So for my first blog post I want to share 3 things - the purpose of my trip, a rough schedule, and my plans for afterwards.
I travel to see what the world is like outside of what I know and have experienced. To see a new culture and perspective, meet new people, see a different way of life. A great part of traveling is all the unique stories you hear from across the world as well as the ones you create for yourself. I am a very curious person and visiting places I haven't been before is one of my favorite things to do to satisfy that craving. Not having any idea what tomorrow will bring is such an exciting feeling that I can never get enough of. And it's hard to get that when you fall into a rhythm in your life and the days start to fly by. So I wanted to break out of that routine for a little while, make some good memories, and create a story in my life that I want to hear!
Currently my general plan for this trip is about 3 months and staying in each country for roughly 1 month. I'm starting in Japan, then traveling to Korea, and then ending in Taiwan. I was originally going to go to China as my 3rd country, but had intended on entering through Hong Kong and getting a visa to China once I was there. But since there's a lot of politics going on that I don't want to get mixed up in i'm planning on going to Taiwan for now and seeing China some other day. Other than that, the reasons I chose those countries is simply because I hear a lot of good things about them and they are popular destinations that are very different from the places i've been to so far in my life. I want to travel somewhere that stands out in contrast from the western culture i've grown up in, so East Asia was as good a place as any to get that diversity. It would also allow me to travel a lot cheaper than a similar trip to Europe would, so my money would take me a lot farther.
As for what i'm doing after my 3 months, that's a lot less certain. If I still have money left in my budget and the desire to keep traveling, then I might extend my trip and explore other countries in the area. I'm also thinking about stopping by India on my way home to visit relatives I haven't seen in a long time. But whenever I finally do make it back to North America, I want to try switching careers and find a job as a software engineer in a big city somewhere. These past 2 years I've found myself often enjoying the programming and scripts I make on the side more than the main tasks I'm actually working on, so figured that was a good indicator I would like a software engineering job more than a traditional engineering one. And having grown up in suburbs and lived in small towns up until now, I've always wanted to live in a city for a while and experience metropolitan life. All of that is to be determined at a much later date though, after i'm done traveling and satisfied with my adventure. For now i'm focused on just enjoying the journey!