Driving through the middle of Dominican Republic

The time is near.  You can just feel it coming closer; it’s in the back of your mind when you wake up, it pops in your mind during the day, and you have alienated your friends by talking about it so much.  Whether it’s a vacation or a move overseas you can just feel it coming at some point.  The breaking point comes as fast as you can smell a baby’s diaper and the smell just lingers there until you do something about it.  Since I came back from Italy I kept planning my trip around the world.  My itinerary around the world kept changing and getting seemingly away from my reach.  I still smelled the diaper and it was time to change it.  The time had come and this is how I convinced myself to leave the states:

Natural Hot Springs at a Hotel in Costa Rica

The Culture

America is often called a melting pot of cultures.  Those cultures often are Americanized and they become more American with hints of their own culture rather than the other way around.  I am more fascinated with 2,000 plus years of history rather than over 500 years of history.  Imagine looking at the Egyptian Pyramids that were built thousands of years ago.  I want to go to Italy and walk on the streets that were built by the Roman Empire that are still in use today.  I was lucky enough to be able to live in southern Italy and see all the things to do in Sicily, an island that has been in turmoil by almost every culture in history.

Watching Tango in La Boca Argentina

The Experience

What would you be doing in the United States?  Work, Party, Eat, Sleep  Why not work for yourself on the internet where you can have the freedom to pick up and move to a different country whenever you want.  There are many reasons why you be living overseas.  Why not party in places that are infamous for it like Amsterdam and the exotic islands of Mikonos and Ibiza?  And as I struggle to keep my weight under 500 pounds from eating such delicious food like fish and chips in Iceland, café con leche and steak in Buenos Aires, and poutine in Montreal, I won’t bore you with those details.

Profiterols au chocolate - Dessert in Montreal

You won’t enjoy it when you’re old

We can all agree that we are invincible and that nothing is ever going to happen to us.  That includes getting those fabulous creases on our face and that fashionable salt and pepper look you have been dying for.  Who wants to be old climbing up 200 stairs to see part of the Wall of China or terracotta warriors?  I personally love it when I get heartburn from eating one pepperoni much less an entire piece of pizza.  You can still enjoy travelling when you are older but you enjoy it much more when you are young.  You can do more things, find unique ways of saving money, and you don’t have to carry around that packet of 80 antibiotics too!

On the Golden Tour in Iceland

Tired of the same routine

Who likes to do the same thing every day for 40 years?  Let me put it this way, who is even with the same partner for 5 years? (United States divorce rates are over 60%-just saying we don’t like things constant)  Imagine being able to just pick up and go.  One morning you are having the best café con leche in the world in Colombia and then you decide you want to have the best sushi in the world in Japan.  You look for flights, you find your accommodation, and you pick up and go.  There is always another adventure around the corner.

So I implore you to share why do you travel?  Or better yet why don’t you travel?  You’re not going to afford it later in life so why not do it now?  What are your thoughts?

Tagged as: around the world travel, expats, itinerary around the world, round the world, trip round the world