Larger Context of Travel

This is all fundamentally rooted in my choice to drop everything and move to Thailand in 2003, by 2004, I had an invitation to settle in Germany and ultimately spent the 4 years I promised myself getting to know my cultural roots in Thailand and by 2008, I moved to Tokyo before returning the United States by the end of a summer - what an adventure!

I learned a lot from this experience and having been born and raised in the United States, my time abroad forever shapes my life here and drives my desire to focus on exploring the United States just as thoroughly to get a sense of what parts I call home.

I made a choice that I would retire in Thailand and it fundamentally brings up the question as to what “retirement” is and when this would happen. I wouldn’t want to just “settle down” without feeling I have a good sense of the United States (and Europe and ultimately other parts of the world I haven’t even seen like South America and Australia and haven’t even backpacked Southeast Asia, the immediate region around Thailand!)

An old blog capturing my experience of Asia (and being Asian-American!)

Life is an exploration

Inquiries shaping the experience of a “roadtrip”

• how long this trip will be? how much time is dedicated to downtime and rest? (and not driving or a sh*t ton of walking!)
• what’s my budget? what kind of “quality of life” measures do I have?
• is this a pure “vacation” where I take a break from my usual “busy-ness” or am I “working” as I travel?
• where I’m stopping along the way? (including where I’ll be sleeping!)
• is this more of a solo rite of passage or focused on visiting close friends?
  • how am I spending time along? in nature? meditating? just driving in silence?
  • what am I doing with friends & family? what kinds of activities support a flexible timeline and require minimal planning and coordination ahead of time?
• what will I eat and how will I maintain my overall stamina and be healthy?
• will I have traveling companions? (including my dad!)
• am I driving back or is this is a one-way rite of passage to being a nomad? (perhaps this is not a “one time” event and something that happens gradually on each iteration!)
• at what point does this lifestyle begin to go abroad? (it feels exciting to now feel prepared to “properly” backpack South America and Europe!)

Ramping up the last few years

I had my first mini roadtrip in Sept 2021 and while my plan was to be with a good friend and turn around in NM, it was clear my spirit had started its journey and I wanted to keep going. I called one of my childhood friends in TX and made a choice that I wasn’t “ready” - it was one of those times where I probably could have made it to TX and redeclared “homebase”, bought new gear and made new preparations and kept going. But there was a huge gap in that I wasn’t set up to sleep in my car comfortably and I didn’t want to be a burden not knowing how long this process was going to take. I also had the constraint of my means of “work” being back in California so it would be best to “retreat” and do this right. Here is my first set of planning notes (this doesn’t include an innovative method my friend shared to track time in Google Sheets which was the real discovery! 💡):

First Iteration in Sept 2021

In 2022, we planned a family reunion in FL and I wanted this was it! An opportunity to drive across the country! But I got all stressed out attempting to prepare and thankfully I made that call to another friend and he inspired me to look into flights and I couldn’t believe it was so cost-effective to “city hop” on Spirit Airlines (great company name eh?) - so I flew to TN, FL, and TX and back to be with my family and 2 of my best friends and that was an incredibly fulfilling trip happening in a way I just did not envision!