A passport to anywhere

It’s arrived!!!!

Thirteen weeks after submitting for a renewal, my passport is in my hand. This means that all systems are go for me to get on an airplane May 25th and head west until I am on the opposite side of the world.

What a rush it was, opening the envelope and pulling it out. I can now go anywhere, and everywhere. Sure, I have an all-consuming trip to OZ/New Zealand in just over six weeks, but I am not limited to that one dream. I have ten years of time with this passport to fill with trips and dreams come true, until a renewal is needed again. Ten years of travel.

I know I am not alone when I say that travel is one of my favorite, favorite things. To me, there is no better way to live in the present than by exploring new places, seeing new sites, experiencing new cultures and meeting new people. This passport represents every single one of the adventures and opportunities to come, both in OZ/New Zealand and beyond: Scandinavia; Tashkent; Osaka; Seoul; Singapore; the Camino de Santiago; Sri Lanka; Belgium; Istanbul; Riga; Las Pampas; Amsterdam; the Shetlands; and, so many more destinations.

One of the drivers in leaving employment last year was to carve out time for this six-month trip, a stretch of a leave for most employers. More than that, I wanted to experience life without thinking about the shadow of “getting back”. That, to me, is a truer freedom. It may be temporary; I may seek employment when I return, but I won’t think about it until 2024.

Just a few more details to finalize in coming weeks. This sub-blog is one of the details; I’ve partitioned out my travel stories from other stories on my site. Watch here for everything I have to say about Australia and New Zealand.

The trip seems imminent and also unreal. It’s coming fast. I’m not ready, but I’m ready.