"There's a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, 'Dear saint-please, please, please...give me the grace to win the lottery.' This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, 'My son-please, please, please...buy a ticket!" -Elizabeth Gilbert
Yes, I know Eat Pray Love is the ultimate cheesy source for a travel blog's first writing piece. But the essence of the quote fits so well. Ever since I got back from Spain in July 2016, I've been moping around Dallas, waiting for my next cool adventure to begin - waiting to win the lottery. So today, I stopped waiting, and I bought a ticket. This April, I'll begin my vagabond life in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. And yes, I mean vagabond as in I will quit my job, sell all of my possessions (well, maybe store most of them at my parents' house), and buy a one-way ticket out of the country.
Also, I want to point out that this isn't strictly a travel blog. It's more like an online journal. Granted, it can't be a complete coincidence that I'm posting the first entry the same day that I've applied for my 1 year travel visa... Some things just inspire you to dust off your long-abandoned writing skills, and put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard). Fair warning, this is probably going to result in a lot of random thoughts and word-vomit in the first couple of entries until I get in the hang of composing my thoughts a little more coherently. Or maybe not, maybe word-vomit will be the theme of this process. Either way, it doesn't matter because this is my journal. I'm writing this for myself, and myself only. But if any of you out there choose to follow along for the ride...I'll try to keep you entertained.
