Gregory's First Post - Denver 8 Days In

I seem to have difficulty getting motivated to write (and Rebecca has been cracking the whip on me to do so.)  Here we go...

Let me 'splain... 

No, there is too much.  Let me sum up.

(although it is LONG ~ my first post)

I am 36 years old.

My entire network of family and friends are in Dallas.

Born in Oak Cliff raised in Garland and Dallas

My education was from Dallas schools kindergarten (in garland) through Grad-School (in Irving).

I have lived in Dallas my whole life.

While I have traveled the world to some extent, (Russia, New Zealand, Suriname, Mexico, Germany) the longest I have been away from Dallas is 5 months.  I just realized this 8 months ago and felt this needed to change.  ESPECIALLY since I consider myself to be an open minded and adventurous person (says the guy who sold his passport for $5 on the British Guyanese black market and bought it back for $4 the very next day...but I digress).  I know that I keep coming back to Dallas because I am unable to make connections with people in the way I desire while on the road ~ leaving me the inability to recharge fully and press on with the adventure.

The trip became a reality when I came back from San Francisco in April of 2009 and I asked Rebecca Fetch if she would travel the world with me.  I offered to pay for her food for one year (projected $7,300). 

She said yes!  

In Rebecca, I have found the best travel companion anyone could ask for.  Eager, intelligent, sexy, fun, upbeat and a great lover to boot.  Her limited travel experience has been parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri (she was born there, but moved when very young so she doesn’t think this one counts), Iowa (and the states between Texas and Iowa but not really exploring so she says it doesn't count) and Arkansas ... with very few memories or even explorations of the areas visited.  She has saved up ~ shit she has more than saved up ~ she was in $3,000 credit card debt when I met her a year ago and now has $7,000+ in the bank for this trip.  She lived at her parents home to save on rent and cut out extra activities to save money.  She is quite the admirable soul. 

I reduced expenses down for the last 8 months by living on a couch for $200/month and put the rest into savings. Moving off of my couch and not paying rent when I was traveling (a really great option let me tell you). Switching all of my FUN time to spending time with friends (Face Paint Night) rather than bars, movies and costly entertainment.  

My last big expenditure ended up costing me very little as I used up all of my flight miles to go to Berlin for the Dream Your Topia project, which coincided with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.  

Even on this trip I worked the whole time for my keep (really cheap only $200 for 2 weeks).  I had no 9 to 5, except managing my properties, to keep me in Dallas.  Fortunately, I have a great friend from my college days, Ian Ray, who will watch over my properties for a year at the going rate of $400 per month.  I was dissuaded from going with a management company as they have no vested interest in my property.  I hold Ian in high regard and his experience helping his father with their 

rentals gives me great confidence that I have chosen wisely.  He lives nearby and is UBER handy with all that pertains to a house from general maintenance to eventual improvements and any issues that go beyond his experience, he can refer to my father or email me to solve it.  (I am now full of warm fuzzies)! 

Now the work begins, research must be done on how much it could cost.  Turns out it is about 14K a person AND even cheaper with two people traveling.  WEEEEE! Yay for us.  However, I could not afford this cost on my own [14K(my travel expenses)+Entertainment+7K(Rebecca’s Food Cost)+Property Expense], so I did the one thing I have not allowed myself to do yet.  I turned to my parents and asked for support in this endeavor to expand my horizons.  This is not a trust fund kid asking yet again for more money.  This is me taking a small portion of my inheritance that has been untouched for 12 years and using it the way I want to.  I do NOT desire the big houses and shiny cars that other people might have used such money for.  I DO desire exploring and experiencing my world to the fullest of my potential.  I have struggled with writing this portion of my blog post as I feel like people WILL think less of me because I did not earn my money.  I am coming to realize that people’s opinion of me shows their true colors and I am learning to let history determine if my actions are good.  For me, I subscribe to the Wiccan Rede ~ 

Do as you will, Harm none.

In that very vein of openness and full disclosure I have posted the budget and will be updating it throughout the year.  I believe this to be a conservative estimate on most line items but I am sure we will come across pitfalls as most do.  That which I do NOT spend will be returned to my inheritance.  The budget is in the goals at the bottom of this post.

Food, Accommodation and Transportation are the main ways to save money.

We plan using as many money saving avenues as possible: cooking our food, staying with friends and friends of friends, using couchsurfing.org, “catching rides”, working at hostels, working where possible and helping out EVERYWHERE!

GOALS

Blog Posts on these later

1. Get better at writing my adventures down (this blog ~ thank you Rebecca)

2. Get Rebecca more confident in world travel (one month of traveling on her own is the goal)

3. Document the travel cost of two people for one year (creating a real number for those interested in wandering the world)

4. Get myself more comfortable with long term travel (in hopes of multi year travel in future)

5. Perpetuating the portions of the Dallas life we hold so dear

6. Practice on a weekly basis an exercise in distance connection through meditation

7. Practice Yoga on our own (does GREAT things to your body)

8. Allow chance to determine direction using I Ching 

9. Go to Machu Picchu and participate in a ayahuasca ceremony

10. Develop TheBallOfLight.com for Burning Man 2012 (40-80K Budget, Please donate if you see it a worthy goal)

Does it look like LOVE and the number 42... still working on it