Countdown...

We've made it this far - less than one day away...It's been a long journey just to get to this point. For all who may have caught the travel bug themselves, I thought I'd offer a little insight on how far we have come:

Of course, when you decide to go traveling, it's not as if you just throw your crap in a bag, get a taxi to the airport, buy a ticket, and go. If only it were that simple. It's funny, but in order to enjoy the simplicity and freedom promised by traveling, you essentially have to endure an obstacle course. Yes, I'm aware that I've managed to find a way to complain about the fact that I'll be traveling the world...but I swear it's justified.

Of course, it begins with the no strings attached claim, "let's go travel!" That fairy tale ends when you see ticket prices and the negative (-) sign by the large number in your bank account when you do commit to "going". Then you buy travel books, and the pictures inspire excitement...as the dream begins to become reality. However, upon further review, you discover that you will be exposed to nearly every single epidemic that still exists in this world. So, you arrange a meeting at the health center, where some guy who was not nearly committed enough to become a real doctor convinces you to willingly inject several viruses and bacteria into your body at a handsome fee.

The hepatitis series is a must if you've heard anything Pamela Anderson has had to say in the last couple years. It's kind of cool to take the typhoid fever pills because they are a live bacteria which you must keep refrigerated. Of course you can't remember the last time you had a tetanus shot, so you may as well get that. And you never thought you'd actually have the opportunity to take the yellow fever vaccination, and you know what they say about opportunity knocking...

Well, once you get over the flu like symptoms that result from all of that foreign bacteria wreaking havoc on your system, you feel confident and ready for the journey ahead. There are just a few more tasks you've got to take care of:

* Move out of your house, consolidate all of your belongings into a large backpack (the rest you must move into storage), and move back in with your mom (which, by the way, I would highly recommend)
* Break the news to your boss that you've decided to leave your excellent job to instead pursue a career in quickly deleting any savings you've accrued

But now it is here, and all of that agony is behind us...yes, now it is time to enjoy the fruits of our labors and travel.