Well, I'm about to set off on what I hope to be my own year-long "epic odyssey" around the world. The late nights spent gouging my eyes out after staring at website after website for hours on end only to settle into bed with the warm stories of 1/2 star rated hostels and rickety buses are finally coming to an end. The reality of those stories is about to begin a few days, and I will be making my own negative to zero star ratings of hostels in the third world. So, before I grace your eyes and minds with my experiences, I thought I'd shock you with the meager means of my living expenses for the next year as well as my extensive wardrobe.

I'm not an unsocial person, so having to limit myself on how often I went out on the town was hard but good, both for my trip and my job. The goal that my friend, Ian Cotton, and I set was $20,000, which I was able to surpass a little due to my savings from college, selling many of my possessions (including my beloved catamaran), and of course, the day job. I bought my plane ticket for about $3000, and it will take me through South America, Africa, and to India. I don't have a return ticket, which definitely worries some that I may never return. However, my thigh bones would probably only survive a few years due to the Grand Canyon-like potholes of the Third World roads! The other portion of the trip I've already paid for is our six-week trip from South Africa to Tanzania, which also cost about $3,000 for 42 days of sleeping under the stars with the lions! Finally, I spent about $2000 on my new, extensive wardrobe, safety equipment, gear, and shots. All of this leaves me with a whopping $45 per day on which to subsist: pay for lodging, transportation, food, and extras. For the doubters, this figure is actually on the high side for cost per day backpacking in the Third World.

When I say extensive wardrobe, I mean one full day's worth of clothes going from perusing the beach scenery to that late chilly night. It's easy to pack the Hummer sized armored suitcase for the week in the Bahamas that feels like you're carrying your dead uncle with you on vacation, but he would easily break your back after a couple of hours much less months carrying him around constantly. Instead, I have a hiker's backpack and am three different types of shirts, one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, a pair of hiking shoes, a pair of flip-flops, a fleece, a rain jacket, hat, and only four pairs of underwear. All of this nicely fits into a sack about the size of a volleyball. The only "creature comforts" that I'm dragging along are a sleeping bag, pad, and the good ole ipod with a book to read and trade along the way.

I can't wait to write again from my first destination, Peru. This is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it also holds the seat of an ancient and mystical empire, the Incas. This empire fought off the Spanish conquistadors for many years before ultimately being defeated, not only by the Spanish superior weaponry, but also by the disease that the Spanish brought with them. Left behind was a people that has struggled to regain a foothold in society and tales of an empire that spanned nearly the length of South America, had gold beyond imagination, and the ingenuity to build massive temples and palaces out of stone and gold without so much as a crane or mortar to seal it together. Till next time, Cheers and "Feliz ano nuevo!"