Severing The Ties

Today I was up at the lake with my iPad, reading a book in the sun and listening to the sound of the little lake surf. Truthfully, it felt a lot like being in the Caribbean, sipping a beer by a pool in Punta Cana, and it made me miss traveling. While I was enjoying myself reading, my iPad decided to cut my experience short by shutting itself off due to overheating. So, I decided to head back to town and do a bit of thinking.

At this point in time, I’m about 50/50 with the possibility of doing some traveling this fall. I can think of a lot of reasons why I should go, but really not many reasons why I should stay. And it’s not like I’m talking about going for the rest of my life, I’m simply thinking about escaping the rain for a few months and going somewhere that’s a bit warmer.

I put a note in my calendar for August 1st. That would be the day I would have to give notice on my apartment if I were to leave in late September. Obviously I would want to be back for Christmas with the family, so I’d essentially have October, November and December to go experience something new.

I fired off a quick email to The Network Hub in Vancouver. They apparently have a mail service where I could simply forward my email there and they would scan them and send them to me via email. That way I would still be able to get all my mail (aka bills) and make sure I pay them on time. Prior to that though, I’d probably try to convert as many bills as possible into email variants, since I’m sure many companies do that nowadays.

In terms of location, I really have no idea. I still want to do my normal working hours, so leaving this side of the world isn’t something I want to do at this point. But definitely the Caribbean is on the short list, as is Hawaii. I have no problem living like a student again, or sharing an apartment with some surfers or what not. My only real constraint is that I have access to dependable Wi-Fi.

It’s the kind of adventure I’ve talked about for years now, but never really had the balls to go on. So, I’m going to start seriously considering what would be involved and what I’d need to do to pull it off. I’m sort of the type of person that likes having a backup plan for my backup plans, so I’d want to think everything through and make sure I have enough of a reserve in the bank such that I could simply come back home if I hit any snags. But right now, that’s the direction I’m leaning in for the fall.