really been around the block you lucky thing! I've always got itchy feet too but I always end up coming back to the same place. We're going to Canada next March though and thinking of staying there! Do I have the nerve for it? Not sure.
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