Why I Decided To Travel

                            Touring Cambridge University, 2006

As I mentioned earlier, I recently decided to take some time off to travel long term. I have been breaking the news to family and friends over the past few months, and even though the response has been overwhelmingly positive,  I figured I would take the time to explain why I am doing this and how I am able to make it happen.

I am a big fan of the idea that we have the ability to make things happen for ourselves, within reason. I never wanted to be President or a rock star or a Kardashian, but I always knew that I wanted to live in London. After  lot of planning and research I was able to make that happen, at least for a summer. Think back to every major decision you have made since you became an adult.What would you change and why? When I think back to the decisions I made starting around age 22, many were in pursuit of this goal: being able to travel long term for a spell. But what made me decide that now is the time?  I could give you a list of reasons, but the most compelling ended up being the simplest...
  

                                        San Francisco, 2007

I may never be able to do this again

I know a lot of people who say that they will travel when they're older and retired, which is fine. But I don't want to wait--partly because I'm impatient and partly because I don't know what the future holds. I agree that traveling in my sunset years sounds great, but I could also be dead or sick or bogged down by responsibilities that I currently don't have. I don't mean that in a pessimistic way, it's just reality. Right now I'm lucky enough to have my health and a moderate amount of financial and personal freedom, which hasn't been the case over the past few years. I have no children and no significant debts. In the future I expect that to change. I want a house, I want a more settled life, but it can wait a year or two. So...

         Bryce Canyon, 2011. One of the only shots of us together. Oops!

I made travel a priority  

For you, it might be something else. Maybe you want to own a house by age 30, start a family, have a big wedding, or drive a luxury car.  At some point we all choose our choices and those choices reflect what we value. I chose travel because I think it makes me a better person, a more confident person, a more understanding person and it inspires me in ways nothing else does. Am I giving up other things in the process? Definitely. Is it a fair trade off? To me, it is. But besides that...

                                          Grand Canyon, 2011

         

I am lucky

But, I mean, if you are reading this then so are you. We're all lucky to some degree, comparatively speaking. I may be lucky, or rather privileged enough to be able to do this for a number of circumstantial reasons. However, I am not lucky enough to be a trust fund kid nor have I had any financial windfalls that are paying for this trip. Furthermore, my career doesn't pay especially well, but again, that was a choice I made. But by simply attributing this to me being 'lucky' you are taking power away from yourself to make your own dreams happen. The opportunity to take this trip hasn't just fallen into my lap. It is happening because of long term planning and because...

                                     Hemingway House, 2012

I am frugal

This is probably the single biggest reason for why I am able to do this. I drive a 1995 Jetta that I bought seven years ago. I have never had a smart phone (though that will change thanks to T-Mobile's new business model). I rarely buy anything that isn't on sale and ever since I moved back to Connecticut a couple of years ago I have made a concerted effort to cut down on the amount of 'stuff' I own. Obviously, living in Connecticut is cheaper than living in a city like New York or Boston or L.A. But even when I lived in Boston, the most I ever paid for rent was $575, which also included utilities. Ok, so maybe one of my walls may have actually been a closet door, but hey. It was cheap and safe and on the T. But that's not to say that all of these decisions have been easy or ones I've been particularly happy about. I gave up a certain kind of lifestyle when I left Boston and I miss it everyday. But sometimes you meet a guy, fall in love, and end up living 15 minutes from the place where you grew up. It felt a lot like this:  

But on the plus side...

My financial house is in order
As I mentioned earlier, I have no significant debt. If this wasn't the case, I highly doubt I would be doing this trip. I realize this is not true for many Americans for a variety of reasons, some avoidable, some not. I have some student loans, mostly from grad school, but it is a very manageable amount. This is huge, especially if you've attended college at any point over the last ten years. But again, this was mainly due to making some difficult decisions that, at the time, I was hardly excited about. I lived at home for two years during undergrad, so I did not have the typical "college experience" and at 17 I definitely felt like I was missing out on something important. I had always expected to go away to college but when the time came I couldn't make it happen. Of course, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I don't envy anyone who has had to navigate paying for college over the past decade, but an unpopular choice like going to a community college for a couple of years or living off campus can really make a difference in your post-college life. Besides my lack of debt, I also took an active role in my financial future once I started making my own money by doing a few simple things: I opened a Roth IRA when I was 22, I always contribute the max amount to my work's retirement plan, I never spend more than I earn,  and I have no credit card debt. My excellent credit has also allowed me to engage in travel hacking, which has cut down on some of the larger costs associated with travel, like plane tickets. I'll get into the nitty gritty of that more in the future...

