6,900 miles from home
I arrived in Seoul today. It was a hot summer morning. My iphone said the temperature was 90 degrees but 70% humidity. Feels kind of like new york, tbh.
I can't believe I did it. I've had this dream for 15 years but it never felt possible. But after a year of setbacks and hard work, I decided this was the cheapest option to reach my next level.
What's my plan?
Well, for the route and timing, i'm not entirely sure. I gave up my apartment on the Lower East Side, put all of my belongings in a 5x10 storage unit in the Bronx, grabbed my laptop and iphone and booked a one way ticket to Seoul. I have enough money to stay comfortably in Asia for six to eight months. But I plan to find remote work of some kind. See, I finished a degree in Comp Sci a few years ago but the cost of rent and living in NYC meant I couldn't give up my current career to take lower wages while building new skills and relationships in a potentially dying field. At least with hair, it keeps growing. But I wasn't happy. And the goal with the degree was always to find work with flexibility and freedom to travel. As of now, I'm starting in Seoul for three weeks and I'll decide from here what's next.
What happens after the trip? That's also not set in stone. As of now, I want to return to New York. But I want to do it with a new career and point of view. I have become very jaded and even synical over the last few years. My life in the city has been stagent. I haven't dated in years. Hell, I haven't kissed a man in months - and there's an app for that. Partially becuase life is expensive and my rent eats most of that. But also becuase I haven't felt like myself for a long time. I was fat. My dad died. My mom is in and out of jail and MIA. And all of that really fucks with a person. I hope that I can use this trip to find the version of me that has been missing for so long. I hope to find a level of peace I have yet to meet. I hope to make new connections and fall in love a thousand times. I hope to come back to NYC with the excitment I had for it in 2013.