A Jumping-Off Point

Yesterday:
This morning when I first opened my eyes, I could see sun streaming in through all the windows in our bedroom (six in all). It was so quiet and now with the window open I can hear the small songbirds twittering. It’s Saturday so I can also hear the faint sound of traffic zooming by as people travel out the road to get a weekly fix of camping, cabining, boating, hiking and just lounging. On days like this, I’m glad I moved to a place where being outside is still a mainstream pastime.

Today is moving day. Well, one of several, but we’re going to try to do our best to get most of our things out and reconfigured. It’s going to be a challenge to say the least…

Not because we have so much stuff but because the new place really is small. It does have some storage space but it’s hard to tell exactly how far that will go until we’ve tried it…

I have to say, I’m looking forward to a change, but I don’t really know where this change will lead. We have ideas of where we want to move but it seems to change weekly. I’m pretty sure we’ll make the leap based on the affordability of living combined with job prospects. But oh, I am so ready to do some traveling.

These are some of the places I’m wanting planning to see in the next 12 months:

The Never Been Before (Likely Will Do) List:

1. Australia

2. Fiji

3. Spain

4. France

5. Italy

6. Greece

The Been Before, Can’t Wait to Go Back, List:

1. Colorado

2. Texas

3. New Mexico

4. Ecuador

5. Japan

6. Costa Rica

7. And countless other places in the U.S.

The Never Been Before (But I May Need- at least- 24 Months) List:

1. Brazil

2. Chile
3. Thailand

4. Turkey

5. Croatia

6. Czech Republic

No, I’m not rich, but I do have partial flight benefits through my dad’s retirement from an airline. Not since a trip to Japan during college to visit a friend, have I used these internationally. With age and being out of school I lost my benefits due to company policy. But because of the airline’s merger, I recently got them back. The only problem is that they don’t fly out of Juneau… Oh that’s right, no one does except for Alaska Airlines…. hmmm, interesting.

Since airfare is one the most expensive things about traveling, a reduced fare will go a long way. I’ll have to fly standby, but I’m used to that. And once I’m traveling I tend to not spend copious amounts of cash by avoiding expensive restaurants and bars in general. Because drinking cocktails in London is quite a different financial hit, than say, at a hostel’s rooftop bar in Quito. And the vagabond in me prefers it that way.

Well, enough wanderlust chatter. What are your top places to see?

An "In-Town" Departure...

“The only thing constant in life is change.” ~François de la Rochefoucauld

As we get ready to move, I can’t help but remember. There are so many memories a place can hold- some joyous, some hard. Sometimes I wonder if a house really does exchange energy with its inhabitants. Maybe that’s too far out there, but I can’t help but feel the peace of our current home, buffered by woods and the sounds of the creatures who share its perimeters.

I will miss this place dearly. It was my first home with S, the place where after years of frequent moving I was finally able to rest, to buy plants and put up real art again. It was lying in our bed, listening to the constant pattering of the rain during my first September in Juneau that I remembered what home felt like.

After nearly five years in our “cabin by the woods”, our landlords retired and decided to sell their house (and our guest house along with it). So we’re moving to a mother-in-law suite of a house in a quiet residential part of downtown Juneau. It’s a bit smaller than our current place, but very nice, new and clean. One of the best things is that I’ll be able to walk to work- something I’ve dreamed about for years now. From our new bedroom window we’ll be able to see the Gastineau Channel.

Still, as we prepare for the move, it’s hard not to compare one place to the other. Every time the part of me that resists change whines (sometimes not so quietly) “But it won’t be the same!” I have to remember the other part of me that quietly, but firmly, says, “Because it’s not supposed to be.”

Given our peripatetic natures and penchant for travel, I’m sure this won’t be the only move we make. But for now, it’s our next adventure.