Leaving for South Africa

I'm seated right now on the plane from Chicago to Atlanta to catch my flight to South Africa.  Feelings of emotions are hitting me right now.  Wow this is finally happening but why all these emotions?  Truly the hardest part is already done and that was quitting my job with an awesome company and great boss (hope you're reading Brian) and team

This morning I woke up in Chicago.  I rented a one way car rental from bay city yesterday and drove to Sanna's apartment last night.  Sanna was working this morning so I got ready very casually and picked her up from work and we headed to the airport for our 2pm flight.  As I was getting ready I found myself so scattered brained.  I was headed for the shower 5 times I swear.  Walked past 3 coffee shops before I realized it was a coffee shop.  Re packed and unpacked my bag twice.  Just unsettling.  

I'll blame the excitement and ignore the fact that I'll be on a 16 hour flight in about 5 hours from this writing.

Well I'm certainly excited to put my 2nd passport (now still a virgin) to use.  Excited for those elephants, for those wineries, penguins, Sharks, and so much more.  

Country number 60.... Is South Africa.  I think and know this is a special day and moment right now

Cheerio!  XX

Thumb Time!

Well I've been back in good ol HC (Huron County for those of you that aren't from here) for a few days.  It seems crazy that I'll get to enjoy over a week here with my family.  It's rather nice!

I just spent a good portion of my day catching up on sleep, watching soap operas, making lunch, and taking the dog for a walk.  Gosh is this what it feels like to not work?!!  This hasn't sunk in yet!

I really haven't been motivated to do that much since I got home.  I did manage to go to my friends halloween party with all of my friends' little ones.  It was really fun to be honest.  I think I'm getting a soft spot for children.  Then I was invited over to my friends' parents house for dinner.  Lovely invite and I got to spend more time with little Norah and Eleanor.

Church was good on Sunday morning.  I really love my church!  No matter how many times I try to visit another church it's never the same.  My mom and dad and I then went over to camp where ya wanna be on Sunday evening to grill some venison and sit by the fire.  It was such a nice fall evening over there in the peaceful woods and Nya was able to run FREE.

Tomorrow I'm going to go shopping with my friend to the outlets.  I need to get myself a few clothes and items before departure!

And for everyone who keeps asking -- South Africa is my first STOP!  Leaving on Tuesday, October 28th at 2pm CST.

Until next time! XOXO

Last day of work - so long Milwaukee!

Wow today is finally here.  I cannot believe it.  I have already shed a tear.  My co-worker Marge gave me this coin of Saint Christopher with this lovely poem on the back.  This will remain in my backpack along my journeys!

Well my belongings in my apartment are pretty much packed up.  I woke up at 4am this morning to hopefully finish my packing but that still didn't happen.  I have more things then I thought.  I'll finish tonight after I have dinner with my friend here in Milwaukee.

So here is my final post from the city of Milwaukee and the cheese state.  So long it's been real (2nd time around).  I'll see you again when I'm done traveling and have to come back here to retrieve my belongings from storage

Yoga in India

I ended up getting the yoga bug when I was living abroad in the UK.  I practiced at Red Hot Yoga in Guildford.  Check out their site!  http://www.redhotyoga.co.uk/  Since then and being back in the US - I haven't been in tune with it as much since mostly due to finding a good studio and teachers or the studio being located well or just other things.  Unfortunately I've drifted away a little bit - but really want to get back into it and learn more.  I've also been saying that if I ever quit my job that I will take a month and do a 1 month yoga teacher training course intensive.  This would be about 30 days straight with Sundays off of yoga.  What could be better?

I have researched quite a few places in India - but to be honest there are SO many places it's almost over whelming.  I really would like to spend no more then $3-5K on a one month course.  I would like to do it in the Mysore area of India as well.  I'm closest to this type of yoga (Ashtanga/Mysore) and feel that I would benefit the most from this training. 

Hopefully I get the chance to do this.  When I go to India for one month - not sure.  As for now my plans have me going until January 2015 and then exploring SE Asia.  I don’t really want to go to India in the summer so that leads me to next Winter - so longer then a year of traveling :)  That would make for a happy Amanda if I'm able to afford it and still be traveling for longer then a year

5 more days of work - wow.  I don't think this is reality yet?  and just found out getting back my Azerbaijan visa today!  My brand new passport will no longer be a virgin with a beautiful visa from Azerbaijan.  Lets go eat some caviar already!

Holiday Working Visa in New Zealand

There probably are a few people that know about this but it is legal to work in NZ or Australia aged 30 and under having a special visa called holiday working visa.  I was going to do this in Australia in 2011 instead getting an expat assignment with my company in the UK.

