One Year On

In a few days, it will be an entire year since Subash and I last had a space of our own. An entire year of living out of back packs, and more recently boxes, sleeping in other people's beds, and generally relying on the kindness of strangers.

Since returning to the US, that kindness has mainly been my parents'. We've been living in their house, in my childhood bedroom, with piles of every remaining thing we own heaped around the bed. It's not the prettiest, but it has let us get back on our feet and save up for a real apartment. I am forever grateful to this gift of time my parents have given us, at the cost of their personal space.

One of the best parts of coming home has been seeing our cats again. We all quickly resumed our proper places.

I am starting a physician assistant masters program in August, which I am so excited about. I was in a completely different career, working as a quality control chemist, when I decided to make the change. Changing careers is like turning a big ship--you have to make a series of small adjustments and for a long time the horizon looks the same and it feels like nothing has changed, but ever so gradually land comes into view. Between first deciding to switch careers and actually getting accepted to a program was over a three year process, and included volunteering at a hospital on weekends, taking 5 prerequisite courses I didn't get in undergrad, quitting my salaried/benefits "career" for a minimum wage flex phlebotomy position, taking the GREs, and more. All together it seems overwhelming, even from the other side, but one degree at a time the ship was turned, and here I am!! I can't believe it, and I can't wait to get started.

So we are now, finally, preparing to move into a new apartment in a new town so I can start my new program. Our lease starts July 1st and I am so excited to have our own space. Our new apartment has fake wood floors and two windows in the living room, a dishwasher, and air conditioning. Such luxury! I am most looking forward to decorating with the few precious objects I brought back from our trip. Doorknobs from India, masks from Sri Lanka, block prints from New Zealand.

Because we got rid of most of our belongings a year ago, this is also a chance to start over with a clean slate. My tendency is always to accumulate. I have three bags full of pamphlets and receipts from our trip that I've been schlepping around because, even though I don't really want them, I can't get rid of them yet. I've always joked that I'm just one or two tragedies away from being a hoarder, and there is a ring of truth to it. I like clean organized spaces, but I get some kind of strange packrat caveman pleasure from being surrounded by everything I could ever need. On airplanes, I keep my backpack by my feet  instead of in the overhead bin--even if I never open it, I like knowing that it's there.

This is no way to live, though, and I am going to try to use our new apartment as an opportunity to clean out the remaining detritus of my life and start fresh. I read an article that said you should ask every item if it "brings you joy," and get rid of anything where the answer is no. It's a little hippy-dippy, but I'm going to give it a try. 

I learned a lot on our trip about myself and what I want from my life. I am trying to put those things in to practice. I have been cooking more, and I learned how to make a great latte. I solemnly swear to have guest towels in our new apartment. Most of all, though, I have been trying to "stand alone," which is the best phrasing I can come up with for the idea of presenting myself to the world without apologies, or distractions. 

I met a lot of amazing people on our trip who inspired me, especially women. These women knew who they were, liked themselves, and stood alone in it. 

I'm trying to learn from their example, and I'm getting there! One small turn at a time.

Six Weeks Abroad

Today we have been on the road for six weeks. 

So far it has been amazing, although already our first country feels like a lifetime ago. Sometimes I think of the time left and feel overwhelmed at the prospect of so many more months ahead of us, and sometimes I think of it and feel a twinge of panic at how fast it is going by. 

In honor of six weeks on the road, here is a breakdown of what has happened so far:

 Countries Visited: 3

 Flights Missed: 1

 Beds Slept In: 7

 Cricket Grounds Visited: 9

 Times Thrown Up: 1

 Journal Pages Made: 46

 New Animal Species Seen: 11

 Times Done Laundry: 2

 Beer Drank: ????

Items Lost: travel blanket, water bottle x 2

Types of Transportation Used: Plane, Train, Subway, Automobile, Catamaran, Feet

Number of incredibly kind people who have either let us stay in their house or bought us a meal or drink or any number of other assistances given freely and with great humanity: too many to count, really, but I got up to 30 before giving up.  That isn't 30 people who have smiled at us on the street or helped us with a bag, that is 30 people who have very much gone out of their way to help us and put us up or feed us or help us watch a cricket match. It is no joke when I say that this trip would be impossible without other people, and to all of them I say THANK YOU and I promise to someday pay it forward.

