Goals-revisited

As I sit in New Jersey at the end of a multiple country 428 day trip, I feel it is necessary to update the things I wanted to accomplish with the reality of what was accomplished.

I gave myself some goals in my first post near the beginning of the trip. I think the better way to refer to them is expectations...

Lets see how I did.

1. Get better at writing my adventures down. 

I did help out-- but mostly by getting Rebecca motivated. I added my two cents and Rebecca fleshed it all out. So in terms of my own posts, I created only two and even then I had Rebecca look over them. I still feel like a 12 year old working on a book report. 

So I give myself a C. 

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

Very glad I gave myself a specific goal to work towards but this month goal was not achieved. Though Rebecca is quite familiar with what it takes to be in many (in fact any) foreign countries. I am unable to determine if she can do it on her own since the longest period of time we spent apart was 8 hours. Upon reflection I think that I require more personal time than I had previously thought, but traveling together sharing every moment allowed me to get to know one person in my life better than any other person on this planet.  

I gave myself a B- but I feel I was being a little too optimistic in my original goal.

3. Document the travel costs of two people 

(creating a real number for those interested in wandering the world) 

This I am proud to say I did with flying colors this spreadsheet shows my expenses for the year. I was worried that I would not be able to stay focused on the day to day grind of this monotonous behavior. I got a wonderful little Moleskin pocket book (though an iPhone app I imagined would easily type right into the spread sheet) that I kept in my pocket for easy access, next to my pen. I broke down the finances into these 5 catagories.

We spent January-June in Central America, July-October in Europe, November and December in Morocco.  Holland was the big spike in July since we did not change our spending habits with regard to eating until biking to Paris. 

This taught me more about my spending AND most importantly how to do it cheaper in future. Food is by far my favorite entertainment and is a sharable experience.  Even though it did fall under Fun I kept it as Food. In hindsight I should have separated out the meals I bought for others under Fun.  

If you want to travel for a year or any extended time frame (more than ten days) go to a cheap country like Guatemala or Morocco (I have also heard Turkey, Bolivia, Peru, India or Southeast Asia).  Rent an apartment for cheap and cook your own food and use local transportation to explore the surroundings of each spot you come across. The less long distance transport you have the better off.  

If/when doing it again I will pick four places to spend three months each. Maybe Guatemala/Honduras, Peru/Bolivia, Turkey and Malaysia.  Offering enough cultural variety and enough time in one place to rejuvenate yourself to go further. Before this trip I found only one website that seemed to focus on the financials of traveling . As it turns out I was probably being too specific and lost the forrest... This was that site .  It is a very good place to start in multi country budget estimation. I estimated the cost of the trip at $26,000. In reality the cost came to $21,000. Also you adjust your trip according to how your budget is being depleted. We had not planned on biking across France for three months but it allowed us to stay in Europe and enjoy traveling at our pace. 

I give myself an A, though I got lazy in the charts and implementation of the results. I am hoping someone will look at my spreadsheet and see some details that could be of benefit to those wishing to travel abroad. I only recorded the first 13 months and gave myself the last month off to reflect and to remember what it was like to just make a purchase without writing it down. I wanted to prove that traveling does not have to be extravagant. I believe our expenses should be evidence that cost should not be a hinderance for travel. Certainly 20K is a lot of money but you don’t need that kind of money to have a really long fantastic trip. According to my numbers $3000 will provide just over 2 months of travel in Central America (and longer if you stay in one place - Guatemala!). After this trip I believe I am ready to take on the budget for the TBoL project .

The road of excess DOES lead to the palace of wisdom.

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

The hardest part for me was finding a good person to watch over my properties. Once that was discovered freedom was just around the corner. Thanks Ian Ray! The next hardest will be doing it on my own.

I give myself an A+

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

For those that have not found the joy of Facebook you were probably dissuaded by the game applications (Farmville, Tarot or Mafia Wars) or the flood of people posting about every little thing they do in their day “I just parked my car”. Like all technologies,  they change and we adapt with them.  It has been fantastic being aware of what is happening in New York while at the same time knowing what is going on in Morocco, Dallas, Paris, Holland and Costa Rica all in the same digital space. It does bend the mind some for those not familiar ....but who is familiar with keeping in touch with the whole of humanity?  It is new to the entire human race to be able to communicate with ---everyone. Soon each person will have the opportunity to speak whatever they like to the entire planet (btw -Social Translate  is WONDERFUL for those that have friends that post in different languages and have Google Chrome -a must). One really interesting fact. I got more Facebook accounts a preferred form of contact than I did email addresses on this trip. Blew my mind. I think FB or a spin off will become the new replacement for email/IM/chat rooms etc.  Just need to figure out a better way of filtering the information. Fact is FB filled in this gap of connecting with home and abroad wonderfully. 

