Walkin' Down the Road

Well, here it is. When I turned 50, I decided that I had to change the track of my life. My kids were getting all grown up, my wife and I had agreed to separate after 25 years. I had been working at Dal for 18 years. It was time to start thinking about how I wanted to spend the next 25 years of my life. No real plan in place, just the thought that since you only go through this life once, I had some ideas in my head that needed some serious consideration.

I am now 54, and about to turn 55 in a few months. I have made a formal announcement of my retirement plans from Dal and have spent the last year or so working on the house, with an eye to leaving it in my wife's care for 6 months to a year.

well, I'm walkin' down the road with my hat on my head
had to leave my mama in my big brass bed
well, sun is shinin' on me and you know it sure feels fine

The basic plan is to go out West and see my brother and sister for a few months, hopefully generating some $$$ by planting trees for the summer. More than likely, I will fly to New Zealand using an around-the-world ticket through Star Alliance. This will use up a major portion of my available funds, so needless to say, I will be working most of the time that I am away.

When I was younger, I always figured that a person needed 3 things to travel when they were older (time, money, health). Since then, I have added one more requirement (mobility). I have spent my last 3 vacations in Ireland, Vancouver Island and Cuba. In each case, I walked, not just to get somewhere, but as a big part of my recreation. I have put in over 500 miles this year, just walking to and from work

I hope to spend a good 6 months in New Zealand, working on WWOOFing farms. After that, it's really up in the air. Hopefully, I'll get to Botswana to see David Young and Cairo to see Brian MacDougall. And of course, back to Ireland.

The themes I want running through my life are simplicity, serendipity and synchronicity. What does all that mean? I'm working on it.

I hope to use this blog to track my travels. Just how online I want to be while travelling is still really up in the air. I've been online since the concept existed and I use the Internet like people use a phone. It is a very cool time to be connected. But it has a cost, in time and in headspace. We shall see.