It's FB official, y'all.

Speaking of chapters and how we conceptualize our lives, my Monterey "chapter" is coming to the end.  At least, the end as far as I can really see things.  I think I have plenty of things tying me to this place, and it'll be interesting to see how my thoughts will gravitate back to this place and all of the things I've experience here.

My last day of work is February 14th and I will be heading to Asia on March 4th.  This will be my longest journey abroad (estimating 6 months, but no return date set), so I thought it might be fun to throw some stuff against the wall and compare my expectations later in life.  I'm curious about the things I want to get out of the experience, how fruitful I can possibly make it, while allowing for spontaneity and accepting that crazy, difficult things might occur.  I guess that's part of my expectations, but I continually wonder how it will all take shape.

When telling people about my plans for the future travel, there are usually two different reactions:

1. I wish I could do that, but now I have a family.
or
2. Be careful/It's dangerous/the conditions are filthy... ultimately some form of warning.

I realize a lot of people didn't plan on having a family to take care of, but I also think it's possible to raise a family and travel.  It just won't happen so spontaneously as I might make this trip out to be.  But I've met people who talk about how their parents moved around a lot and they grew up in different countries.  There's a trade-off here.  Do we want stability for our children?  I can't complain about my childhood at all.  I had a relatively constant group of friends, and having that familiarity with an area was pretty nifty.  But I also found myself ill-equipped for travel the first few times I went abroad.  It seems that children who are brought up on-the-go have some practical skills, but they might also feel like they missed out if they were forced to leave a place they grew to love.  I can see how tricky it would be to balance the desires of an entire family and decide what might be best as a unit.  If I ever find myself in this circumstance, I hope I can still say that I got my traveling fix while bringing up my kids at the same time.  They may not appreciate the circumstances, but I think a balance of exposure to new places and cultures, while considering the desire for constancy, could be an excellent lifestyle.

The second one is also interesting (in my humble opinion).  My first thought is that these people don't care much for travel and I dismiss their remarks.  I figure they aren't much for living out of hostels and it wouldn't do much good for me to adopt their hesitation.  However, the thought of it definitely instills some crazy paranoid fantasies that I might be kidnapped, but how cautious could I really be?  I know I'm going to stick out in certain areas, but I have to accept that I might be victim to some crime.  That could certainly happen anywhere, but for some reason it seems more threatening when you're away from home and your usual network of support.  No matter how I feel about the change of environment, I will surely find my way into (and hopefully out of) any uncomfortable or threatening situation.  I like to think I can build an intuition for safety in foreign places without much trial and error, but I can't really say.  I think the important thing is not to future-trip too much.  When I get to a new place, it will be important to gain familiarity and learn about the social climate from as many people as possible.  This communication will be crucial to understand what's acceptable or safe for me to do as a visitor.  So I appreciate the words of warning, but I know shit's going to happen.  Of course I hope I don't come to harm, but I will probably make mistakes.  I will get sick.  I *might* regret my cavalier attitude later, but I'm just not going to go too far out of my way to make my travels as perfect as possible.  The illusion is that everything here in America is safe, so therefore all other places (especially as they differ more visibly from Western culture) are dangerous.  Some things will just be beyond my control and I can't let that prevent me from trying it.

But who knows, maybe I'll come back after a year and say travel doesn't suit me.  It's difficult enough to know how I'm going to feel about anything tomorrow!