Prologue

"You must have been planning this for a while." The very patient booking agent for American Airlines had been on the phone with me for two hours. Which was probably a long conversation for someone who, up until 8am that morning, had not heard about my upcoming travels. 

To say I'm traveling is a bit of an understatement. More like taking a page from the explorer Ferdinand Magellan with 21st century upgrades. Mostly this means a compression of time and space. I am still going to circumnavigate the globe. Just by plane/train/automobile instead of boat, in six months instead of two years. Or at least that is how the agenda stands now. 

The concept is hardly new, at least to me. And to my beleaguered friends and family, who have been listening since the seed of an idea took firm root. This wanderlust has deep roots. My mother still laughs about my rather abrupt departure on my first solo flight (I was seven and had a miniature pink suitcase, thankyouverymuch). Since then, a collection of adventures has stoked an inextinguishable fire. This one started after reading about a hacker's successful use of frequent flyer miles and crystallized when, after nearly a bottle of wine and an excel spreadsheet, that I could achieve it too.

Two years of saving every dollar to pay off student loans early and generate a five figure savings account for the first time. Two years of looking at maps, playing with global ticket planners, calculating visa fees, figuring out expatriate health insurance and opening checking accounts with no international ATM fees. Getting through practical crap that can make or break any trip in this day and age. Magellan didn't have to worry about whether his platinum mileage Visa card had the appropriate microchip or if the layover in Heathrow was long enough to make the connecting flight. Then again, the embassy wasn't an option when the natives became hostile...just game over. See Dad, things have improved dramatically in the world. 

But the payoff is immeasurable. And along with the minutia of logistics comes the unbelievable joy of adventure. The freedom to spin the globe (yes, a physical ball on a pedestal) or open a crusty travel guide from the library and say, there...right there....is where I am going. The pleasure of digging into the recesses of childhood dreams and mixing them with places added along the way. The excitement of meeting new people, learning about differences and celebrating commonalities. It is the sheer expanse of possibilities that drives any explorer forward into the unknown. Even if that unknown is unique only to the specific explorer. 

This particular explorer is also feeling the approach of a precipice. The spreadsheet and wine night came at the right time. It was shortly before my 28th birthday and it dawned on me that thirty was no longer a distant mirage but a rapidly approaching reality. I know its not the end of the world. In fact, as most of my thirty and older friends tell me, it is when life really starts to get good. The no bullshit decade when the dabbles, dalliances and neuroses of your twenties fade into serious things like VP titles, real estate and babies. Again, more things Magellan didn't really consider seriously. Then again, I'm pretty sure he had no living family and was broke when he died, so maybe its not really not a fair comparison. 

I'm not necessarily nostalgic for my twenties. It was a fun decade and I learned a lot. I have no desire to relive it. And while I am excited about the possibilities of my thirties, I'm not ready to bite off the permanent things like a mortgage or preschool tuition. I am not entirely convinced I ever will be. Perhaps the most important aspect of this trip is time to digest these feelings. To come to terms with what I do and don't want out of the next decade. To be inspired and reinvigorated by the world and its incredible diversity. To set a framework in my mind for the coming years and to become comfortable with it....whatever it looks like in the end.

Of course, this is not the answer I gave the agent on the phone. But I welcome you--my family, friends, acquaintances and (un)lucky random reader who has stumbled upon this amateur, long-winded writer--to the story of the 30th year project.