Here we go...

Well, less than a week until I start the trip of a lifetime (volume one - hopefully there'll be more to come). At this time in one week I'll be just landing in Porto, Portugal. I'll quite likely be hungover, and homesick for London, where I've spent the last 8 months working as an au pair and a bartender. But I'll also be ready to get this show on the road.

I'm really gonna miss it here. For a while, I considered staying. The boss at the bar I work at said he'd pay for the cost of my RyanAir flight if I stayed longer (sounds generous, but it was only 17 pounds...). I'd have a place to stay, a job offering me as many or few hours as I wanted. I'd have my friends here, some of the most fantastic people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. It'd be so easy to stay.

The problem is, I came here with the intention of traveling, and and I can't stay here just because it's become comfortable. That's what the rest of my life is for. This next 7 months are about getting out of my comfort zone and seeing what I can do.

I want to keep this blog for a few reasons.
1) The lovely Matt got it all set up for me and I don't want to let him down.
2) It's a great thing to look back on afterwards.
3) My friends back home can keep up to date on my life.

Live the Dream - Tor (my boss from the bar) uses this as a motto, so he'll likely think I swiped it from him. In reality, it came from the travel shop where I got all my travel accessories. It just seems like such a fitting motto. There's something so fantastically surreal about what I'm about to do. 7 months out of one backpack, everywhere from northern Sweden to southern Israel. I don't claim to be the only one doing it, it isn't unique by any stretch, but I'll make no apologies for the fact that I'm giddy about it. It's mine damnit. I'll be the only person doing it exactly this way.

So, with one week to go I give you my first official entry.
Live the dream.