That’s what Swearengen on Deadwood says about announcing your plans. All the same, I thought I’d start with a rough outline of my plans for the coming years—bearing in mind that things will turn out differently, and much of what happens will be unforeseen.
I’m planning to travel west around the world, teaching English. My idea is to settle in a given spot for several months to a year, explore it as thoroughly as possible in the time I have, and use it as a base for forays into the surrounding region. I’ll also try and save up some money, so that when I move on to the next spot, I can take my time traveling overland.
The places I have in mind so far—and you’ll see these get increasingly vague, from city to country to region to region—are San Francisco, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. After that, it’s open-ended.
I’m currently in the DC suburbs, where I grew up, and where I spent the past year. I’m flying out to San Francisco later today. By rights, I should probably be driving, or biking, or taking the train. But it didn’t seem workable on this go-round, for reasons that might make it into another entry.
I’m also flying from San Francisco to Japan, by the way. A friend suggested that I crew on a ship to get across the Pacific, but apart from knowing nothing about the work I’d be doing, I think I’m more interested in goings-on in other lands than in vast expanses of water. Anyway, from Japan onward, I’ll slowly wend my way, and the red line tracking my progress across the map, Indiana Jones style, will go from straight to squiggly.
Let me say a word about each of my four main stops, as well as some of the places I’ll visit along the way.
Regarding San Francisco: If I’m willing to skip the middle of the country, you might wonder why I don’t just skip all the way to Japan. One reason is that I’d like to learn some Japanese and line up a job first. Then there are issues that pertain to the trip in general: visas, shots, what backpack to bring, what to put in it. I’ve got a lot of preparation to do before I’m ready to leave the country.
As for why San Francisco specifically, I visited a few months ago, and I was pretty taken with it. I’ll write a whole entry about my first impressions of the city, but for now I’ll just say that it seemed relaxed and carefree and generally like my kind of place. Before that, I had never been out west, so this is uncharted territory for me, which is another plus. And I imagine I’ll have lots of students from the countries I’ll be visiting next, so I’ll have a chance to make friends and contacts. Finally, I’m happy to give winter a miss this year.
Regarding Japan: I don’t have a city in mind yet, although I’d prefer someplace warm. My biggest fear when it comes to Japan is that I’ll end up having to wear a suit and tie, perform menial tasks, and generally work my ass off, all of which I became an English teacher in part to avoid. I do feel drawn to Japan in other ways; I’m just a little wary of the teaching there. So if I can find a job that exceeds my expectations and comes a little closer to my ideal, I’ll live almost anywhere (warm).
Gotta remember to pick up some kitschy bric-a-brac at the hundred-yen shops for the folks at Tupperware Club in Madrid.
As I say, after Japan, I plan to take my time getting from one longer-term spot to the next. If I haven’t already, I’ll visit Seoul on my way to Beijing. I was originally planning to head for Shanghai next, and then Hong Kong—in other words, hug the coast all the way down. But a friend suggested that after Beijing, I first head inland to Xi’an, where I could teach for six months and learn a bit of Mandarin, and then head back out to Shanghai and pick up the trail. I might do that.
In Southeast Asia, the countries I’m most interested in at this point are Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. I’m tentatively planning to make Vietnam my base and settle for visiting the other three. I’ve gotten a good impression from the few people I’ve met from Vietnam, and it sounds like I could live pretty well as an English teacher and put away some money for further travel. I’d love to do more than just visit the Philippines and Indonesia, but it sounds like I might have trouble finding work. And Thailand sounds like quite the scene, but I also get the impression that with so many expats passing through, the pay for English teachers is pretty low.
Sounds like, sounds like, sounds like, impression, impression. Quite a bit of hearsay in the above paragraph, but I’ve got plenty of time to arrive at a more informed decision.
After Southeast Asia, my route becomes even more uncertain. The backpack issue will help decide whether I make it to places like Nepal. I’m eager to see India, and in fact I’d think about sticking around for a while, except that I don’t think they need foreigners to teach them English. And working in a call center in any capacity strikes me as torturous. Although I guess I’d be doing accent reduction, not manning the phones. Another option would be to volunteer to teach children in a rural area, in return for room and board. I’m told that’s a possibility.
Then I’ll continue west, sidestepping any war zones. Looking at the map, it seems like I could go India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and from there to the Levant. But I’ll have to find out if that’s practical. Anyway, I’d like to stop for a spell somewhere in the Middle East. My first thought was Lebanon, but it would depend on the situation at the time. A friend who lived there tells me I’d have nothing to worry about, but my mom might not see it the same way. If not Lebanon, maybe Syria? Or Turkey? Turkey is definitely someplace I want to see, but I had hoped to learn some Arabic on this leg of the journey. In any case, I’m looking forward to reaching the Mediterranean. I imagine myself taking a dip and finding it warm and inviting, same as it is at the western end, meaning I’ve arrived at familiar waters, if not yet familiar lands.
And from there, we’ll have to wait and see. I’ve done some traveling in Europe, but I’d be eager to do some more. I could head west across North Africa, or head south into the rest of the continent. I don’t know.
I can tell you that my first real homecoming will take place when I get to Madrid. I can hardly wait to roll into the only city I could say I love, having taken the long way round. A second will come when I get to London, which I don’t know quite as well, but where I have friends and of course speak the language. And a third will come when I fly from London to DC, when I will be, in fact, home.
Home to loved ones, creature comforts, and overgrown greenery that I always marvel at when I come back after being away. Other aspects of this part of the world are guaranteed to drive me batty, and the trick will be to relish being back and then make my escape before they do.
And there you have it. A line on a map, at this point—or round a globe, I guess—to follow or depart from.
I hope you’ll check back now and then.