It is raining today and I am snug in bed with a coffee while the washing machine makes a comforting whooshing nearby. These six weeks so far have been a great adventure, and sometimes I look over at Subash and can't believe we are here. 

So here is to the next six weeks, and the six after that, and moving ever forward! And thank you to all of the friends and family and strangers-now-friends who are making it possible. See you down the road!

World Trip Packing List

As we are now in the fourth week of our trip (!), a post about what I actually packed is long overdue. I've been glad to find that I've used most of what I packed, and there isn't anything yet that I am really sad about not bringing.

I am trying to go as light as I can, and have just a backpack and the sling bag.

I do regret not buying either the Minaal or Tortuga backpack, which are designed specifically by people who have traveled a lot, and made to be as efficient as possible while staying within carry-on bag requirements. The biggest benefit to these bags over my backpack is that they open all the way up laying down like a suitcase, so they are much easier to pack.

That being said, my backpack has worked pretty well! Hopefully the zippers hold up. 

I read a bunch of travel blogs in the months leading up to the trip, and the best piece of advice in my opinion can be summed up as this: Don't expect yourself to suddenly be a different person just because you are traveling. I really took this to heart with my packing. For example, those expedition type pants that zip-off into shorts are great, light-weight, dry quickly, and multi-purpose. But I am most comfortable in jeans, so jeans are what I have. I also knew that I could happily compromise on where I slept--bed, floor, train, street--as long as I had a pillow, so I made the space for it and invested in a good one.

In this line my clothes are a mix of well-thought-out and somewhat random. I brought clothes I like and will want to wear, I tried to get things that could layer somewhat, I have a few long-sleeves for sun protection. I have one sporty shirt in case I get the opportunity to play cricket. Even though we are in mostly tropical equator environments I have 3 sweaters.

Every blog will tell you to bring clothes that can all work together so you can combine them in many ways. Luckily many of the things I brought do work together, but that is mainly because I apparently own a lot of clothes in the same teal/blue color, not because I tried. 

Another great tip I saw was the use of compression sacks to hold clothes. They help you squish everything down very small, and you can buy a whole range of types from outdoor stores going up to almost $60. I found this pack of 3 different sizes for $4.97 at wal-mart, so that is what I am using. They aren't nearly as good at compressing things, I'm sure, but they work enough. I split up my clothes into shirts in the blue bag, pants/skirts/dress in the green bag, and underwear/swimsuit in the red bag. This helps you not have to unload every thing just to find a sweater.

So here are the clothes I have for the next 9 months:

Blue bag: 4 tank tops, 4 t-shirts, 1 long sleeve, 3 button up long sleeve, 2 sweaters, 1 cardigan

Green bag: 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of jean capris, 1 pair shorts, 1 long skirt, 1 dress, 1 pair leggings

Red bag: socks, underwear (mostly not pictured), sleep shirt, bathing suit, rash guard swim shirt

And here they are all cinched up!

These all (just barely) go in the backpack along with the art supplies I showed earlier, flip flops, inflatable pillow, and first aid kit. I will have to take a picture of the first aid kit sometime. I put together a whole bunch of different things into a small bag, including ibuprofen, band-aids, Dramamine, after-bite, anti-histamines, and a giant pile of chewable pepto-bismol. I have this idea from our previous trips to India that chewing one or two of these around eating helps, although I suspect it may be a complete placebo affect.  Either way, they are the only thing from the medicine kit I have used so far.

Way at the bottom of the backpack is my supply of spare notebooks, and the one actually in use goes in the sling bag along with my eReader, a smaller sketchbook, a smaller notebook (its an extremely redundant system, I know, I can't help it), a selection of current favorite pens, travel watercolor set, and scarf. 

I post things using my iPad instead of a computer, although I do have a travel keyboard that pops up in a little stand for typing quickly. I haven't used it too much yet.

So far I am pretty happy with it! I am assuming at some point I will hate all of the clothes I have, just from wearing the same things over and over. I'll be curious to see when that happens.

We've been lucky so far to mostly have a home-base once we actually get to each location, so I haven't had to carry everything around all the time. So far carrying all the belongings was most frustrating in the London Underground, where we could barely fit on the tube with all the other people. Other than that it is basically 3-10 hours of annoying carting everything around followed by 3 - 10 days of being able to pick and choose what to bring out for the day and what to leave at home.

Definitely the way to travel, if you can manage it! All of this brought to you by jamming everything into a small space and the kindness of strangers.