The Prelude: Quitting My Job to Travel the World

The countdown has officially begun. I am officially unemployed *gasp*. In two weeks, I’m leaving home and not returning for over 4 months. And when I say home, I don’t mean just my house, I mean like the whole country. This shall be interesting.

You may wonder what the genesis of this trip is. Well, like a lot of other Millennials, the whole “find a job and stay there for 30 years while you get married and pop out a few kids” thing just wasn’t working for me. About a year and a half ago, I made a plan to get my financial ducks in a row so that I could quit my job, travel, and figure out what the next phase of my life should be. Enter this blog. Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m horrible at capturing moments and recapping events. I’m probably the least descriptive person on the planet. So, I decided to design a website that I could use to document my travels for family & friends and also as a vehicle to reflect on everything that I encounter during my sabbatical.

What are my goals for this trip?

1. Hit all destinations on my pre-planned itinerary.
2. Learn Spanish.
3. Eat. A lot.
4. Learn more about the African Diaspora.
5. Have fun.

Simple enough, right? I have about 20 destinations on my list. Of course, the order in which I see them may be altered, but I do want to hit every last one of them. I’m planning on starting in Panama & Colombia for about a month and a half, then I’m off to Europe. My mom will be joining me for the obligatory “first time in Europe” spots; London, Paris, Rome, etc. Then, I’ll settle in Spain for a month or so to continue working on this whole Spanish language thing. After Spain, I’ll hop around Europe a bit more. France to Germany to the Netherlands to Austria to Switzerland and back to the UK before heading home. That’s the plan for now. We’ll see how it all shakes out.

The reason that I’m spending the bulk of my time in Spanish speaking countries is that I want to learn Spanish! I studied Spanish in school for almost 8 years, but I’ve never been in a situation where I was truly immersed. I can get by with reading and writing, but my conversational skills are seriously lacking. To be fair, I haven’t been very proactive. I could have made the extra effort and asked people I knew who were Spanish speakers to help me out (I have been living in Texas for 6 years after all), but I didn’t. Now, I’m in a different mindset. Although I don’t expect to be fluent after a couple of months, I’m going to take full advantage and improve as much as I can.

I enjoy food. Like really enjoy it. I love to cook, I love to eat. I love to eat while cooking. Both are truly therapeutic to me. Some people eat to live, but I live to eat. One of the things I’m most excited about is experiencing the different cuisines in each of the countries I visit. It’s amazing to me how across cultures, food is a universal connector. Although traditions and cuisines are different, there’s still that communion that takes place around food. One of my goals is to experience these different cuisines and maybe even learn how to cook a few of them so I can show off when I get back home 😉

As a black woman, the development of the African Diaspora in different parts of the world has always interested me. My family history is that of a typical black American. Most of my ancestors were slaves who had children who became farmers who had children that established a foothold in middle class America. I’d like to learn more about the black consciousness in other countries, particularly Latin American countries.

Last but not least. I want to have fun! I’m very fortunate to be able to quit my job and start traveling. I want to make the most of it and enjoy every minute! I’ll be posting pretty regularly, so please subscribe and as always….read, enjoy & comment.