Whelp, I’ve put it off until it can be put off no more. So, to my dearest internet friends who have not yet heard, here’s what’s happening, the short version:
This afternoon, I’m getting on a plane, flying to LA, Fiji, Auckland, and finally arriving in Christchurch, New Zealand, two days from now, having skipped over the 1st of February entirely.
There is a bike waiting for me near the airport. I’ll bus and bike south, to Clinton. In Clinton I’m working on an Organic Farm, in exchange for room and board.
After a few weeks, I’ll move on to another work-for-shelter exchange.
The goal is to return, in one year, having lost only the money spent on plane tickets.
FAQ:
Why New Zealand? Because they offer a working holiday visa to US citizens. The other options were South Korea and Ireland.
How do you find people willing to host you? Help Exchange.
Are you taking your computer? Nope! I’m taking a keyboard kindle, which has free 3G. If you need to tell me something, email it. My intention, though, is to avoid the internet for a few months, and do a little thinking for myself.
What about pictures? And blog posts? I’m taking my sketchbook, and a teeny watercolor set. You’ll get to hear, and see, all about it when I get back.
What will you do when you get back? I have no idea.
Why are you doing such a silly irresponsible thing?
“One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time.” Herman Hesse
“The usual person is more than content, he is even proud, to remain within the indicated bounds, and popular belief gives him every reason to fear so much as the first step into the unexplored. The adventure is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil of the known into the unknown; the powers that watch at the boundary are dangerous; to deal with them is risky; yet for anyone with competence and courage the danger fades.” Joseph Campbell
“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” Rene Daumal
“In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part and parcel of God.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kind of people” Mark Twain
Or maybe I’m just running away.
Love you all, and see you in a few months. -S
(Source: diiqme)
Posted on 31 January 2012
