Packing for a Year

Ok so I lied about waiting until I'm in London to post again. Call it New Blog Syndrome or just wanting to hear myself talk while I have steady internet access...whatever.

The weather in Naples, and generally Florida, over the past couple weeks has been depressing, to say the least, and not on par with our "Sunshine State" status. So instead of exploring my hometown before leaving, I'm inside watching Wimbledon to get in the London mood and packing for the trip. I'd love to fit everything in one bag but packing for this lengthy endeavor is an ordeal that's proving quite difficult.


My killer pooch Serena isn't helping and seems to think she's going...wish I could take her...as you can see she doesn't take up much space

















A pro photo of the epic travel backpack I purchased to carry with me during this next year and hopefully for many other wild excursions down the road. Besides being the smuggling base for certain people that I'd love to join me, it will most likely become the center of my life on the road abroad.




I've repeatedly heard the phrase "Pack Light!!" echoed from various people so I'm hoping I can fulfill that goal this week.

To the few who've encountered this writing, Stay Tuned...(possible new sign off catchphrase?)

A week from now...

I'll be flying to London to work for an African museum during the start of my longest trip away from home. I'm writing this blog to keep friends, family, and anyone interested informed of my travels as well as to satisfy my tremendous appetite for writing, especially when it regards travel! If somehow down the road I happen to become the second coming of Anthony Bourdain (in his current days as a travel writer/world food sampler of course...) then you can proudly say where you heard from me first. However, as my name will most likely not live up to that ambitious stature but only in my dreams, I just hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as I'll enjoy writing them.

I'm terribly nervous for this next year of my life but also extremely excited to face the challenges of living abroad. I hope to travel to, live in, and experience many different places across the world during my life and this will be the start of one of those personally profound, life-changing, eye-opening experiences.

London is a city that I've come to love over a long series of extended visits. I'm fortunate to have a lot of family there (cousins that I consider brothers and sisters) along with a British passport that makes me feel super badass when I get to skip the longer lines for foreigners in those crowded London airports and travel like a true Brit. Although I've never worked a summer in London before or experienced the craziness of the Olympics in person, I feel as comfortable and at home in London as in Florida (credit to my family and the english language) and am thoroughly excited to live with my extended family (whom I don't get to see nearly enough of) and get to know London from a different perspective...that of a young, independent working man, rather than a boy on vacation who had the fortune of relying on a large family for anything in this massive, cosmopolitan city.

A week from now I'll get to continue to explore this great city that has so much to offer everyone. Do I feel comfortable and love it there? YES....Do I know what this summer and beyond will be like for me? NO...and thats just the way it should be for this young adventurer. Talk to you guys later, from the other side of the Atlantic.