8 months, folks!
It's been 8 months on my trip around the world—living out of a backpack, adventuring, and just being. I've been having a lot of thoughts lately, so let's go for an old-fashioned stream-of-consciousness post! Buckle up—I think this one's going to be a wild ride.
Last night was my final night in El Nido, and I arrived in Port Barton this afternoon. El Nido is known as a party town, but since I'm retired from partying, I didn't indulge. That said, I did have two glasses of sangria and a piña colada—my first alcoholic drinks in a long time—and honestly, it got me a little tipsy.
And while tipsy, I started having some existential thoughts—about mortality, family, and this whole journey. I don't remember alcohol ever triggering existential thoughts before! It was a weird phenomenon. Anyway, even though I drank casually, it reaffirmed my general disdain for alcohol and the whole party-vulture scene.
This morning, I went ziplining between two islands. It cost just 600 pesos (about 12 dollars). That would've been over 100 bucks in the U.S. or Europe. I made a few jokes with the lady at the zipline desk and started thinking about how important playfulness is. The essence of creation is playful. We should all be playful in every aspect of life—especially work. Be childish, be silly, even as you grow older. Everyone's too serious and ends up sucking the joy out of the disco that is life!
I'm a pretty playful guy. Even back when I worked at TI, I'd find ways to bring that playful energy into everything. As I think more about how I'll make money in the future, I know for sure that the playfulness is coming with me—and staying with me for life.
I took a 4-hour bus down to Port Barton today. Checked my bank account at Chase and noticed my money dwindling. My net worth is only going down! I saw some annoying fees for not keeping a minimum balance. Honestly, that ticked me off a bit. I was already annoyed with Chase earlier in the trip when I was doing wire transfers to purchase the Georgia apartment. So—Chase gave me enough reasons to be fed up, and I finally canceled my account. I opened a Schwab checking account instead. Highly recommend for travelers: they reimburse foreign ATM fees and don't have a minimum balance requirement.
As I watched my money slowly dwindle (in the name of this amazing adventure), I started weighing how much more I can or should spend. I want to balance a little more adventure with being a financially responsible adult. But I also don't have to squeeze every single adventure into this one year. This is a lifelong adventure. That's been a hard thing to come to terms with—because honestly, I don't want this trip to end.
But I keep reminding myself: this isn't the end, it's just the beginning.
Sometimes I get worked up thinking about what I'll do next—and that pulls me away from the whole point of this journey in the first place. So I'm choosing patience. Choosing to enjoy the moment.
Who knows? I might be home in 2 months, 3 months, 1 year… or two.
