Killer Cars

Peace Corps always has the element of the unknown, always hiding you from your destiny. It starts from the time you’re nominated, till the day of your site announcement (in my case, even till move-in). Since my service from now on can look pretty straight, it is still the unknown future that stirs me. What will I be doing after service?

The general consensus between most of the volunteers is that directly after service, they travel for months. Of course, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Sure I may be delaying the real world, but I only get to blow my readjustment allowance once. Right now, it is very unclear what plans will be set after these 2 years, but that is what is so exciting. But it will definitely be unknown, and something to look forward to.

In the company of other volunteers, you’re suddenly influenced into these crazy travel ideas. We all want to see parts of Africa and trek across the globe. Of course now is the best time to plan them since we’re already close to most destinations, and that we’re pretty comfortable “roughing it” with each other. Being with other volunteers helped me pick up ideas I hadn’t thought before and consider some countries I hadn’t thought of. Also, that trip we had in Dakar really wishes us to go back to mainland Africa.

It’s not a guarantee that I will successfully trek across the globe, but I am keeping it in high importance. I’m thinking of picking up one of those RTW trips around the globe, but I don’t spend enough time on the internet find one that’s good enough. I do know I would have to start at least in Europe before ending up on the west coast of the US. The cost will be cheaper in the long run, and at least it’s consolidated and I’m always going in the same direction. When I hit the states (like other volunteers have thought up before), I would either buy a used car or pick up a rental, and drive across the United States back to my parent’s home in New England. Sounds crazy, but so am I.

I’m pretty sure I won’t get a perfect itinerary, but here’s a shot at one. This is under the stipulation if money is no concern. It’s short and gets to all the places that have interested me in recent months. Most of them I garnered from talking to other volunteers, and some of them I gathered from the National Geographics and Newsweek International magazines that I have been reading to past the time.

South Africa (definitely for Cape Town or Jo’Burg)
Morroco (and most definitely crossing the strait of Gibralter that separates it from Spain)
Spain for that matter too (Ibiza)
France (Paris, Riveira, visiting family)
Turkey (Istanbul)
United Arab Emirates (for Dubai)
India (maybe, Mumbai)
Thailand (Bangkok and the site of the Tsunami)
Singapore (to see what the big deal is)
Malaysia (virtually everywhere)
Japan (Tokyo)
Australia (cuz you can’t ignore it)
Pacific Islands (hey I’m in the Atlantic)
Hawaii (duh)

And back to the states. Also was going to do a longer trip to Cambodia for when I settle back in the states, and also I skipped all of Central and South America. But when we come to the West Coast, we’ve got

Los Angeles (most likely to land because of LAX)
San Francisco
Hoover Dam
Las Vegas (I forgot which one came first)
New Mexico
Texas
More of the dirty south
New Orleans
Back to Miami’s South Beach
Atlanta
DC
New York City
Before finally hitting Rhode Island.

Sounds possible does it?

Now I’m sure I can’t get it all done, but gotta shoot far to see what’s possible. For me to achieve maybe even half of this trip requires the following steps. Now I’m most likely going to sell my plane ticket from Cape Verde to Providence, RI. That should net me around $1800. I am also going to acquire about $2000 of my readjustment allowance in country, which would then come to about $3800 on the bat. On top of that, hopefully I can get accepted for a high limit VISA card for anyplace that takes it (which might carry me over an extra $2000). Since the US dollar is very weak, I am most likely converting my cash from local currency to Euros. That should suffice in time until I approach the states. From there hopefully the rest of my readjustment allowance ($4000) will be deposited into my bank account and I can use it from there. Problem solved.

This excitement should hold me over for the next 2 years. Once I get settled back in the states, I also once entertained the idea of biking across the United States with no previous training. And also the really dumb idea of moving directly into Manhattan with no money, and doing anything but getting a job. Actually, I shouldn’t even consider these dumb ideas and just fucking do it. After all, look where I am now.

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