Travelman starts his AROUND THE WORLD TRIP tomorrow morning (finally becoming Travelman for real on here!)

"My bags are packed I'm reading to go...Leaving on a Jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again..." - John Denver

Everything I'm taking except the shoes on my feet and clothes on my back...

"Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles"
-John Lennon

This past two and a half months has been a much needed summer of rest and relaxation in my home town with my family. I was quite a mess emotionally when I arrived at my parents' house in Ohio on July 3.

In California, I'd been through a bad break up and I'd burned out on my hospice nurse position. Consequently, while staying with my parents for an extended visit, I didn't do much but eat my mom's cooking, work out, sleep, hang out with my sister and her kids now and then, mow the lawn, go on two kayak excursions, and slowly but surely prepare for the trip. That was all my psyche could handle.

And I watched the sunset over the apple orchard down the street....

Now, I'm ready to take on the world, literally. I'm about to go on the adventure I've dreamed of most of my life. It was always gonna be someday. Someday is tomorrow. I'm starting in Southeast Asia, then up to Nepal, into India, Africa, back up to Europe, most likely swing home for a short stop, then down into South America. If I can keep going after that I'll go up to Alaska (although it may be too late in the season, I don't know).

Gonna meet people, do a lot of writing and filming, learn a lot about people, places and things and learn to live more authentically everyday, always becoming a better version of myself.

My plane leaves just after 1200 pm tomorrow. A short flight to NYC, a long 7 hour layover (I may take the subway into the city for an hour or so), then a very long flight to Qatar, and then the last leg to Bangkok, arriving Thursday morning. I just can't wait. I feel like I'm about to take a ride on a spaceship or hang out with The Rolling Stones (when they were young).

My parent's are sad, but being real troopers, finding every way to be supportive. My nieces and their boyfriends, my nephew and his girlfriend and my parents (their grandparents) went out for dinner as a group on Saturday.

My eldest niece is on her way over as I write this to hang out with me one last time before I leave. She hopes to maybe meet up with me in Europe in the spring. ....

Just excited and so grateful for my life.

That's it. Bon Voyage to myself and can't wait to share my innocence abroad on steemit.