I give myself a A+.

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

Not so good. In concept yes but in practice no go. I did embrace more breathing techniques - more aware of my breath every day in fact. It has taught me that I am not very patient with myself. who knew? For the original goal of distance meditation with another I give myself an F.

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

After the first month at Bikram in Berkeley this was a fail. As I said above breathing has been quite a wonderful way of getting to know more about myself. I notice the jitteriness (i.e shaking/nervous energy in my leg) in my body go away when I pay attention to my breath. Since yoga does include control and awareness of breath which I practiced on a daily basis.

I give myself a B-.

8. Allow chance to determine direction using I Ching 

Really was hoping this would have come up more but it was a no go. Had the book but there were only about four real unknown points on the trip and the moment allowed for the evolution of the direction. I really did love that aspect of not knowing where we were going next. Something that gets lost when you get settled into a place for a week or so. I get very comfortable in a place very easy and lose motivation if not pressed. 

So F on I Ching usage but A+ on just going with the flow.

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

Well I should have seen this as being a two parter ...but I am still learning about this setting goals thing. So I get an F for Machu Pichu. But an A for Ayahuasca in Costa Rica with Vismay and his pregnant wife - a moment for the books. I still desire to explore Ayahuasca another instance to see what can be learned.  

10. Develop www.TheBallOfLight.com for Burning Man 2012 

( Please donate if you see it a worthy goal) 

This has been on my mind almost constantly. I don’t know if all roads lead to The Ball of Light or It has just become my reference point for the understanding of the world/existence. I have come to see what is most important in this project and it is to see it from beginning to end. To see the full life cycle of a larger scale project and watch it as it evolves. If it does not end up being 100 foot tall not to worry. In fact I have found a way to incorporate sacred geometry (in short the way the universe grows itself) which allows the project to scale depending on the space provided. Giving myself this time period of a year to focus on having one project to rattle around in my brain has done some amazing things. I am quite an impulsive person. Usually when I get an idea I act on it and have the idea evolve in a very quick cycle. This time I was not able to actually build anything immediately for over a year. QUITE frustrating! Though it has allowed me to scrap ideas before ever beginning. Since after discussion/consideration it was determined completely unnecessary, saving time/money/effort. Also the pent up creative energy has spurred a LOT of other projects which I am burning to get started on.

I give myself high marks A++.

As I said these are better seen as expectations. Which I am trying to figure out a way to get rid of or at least see them differently. Once I feel the pressure of expectation I get anxious, start to create doubt and begin to worry. 

Breathing helps.

Before

After 14 months

Before we left, I got rid of quite a lot of stuff I had been accumulating or had locked away in storage in Dallas -most through gifting to those who wanted the stuff. That way I get to visit the new owners and see the next chapter in the life of those things I once possessed. Not only does it make my life easier to move it also frees up space in my head of how much stuff I feel I need to manage. I feel so much time is spent knowing where stuff is even if I am organized. These two photos are the before and after shots of what I took on the 14 months trip.  You can click on the links and hover over the photos to find out more of the details of what was brought. The basics: 4 shirts button down, two pair of pants (replaced both after 9 months) and four pair of socks - PLENTY. Bought a pair of pants in Guatemala for spinning fire, a jellaba in Fez, an external flash, replaced the day pack, picked up a scarf in SF at a lost and found some comfortable and rain pants(cycling in the rain). It looks like a lot but when weighed at the airport it was only 10K(22 lbs). I wanted to stay light so carrying my pack did not factor into my desire for moving.  You see a lot of stuff along the way but really replicated touristy stuff. Experiences were the best since they are very personal and they have no weight. Sadly those are the ones you lose first as you get older.... just have to keep mak'n em.

Happiness is not real unless is shared - Into the Wild

Most importantly I have become as close as I have ever been to any one person on this planet - Rebecca. I knew this would happen to some extent but it went beyond my expectations.  Learning and sharing with Rebecca has been my absolute favorite part of the trip. It has expanded my understanding of how close two people can be. Reminding me how little we know about the people we hold close in our lives.  It really challenges my mind when I consider doing this trip again without a companion.  So much of the trip was spent happily watching her learn something new. I smile when I think of being able to relive the trips experiences with her years later.  

I hope to have a follow up blog post after being in Dallas for awhile. Thank you for following us on our trip. Thank you Rebecca for being so patient with me.

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Things I felt I needed to add but couldn't bring it all together.

Found this to be great back fill on my science knowledge (a touch professorial) 

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Torrent 

Some Must sees

City Museum (land of wonderment)

Avenue of the Giants(Humongo trees)

Fez(craftsmen/architecture/culture) 

Venice(get lost)

Amsterdam(get on a bike!)

Guatemala(spring all year round)

Our time here is momentary 

Face your fears

Get out there

Never stop exploring