We're moving!

Well, things are moving - literally! I moved out of my apartment in Russian Hill into a great studio sublet in Nob Hill. The girl who lives in it is in India for three months during the exact time I need the place, so it was a great find. I've also asked her to take some good mental notes of Mumbai for me!

I definitely consider the sublet a major part of the trip planning, because if I wasn't embarking on this journey in a few months, I would have probably stayed in my Russian Hill place and found a new roommate when Lindsay (my awesome roomie until a few days ago!) moved to NYC. It also meant that I had to do a whole lot of downsizing, as the place I'm in is furnished, but I think that's a great thing because I would have had to do it eventually. Now I really just have my essentials, which I think I can pare down even further once I don't need my work clothes anymore....aaaaah...sorry, was just thinking about the day when I WON'T NEED MY WORK CLOTHES ANYMORE!

(If you're wondering what I did with my stuff, I gave a lot to Goodwill, gave some away to friends, sold the furniture, mailed things to my sister and, um, left a bunch on a park bench...)

Anyway, I'm super comfortable in my new place, and it's great to have my own spot to lay out all my bits and bobs that I need for planning - travel books, notes, magazines, etc. I've now determined all the countries for which I need a visa and what vaccinations I need for everywhere I'm going. Oh and how much I need to spend on these things - several hundred bones all told. Oh well, less expensive than getting treatment for one the many fevers on offer in Africa and Asia - dengue, yellow, and the like.

So, what's next? Visas, some initial accommodations, especially for the summer parts of the trip to make sure I get good deals at good places. The broseph is also doing some research on excursions and whatnot - safaris, boat cruises, hikes up Kilimanjaro (ha!).

So, we're moving!

It's on!

Umm, that was fast. Fewer than SIX days since I first spoke to the travel agent (AirTreks - awesome by the way!) aaaaand it's done. It's booked. The Epic Voyage is happening! Seven months, from the end of May to the end of December, Austria to Fiji.

I got cold feet for about 23 seconds. I had to text three of my best people to have them remind me how badly I want to do this- I mean, I was about to drop some serious cash on this and commit to spending the majority of the coming year on the road!

It was hard to get it all sorted out at work - I had to duck into a conference room to confirm the itinerary with the travel agent (I WILL share that soon, there are just a few teeny tweaks being made - plus some of the last leg flights can't be booked yet as it's so early), text/email some friends whom I knew were on the edge of their seats waiting to find out if I was really going to do it, call my family, etc.!

In the midst of this I was also in contact with my brother Joseph (aka Broseph, Le Petit Frere, Homeless Joe - ask him about the last) and make sure everything was all right on his end, as we're doing the first three months of this together. Shenanigans await us, THAT I know for sure!

Once it was sorted, I wanted to jump up and down and shout and tell everyone and call all my friends and Facebook it and tweet it and put out smoke signals and carrier pigeons...But alas, I had many a media plan/briefing book/action item to complete. I remained firmly planted at my desk, emailing away as though I HADN'T just planned to throw out the conveniences of a stable routine and income and (in some places) toilet paper. Nope, I just clacked away on my keyboard, but with a GIANT smile on my face. Anyone who might have stopped by would have thought I was overly thrilled to be sending a coverage update. The coverage wasn't even that good.

The First Step

Well, it's really somewhere around the third step, but making the call to the travel agent today about the logistics (and, ah, the cost) of travelling around the world for six months made it a real thing, as opposed to 'that big trip I might take one day.'

That big trip being, you guessed it, The Epic Voyage. To summarize, this is something I've been wanting to do for years and years - a long-term trip around (some of) the world. I've been saving up for about four years (so, the real step one) and have finally decided whereabouts I'll be going (I'll share the final itinerary when I have it) and for how long (about six months - and the real step two). The time's come where I've got enough money, so I'm going to make it happen in 2010.

I want to blog about it while I'm doing it, if only to have a record for myself, friends and family of everything I anticipate I'll get up to, so I thought I'd better start making it a regular thing now. Trying to start a blog while also trying to adjust to six months as a nomad didn't seem as though it would work out well!

I travelled quite a lot in 2009, and kept meaning to start the blog then so I could write about my weekend trips, etc., but before I knew it the year had flown by and The Epic Voyage didn't exist. Now that it does, I'm going to perhaps do a little 'retro-active' writing about some the trips I took in 2009 - San Diego, Chicago, NYC, Boston, London, Paris, etc. - to sort of get in the habit. I'll also document what goes into planning the upcoming trip and how it's going. Thus far, it's going well! I'll get an estimate for the airfare costs on Monday, with a plan to book the tickets by the end of this month. In between then and the end of May, when I plan to leave, there's a lot more to think about - work, my apartment, vaccinations, visas, boyfriends (actually just one of those), packing - but for now, I've taken the first step!