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| Getting ready to board the train |
So I am a little slow in getting this blog up and running... well, to be honest I had it ready back in December but never wrote anything on it. :) I am not sure the best way to proceed from here so the timeline is going to be a little messy till I catch up. Oh, and the English teacher in me cringes at the change in tenses but it is unavoidable due to my procrastination.
In February of 2011 I made the decision to not work the following year. After teaching high school English for 14 years, in 4 schools and in 3 different countries, it was time for a change. Still unsure of what that change was going to be, I thought a trip around the world might help clarify things a little. Although the term gap year is usually reserved for younger adults, I thought it seemed fitting for my exploration as well, and my students (mostly seniors) found it funny I called it that so it stuck.
I booked a Round the World (RTW) airline ticket with 180,000 of my hard earned Sky Team Alliance miles. This ticket affords me 6 stops to get around the world in a year. I can not backtrack destinations so I will always be moving west. I was a bit disappointed that I could not stop in more than 6 places so I added an Amtrak ticket to the mix and $500 later I got 4 more reunions with friends in. For a full view of my trip check out The Plan on this blog.
I will remind you I am/was a teacher so financing this trip is not going to be easy. I booked most of my destinations across the globe with where I have friends living now. By the time I finish I will have reunited with friends from every portion of my teaching career (and even some from college). I am truly grateful to have such an abundance of people in my life that are willing to take me in for a few nights or even a month in some cases.
My plan for this blog is to document my travels along the way and to keep family and friends updated. See Mom & Dad, I am still alive :)
I departed on the #27 Empire Builder out of Minneapolis on November 17th, bound for Lakota, North Dakota.
In February of 2011 I made the decision to not work the following year. After teaching high school English for 14 years, in 4 schools and in 3 different countries, it was time for a change. Still unsure of what that change was going to be, I thought a trip around the world might help clarify things a little. Although the term gap year is usually reserved for younger adults, I thought it seemed fitting for my exploration as well, and my students (mostly seniors) found it funny I called it that so it stuck.
I booked a Round the World (RTW) airline ticket with 180,000 of my hard earned Sky Team Alliance miles. This ticket affords me 6 stops to get around the world in a year. I can not backtrack destinations so I will always be moving west. I was a bit disappointed that I could not stop in more than 6 places so I added an Amtrak ticket to the mix and $500 later I got 4 more reunions with friends in. For a full view of my trip check out The Plan on this blog.
I will remind you I am/was a teacher so financing this trip is not going to be easy. I booked most of my destinations across the globe with where I have friends living now. By the time I finish I will have reunited with friends from every portion of my teaching career (and even some from college). I am truly grateful to have such an abundance of people in my life that are willing to take me in for a few nights or even a month in some cases.
My plan for this blog is to document my travels along the way and to keep family and friends updated. See Mom & Dad, I am still alive :)
I departed on the #27 Empire Builder out of Minneapolis on November 17th, bound for Lakota, North Dakota.
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