Well, That’s It: Time To Leave The US For Good

Intro

For the past 23 years of my life, I have never had a moment where I could just “be me” for an elongated period of time. Sure, I have traveled now to 125 countries, spent 5 years of my life in rehab, another 3 addicted to substances, another 2 facing mental health problems, and the first 12 attempting to become a professional athlete. However, I was never myself; it was always for other people (much to unpack here). 

As I left Edmonton today (Canada), I thought to myself: this is the first time that I get to decide who I want to be. No family, no friends, this is the opportunity for me to find out who I truly am. 

What’s The Plan

I’ll get into what I want to accomplish next, but for starters, I kind of want to talk about the plan, or a lack thereof. Honestly, I have 0 commitments. If I wanted to go to Africa sometime tomorrow, I could, but who knows where the day will take me. 

• Over the next 4 days, I will be doing a little bit of a crazy routing for a couple of reasons: 

  • Firstly, I want to fly as many products as possible so I can review the content. 

  • Secondly, I have a dinner in Boston, I have to pick up some stuff in LA, and I am seeing a friend in Hong Kong.

  • I want my PQPs to requalify for 1K next year 😅

• So, the first part of this trip will entail flying Edmonton-Vancouver-Montreal-Ottawa-Newark-Boston-Los Angeles-Hong Kong-Singapore-Denpasar (Bali)

I am excited to be heading around Africa eventually, in hopes of completing the continent on my own terms.

Yes, this is sort of mental, but I am beginning to work really well on planes (better than the ground), and I sort of love airport lounges. 

Okay, but then what?? Here are my thoughts: 

• I want to end up tumbling down through Africa, starting up in Morroco, making my way along the West african coastline, hitting Burkina Faso (after Russia recently I am quite interested), through Chad, down through CAR, Cameroon, The Congo (not the DRC again) Angola, Namibia, South Africa, and eventually end up in Mozambique (I also have a fishing trip planned again in Mogadishu). 

• However, I have realized that once I go to Africa, I probably won’t leave for a year, maybe more. So I am thinking about spending 2 weeks in Bali, 3 weeks in the Philippines, a week in Myanmar, and a week in Laos before heading off to the continent that has my heart. 

  • The reason for this is that not only do I want a detox from drinking and it’s cheap, but I want to catch up on my current series, consisting of Russia, Ukraine, and I would like to get into the trip in South Sudan. I’ve always been juggling stuff, so I can finally decide to focus my energy on what I love doing: talking about the real sh*t behind travel. Not the “here’s how to fly business class for 5.60$”, and not the “best hostels in Vang Vieng”, but the stuff that is “here is what it is like to be the only American in Siberia and party with the KGB”. 

Also debating working my way through the Stans on the way to Africa from Asia

What I Want To Accomplish 

This is sort of an oxymoron, and I understand a lot of people look for something when they go on these long trips, but I am quite the opposite. I am a firm believer in the statement, “to be found, you must first be truly lost”, and I live by that. 

However, if I were to say one thing, it is this: I want peace of mind from the world we live in today. My whole life has always been putting out fires, whether it be sending my family members to rehab before the age of 15, whether it be dealing with the next issue, the next issue, the next issue, and so on. It’s not that I am searching for something per se, it’s that I want to look into who I truly am, because I never had the opportunity as a kid. No, I’m not here to trauma dump, quite the opposite, I am grateful to everything that has occurred in my life, because it has shown me a side to this world which I otherwise would never have seen. Take away everything you've been taught in life, and sit with silence for a month: who would you be?

The world is a beautiful place, such as with this flight from Aden, Yemen, to Djibouti

I have a unique gift, and the biggest curse: I can play the Chameleon. Whether that is negotiating with the Junta in Myanmar or taking a piss in cow urine in South Sudan, it helps me fit in extremely well. However, part of what I want to try and learn is to drop this chameleon role and learn to be myself. Anyways, yada yada, boring snoring stuff I know. 

Final Thoughts 

For the first time in my life: I have zero commitments in life. With money in the bank, a world to explore, we will see where the wind guides my sail. I look forward to finally being able to post more on this blog, as it’s not just my outlet, but I hope I can share a sliver of undocumented places around the world with you guys, to, frankly, let you know that the world isn’t a steaming pile of sh*t, and there are good people everywhere. Stay tuned for the rest of the Russia series, from Vodka to Superjets and Heartbreak, it’s going to be a good one.