One-way tickets

Or, alternate post title: "Holy $@%#, this is really happening!"

You know how I set an intention this year to be a more active participant in my own life? Well, I just did something to really act on that. I've had the seed of a dream for a while now, but it was too delicate of an idea to even talk about. So it remained a distant dream. A maybe. A someday.

After seeing a growing number of friends embark on their own long-term journeys to various places around the globe, we finally asked ourselves, why aren't we doing that? I mean, really. Why aren't we?

I realized then that I'd defaulted to this self-limiting mindset that things like this only happened to other people. It was something which I would only ever experience vicariously. But one day, we asked ourselves (almost in jest), do you think we could do that? Could we? There were so many "practical" excuses that could deflate such an idea. But my only regret now is that we didn't decide to do this sooner.

So the delicate seed of an idea was born and continued to grow. It sat, at the back of our minds (most of the time) while we squirreled away money into a new savings account. And waited. Not so patiently. But we waited.

Reading Vagabonding only reinforced everything we were trying to do. Many travel blogs too. And inspiring articles like this.

I need to see more of the world. I do. I need to see/understand/appreciate how the values I have and the systems I operate within are just one of many possible ways of living. I need to be thrust firmly out of my comfort zone. See how I fare without the safety net. Stray from the linear trajectory I've been on. Go sideways. 

So we're doing it. It's happening: we just bought one-way tickets to Bangkok. I. Cannot. Believe. I just typed that sentence. Holy #$%@! I've been wanting this to happen for so long!

From Bangkok, the plan—or "unplan" (more on that later)—is to begin a 6-month adventure around South East Asia, northern India, Nepal, Bhutan, and—time- and resource-pending—Japan.

Cried a little bit when I saw the confirmation screen from Expedia.

Only 150 days to go!