The option is still out there since I will be 30 in November of 2015.  I haven't decided if actually moving to another country and working will be a great idea but I'm considering it as an option.  Who wouldn't want to go to New Zealand really?

When did you get the travel bug?

I used to be a very untraveled person until 2007.  I remember myself sitting in a beta alpha psi meeting the very beginning of my junior year at GVSU.  I was talking to this girl who spent her summer of 2006 studying abroad in Rome.  She was talking about her entire experience.  Until then I had heard of people studying abroad but I didn't really think too much of it.  I was scared to be completely honest.  No one in my family had left the country or even been on a plane.

My roommate my freshman and sophomore year was studying abroad in Spain our entire junior year.  I figured....if she can do this so can I. When to go was the big question for me.  In August of 2006, I had everything already planned for graduation in December 2007 so I wasn't sure when I could sneak in a study abroad.  Well I made it happen and I'm so glad I did.

I did a 6 week session in Rome Italy right after my junior year ended.  I took basic fun courses and lived the Italian dream.  I made some really good friends who were my roommates during the summer.  We went away a lot on the weekends together.  I also went early and stayed later after the session.  Since this summer was the first time I didn't have a job since I was 14 I thought I better take advantage.  Now I get a second chance....

The rest is history really.  After that I couldn't wait to go on my next trip abroad.  It wasn't until the following summer in Germany with my mom that we took a 2 week tour across the country.

The Thought of Volunteering

During my travels abroad, I really want to do some volunteering.  A few months ago I looked up quite a few websites for opportunities to volunteer in Africa.  I think that this whole experience would be amazing and that I would learn a lot.  I would like to go to a country where I probably wouldn't normally travel too.  I saw this one about working on some elephant orphanage (I forget which country) but how cool would that experience be?  I don't see myself doing volunteering with sick people so to speak, but working with animals or maybe even children and teaching them English would be great. 

Does anyone have an comments or ideas of where I could do this?  I haven't done too much research - but I know that typically you have to actually PAY a fee to volunteer.  Then in addition of course you have your room and board, and then visa costs, food etc.  I don't want to pay a fortune but a budget of $1-2K would be appropriate.  Looking to do it for 2-4 weeks; depending on what country in Africa.

Hmmm - it's Friday!  Off to LA for the weekend.  9 more days of work at JCI!

After Traveling - where will you live?

I will enjoy reading this post in a year from now.  A lot of people are curious where I will live when I'm done traveling.  I've given it some thought so far as to where I'd like to live - well wouldn't we all want to live on the west coast in the 70F sunshine year round?  That's not always cost beneficial since its expensive to live - however I've recently given Chicago a lot of thought as to somewhere I might land.  I'm truly a midwest girl at heart; I know that I would fit in with the people there.  Also, Chicago is a pretty diverse city which is what I need.  I need to interact and socialize with people who are from other places.  This is something I don’t see too much of in Wisconsin or Michigan (where I'm from originally).  Also, Chicago is about a 6 hour drive from my parents and super close friends.  The only downside I see about Chicago is the WEATHER and high crime rates.  Honestly it really depends on what I decide to do after traveling; I could be doing something completely different then my desk job now (hopefully).  Maybe I'll meet someone on the road, who knows.  Nevertheless, Chicago is looking pretty good and Denver a close second.  I've given Seattle some thoughts too.

This midwestern girl though is super happy to be leaving the midwest in November.  No snow and ice for me!  

I can't believe you're not going to work for a year….

This has been said by a few of my coworkers so far (Jamie).  In fact - yes I probably won't work for at least a year.  I've been fortunate enough to save up enough money to get me through that long - in addition to over 1 Million airline and hotel points; I think I'll be set.  The other common question is - where are you all going to go?  Well so far my travels will be taking me to South Africa and parts of the Middle East (no I'm not going to the scary parts like Syria, Iraq & Israel) although Israel is still really high on my list.
 So how does one get ready for a journey like this?  Well I haven't planned too much - in fact as I'm writing this I'm realizing that I really need to book my lodging for South Africa trip which is in about a month from now.  I have been fortunate to be able to travel for at least through January of next year with one of my best girl friends Sanna.  Since I have her coming with - we've booked quite a few flights to get us through the beginning of January.  After January - the travels might be different and there will be less planning and more of 'going with the flow'
 For the mean time - I'm trying to focus on finishing up here and packing and organizing my life.  I have movers coming on October 17th to push my belongings into a storage unit 1 mile from my apartment.  Even though I have zero intentions of moving back to Milwaukee after my travels, this seemed to be the most reasonable.  I will fetch my belongings whenever I return.  I'm headed to my parents after that to spend a good week with them before my travels.  My car will remain in Michigan while I'm gone.  My passport is currently with the Azerbaijan embassy getting my visa - I'm anxiously awaiting its return!