Re-Introduction

Welcome all,

I assume you’re here because you’re interested in following my progress during my trip and beyond. I’ll be posting as often as I can find wifi, get myself to sit down and be competent enough string together a few words. In other words, who knows how often?

For a little backstory, this blog was created in 2011, I was fresh out of high school and getting ready for my first trip to Asia. I never expected for anybody other than my 3-4 friends and maybe my parents to read it. I’ve decided not to go back and delete or edit any of those posts. I think that they are a true reflection of who I was at 18 and wouldn’t want to erase that, no matter how embarrassing it is.

The tentative plan is as follows:

London – Paris – Bordeaux – San Sebastian – Barcelona – Nice – Cinque Terre -  Florence – Sorrento – Capri – Rome – Milos – Singapore – Kuala Lumpur – Krabi – Phuket – Bangkok – Pattaya – Hiroshima – Osaka – Kyoto – Tokyo – Seattle

The majority of this trip is completely solo, unplanned, and experimental. I’ve done this against my natural instinct to plan everything to death in an attempt to challenge myself. My goals are to make new friends, appreciate beautiful places, take thousands of photos, eat all the pastry I can get my hands on, redevelop confidence in myself, and get WAY out of my comfort zone. Oh. . . and not run out of cash along the way.

So welcome again, I look forward to seeing comments of any suggested destination cities, shows, restaurants, or events I should try to see, things I should pack but may forget, things I think I’ll need but won’t end up leaving my suitcase for two months, or how to spot a pickpocket, let me know! Also if you have friends or family in any of my destinations who’d be willing to be a guide for a day or let me stay with them, please put let me know! Networking is critical when traveling solo. 

Nicole M. Bixby

12/20/2018

Here I Go Again

Quite a bit has happened since I last posted in 2011. I don't think I could even give you a summary if I wanted to so let's just start with today, a warm day in July, sitting on my shaded back patio with my dog laying at my feet and my cat lounging in the grass.

Today I'm trying to sell the house I bought with Cyle. I've sold nearly all my possessions in the past weeks in preparation for what is about to become my new reality. Travel.

Travel is hard. Travel isn't always fun. Sometimes it's scary and uncomfortable and sometimes it's boring. But just thinking about what you can gain from traveling makes my hands shake while I type. Exhilaration, confidence, experience, understanding, and the ability to look at any place, anyone, anything with new eyes. When you travel nothing is a given. You drive on the opposite side of the road, your shower is a part of your toilet, your toilet is a porcelain hole in the ground, you have to haggle with sellers and cabbies, your idea of good manners is totally wrong. But this type of on-your-toes living makes you feel comfortable with being wrong, with being corrected, and with asking for help.

Even with all that to say about travel, a desire I've never stopped thinking about, I still have doubts about my new path. I'm walking away from my stable job, my comfortable salary, my nice house, my car, my friends and my family. Sometimes I worry that by walking away from these things it means that I'm being ungrateful or not appreciating my life.

But if not now, then when?