Hi there travel addicts!
How’s the travel bug treatin’ ya? Last time we talked, I’d just moved to Vegas and was signing off from this blog for a while in order to finish my book.
Well, I’m still in Vegas, though I regret to inform you that the sixth-month deadline for my book has come and gone and I’m nowhere near finishing it. In fact, I’ve abandoned that book idea entirely for something in the creative non-fiction / travel memoir genre. The exact details of the project are top-secret for now (wouldn’t want ya ripping off what will surely be a best-seller! Ha) but I’ll keep you posted on the progress.
So for now, it’s back to blogging (you didn’t really expect me to disappear forever, now did ya?). Here’s a quick recap of the events of the last sixth months:
1. I’m in the process of buying a house (Yes, you read that right) but don’t worry, this doesn’t mean I’m giving up the nomadic life or doing anything as drastic as (shudder) settling down. Two or three bedroom condos are going for as little as $50,000 right now which means that my mortgage could be as low as $400 or $500 a month. I plan on renting out one of my bedrooms, which would make it possible for me to live for free and possibly even make a profit. I figure that the next time I feel like moving abroad, I can always rent the entire condo out, but at least this way, I’ll have a home base to return to so that I won’t have to continually crash at my parents’ place.
2. I’m still teaching English (I have two teaching jobs now!) and I’m slowly paying off all the debt I acquired during my time in Guatemala.
3. I haven’t been traveling nearly enough (just a couple weekends in LA, San Francisco and Canada) but that should change soon. I have a free, round-trip ticket that’s about to expire and plan on heading back to Central America for a week or two this summer (I’m thinking Panama).
4. I’ve been writing a lot. Here’s a few links to some recently published pieces.
The Things We (Don’t) Carry – Rumbum.com
Take a Walk on the Wild Side – Rumbum.com
Why the Japanese Travel in Groups (and Other Lessons Learned from Atop Japan’s Highest Mountain) – Vagabondish
5. I’ve gone on a lot of hikes, sung a lot of karaoke and even visited a couple of hot-springs (when you factor in my return to teaching, my life hasn’t changed all that much since Japan, has it?).
And that’s about it. That’s the whole enchilada. Lately, my life has mainly revolved around working, saving money, making friends and dreaming up future adventures. Pretty tame stuff admittedly, but I like it.
What about you? What have you been up to the past six months? Any juicy travel stories to share?