I guess at some point over the past year I decided to stop waiting for things to happen that are out of my control. This is my way of taking back my own life and making it what I want, fate or destiny be damned.

An Announcement

I've been wanting to share this news for months, but needed to wait until some of the details were figured out. So, here it goes: I will be taking the fall semester off to do some longterm traveling in Europe! I'm planning on leaving towards the end of July and am expecting to be gone until the holidays. Obviously I'll be sharing my travels here along with all the preparations. As of right now the plan is to fly to London and travel around the UK and Ireland by myself for a couple of months. Then James will join me in September where we'll hang out in London and Paris before making our way to Munich for Oktoberfest with my cousins and some friends. After that my cousins and I will be journeying to Istanbul via train. That's as far as I've gotten.

This is something that I've wanted for a very long time and I am absolutely thrilled that I can finally make it happen. My jobs are sad to see me go, but the door is open when I return. In the meantime, I plan on getting back into freelancing and will be working to make this blog more "professional". I've already made a Facebook page, which I'd love to have you join, and down the road I plan on having even more of a social media presence. Stay tuned!

Springtime Rambling in The Farmington Valley and Beyond

Lately I've taken to going on hikes near my home as a way to escape from end of the semester stress. It's easy to forget how calming simply being in nature can be. I'm also lucky enough to live near a number of great hikes and now that the weather is better I plan on taking full advantage of my surroundings. Yesterday James and I checked out the trails that surround the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, CT.

It was  the perfect end to the weekend. I only wish I could get out more during the week. Soon.

I'm planning my summer travels and this has really inspired me to look into walking tours in the UK. I literally just want to wander around the countryside for a few weeks and recharge. 

I'm thinking of hitting up the Peak District to recreate Lizzy Bennet's journey to Pemberly and then checking out the Yorkshire Dales and recreating Heathcliff's crazed ramblings searching for Catherine's ghost.

Boston, I Love You

At first, I had no desire to write about the Boston bombing here. I felt like there wasn't anything I could say that other people haven't already said, and far better at that.  But then I realized that Boston was the star of this blog for a long time and at the very least, I should honor that.

When I started this blog in 2010 I was living in the South End, more specifically, I was crashing on my cousin's couch. After two intense years I had earned my Master's but had no clue about what to do next. So I wrote about my life with Boston as my inspiration. The blog itself forced me to go out and explore, even if I was tired or cranky or alone.

When I first came to Boston I lived in Dorchester, then Cambridge, the South End, and finally Brookline. I left two years ago but Boston will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the city where I was truly on my own for the first time.  It's the city where I became an "adult." And, given the thousands of college students that spend their formative years there, I'm sure I'm not alone. Because of this and so many other reasons, it's a very loved city, yet it can still feel like a town. Big enough to never run out of things to do, but small enough to never feel lost. It was common to bump into people you knew just walking down the street. It has a charm all its own and a fierce pride, which some may call obnoxious, but is it really so bad to love where you're from? The fact that the Red Sox still had the most loyal fans in sports after an 86 year losing streak tells me all I need to know about this town.

Apparently, the older of the two suspects wrote that he didn't understand Americans. He couldn't have been more right. He understood nothing and that was his downfall. But I understand. I understand that this city will get through this because people care about their city and each other. I'll be the first to admit that historically, I haven't been the most "patriotic" person, at least in the sense of having a blind belief that everything the U.S. does is right. I question things, just as we all should. But I certainly believe in the value of a democratic community made up of people from all walks of life. Is it always perfect? No. Do we argue? Of course. And we should. But there is nothing that words can't settle. Violence is the language of cowards.

