Living the Nomadic Life – Post 1
I thought I would write up a series of posts about transitioning into a nomadic life for all of you readers thinking about hitting the road for a climbing trip. I figure this will be the first of the following five posts.
- Just leave.
- The Best Car for the Road.
- What to Pack.
- Where to Visit.
- Tips and Tidbits.
My little home in Boone, NC.
Just Leave
I think the hardest part of road tripping (or at least for me) was simply leaving; basically driving away from the life you know in hopes of something better. At the time of hitting the road:
- I was living in a city I really loved and that perfectly matched my outdoor enthusiasm
- I was working a job that I enjoyed (albeit the usual work frustrations )
- I had just been offered a promotion, in fact the promotion that I had been “working towards” as an analyst
- My work hours truly consisted of 9 – 5, allowing me to climb everyday after work if I wanted
- I was dating a great guy
- I had numerous friends and felt part of a community
- I was comfortable
Life was great… but if I didn’t leave I would always wonder what I had missed out on. So I cut the ties and left, using the following steps to transform into a nomad.
- Make things happen NOW. There is never going to be an ideal time of life to do a big trip or any other life change. When people ask how I was able to hit the road I catch myself often saying “I was in between careers”, but really I was in between careers because I MADE it be that way. I could have easily transitioned into the new role at my work, but why not travel for many months rather than sit in a cubicle? =) If I am a good worker, I should always be able to find work (or so I hope).
- Set the day on which you will turn in your notice. I was offered the promotion weeks before I was planning on submitting my notice. I temporarily faltered, but decided to continue on with my plan, turn down the promotion and quit my job (though I have been very fortunate that my work requested that I continue to work from the road on my rest days. Best of all worlds.)
- Figure out the details for your belongings. If you can’t or you don’t want to leave your stuff at your apartment / house, simply pack it up. Get boxes, some tape, a big black marker and start packing. And if you don’t need the belongings, rid yourself of their hassle by selling or throwing them away. =) I was planning on putting my belongings in storage, but first asked around to my house-owning friends as I would rather pay a friend to store my stuff than a business owner I don’t know. Sure enough I found a friend with a crawl space that wasn’t being used, and I have been paying a fee to her. Easy as that. =)
- Set a day of when you want to drive away. I noticed it was real hard for me to leave SLC, and I actually purposefully stayed around the first 6 weeks of my time off. I think it was hard for me to leave for a two reasons. 1) It was August, my birthday month and my good friends birthday month. As many of you readers now, my birthday is a BIG DEAL to me and I wanted to celebrate it with friends. 2) I knew that part of this trip was to find a new home as I would really like to NOT return to SLC, except to visit. I felt like I still had a lot of climbing to do in the area, so spent 6 weeks exhausting the climbing in Utah and Wyoming while also wrapping up a bunch of personal items. But as soon as my date came up, September 15, I left to Rifle.
- Adjust to your new life. Sometimes change is hard, but soon you will surprise yourself how comfortable you become in your new way of life. Find simple things that make you happy… coffee at the same place everyday? Listening to a certain song each morning? Etc.
Next thing you know.. you will never want to go home. And if that is the case, drop me an email and let’s catch up. =)
If you have been on the road before, please feel free to post up your thoughts.
Tags: car travel, road trip, travel