travel by fdecomite on May 9, 2009, on Flickr via Creative Commons
I love the concept of a gap year, taking time off to explore the world and live out new adventures. I really get it but that is not for me at least not all of it, no I haven’t came to some enlightenment while traveling through South America like Ayngelina Brogan of Bacon is Magic and I don’t have the funding to make a career out of it like Dave of GoBackPacking, Gary of Everything-Everywhere or I’ve also heard that Nomadic Matt guy is doing pretty well for himself too. 
What I do know is that I get stir crazy while being somewhere too long and yes I’d like to be next to family but with the realization that I’m from Ohio and my fiancé is from Peru, one of us will always be far from home so we might as well explore the globe till we find that one place that just fits.
I’m working on getting my Master of Arts in Teacher Education, not just in any old subject either but TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages) which I hope launches me on a life long adventure around the globe. We will finish with our masters by August of 2012 which means by this time next year I need to have a game plan… the problem is I don’t know where.
The Old World by pasukaru76 (out of town) on June 4, 2009, on Flickr via Creative Commons
Peru is the fall back plan, the safety if you will but I don’t want to settle in for what is safe. Instead I want to go and explore the world in far off lands where homesickness becomes obsolete because home really is nowhere and everywhere all at the same time. Is it crazy to think that I want my RTW trip to be a gap 5-10 years, that If I’m not exploring for at least half a decade I wont reach what I’m looking for? It doesn’t help that I’ve been reading classic lit of sea exploring tales like Robinson Crusoe 
On the other hand, I don’t want to just bounce around the world every day or week but find a home base for 6months to a year, live and explore then move on to repeat it again and again, and the only problem is that my fiancé agrees with me and thinks this is sane! …is it?
Yet, until then we sit and wait, study and prepare, live and learn to live in as minimalist a manner as possible. I’m giving up my month off in the summer to take classes and finish sooner, searching for ways to rack up frequent flier miles in the mean time and hopefully make enough connections so that when the day comes and we start our journey it sets us on the right path to continually put one paw in front of the other.
I think it has been itching even more so at me because it has suddenly become real, we have a tentative date. And as Ayngelina said in my 2011 Resolutions, “The first step is set a date, once you do that all else falls into place.” It is not as if everything is set in place or that the official date is set, but by December 2012 I will be someplace, likely unemployed and loving it as I prepare for my next big step. But there is so much to do and plan in between time and I can only hope I learn from those that are already out there exploring, like many of my No List Blogger friends.
I’m not sure why exactly this blog came to be but it is here a year later just as I hoped helping me to keep on the path of exploration and I can only hope that this time next year my plans will be halfway solidified, a destination picked out and a job in the works because if I’m this stir crazy now I can only imagine what I’ll be like in a year when I’m that much closer.
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February 1st, 2011 at 6:46 am
It’s great that you and your fiancé share a dream of traveling the world. I haven’t done a rtw trip, but I can umderstand what you mean about staying in one place for a bit. I like travel, but I also like a home. As for the destination don’t stress, just keep your eyes open for opportunities, I’m sure you’ll find a great place to travel to.
February 1st, 2011 at 7:32 pm
That’s what we are hoping for, it would be a lot easier if visas weren’t involved. Otherwise one of us could land a job and the other just wing it.
February 1st, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Oh man, the worst thing you can do is try to plan what will happen.
The best place to go is anywhere but where you are. You will figure out the rest from there.
Also, I’m in Peru right now and let me tell you it’s not a bad place at all to choose.
February 8th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
Yeah, I really liked Peru and it wouldn’t be bad but since it is where my fiancé is from it would be easy to get too comfortable there like we are here. I’d rather go out and explore first.
February 18th, 2011 at 12:25 am
Art is something that i would love to do but i am not good at doing artful things
February 22nd, 2011 at 6:30 pm
I say do it anyways, even if not to make a living out of it but to make you happy. For me it’s travel, you art. As long as you love it who cares what others think.