Walk Before You Run

So hopefully I am not getting too far ahead of myself here but now seems like the right time to start my blog.  Throughout my travels I will be keeping a log of places I have been, things I have seen and people I have met.  I will be tracking my progress on Google Maps so everyone who is interested can keep track as I move about.  I am sure to encounter a wide variety of crazy situations and sights.


Over the last year I have asked myself many times if this is all worth it or if my plan will ever come together. I never knew that simplifying my life and traveling could be so challenging. I am constantly amazed at the amount of things I'd piled on top of my life without even realizing what was happening. Whether it's a fancy car, social responsibilities or that shopping spree where I bought too much just because it was on sale...I had a lot of stuff in my way. Only since I began to simplify my life did I truly realize how much stuff I really had collected over the last 6 years. It has been no easy thing to cut all the excess out...to be completely honest it has been a very painful change to part with things I didn't even use or care about. Weird....I know, but sacrifices has been a continuous theme, to go without for a greater purpose.

Originally I planned on leaving in January of 2012, it is now almost October.  Challenges have come and gone, as have my dates to leave.  In the past, the frustration and disappointment I have faced over the last year would have probably turned me away from accomplishing my goals but for some reason this dream hasn't faded away like so many others before it. However, because of those same problems I have found myself in a variety of unique and amazing situations. Situations that I know have prepared me for coping with the crazy and challenging things to come.  I can help but think of a quote from Beautiful Boy by John Lennon, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." As the time gets closer for me to leave I know that the last year has been as much a part of the journey as traveling itself.

This week my visa for India finally came through and for the first time in a long while I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I know this adventure is going to happen and it's not just a pipe dream.  I also know that there is absolutely no way I could have even come this far had it not been for the support and generosity from my friends and family.  In the past I used to think that asking for help or relying on other was a sign of weakness (don't ask me why I thought that, I am not exactly sure myself).  I am big boy and should be able to take care of myself, no help required.  So you can imagine how incredibly humbling it has been to be in a place where I simply could not progress without the help of others.  Now looking back it is clear to me that it was a lesson that needed to be started now.