Departures – Part 1

After years of dreaming about open ended long-term travel, the day arrived—Monday, May 23^rd, 2016.

This trip would mark a huge change in my life.  I was leaving all that was familiar and stepping into the void.

The lease on my car ended April 8^th and I turned in my car at the dealership.  I broke the golden shackles and quit my comfortable, corporate job on April 15^th.

I spent the next month tying up loose ends.  The lease on the house I had been renting for the last three years was ending on May 31^st.  I gave most of my possessions to Goodwill.   I packed up the clothing, kitchenware, electronics, and personal items I wanted to keep and moved it into my parents’ garage.  I paid off all my outstanding debts and took the bills out of my name.  I did some, but a very limited amount of travel research, and tried to brush up on my Spanish.

I bought a keg of Stella and threw a party the Saturday before I left to celebrate the moving out of the house my roommates and I were renting and my departure.  Most of my friends and my family, including my brother and his fiancé who live two hours away and I did not expect to attend, all showed up.  It was a pretty epic send off, I must say.  I didn’t get to sleep until the sun was coming up.  Thanks to everyone who was there and the well wishes I received from those who didn’t make it!

I hurried around with a raging hangover all day Sunday to make final preparations, then spent the night at my parents’ house.  My Mom cooked a lasagna dinner just for me.  Thanks, Mom.

My flight into Iquitos, Peru departed at 6:30pm.  I did a final check of my bag, threw it in the car, and my mom drove me to the airport.  We left at 3pm because it was reported that security checks were taking up to three hours after the recent Egypt Air tragedy.  I made it to my gate in less than 45 minutes and had a lot of time to sit and think.

At one point tears were nearly welling up in my eyes as I was contemplating what I was doing.  The fear had set in—fear of leaving the comfort I had known and the uncertainty of the future.  I quickly centered and then congratulated myself.  After all, this is a more courageous thing than most people ever do.

Besides, what was I really giving up?  Mostly just a steady paycheck and a place to lay my head.  Although I was fairly well compensated, it was a crappy, corporate job I no longer identified with and did not fulfill me.  I’m smart and capable, so there would always be a million jobs I could easily get on my return.  Plus, I always had my lucrative hobby of online poker as a safety net.  I will have nowhere to stay upon my return, but I have several great friends and a loving family who I’m sure would host me for a month or two on my return.  As I was jokingly telling myself for the last couple months, “Fuck it, worst case scenario, I’ll buy a Hyundai Accent and start over.”

This pales in comparison to what is to be gained.   By shifting the frame of reference, it is easy to view leaving a former life behind as a constructive endeavor.  As Pico Iyer said, the act of quitting “means not giving up, but moving on; changing direction not because something doesn’t agree with you, but because you don’t agree with something.  It’s not a complaint, in other words, but a positive choice, and not a stop in one’s journey, but a step in a better direction.  Quitting—whether a job or a habit—means taking a turn so as to be sure you’re still moving in the direction of your dreams.”  And as Rolf Potts said, leaving your former self behind “should never be seen as the end of something grudging and unpleasant.  Rather, it’s a vital step in beginning something new and wonderful.”

I truly see this as an investment in myself.  The dividends will be paid in experience and character: independence, flexibility, negotiation, planning, boldness, self-sufficiency, improvisation, and personal strength among other immeasurably valuable intangibles.