Inspiration

As a kid I always loved travelling.  When I was fussy as an infant, my parents used to be able to put me to sleep by driving me around in the car.  I guess I have always liked being on the move.  I think that is one of the major reasons I joined the Marine Corps, to go see the world.  Little did I know that I would see the same place over and over (Iraq is scenic…somewhere).
                On my trip back from my first trip “over there” I was lucky enough to swing through Sydney and Townsville, Australia.  When I got back to San Diego, I was crashing on my best friend, Sean’s, couch.  One morning his then current roommate came down and we got to talking about traveling.  I was talking up my trip to Australia and he mentioned a finance class he took.  In this class everyone had to give a presentation about something they financed.  Most people did presentations about cars, houses, or those cool Reebok pumps back when we were 12.  Then he said a guy stood up and gave a presentation about how he financed a trip around the world over one year for around 30 grand. 
                30 grand?!  I couldn’t believe it only cost that much.  I flooded him with questions, “Where did they go?  How did they do it?  How, how, how?”  I quickly overwhelmed him with questions, but thankfully he had the best answer he could give me.
                “They have a website, www.watchuswander.com, you should check it out.”  And I did.  I was inspired.  I’ve heard of people doing something like this, I guess it never dawned on me that I could too.  I started mapping out my own trip.  Which way do I go, east or west, north or south?   How am I going to afford it?  When do I go?
                Some of those questions were quickly answered.  I had a commitment to the Marine Corps up until December 2007.  I wasn’t going to be leaving before that.  The money was the next big issue, the Marine Corps provided an answer for that too.  I left 4 months later to back to the Persian Gulf, and when I got back to San Diego, I left again.  And when I got back from that I left again.  During the time I was deployed, I didn’t have a whole lot of expenditures, and I was able to open a savings account just for my traveling.
                From there the plans on how the trip was going to go went through many different versions.  The first included my best friend Sean.  He and I have travelled together to Chile, France, Switzerland, Italy, England, Canada and Mexico together, and he really wanted to go.  However, life catches up with us all and he married the woman of his dreams and landed the job of a life time and disappearing for a year was no longer an option.  The other version had me riding a motorcycle through Central and South America, I was inspired by The Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and also “The Motorcycle Diaries.”  That presented some other problems.  First was the Darien Gap in Panama and Columbia.  Supposedly the guerrillas who control that area aren’t on the best of terms with your everyday travelers.  The second big problems was, I don’t know how to ride a motorcycle (but I’m sure I could learn…in Mexico on the way to Belize).
                Then the next big change came.  I met my soon to be wife.  Thankfully she is also a traveler, and a wonderful woman not only willing but also excited to go on such an epic journey with me.