Stay safe, Boston. We're all rooting for you. 

I Ate 1500 Calories Worth of Food At The Shake Shack So You Don't Have To (But You Should)

I had long heard stories of the delicious burgers served at NYC's famous Shake Shack, so when a branch opened in New Haven last year I was determined to investigate. Did their burgers really live up to the hype?  I am, after all, from the home of legendary burger establishments like Ted's, Shady Glen, and Louis' Lunch so my burger standards are pretty high.

Originally, the plan was to have lunch at Louis' Lunch and dinner at the Shake Shack, but our outing coincided with Wrestlemania (which James still watches for some reason) so we only had time for one. This is further proof that Wrestlemania ruins everything, but I digress....From the outside the building kind of reminded me of an Apple store.

But those windows offer beautiful views of the New Haven green and Yale.

A menu for dogs? Now I've seen everything!

 

They also have frozen custard, which I have a weakness for and on Wednesdays they have red velvet custard. I think you know where I'll be on Wednesdays. 

And now for the money shot:

We all ordered single shake burgers, which my dining companions thought were on the small side. They're about the size of a regular McDonald's hamburger, but obviously they tasted much better. Everything from the buns to the lettuce tasted fresh and delicious. And, as was pointed out, they even use the good kind of lettuce, none of that iceberg crap. We also split a side of cheese fries and a peanut butter shake. All were excellent and totally worth the caloric intake.

On Writing and Rejection

Source: englishmuse.com via Emily on Pinterest

Things have been difficult lately, so when I saw these Jane Austen postcards I had to buy them. School has been insane. So many students, so many papers--when I have free time I hardly have the energy or brain power to sit down and write. Yet, I've still been diligently submitting things to magazines and websites but for the past year the answer has been a collective "We enjoyed reading this, but it's not quite right. Send us your stuff in the future."  It's definitely better than a flat out no, but now what? I write things that editors like but they won't publish it. 

I know that because writing is such a fundamental part of my personality, I'll continue to write. But at the same time, writers, or artists of any kind, need  an audience. I don't care how much you may claim to do it for yourself, that's fine and I'm sure you do, but to come full circle, to have closure, you need to have people see what you've done. I'm beginning to understand that that is an important part of the creative process. There needs to be some kind of recognition in order to feel like "yes, I have created something worthwhile."

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this and in all honesty, I know that even if/when I do get something published it won't really change things. I'll have that lovely self-satisfied feeling of accomplishment, a nice high that will last a couple of days. I'll call my parents and they'll be happy and excited. I'll post something on Facebook and some of my friends will be happy and excited, even if they never read it. I'll say to myself "Ok, this is it. Now you've really done something." And then...then things will go back to normal. I'll keep teaching, keep grading, keep writing, keep living until the next high, which may take days, weeks, months, or even years. Intellectually, I always knew that this was part of what it means to be a writer, but when you are in the middle of it...well, nothing can prepare you for that. 

More soon. When I have time.

Beating The Winter Blues At Bartaco

Today is the first day of Spring, but it sure doesn't feel like it. In an effort to escape Old Man Winter, James and I paid a visit to bartaco in West Hartford Center. It has a very South Beach/Miami vibe and is apparently inspired by South American beach culture--definitely unlike anything else around here. When the weather warms up, the front windows open up onto the street and I can just imagine sitting outside on a summer night sipping one of their freshly-squeezed cocktails.

bartaco's menu is partially inspired by Mexican street food and Spanish tapas, so everything comes a la carte. We shared a plate of delicious shrimp, baja fish, chorizo, lamb, and chicken tacos all simply prepared with cilantro and onion. Each table also gets a selection of three different salsas if you want to spice things up.

Next up was the refreshing spicy cucumber salad and their take on one of my obsessions, grilled corn with lime, cayenne, and cotija cheese. It was good, but Toro in Boston is still the reigning champion. Despite the March weather, everything tasted extremely fresh and in season. For the briefest of moments I really did feel like I was on the other side of the equator. Or, at least in Florida.