My Epic Adventure

Here is the itinerary for the first month of my trip. I am visiting one of my most favorite countries the Unites States of America! I have had the dream to travel across the country since my teenage years, although I am doing this via trains / plane I should see more states then some people who live there. My desire to travel the East Coast came as university student when studying US history in the early 2000s. I remember the lecturer for the introduction to American history paper would always tell us how amazing it was to visit and we would all see it one day. I have held this true to my heart all of these years later. It has only take around 17 years but I am finally going to make my dream came true! Auckland to San Francisco: April 3rd San Francisco: 3rd-8th April San Francisco to Chicago via Train 8th-10th April Chicago: 10th-13th April Boston: 13th-17th April Washington DC: 17th-23rd April Philadelphia: 23rd-26th April New York City: 26th April-5th May. ...

The planning and preparation for this trip has been more than two years in the making. I signed up for a scheme where I work in April 2016. The deal is that I work for two years on a reduced salary of 80% with the pay off being six month leave while still receiving my wages. It was on a plane returning from a trip to the USA back in late 2015 when the back to reality blues started to kick in. See I am single women with no children and I (still) don't know what I was doing with my life - I am having what I like to call an on going 'existential crisis.' It was then that I remember hearing from my colleague about this scheme she had signed up for. After talking to her again about it I knew it was the right decision for myself. I could travel for the six months and do some soul searching with the bonus of having a goal with something to look forward to for two years. After talking with my colleague again when I got back I decided to sign up. My rough early plans included...

Famous for his portrayal in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 he has decided to join me on my epic adventure. Already somewhat of a celebrity he has is own Instagram and can be followed here: https://www.instagram.com/babygrootsworldadventure/  We met in May last year and has been a solid member of my weekly pub quiz (we even used him for our team name). Although he gained a slight drinking problem he has reined it  in to save $41 USD (probably to buy more beer on the road). Luckily his passport arrived along with his new luggage, he seems to be better prepared then me!  Groot would like you to know:  I am Groot, I am Groot, I am Goot, I am GROOT! 

After almost two years of waiting my epic adventure is about to begin. I have spent my weekend packing away all of my stuff as it's all going in storage while I'm away. The only problem with this is the realization of how much stuff I do have. I am amazed to think of how much more stuff I would have if I had not had two major clear outs in the past six months. The exciting part of this weekend was that I bought a ticket to the musical Avenue Q for NYC on April 30th. Being NYC I wanted to see a play or two, however, most as musicals I've either seen or don't take my fancy. Hamilton was a huge draw card but with the prices I opted to see it in Chicago where I think the price was around $100 versus $600 for a normal seat!