Jeffrey’s Journey

July 2006 This is the blog of a 24 year-old traveler from Southern California. As I travel to different places in the World, I hope to record my experiences in an unfiltered manner through this journal. I hope to share the cultures I’ll encounter, the senses I experience, and my reflections at the end of the day. So pull up a chair and take a look, make comments and suggestions, and “come with!”A little information about me: Ever since I could remember, traveling has been a passion. I moved around more than the average child when I was younger, and while that may not have been the most healthy lifestyle for a kid, it’s the serendipitous side-effect of moving that forged the passion for travel. I love how a new culture takes everything I know, seeming absolute truths I’ve known in my own existence, and turns it upside down without an apology. It’s always a humbling experience that gives some much needed perspective.A while ago, I really started to think about why I wanted to travel. Then there was a moment of clarity: The reason I wanted to travel has become tainted because I saw that I wasn’t only going places anymore, I was running away as well. I was running away from a tough post-college transition, a feeling of never quite fitting or belonging in Southern California, and the track I was on, which would eventually lead to a fat, cold-hearted corporate asshole. I couldn’t sell my soul any longer.That brings you to now. Although I look forward to leaving “here” as much as going “there,” I still feel that I’m traveling for the right reasons. It’s still the experiences on the road, the desire to see first-hand the people and the world we live in, and to be able have a few life experiences are reasons that still make me crave the travel.I don’t approach this trip as being a magical cure for all my unanswered questions and problems I have in life; I think they’ll still be there when I get back. I’m not searching for answers, beauty, something-meaningful, or anything in particular. I’m not after a mind-blowing experience that ends in an orgasmic epiphany. I’m after the journey itself. So with all that said, I am EXTREMELY EXCITED! This has always been a dream of mine and it looks like it will happen, and I want to share the experience through this blog! Oh, almost forgot, there is one goal of mine and it is to circle the globe so I return to the US across the Atlantic. It’s a silly goal, but I always thought it would be cool leaving from the Pacific and coming back from the Atlantic. Wish me well!