Sometimes there's this feeling that we just can't shake. Something burning us up on the inside. Driving us. Those are the moments that define us. That make up..

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*Life.

continued from part one...

Once I decided I needed to travel, there was nothing I could do to squash the idea. It wouldn't go away. It didn't help that I had been reading Kerouac's On The Road, and watching Scorsese doco's about Bob Dylan. That pioneer spirit that fueled the beatniks to just take off.. that's what I felt. I wanted to return to that era of endless possibilities, of trailblazing and the unknown. I wanted to feel the vastness of the expansive world that we inhabit.

I had seen Into The Wild, and while I'm not a big fan of Sean Penn or Emile Hirsch, the movie (based on a book, based on true events) really resonated with me. I didn't think it was crazy to hitchhike across the country or find yourself in a cabin in the middle of nowhere living off of the land.

I wanted that kind of life..

When I told people I was leaving, I got one of two reactions:

1. You're crazy, why do you want to do that? Get a good paying job and take holidays when you want to travel!

2. Wow, that's so awesome! I wish I could do that.. but I don't have enough time.. money.. (insert excuse here)

To those in the first camp, I didn't have anything to say. They didn't understand and they probably never would. I would just smile and nod and say something like, "Yeah, you're probably right.." and walk away.

To those who had the second response, I would reply "you CAN do it! Look at me, I don't have any time.. money.. etc, but you can find the time, make the money.. you CAN make it happen if you really WANT to." I mean I hate to flout the old adage Where there's a will, there's a way! but it's true! Almost anything you want to do badly enough, you can find a way to make happen.. (except maybe, learning how to fly).

So, I decided one miserable cold December evening that I was going to go.. I had never been to Europe, anywhere outside of the states really, I hadn't even seen more than a small portion of my own country! That was it. I quit the acting and voice classes, and got a second job.. and worked my ass off.

Within 6 months I had saved up enough money to buy a used Pontiac Firebird, and a plane ticket from Oakland to Rome. The plan wasn't much: drive from New Jersey with no particular destination as long as I made it to the airport in Oakland by mid-September. So in June, three days after my 23rd birthday, I set off..

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Continued in part three..