It’s been a long time since I’ve got compelled to write an update. Too long.
Here’s a lowdown on what’s been going on in my life for the past year, in an Acorn-size nutshellー
I got back from my last adventure on November 18, 2013. I then worked at a Mexican restaurant just up through August before deciding to move to Lawrence, KS to keep a friend company and get away from small town Missouri. Unfortunately, I was unemployed for two months, but then found a job with General Dynamics as a bilingual call center rep. I worked so much overtime there (on purpose, at least) that I burned out in just over three months and cried out for help on Facebook. In January, my prayers were answered and in a matter of days I had moved again and began working as the interim director for 1000 Kids for Iowa, a non-profit based out of Des Moines.
While all that was happening, I started learning Norwegian, created a new website for my projects, started a business as a travel specialist, wrote half a book, met some amazing people, and got accepted into the graduate linguistics program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City (where I’ll begin classes in August 2015).
Fast forward six weeks after my arrival in Des Moines, and I’m back to being essentially nomadic. As soon as I got back from my last trip and knew that I would be attending graduate school, stuck in one place for four years, it was impossible NOT to plan another trip. And so the process began anew; bigger. better. crazier.
Keeping restaurant eating, drinking, and spending to an absolute minimum, taking advantage of credit card offers (more on that in future post), and of a few travelers’ resources like CouchSurfing and WorkAway, I managed to plan a round-the-world trip that would last six months on a budget of about $25/day. All airfare and buses to this point (see list below) has cost $806 flat.
And so, dear reader, this is what the plan is at the moment, assuming absolutely nothing changes in the next six months:
- February 24 – Take a bus from KC, MO to NYC.
- February 26 – fly to Oslo
- March 8 – fly to Reykjavik
- March 11 – hitchhike to Akureyri and volunteer at a vegan establishment
- March 30 – Fly to Berlin and go to Braunschweig to stay with my doppelgänger
- April 12 – Düsseldorf by bus, fly to London to wait for my grandma
- April 14 – fly to Dublin, take my grandma around Ireland for a week
- April 22 – …Strasbourg? No freaking clue.
- May 7 – tour of France with high school friend
- May 14 – tour of Spain with my boyfriend
- May 28 – fly from Madrid to Beijing, take train to Hóngcūn, Ãnhuī and volunteer at a guest house
- June 28 – take trains and buses to get to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia. Volunteer at an orphanage school?
- July 28 (or so) – find a way back to Shanghai over land, take boat to Õsaka, Japan. Stay with friends In Funabashi
- August 19 – fly to San Fransisco
- August 24 – get back to Iowa City somehow, move in, start classes, somehow continue normal people life
All caught up? Good. Because shit is about to get real. Again.
