Will Work for Airfare Update 4/29/22

It’s been almost a year since my last check in, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that anything about my plans for a working holiday in New Zealand have changed. To the contrary, since January I have started feeling a little bit of fear and nervousness when I think about it. Today, I think I finally figured out why.

Because I’m really going to do it. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone or what I will do while I’m abroad, but there is no question in my mind that when the next school year ends, I will be giving up my position, selling my car, subleasing my apartment, and buying a one way ticket.

Now that everything has begun to feel more real, I’m having more ideas about how I want to start my trip. One of my biggest dreams in life is to walk the entirety of the Via Francigena, but I think that a 3 month drain on my savings first thing into my long-term travel isn’t the smartest strategy, so I’ve begun looking into some of the smaller caminos to get my traveling legs and adjust to the idea that I have nowhere in particular to be and that I don’t need to run on anyone’s schedule but my own.

Since many of the caminos run through and around Spain, I can’t shake the idea of hopping over to Morocco for a while and spanning 3 continents in such a short amount of time. I have seen roundtrip tickets from Barcelona to Marrakesh for under $15. I’d be silly not to!

I think that once I arrive in New Zealand it will be hard to resist the urge to find a place to settle down and start looking for some part time work. I want to give myself time to relax and adapt to a new mindset of slowing down and focusing on enjoying my life, instead of funneling most of my energy to make money so that I can have more fun later. The point of living will be the traveling, keep work to a minimum and just use it to refill the coffers before taking off again. I might start my journey vacationing around for a few weeks, find somewhere to WWOOF for a few more, and then settle in and decide what to do for work for a few months.

I don’t have much more to add, today. I just wanted to check in and say that I’m still here and still on the path. We are almost 2 years into my 3 year plan and I am more excited than ever as plans begin to take shape and the whole adventure begins to feel real.

In a month and a half, my partner and I are leaving for 2 weeks in Peru and a hike to Machu Picchu. I am more excited than I could possibly explain! We did not end up booking the Sky Lodge hotel in the interest of saving money, but other than the hike I am most excited to paraglide for the first time!

I am practicing Spanish mostly at work these days, and my circus/aerial classes have expanded to include and then focus mostly on pole, since I can play and practice at home as much as I want. I am reading a lot and journaling often, but writing only sporadically. Money ebbs and flows but I still have $5000 in my savings, not counting my travel money for Peru. Slowly but surely working off those credit cards. I took a road trip last summer that set me back quite a bit when a work bonus didn’t come in until 3 months later than expected and I’m still paying for that mistake.

What have you all been up to? Any fun travel plans coming up?